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Honestly, I've never considered them. I enjoy the old way of buying a car and I pride myself on the art of negotiation.
You know the best way to learn how to negotiate? Its to get burned making a deal. You'll learn pretty quickly how to make a better deal next time. Lessons learned the hard way are often the most powerful lessons in life.
I will give you my best hints on how to buy a new car. You need to make sure you break the transaction up into three separate parts:
1. Get preapproved for financing at the lowest possible interest rate from a credit union (not the dealership).
2. Sell your used car separately and don't make it part of the deal for a new car.
3. Learn what the lowest price for the car you are buying is. There are ways to get actual figures for what a car costs a dealer. I prefer to simply go around to a series of dealerships and compare what the car is being sold for.
Yep. My last 3 Grand Cherokees have all been 100% painless. I have a blank check from my credit union ready to go - although the dealer has always matched or beaten the rate. I've traded 2 Jeeps in, sold the last one to Carvana and got an extra 7 grand.
Invoice price isn't hard to find, it's really easy for Jeep. I pay one of two prices - either X% under invoice from a group buy I'm part of, or the sale price, whichever is lower. The best I've done so far was $10K off the sticker price with zero negotiation, and that was before the money I got from selling the previous Jeep. The dealer I work with is good and moves a significant amount of inventory. Price was handled before I ever set foot into the showroom - they called me when the one I wanted was delivered. I went in, checked it out, signed the paperwork and off I went.
I think about this a lot. Isn't it weird that when you consider how much technology has changed the way we make purchases, that we're still stuck in this archaic world of walking into a car dealership, and going through the tired motions of the car salesman experience?
"Hold on, let me speak to my manager", as he walks off and leaves you sitting there for 20 minutes in a pointless mind game. Why do you think this hasn't evolved into a more efficient way that benefits the consumer?
Lots of places have tried to change it one way or another, carmax and Carvana, etc...
But to answer your question, many consumers don't want to pay extra for a better experience.
Think of it this way. If you drive up to the dealership and say "I want to buy this F150; the window sticker says $42,104. Here is a check for that + tax" you would find that it's a seamless smooth transaction.
Like it or not, unless one is going toe to toe (in person or on the Internet) with car sales people (actually the Sales Manager in the background) one is not getting the lowest price they can get. It is the ugly nature of the beast.
Like it or not, unless one is going toe to toe (in person or on the Internet) with car sales people (actually the Sales Manager in the background) one is not getting the lowest price they can get. It is the ugly nature of the beast.
And while people don't care for it, the fact is that the alternative (basically Home Depot Appliance shopping; the manager isn't cutting you any deals) will cost them more.
Is it a better deal or = to the special they run each christmas advertising employee pricing for everyone?
Having purchased 40 or so new cars, I've found that most holiday "sales", employee pricing, etc., are just marketing schemes. You can do better by being informed and knowing how to negotiate correctly. I actually had access to Ford employee pricing for several years and was always able to strike a better deal than the employee discount. One thing I did learn, however, was that the discount also applied to Ford's ESP program. Prior to that, I had no idea there was so much room to negotiate on their Extended Service Plans. At the time, I was buying a 2003 Ford E350 diesel and, being new to diesels and having heard horror stories of injection pump failures, I (for the first and only time in my entire life) opted for the extended warranty and saved thousands of dollars due to the Ford employee discount.
Having purchased 40 or so new cars, I've found that most holiday "sales", employee pricing, etc., are just marketing schemes. You can do better by being informed and knowing how to negotiate correctly. I actually had access to Ford employee pricing for several years and was always able to strike a better deal than the employee discount. One thing I did learn, however, was that the discount also applied to Ford's ESP program. Prior to that, I had no idea there was so much room to negotiate on their Extended Service Plans. At the time, I was buying a 2003 Ford E350 diesel and, being new to diesels and having heard horror stories of injection pump failures, I (for the first and only time in my entire life) opted for the extended warranty and saved thousands of dollars due to the Ford employee discount.
Those ESP's are HUGE money makers for dealerships.
There is no way I would ever use a car-buying service and miss out on the fun of the dealership experience!
I love buying cars, the challenge, walking out with a salesman chasing and yelling at me, and coming up with new strategies is a great way to spend a few hours. Our last, a 2020 Outback for my wife, however, was oddly too easy. It was already 0% financing, so I only asked them for $2,000 off and they agreed right away, no "asking the manager", and they gave me three thousand more than I expected for our trade.
I did the same on a 2021 onyx xt Outback. 1800 off sticker. They gave me 21k for my Kia Soul. I think I got a good deal. This was 3 months ago. Incidentally, the Kia Soul sits on their lot still. It started at 22,900. It’s down to 17,400. I can’t imagine them making that much on the deal at this point. (1800+3600=5400 from sticker).
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