Buying a new car - and hate doing the dealer thing (Houston: credit, how much)

[Terr]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

I hope yours works out well in the end, and you don't find that they have added on a lot of additional charges not discussed on the phone after you drive there.

The price is on the doc I signed/initialed with the salesman (over the 'net) with "Out of the Door" price clearly marked...

[Terr]

Originally Posted by Jtxg

Negotiating isn't much of a thing in the car business right now, at least for new vehicles. You don't like the price? They'll have it sold in no time - or if nothing else, they'll have something to help make the lot look like they have vehicles. Me personally, I can't imagine wasting 3 hours negotiating a car deal.

Here's a funny thing. I am sitting at this dealership today. As I said, I hate the whole procedure. I already called the other guy who gave me an X out of the door price but he still needed to check some things, I didn't sign anything, so I try this dealer, it's close to home. These guys, on same exact model etc., start at X+4K. I say no. They say X+3K. X+2K. I say listen, I have the X price from someone. But because you guys are nearby, convenience, etc. I am willing to go X+500. They say X+1200. I finally say X+700 (cuz it is a round #). They stick to theirs. I really wanted to just leave but you know how it is, it seems rude to do so. So after another 15 min, they don't come down to X+700, I say thank you very much, I leave.

So since the other guy *could* do X (I wound up paying more, because he found me a '22, not '21, and better model with the features I wanted), that (to me) means that they could have easily gone down to X+700. But they just wouldn't do it.

[Dopo]

A little similar happened to me last year
At first, I stayed out of the negotiation, my wife wanted to low ball them and it wasn’t getting anywhere

I jumped in: “I’ll pay the price that it shows online in your page, if you charge me $1200 for cleaning and … something else, I’m not buying it”
They came back: “ok, you can have it for X + $400”

I had to accept it, I spent too much time researching and looking for that truck to walk away because of $400

[a_guerrajr]

Originally Posted by Terr

From Katy to Jersey Village.

LoL , not to be a dick. But that's cute.

Glad you found what you wanted. Rumor has it the car market may not let off until mid to late 2023.
So avoid buying in 2022 if at all possible.

[kreeyax]

Do dealers not have internet sales managers any more? The last two cars I bought (5-10 years ago) I just did an inventory search on the dealer web sites to find the car with the options I wanted, then e-mailed the internet sales manager to get the out the door price. Agreed on the price, went down, purchased it. Pretty good experiences.

[Terr]

Originally Posted by a_guerrajr

LoL , not to be a dick. But that's cute.

Glad you found what you wanted. Rumor has it the car market may not let off until mid to late 2023.
So avoid buying in 2022 if at all possible.

I know, it is pretty close Anyway - I did look further afield, but the inventory in the boonies is basically zero.

[a_guerrajr]

Originally Posted by Terr

I know, it is pretty close Anyway - I did look further afield, but the inventory in the boonies is basically zero.

Don't doubt it.
With crazy car prices, inflation, and continued chip shortages the demand for cheaper/commuter cars will be stretched.

I was looking at an F150 and man the prices are up there. I need my 10K off rebate/discount

[gwarnecke]

I'm a huge car enthusiast and would love to upgrade, but the whole car buying experience sucks even in the best of times. I can't imagine needing to buy a car now. Thankfully my wife and I only drive 5k miles/year and take meticulous care of our vehicles, so we can get another 5+ years out of them if needed.

Eventually the supply and price situation will sort itself out. Everyone who is paying 5k over sticker b/c they MUST have a car now will be out of the market for the next 3+ years. The chip shortage will pass, supply will ramp back up, and buyers will once again have room to negotiate.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by kreeyax

Do dealers not have internet sales managers any more? The last two cars I bought (5-10 years ago) I just did an inventory search on the dealer web sites to find the car with the options I wanted, then e-mailed the internet sales manager to get the out the door price. Agreed on the price, went down, purchased it. Pretty good experiences.

Thats the way I always do it. I refuse to walk in unless I get confirmed numbers both pre TTL and OTD firm. Of course the numbers will vary based on market and incentives. If I don't like the numbers, we both save our time.

If I needed to buy in these crazy times, I'd email every dealer in sight and work Costco in parallel. I'd refuse to pay above MSRP, even in these crazy times.

[Terr]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Thats the way I always do it. I refuse to walk in unless I get confirmed numbers both pre TTL and OTD firm. Of course the numbers will vary based on market and incentives. If I don't like the numbers, we both save our time.

If I needed to buy in these crazy times, I'd email every dealer in sight and work Costco in parallel. I'd refuse to pay above MSRP, even in these crazy times.

1. Costco doesn't do Toyota around Houston
2. Several dealerships (well almost all) refused to name price over the phone.