Price Haggling at a Dealership

I agree. the last car I bought was our 2011 mustang a month ago. Bought it at a Power dealership, i think its a nationwide chain. I was looking for 6 months for the right car and right deal, walked on 3 previous deals. this deal went great and smooth and I was more then happy with the trade and new car price and i didnt have to play games with them.

But it was 9pm on a saturday and the last day of the month.

 

Just got off the phone with the salesman, he was calling to make sure we were still gonna head out and see him this evening, lol.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. I totally understand that not all dealerships are crooks. I researched this dealership and almost everything I have read was positive, so I will see if they live up to their reputation.

 

Another site to check out

http://www.cargurus.com/

 

I agree with Craig, not all dealers are crooks, they are just trying to make as much out of a deal as they can. If they can't make a profit of some kind, they go out of business. Just don't let them make that max profit off of you! Like was said, search NADA, Kelly Blue Book, and Edmunds for prices before you go. You will see each one prices cars a bit different, Take an average of all three and you'll be in the ball park. Another thing, don't let them load the deal up with extended warranties and service contracts, most aren't worth the paper they're written on, or you have to use that dealer exclusively. Factory warrant is fine.

I gotta disagree on their not being many used cars out there right now. Maybe not 1-2 year old used cars, but there are plenty of used cars available. Prices should be dropping a bit too, now that tax season is over.

You've already lost some mystery since the dealer already knows what you're looking at. I like to go on a lot and look at something that I'm totally not interested in, then "discover" the one that I actually want to look at. They will be so busy trying to talk you into the first thing you look at that they won't realize what you really want untill you have thrown them a lowball price.

Oh that's another thing I do, I lowball the heck outta them. Eventually I get to the price I'll really give, or I'll walk away.

 

Well, we walked away today. The Flex was kinda beat up, a lot of repaired chips, scuffs on all 4 wheels, and the interior plastic had some big scratches. And he would not budge on the price! He said the $21,900 price was as low as he could go. They still had the $26,500 window sticker in it. So after spending 1 1/2 hours there, we just walked away. I must say, it felt pretty good! But I felt bad at the same time, since he did spend all that time helping us out.

Thanks everyone for the advice! The right Flex is still out there.

Oh, and he said they got it at an auction? He said used cars are hard to come by these days, so dealers are buying cars at auctions instead. This Flex was beat up... I hope not all auction cars are like this.

 

Flexes are hard to find anywhere, everyone seems to love them. Good thing you didn't buy it, if you had second thoughts, all the little flaws would just bug you.

 

Our place is having a hell of a time buying cars. The auctions prices are high due to demand. You have to watch the quality. I see it at our place. We are fixing cars that would have been whole sale'd 2 years ago. They are spending big money to safety and recond. the car so the prices are up a bit lately. Since the lease market crashed up here the auctions arent flooded with lease returns. Supply is down.

 

I thought the price was too good to be true for the miles listed. Condition explains price.

As Darren stated.....supply is LOW and dealers are now buying cars that 4 years ago they would have been dumping at the auctions. Dealers are having to buy these cars and do all kinds of "push-ups" to them to get them ready for the lot. Supply is low because:

1. As Darren stated....no more lease returns coming back in
2. Not as many new cars have been sold the last 4 years as compared to previous years. Less new cars sold 3 or 4 years ago eventually trickles down to less used cars now.
3. Cash for clunkers. You can't crush that many vehicles and take that many vehicles out of the market and not effect supply.

 

We actually have a big poster board in our drive thru wanting to buy certain vehicles from customers even if they dont want to buy a car at our place.

 

That stuff makes sense. Hopefully this summer more used Flex's will show up around here. Otherwise we will start looking at new I guess.

The good news is that she got to drive a Flex for the first time, and she loved it. So now we at least know that it drives great, has crazy interior room, and the third row is even comfortable!