So I decide on the Jeep Compass…MSRP is something like 25,000 give or take… best price after my pathetic attempts at haggling is $21,500.00… Why do I have to play this ridiculous game of haggling??? Hubby was all excited about AAA certificate (best price there is 21,525.00)… supposedly $1,440 below invoice??? Why??? I am tired of haggling.
One dealer actually took a ($200) deposit from me and promised he would swap out a car for me for 20,800. A week later the car has not materialized… someone please deliver me from NEW CAR HAGGLING!!!
p.s. If someone can deliver a car to me tomorrow… I want a White, Latitude, Sun roof, heated seats and light colored interior… ??? anyone???..
Ummm…You have not divulged where in the US (or Canada, or…) you live.
How would anyone be able to handle the logistics of your request without having any idea of where you live? Additionally, I am not aware of any Jeep salesmen or franchise owners among the regulars on this board.
Like it or not, I think that you will probably have to go through the conventional routes for purchasing a car. However, you might want to send e-mails to the Jeep dealers in your vicinity. Let them know that they are bidding against each other, and see what prices you are quoted.
If you have 2 Jeep dealers (you really need 2 or 3) you then ask them for their ‘out the door’ best price for the model you want, including all taxes, fees, charges, everything. Do not bring a trade in, that will confuse the deal. Like TSMB said, keep it simple. And get your deposit back.
P.S. - Do NOT BUY ANYTHING AT CLOSING - not wax, interior treatment, extended warranty, NOTHING. They will push hard on this, ‘just say NO’…
You have to do your “Home” work, and that is sitting at home and requesting online quotes from every dealer within 100 mile radius and let them fight over you. Truecar.com is a good place to see where the ballpark price should be, good luck.
You are an eager buyer and they are a reluctant seller. The sales agent you spoke to will likely make less than $250 on the sale at the price that they quoted you and any reduction from that price will cut into his commission. How often do you go to work and haggle with your boss against working at half your normal salary? The cost accounting and departmentalizing at new dealerships is mind boggling and managers will actually argue over taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another. Owners are even more anally retentive. Some would rather lose a sale than let a salesman’s paycheck be greater than his own. It’s ridiculous but that’s just how it has become. It’s kinda like women.
lol love all you guys… (p.s…since I am a woman)… but you have actually given me some good advise… I have done homework and let them know I have 3 dealers competing… problem is it actually is kind of hard to find the exact car I want… can’t figure out why the guy would tell me he could swap out a car and had it “secured” and was going to drive from Massachusetts to Connecticut to get it… then tell me he didn’t have it after all. Now I have to go back to dealer #1 and pay (theoretically) $700 more for the car…
Yeah I can’t stand it either. Some dealers have gotten the point and have set prices marked on the cars. Of course there is the possible trade-in and and add-ons to deal with. I refuse to spend much time on the whole process though. If I have a good repoire with the dealer, usually it can be wrapped up in 30-45 minutes. Either got a deal or not. I have used credit union agreements where you deal with the sales manager for $125 over cost and order the car and that works good, but as far as going from dealer to dealer and back and forth, I just refuse to spend my time that way. A couple hundred dollars over 5-10 years if you have a dealer you can work with is not worth it.
If it is a 2011, there is a $1000 rebate. That’s how they get well below invoice price. The $21,500 is a screaming deal for a 4WD truck, and a reasonable deal for a FWD truck. Remember that every dollar you take off the selling price is a dollar they don’t get to feed their family. If you were in their shoes, would you give in easily?
There have been a few occasions that women have asked for my opinion on buying a car and I felt that my effort was somewhat worthwhile. In any negotiation it is best to deal from a “take it or leave it” position. Once the agent knows that, you make your best offer on a ‘post it’ with your phone number and leave. The agent will usually call to accept the deal or counter. If your offer covers their costs they will certainly accept. Fearing that they will get $100 more from you than the next person who drives up will make life miserable. Why make yourself miserable? And, since you are a woman, and a woman who can enjoy bickering around here with sarcastic old grease monkeys such as myself, if you can afford the car that you want tell your husband that you want to buy it and won’t be worried if the final price is $100 more than someone else paid. I took two couples out to eat last week and tipped the young lady who waited on us $50. She was worth it. Live within your means but enjoy life.
Personally I LOVE to haggle…And my wife does too…And she’s real good at it.
My rule of thumb is to stay under $1000 profit for the dealer. I shoot for $500 (most of the time I’ve been able to get below $500). And from my experience…for every person who haggles the dealer down to $500…there are 10 who pay full price.
Thanks everyone! I really like all your comments! Especially the “enjoy life” part… OK… i am off to spend $20 thousand or so dollars… Just get it over with quick?
Cars are a commodity where a person is expected to haggle over the price. I have sold cars to colleagues and given them the rock bottom price and they still want to haggle. I did have a different experience this week. We were talking to our neighbor and he told us that a dolly he uses to take his car behind his RV was stolen from the driveway. My wife spoke up and said “I wish the thief would steal the old 1978 Oldsmobile from our driveway”. I said that I would like to sell the car and my neighbor said that his son might be interested. I gave him a price and his son came by last night, drove the car and decided to buy it at the price I had named. I gave him the factory service manuals that I purchased for the car soon after I bought it and 33 years worth of service records. The car is four years older than the person who bought it.
I don’t think I would make it is business–I seem to buy high and sell low.
It really helps - if you need to barter - for them to have the vehicle you want on the lot. Anything they have to order in (even if only from a dealer down the street) will only increase the cost, since they have to “buy” it from that other location.
Thanks again everyone! Sound advise from lots of you. Love the story about the 78 Olds… sorry I missed out on that one (miss my Pontiac Lemans with a V8 from the 70’s)…anyway… I did buy a car from a dealer down the street who had the car on the lot… Researched as much as possible. Used AAA certificate. I feel pretty good about the price. I will pick up my new White Jeep Compass with the Sun Roof, Heated Seats, Remote Starter… tomorrow on 11/11/11 at 11 am! My dealer says it is a very lucky number!!! First payment on Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone… vroom vroom see you around town!
Remember that dealers and their employees are not “rich” people. They in tern negotiate with the manufacturers, distributors and suppliers. Everyone is haggling and you are at the end of the food chain. As everyone has pointed out, it’s the nature of the beast and capitalism in it’s rudimentary form. Be be more informed about the product then the dealer and use all the resources you have available. If you go in with knowledge, it will be much less stressful.
