No haggle car buying?

[15fan]

I've had the same experience financing. Always shop around before going to the dealer. Inevitably the dealer has come through w better financing terms, but handle that separate from negotiated sales price and have a fallback plan if they try to put you over a barrell.

[Yachtzee]

So, I've done some test drives and I've decided on the car I want to go with. Based on research and my test drives of different vehicles, I've decided to go with the Subaru Legacy. I submitted a request through the USAA car buyers service, and also requested quotes from a couple of local dealers who aren't tied into the Car Buyers service as a "control," just to have something to compare prices to. If I have time this weekend, I might run my car up to CarMax to see what kind of appraisal I can get for my car, which I can then use to see whether I sell to CarMax, trade it it, or sell to my neighbor who said he would be willing to buy the car if we don't like what their offering in trade. Then next week is Spring Break, so we're sending the kids to the grandparents, which will allow us to visit dealers and have time to sit down and work out a deal.

One of the things we did as well was to check prices through USAA car buyers service against the car buyers service for my wife's employer. Both are actually based off of TrueCar.com's pricing system, so the prices came out the same and the price difference between dealers is maybe $200.

I'm getting excited, since it will be my first new car since 2001. Over the years, I've usually been researching and negotiating deals for new cars for my wife. The only part I'm dreading is the part where you have to sit and wait while they process the loan paperwork.

[15fan]

The only part I'm dreading is the part where you have to sit and wait while they process the loan paperwork.

I've always had success by telling the salesperson that when I come in to sign, I have 90 minutes. I can be there at 1, but have to be out the door by 230 to get my daughter at school. I can come in at 10 am, but I have to be out by 11:30 so I can make a noon lunch with my division VP. Anything like that. Don't leave the appointment open-ended. Impress these time pressures on the sales manager, too. They all desperatley need you to give them 10s or Excellents on any follow up surveys by the corporate folks. Use that to your advantage.

[goreds2]

I am so glad I have not had to deal with car haggling in the past 15 years when I bought my truck.
Still looks good and running good at 333,000 miles (Knock on wood).
I have had no payment for 9 years and have really built up my 401K plus emergency fund (Savings).
I will drive it until it dies. (2001 Nissan Frontier) Just remember that cars/trucks last a lot longer than they did a couple decades ago.

From last month....

[Yachtzee]

Put down a deposit on a new Subaru Legacy today. Went with a dealer who participates in the USAA car buyers service, but actually got a better price than the USAA quote. They also came in with a better finance rate. Even though I didn't buy through the service, it was very useful to have a baseline to work from. The only thing to do now is wait because they didn't have the color I wanted with the right options. Hoping to have it Thursday.

[Joseph]

They still haven't really changed their stance yet. Their pricing is lower than most. I'm using Cars.com and True Car both for comparison sake. I think it might just be a mental thing where I don't feel right unless I get it cheaper than what they ask. I've gone through and asked for the invoice and the whole deal from some of the links, and I can't figure out how they are making any money unless Ford is just incentivizing them like crazy.

[dfs]

I went the haggle route. I was buying a popular model that was a year old. The local dealer had several floors and between those floors they had 10-15 cars of the same model/year that were all very similar. They had a floor price on each car and an internet price on each car that was several thousand less than the floor price. I looked up the wholesale price for that model/year which was a couple thousand below the internet price.

I went in and picked out a car. (This step actually took several visits and showed the sales force that I was a serious buyer.) I made my offer. They kind of laughed at it and wondered how I justified my figure. I showed them the wholesale price of the car and pointed out that they seemed to have quite a few of them around. I left them enough room to wet their beak. They moved something off the floor and I drove away happy. The "haggling" was easy because we both new where each other stood.

[Yachtzee]

Picked up the new car today. Very nice.

[goreds2]

I am so glad I have not had to deal with car haggling in the past 15 years when I bought my truck.
Still looks good and running good at 333,000 miles (Knock on wood).
I have had no payment for 9 years and have really built up my 401K plus emergency fund (Savings).
I will drive it until it dies. (2001 Nissan Frontier) Just remember that cars/trucks last a lot longer than they did a couple decades ago.

From last month....

I cannot believe it but I just turned over 335,000 miles yesterday!