GotJDM?

Well, I got my fingers crossed that this kid will follow through and buy my car within this or next week. Other wise it's going in the Maryland Paper.

Anyways, I don't know shit about buying a newer used car. But, I do have my eyes set on a 2004 Subaru STi, in silver of course.

Now, I looked at Car Max and they have the set price, but dealerships have prices which can be haggled. I know nothing about haggling.

I know my dad will help, he just got my mom a car, but he knows nothing about STi's or Subaru's.

I guess I'm looking for haggling tips

RB

Don't be afraid to walk away if they initially say they can't meet your price. Thats just how they operate. If they see that you REALLLLLY want the car, they wont budge in price. However, if you make it clear that you're considering other cars as well (say the EVO), they'll try and pursuade you, hopefully by lowering the price.

Buy with your head, not your heart.

Kestrel

Best tip: Know how much you're willing to pay. If the dealer won't do it, then walk out.

M@rshy

Werd. I always go alot lower, but not too low, then work it up slowly.

Llamaguy

you could try going toward the end of the month, when dealers might be trying to meat quotas

dubcac

Always know what the car is worth before you go in. Get price reports from KBB and Edmunds. Find out what other people in the area have paid for a similar mileaged car. Inspect the car to see what kind of condition it is in, test everything on the test drive.

Know your credit score and what kind of rate you could get with a credit union. Price isn't the only thing you have to negotiate...you can also get them to drop the interest rate. They're going to try and get you for a high rate first, because they'll make more money if you finance through them.

When you start to negotiate, they're going to ask how much you want to put down, and what you want your monthly payment to look like. If you know how much you want to spend for the car, and what kind of rate you can qualify for...you can use an online payment calculator to estimate your monthly payment. Don't just arbitrarily say a number that you can't go over...they'll use that to their advantage.

Just be smart. If they want too much for the car, don't be afraid to leave. They will either come close to your price, or you can find one elsewhere.

eonsx311

thats exactly what i did. 2 days later (sticker on it was 14k) sold for 11,200 haggle ftw.

MrFatbooty

I'll chime in here as usual having worked (briefly) as a car salesman.

Walking away or threatening to walk away does not lower the price of the car. It just makes you a pain in the ass customer.

Buying at the end of the month does not lower the price of the car. The dealer will try harder to get a pain in the ass customer to buy a car at the end of the month, but the minimum price they're willing to sell for has not gone down.

The rest of this is (mostly) reposted from the last time I typed it all out.

Salespeople never control the price numbers, the managers do. But it's to your advantage to go through a salesperson because if a manager sees a salesperson work a deal properly at a lower number, they'll do the deal, as opposed to if you're a pain in the ass customer an gets the manager directly involved, they won't try as hard to get the deal done.

Let's say you go see a car you like on a website, and it's at a dealer. Try to call ahead and find out all the options on the car, price it up on edmunds, in different condition ratings. So you know what the dealer probably paid for it, and you know what they're trying to sell it at. You can usually beat what edmunds says the dealer retail price is, and always be conservative in your estimate of the car's condition.

Go to the dealer, you drive the car, do whatever else, and decide if you want to buy it. The salsperson sits you down, offers you a soda, and starts the paperwork. The first thing they're gonna want you to do is make an offer. Don't say something like, "give me your absolute lowest number," because the salesperson doesn't know what that is and you're doing something that doesn't fall within their standard process they have to follow. Anything that you do to take the salesperson off process doesn't really help you get a lower price, but it does help you spend more time in the dealership than you have to. So, make an offer to the salesperson like they want you to even if that's not exactly what they're saying. Don't bring a printout from Edmunds or wherever, just know that number in your head. Don't tell em you know the edmunds TMV price or anything else, just tell em some number that's a good deal (for a used car, easily 2-3 grand) below that edmunds retail price. They'll write up a form called a buyer's order which has all the info on the car, the sticker price, and your initial offer on it. The salesperson's gonna give you the song and dance about that's so low, blah blah blah, tell em that's what you'd like to pay ideally, you might be flexible, and you just want to see if your number is possible. They'll probably ask you for a deposit, or to fill out a credit application, or both. Give em a deposit, but tell em just to hold the check and don't put it in their account just yet. Let em take the credit application but tell em to not run the credit. This way you're giving more buying signs, but you haven't had any money out of your checking account or a hit on your credit record.

The next thing the salesperson is going to do is give your deposit to the people who handle the checks, and show your filled out credit application (without the credit check being run) and buyers order to the manager. The manager's gonna laugh at your ridiculously low initial offer, and the salesman will tell the manager you said you're flexible. The manager will make a counter-offer with something like 500 bucks off sticker, and tell the salesperson to go back to you. They'll come back with the manager's offer on the buyer's order and say this is the best they can do. Your reaction should be, "well it seems like they don't want to do my ideal number." The salesperson is gonna try and sell you on the higher number, but really they're only looking for you to make a higher offer. You can bump up your initial offer by 500 bucks or something. More goin back and forth with the manager, you might have to allow yourself to get bumped by 500 bucks one or two more times, but then you're still at a good price.

Once you agree on a price, they'll need to run your credit and deposit the check you gave em before, and it's off to the finance office. I didn't work finance so all I can tell you is if you know what car you're gonna buy, get preapproved by a couple outside sources like a bank or a credit union so when the finance guy tries to dick you over on the interest rate you can show him the preapproval sheets from wherever else, and increase your bargaining power. This is especially true on used cars, because the dealers will give you really shitty interest rates on used cars. If the finance guy can't meet or beat your preapproved rate, you just go with the preapproved one.

NEVER let them try to close you based on a monthly payment. They WILL juggle the numbers around so they can screw you as much as possible while you think "oh I got a good deal I got the payment I wanted. Don't buy any extended warranty that costs more than 200 bucks, never ever ever ever buy any sort of dealer maintenance plan, or any other extras that they try and sell you after you agree on the price of the vehicle.

Hope that helps and if you have any questions I can share my opinion on those. h:

crvman

That is some awesome car buying advice.

Chefboiali

Shit... Play by play and shit.

Sportcenter h: