I'm terrible at it and so is my husband. Anybody want to come with me this week? Seriously any advice would be helpful.

perfect time for you..nearing the end of a month and a quarter.

of course, some dealerships never know a recession is going on and may only offer free oil changes and car washes in lieu of a cheaper price. the slower dealerships are more willing to take thousands off the msrp.

make sure you go to at least 3 dealerships and you may be able to play one off another.

not sure of the make, but you can call the make's hq and ask if they currently have a promotion and if they are changing promotions for the new quarter.

my experiences. good luck.

I would put off buying a new or used car until May or October. The prices are inflated because of income tax returns and Biden Bucks. You are going to overpay by 10-30%.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Do your homework, pick a number, present them the number and leave if they do not meet the number. It's not like you have to buy something from them. Unless you have a ridiculous number they might let you leave but they will call you within a week. Never forget that all a realtor or a car salesperson is, is access to the keys.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

are you buying a new car?

If so feb is probably the best time but March is ok too. They have to now desperately move out last year's new models so you can probably get a souped up version of last year's new car for little less than the non-souped up intro version.

and are going to finance or buy all cash? If you can afford to buy all w/ cash do it. Avoid financing if possible. But I hear the financing deals are pretty good nowadays where you dont need to pay interest on some promotions for 3 years.

But i haven't bought a car from a dealership in a long long time.

Get the insiders deal.

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If you have to speak, mumble.

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"Fuck it, I can't afford this, I'm just going to buy that Accord my aunt has. She says all it needs is brakes"

Best thing to do is test drive what you've decided on at three dealerships and go home. Wait for the call.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It really is that simple. Also take note of the salesperson/dealership that doesn't really give a shit if you leave without a sale vs the one that won't let you out of the building.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

ya this is true. long time back i left but right at the door the salesperson stopped me giving me a incredible deal. but i still waited it out.

I know, I know, it's arduous.

#MeToo

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Do you know the car you want? Make/model/color?

Most dealerships have an internet sales manager. Once you know the car you want email all the dealerships in the area with the specs you want and ask for their best price. Just make sure they know you are emailing all their competitors.

Keep it as simple as low price wins and I’ll be in to buy it.

This is what we did for our most recent purchase. Ended up paying a lot less ($4,000 or so) this way and saved a lot of time as well.

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My ex needed a new car and we were getting a Chevy Malibu. I had printed off a Carfax price sheet and I went to a local Chevy dealership and asked how much they would beat it by. They said $500 which was acceptable since the Carmax price was already a good price. I explained how it was my wife's final decision so I would be back with her. They kept dropping the price and all they wanted was for me to put $50 down and that they would refund if I changed my mind. Once they got to $2500 off the Carmax price, I said OK. Now this was 2002 and this was a $14000-$15000 (iirc) car so $2500 off the Carmax price was pretty significant. I asked the salesman later why they did that and he said that 9 time of 10 when someone leaves, they don't come back. I always said that I would apply the pressure of leaving in order to get the dealer's best price if I were buying a new vehicle. Good luck.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

If you know the make and model you want, you can negotiate everything online. I’ve bought my last four cars this way. Edmunds.com and other sites will send four dealers in your area your request. You can then play them off each other via email vs going to see them.

When you walk in the door, the paperwork is ready and you sign and go. The dealers have told me they make less profit on these transactions, but they are fast for them and the buyers have better credit.

I also like the idea of at least getting a quote on your trade-in from Carmax—takes the haggling out of that as well.

If you plan on paying cash, do not tell them that during negotiations. People often think they will get a discount, but it’s actually the opposite. Dealers make a lot of money on financing, so telling them upfront that they won’t make any money in financing will force them to try getting the highest possible sales price.

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Jaw, I disagree. While you are correct they make money on the premium spread for financing, I always tell them I am paying cash. Otherwise, they just come back with the monthly payment. They love to negotiate off monthly payment.

My best advice is twofold:

1) Always remember they want to sell the car more than you want to buy it. They win when you decide that their car is a scarce commodity and get deal heat. You hold all the leverage. I find it is best to go to the dealership and make friendly with the salesperson. But do not buy on the spot. Show strong interest but say you are going to look around. When you come back a second time, they will be surprised and more pliable.
2) Do not settle on the car they want to sell you. Get exactly what you want.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Threaten to walk out every few minutes

Tell them you don't even know what you're doing there

that's how i did my 2019 purchase. since the price was agreed to ahead of time the in dealership paperwork was very quick and the only "hard" part was telling the finance guy no repeatedly on the warranty as he kept dropping the price trying to get me to buy an extended warranty.

the game they play on monthly payments is also really annoying. i only care about sticker price and i have a phone app that can tell me what the financing would be

Start online like others said. It’s the easiest way to price shop and if you’re not the type who likes handing these things face to face, it’ll be easier for you to ‘walk away’ (i.e., just ignore their emails).

I’d just say be prepared to travel a bit for the car you want if you do it that way. We live north of the city and drove to the western burbs bc that dealer was ~$4k inside of the dealer 10min from my house.

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and we all know Twix is the only candy bar with the cookie crunch.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

1: don't buy any upsells on warranties or anything even related there. That's where the dealership makes most of its profit
2: get preapproved with your own loan before going in if you're financing. If the dealer wants to sell his own financing to you, make him offer a better deal than what your bank or credit union gave you
3: If you are trading a car in, don't bring in the trade-in until after you've already agreed upon a price, or better yet try to private sell it. You'll get more money that way and it's pretty darn easy to sell a car on Facebook Marketplace.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Yeah, that's what happened with us as well. We had to drive out of our way, but it was worth it.

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see if you can get Sinbad as your salesman

100% agree on the quote from Carmax. That was a god send during my last car purchase. Having that in hand is like money in the bank. I got a really good quote from Carmax and I know that the dealership had no interest in paying me what CarMax was going to give me, but to make the deal happen they had to. We stuck to our guns and waited to get what we wanted. They had to drive the car down from the northwoods of Wisconsin but they had it in one of their family of dealerships. Ended up buying a Honda from a Subaru dealership. They didn't really want us to go and get it somewhere else.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Also for certain brands, you can search their regional inventory online. It helps to know which dealers have what you are looking for and which are going to have to do a trade or stall you to wait for a factory delivery.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

This video holds up:

https://youtu.be/aXXxRJbiE-M

i chuckled at this. this is basically my grandfathers strategy overwhere. even the grocery store