From: tedebear@leland.Stanford.EDU (Theodore Chen)
Subject: Re: buying a new car
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 15:37:05 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.220532.7260@engage.pko.dec.com> wiryaman@riscee.pko.dec.com (Santa Wiryaman) writes:
>In article <1992Jul30.174003.5648@fid.morgan.com> joec@fid.morgan.com (Joe Collins) writes:
>>  B-Ask to see the wholesale price and discuss their profit.
>>    Show them my view of the wholesale price.
>>    Ask about incentives between the dealer and the
>>    manufacturer.
>Why should they reveal their dealer cost and profit to you?  If they do, how
>do you know they are accurate?  If you are buying a shirt at Macy's, should
>Macy's reveal the cost of the shirt and their markup?
but we are talking about a much larger sum of money.  you have a major
advantage: you are the customer.  if you don't like the way things are going,
you can leave.  you can always come back. but they can't make you come back.
that's your advantage.  make it clear that you are prepared to negotiate
a fair price, but you will not negotiate until you know what their
cost is.  they may want you to make an offer first.  go ahead, quote a figure
which you are certain is well below their cost.  in other words, "play by
my rules or i walk."  be polite about it.  it always works for me.
a number of dealers will tell you as soon as you ask.  most others will
wait until you get to the door and then cave in.
actually, you should probably find out the dealer cost before you go in there.
i ask them to show me the dealer cost anyway.  (if i don't get it within 5 or
10 minutes, i'm out the door.)  it gives me a chance to judge their honesty
and also, i can use the numbers to convince them that i'm offering a fair deal.
a while ago, a dealer came up with an invoice that i knew was too high.
instead of arguing with her, i said that i was going to base my figures
on what she had told me.  and if her numbers turned out to be inaccurate,
the dealer would be open to a lawsuit for fraud/misrepresentation.  (she
knew that i was in law school.)  i also had a friend with me, as a witness.
so she said she wanted to double check - and lo and behold, she'd made
a mistake.
dealers are scum.
>>  D-Discuss financing, leasing options. This should make them
>>    more flexible on the car price since they will hope to make
>>    it up in the financing/leasing of the car.
>If you intent to finance/lease, I would agree on the car price first and
>then negotiate the financing/leasing option.  There are just too many variables
>to play around such as the term, down payment, interest, etc. that could easily
>hide the car price with a lower monthly payment.  I don't know about you, but
>I cannot calculate all those variables during the bargaining process.
i agree.  nail down the price and then talk financing.  or, since 
you have a computer, use a spreadsheet and create several financing scenarios
beforehand.  the important thing to remember is that dealers use this to
confuse you and get you to pay more money than you think you're paying.
dealer financing is usually not the best option, anyway.  and the auto
manufacturer may have financing available, too.  in that case, get a
price first and then say you want the factory financing.  otherwise they'll
use that to get a higher price out of you.  ("you're already getting
an incredible interest rate.  you can afford to be more reasonable about the
price.")

or you can skip all this shit and go buy a saturn.  isn't ford doing the
same thing with the escort now?
be hardheaded.  don't be afraid to look like a jerk.  they'll hate you
but what do you care as long as you get a good deal?  good luck.
-teddy