It is common practice to negotiate the price of a car before making a purchase. However, most people don't try to negotiate the price of the car they are financing. You should try to negotiate the price of the car before you agree to financing it. You don't want to try to negotiate the price after you have agreed to financing it. This is because if you don't get financing, you won't be able to negotiate a price. Before you get financing you will have more leverage to lower the price of the car. When you negotiate the price of the car, you should focus on the monthly payment of the loan. Dealerships usually get the most profit from financing the car. Therefore, they are often willing to lower the price of the car to get you to finance it. They don't care how much they make off the financing because they make most of their profit from selling the car.