Overhaulin'

Why does the internet car sale call for higher price than?

the MSRP or estimated price indicated yahoo autos? It's not a couple of thousand dollars they overcharge but it's like over USD $6000 for the exactly same model and option. How should I negotiate the price with the dealer?

Public Comments

1. What car is it? Some cars sell above MSRP (Mini Cooper for example) and some below. What is the website you ar etalking about?
2. NEVER BUY ON-LINE, ITS JUST A RIP OFF AND A BAIT AND SWITCH, TRY THIS. End of month is a great time to BUY your new car, but it is NOT the best time to make your first dealership visit. Salesmen do try harder to make sales at the end of the month, which is about the last five days of the calendar month. In addition to the end of the month, there are better and worse times of the year to buy. Best time of the year to buy is the end of December, in most dealerships. Dealerships try to make specific quotas for end of month AND end of calendar year, and it is not a popular time to buy, so sales can slump seriously and they will try harder to make a sale, which means a better bargain. If you shy away from buying in the winter because of bad weather, think again: bad weather is when you WANT to be in the car, testing it’s foul weather capabilities. Other good times of year to buy are end of August and end of September because the old models are taking up space on the dealership property, and they want to make room for the new models to come in. If your heart is not set on a brand new model, this is an excellent time to buy a perfectly good new car that happens to have been manufactured a few months earlier. There is a very important BUT to this end of month advice: Do NOT make your very first visit to the dealership at the end of the month. Go to the dealership at the beginning or middle of the month, test drive the cars, get some info, then go home and give yourself two to three weeks to get the best financing. THEN go back at month's end armed with full information and a buying plan. Give yourself a day or two extra in case the first dealership doesn't work out and you need to go to another one. This is a big purchase, don't try to do it all in an afternoon!
3. First thing is to make sure that the one the dealer has is EXACTLY the same as the one you are looking up. Then, make sure there are not a lot of dealer add ons. For example, Honda Civics did not come with leather seats, alloy wheels, spoilers, etc. SO, we would put aftermarket leather (we used very good quality, better than factory leather) our cost installed was $850, and we put it on the window sticker at $1,350. Aftermarket wheels (Honda wheels, but they were not factory installed) with new performance tires for the package was our cost $1,800, on the window sticker $2,200. Anyway, you get the idea.. there could be LoJack, GPS, etc all installed after market.. there could also be an additional charge for limited availablity like the Mazda Miata had when it was first released. We were selling a 17k Miata for 23k, and getting it on every single one we could get our hands on. People will always scream ripoff when a dealer sells over sticker, but just fine when they sell for 2k under... interesting perspective... my attitude always was, if the consumer has no regard for the sticker price, why is the industry supposed to have some kind of regard for it. So, if you have a question on a specific stock number, start by simply calling the dealer and asking why the car is priced there.. by the way, when you say MSRP, I am assuming that you are looking at a new car, and not a used car, correct? Once you have determined you have an apples to apples comparison, start there.. ask the dealer, if I buy today, right now.. what is the best price you can give me? I am not going to sit here for 3 hours going back and forth.. save us both the aggrivation, and tell me what you will sell me the car for... do not get into discussions of trade, financing or anything else, as they have nothing to do with what they will sell you the car for.. the other items are a separate discussion. If all else fails, offer $500 over invoice as a fair profit. Be prepared to walk if you dont get your deal.
4. On-line car sales are no better or worse than walking into the dealership. There actually is an advantage to shopping on line. You can check multiple sources and get prices without leaving the house. You have all the current information right at your fingertips...current rebates, dealer incentives, invoice prices, inventory at a particular dealer etc. You can negotiate the price and confirm the deal without setting foot outside. Do your homework and you should do fine, despite the horror scenario that UCANTCME paints that you will get ripped off and they only do a "bait and switch".