how do you figure out how low to offer on a New Vehicle?
 

just wondering how the best way to figure out how low you should offer on buying a new vehicle, I hate all the haggling and back and forth that always goes on, if you are looking at a new vehicle that has a MSRP of $60,000 on the dealer's website for example, how much should I offer them as a final offer?

Say between $55,000 and $58,000. It depends on many factors though. If the respective model is a new release, might be more.

research. how much is the car MSRP on sites like Edmunds and Cars.com, find out the invoice price, is there dealer holdback, are there any rebates. Is the car in demand, if it is in demand you're pretty much at the mercy of the dealer unless the competition in the area is high.

if you have multiple dealers in the area for the same make, find the emails for their sales people, fleet manager would be best. Email them tell them the car you want, the color, the options and ask for their best out the door price.

Not all will play along, and they will most likely want you to go in to "meet" you but it's their way to get you in the door and pressure you.

I tried that with Acura dealers in Seattle and one flat out refused to give me any pricing insisting I must come to the show room to meet them and that they don't give prices out over email. Naturally I refused. Online quotes are pretty useless too, most of the time is just lead generation. Some will give you a price, but most will give you the run around and try to get you in the showroom.

if you're looking into a BMW tho you might be able to knock off a couple grand at most. I've found them to all have attitude that their product is superior to anything else on the road and doesn't compare.

We're starting to look for a new car but we'll be shopping in november and december when the big deals start to come out.

If you hate pressure and have a hard time saying no my best advice is to walk in as prepared as possible. We got hosed on our Lexus deal, out $2500 from what was the car's listed price on the site and caught them doing it but still got shafted with all the hidden tacked on fees

Invoice price - Holdback -Dealer cash -Customer cash = Dead cost

there are sites to help you determine all the above.

if you are getting the dealer to finance and/or trading in, the above does not apply.

I will rent you my Mom.

She does amazing things with car buying. She goes early in the day, demands to only negotiate with the manager and if they say no, she will spend as many hours wearing them down as it takes until the manager steps in, which is usually a few minutes before closing.

No shit ... she went with me to buy a new car about 6 years ago and she actually put the negotiations on hold so that we could go out to lunch.

She squeezes them until they bleed.

that's the formula
although dealers get bonuses per X cars sold that are not made public

trade in should be done separate.
Again they might not play ball, but try to negotiate the new car price first, that way you have at least some idea what you can get it for.

Then negotiate your trade if you have one, although they dealer guys might not play ball since you'd have the upper hand.

Doing it that way you'll keep them from shafting you and potentially doing their cost shifting games to make it look like a sweet deal.

If you have a trade get estimates from blackbook, blue book and NADA. Then look on AutoTrader how much similar cars sell for. And of course clean your trade up and wash it before going in

It also helps to ask if there's any kind of bonus for bringing in a friend/family member who is also in the market for a new car. My friend got $200 off her Astra because she brought her parents in the next week to pick up a used SUV.

:1orglaugh awesome mom

actually i'd advise against that for people who can be pressured and feel uncomfortable negotiating. it's another distraction you need to keep focused on what's going on.

besides, $200 off is relative. it can be $200 off invoice or, most likely, off MSRP.

my lexus dealer boasted about what great deal he was giving me, until he drew on the paper how he's giving me $5k off, which was the Lexus cash rebate, and he calculated it $5k from MSRP+options which was no deal at all