Howdy,

We are in the market for a used vehicle. We know what we want and want to be prepared for this process. We previously purchased used from Carmax. As they don't haggle, we never really had to understand the nuances in negotiating dealerships.

We live out in west Texas but we expect we'll find the best car for us over the metroplex, if that makes a difference.

Do you have any tips you can provide or anything to be cautious of?

Is there any way to know or get to their bottom line figure?

If i don't do cash, is there any reason to not get financing through a dealership if they give us the lowest rate?

If we do this, will we get a lower asking price?

Thanks for any advice

lets start off with what do you want?

some may change their advice if they know you are looking at an Altima vs a Raptor

Just went through this process for a car for my daughter. Most of the Toyota dealerships are still trying to put on some extra fees ranging from 500-2000 for 'lojack, paint protection, paintless dent repair" even for used cars. I had done my homework and told them I wasn't going to buy any of that stuff. You'd get varying levels of pushback but ultimately all of the dealerships wouldn't lose a sale over it if you declined.

I had negotiated online with some of the dealerships, but didn't get too much of an improvement on the listed price. If I had more time, I think if I had physically gone into the dealership, saw the car and met the salesperson, I bet there would have been more wiggle room in the price if I was willing to walk out.

Good luck, it is a terrible process. I ended up finding with Costco they had a pre negotiated discount on new cars and just ended up doing that. Once I had that number with an out the door price at a dealership, then I got some other dealers to start bidding against each other.

Some of the used ones I found (toyota only) were about the same cost as new.

Helped son w used car buying last year. Vehicle was advertised as price + TTL. Final price

75% through it and they wanted to add on bull**** stuff. Started walking out. They finally let up. Had finance lined up w monthly payment for 5 years. They came back telling me they can beat it by $20 a month. After a few minutes of me asking again they tell me their number is over 6 years.

Only bought 3-4 cars from dealers last 10 years, but I believe they all are trying to bend you over.

You have to be ready to walk away. It can take time but most of the time not. Have the mindset that it's going to.

You come up with the value of the car you want to buy. What's it worth to you? Doesn't matter the price on the car.

You test drive, play the game, blah blah blah. Take their time. Then you make an offer. They'll writh and say not possible blah blah blah. Ok, thanks for your time. And then they go check with their sales manager and come back with a counter… you negotiate some more to what you want to pay. "Not possible.. blah blah"… ok thank you, and they go talk tot he sales manager again.


If they can't do it, they can't do it.. I've had success calling back at the end of the day and saying something along the lines "looked at quite a few cars today. Before I pull the trigger, I want to see if you'll consider my offer 1 last time"


And then don't buy any add ons. If you're dealer financing and they offer you a **** rate with perfect credit. You start walking out. They'll change it to get the deal done, but you have to be willing to leave everytime and be fine with it if that's the case.


Think of it as a game. If you're not willing to play the game you're not going to get the best deal. And in this case the best deal equals thousands of dollars. I enjoy it but most don't.

LCE said:

---

Helped son w used car buying last year. Vehicle was advertised as price + TTL. Final price

75% through it and they wanted to add on bull**** stuff. Started walking out. They finally let up. Had finance lined up w monthly payment for 5 years. They came back telling me they can beat it by $20 a month. After a few minutes of me asking again they tell me their number is over 6 years.

Only bought 3-4 cars from dealers last 10 years, but I believe they all are trying to bend you over.

---

And that's why they are called used car salesman.