Buying a new car from a dealership..

[Phanuthier]

Hey all, so a basic skill I some how missed up to this point in my life is knowing how to buy a car at a dealership. I'm looking at getting a used car from a dealership and I'm wondering, how does the bartering work (if they even move on the price at all - do they?) ? Is there any general rule like try and get 15% off the listed price or something?

(I am also looking to trade in my old car too) (The car is a 2009 Mitsubishi if that is important)

Thanks in advance

[Anthony Soprano]

Let me know exactly what car you want, including colour and trim level. I am a Car Cost Canada member so I can post it up here for you if you like. When I joined, I got ten quotes and I've only used three so far.

[Phanuthier]

Thanks for the offer ... but I would be buying this in California, that would probably make a difference, would it?

[algernon]

I paid the $35 for car cost canada a few months ago when my GF was buying her new car. My research at the time indicated that the "Invoice" costs on new cars was easily available for America, but harder to come by for Canada, so I paid the car cost canada fee. IIRC, they recommend taking off all rebates (hidden and advertised) then offering 5-10% lower than the adjusted price.

Of course, you are buying used, so who knows how that works? I have heard that the prices for used cars in America are really soft... Have you researched prices on the California Auto Trader, Craigslist, Kiijiji? or other 'local' sites?

[albertGQ]

I'm kind of in the same boat. My wife and I are thinking of having another baby. That means it's time for me to trade in my 2 door for a 4 door.

I'm thinking of getting a used Mazda 3 from a dealership. I'd like to trade in my silver 2002 Acura RSX. It's not the type S, but it is the premium model with leather interior. I've installed a remote car starter and a deck.

What would be the best process for us to get the most bang for our buck? We can go the financing route, but we also both have a $10k LOC each with a low interest rate that we can access as well.

TIA!!!

[photon]

Bang for the buck is to sell the RSX used and buy a used Mazda 3 privately, or if you buy from a dealership still sell the RSX used. Dealerships have to make money on trade ins so they'll pay less than a private individual would in most cases.

If you must do a trade-in, basically don't tell the dealership anything about a trade in at all (if they ask make something up, we're keeping both cars or something) and negotiate the price on the Mazda 3 first, then once that's agreed on then bring up the trade in, and negotiate that. If you do both at the same time they're skilled at making the trade in seem like a good value to you but they're making it up in the cost of the other car.

[SeeGeeWhy]

I think most dealers target a basic profit from each vehicle, no matter what it is. Let's say $2000/vehicle.

Try to find a dealer that sells a lot of new fleet vehicles and find out what their profit is on those units. Let's say it might be $500/vehicle.

If you can convince the dealer that giving you that same deal on one dinky little used car is fair, you save a bit of cash and he probably doesn't really feel like he's losing because he accepts many of those transactions each day as a win.