Has anyone here ever negotiated a new car below the sticker price? If so, what tactics did you use. Also, I have negative equity in my car, but will be able to put cash down to offset the negative equity. How will that be factored in to the final amount financed. Should I just pay my car off? I had to get a high interest rate, and I've put 80000 miles in 3 years on the car which already had over 50000 when I bought it. It's been a good car to me, but now that I'm in a better position financially, I'm wondering if it wouldn't benefit me to purchase a new car that will last longer.
Here is what has worked for me the last three purchases. I live in Nashville. I shop the local dealers, then decide what I want to buy. I test drive it and settle on the options. In some cases, I will narrow it down to two or three cars. Other times, I settle on one. Then I get the best price possible, explainting that I will still be shopping some more. Then, I go to the web sites of the major car dealers in this area and Atlanta (four hours away) for the model I want. Some of them have web specials. Others will give you a quote if you can tell them exactly what you want. I have found that the Atlanta dealers are much lower in price. Last year I got quotes on a Honda Accord EX. About six or seven dealers in Atlanta were within $100 of each other. They were all way under local dealers. Their offer was just over invoice (about $250). I then took the written offer to my local dealers. None could come within $2000. I called the dealer with the best price in Atlanta, arranged the special financing over the phone, and set up a time to pick it up the next day. We drove down there, the car was ready, we signed the papers and headed home. Saved two thousand dollars and did not have the pain of negotiating. Do not use those on line brokers who promise low prices. All they do is to refer you to a local dealer who wants you to come in to the dealership so he can play his mind games with you. As to being upside down on your current loan. In the past, the lenders have been willing to give me 100% financing (sticker price plus taxes). Since I have been able to get the car for $2500 - 3000 under sticker, they were willing to give me more than I needed to purchase the car. In your case, you could use it to fund the deficit. Dealers are usually willing to play with the numbers to make the deal work. The point of all this is to find a big city with a lot of dealers competing with each other.
Newcomer, If you are worried about paying sticker, you HAVE to go to www.edmunds.com and check out the TMV section. Sticker shoul not even be in your mind. You gotta start at dealer cost (less than invoice if rebates and holdback are factored in) and work your way up...
