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Friday, May 29, 2009

Negotiating skillz..I has them

Our lovely, horribly loud, 11 year old Honda was ready for a new home...well, we were ready for a new car. We decided we wanted another Honda, so I began to research. I looked at cars.com daily, I checked local dealers, I read up on KBB, Nada, and Edmunds. I found out what year/make/model I wanted and what they were selling for. I also researched the trade in value on it, so I had an idea of what the dealer paid. I also read a million "tips on buying a used car". I felt very prepared. We followed a lot of the tricks- go at the end of the month, don't show too much interest in any particular car- do NOT discuss financing until you reach a deal, etc. Well, the car we wanted was priced at 15,000. We drove it and a couple others, we walked around a lot, and we just made sure the dealer invested time in us- the tips said that would make them more willing to work with you. He offered us a price on the car we weren't very interested in- 3000.00 off the sticker. It was a great deal, but the car had kinda high miles (45k and it was a 2007). So, I asked him what he would give us the other car (the one we really wanted) for- he replied, "Oh, that one has low miles, I could do 13,900, maybe 13,500. So, we just kept delaying and talking amongst ourselves. He then asked me to make an offer, so I pulled out my research that I printed (I guess at this time he could tell we were serious), and figured if they were giving about 11,000 for trade ins on this car, it would be fair to offer 12, 500. He said he'd "check with the manager"..after a few minutes, he came back and said the best he could do was 12,900. I asked him to work that up and see what the total cost would be, with TT&L. Well, it was around 14,300. Still with me? Okay, so I told him we very well might buy the car if he could get it to 14k out the door, and he did! So, the cost of the car when from 15k to 12, 700. That's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. It was easy- I kind of wonder if we could've got it for less. I doubt it; I haven't seen any 2006 Accords with under 30,000 miles for less than 15k sticker, and most of them were more. So, if you followed all this, kudos to you. I hope these tricks and tips helps someone else in the future.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh yes, I always get good deals on cars. I'm pretty brave when it comes to negotiating with these guys, and the fact that Joe worked for VW as a salesman for 4 years definitely helps us in bargaining.