View the Lowest Possible Price from local dealers with this insider process -- it's how to get the price not published in papers
Introduction to the Process: The plain truth is that car salesmen deserve their poor reputation. Sure, they are friendly, but behind the scenes all they see is money. Everybody knows the reason: The more money they can get out of you, the higher their commission. Sure they have a right to make a fair profit. But most of the tactics they use to get money are not fair and transparent. I should know -- I was a car salesman. This articles shows you the brain-dead way to get a fair price for a car.
WHY AM I SHARING THIS PROCESS?
About a year after I quit my job as a car salesman, I too, was cheated at a car dealership. I admit I did not follow this brain dead formula. Call it pride or overconfidence -- but car salesmen and women are good. Very good. If someone in the business could get cheated, it can happen to you. I'm sharing this information party out of revenge. But it's good advice. If this experience of mine did not happen, you probably would not know this easy process for getting car prices.
THE PROCESS: Power of Competition
Follow These Five Easy Steps to Make Dealers Compete
Gather information: If you do not know your credit score -- and you plan to finance a new car -- it is essential you obtain your credit report. Get your free credit report and score.
Get your trade-in value: If you are going to trade a vehicle in, it's highly recommended you get an independent valuation. Get your free trade-in valuefor your current car.
Get competitive pricing: Obtain online car pricing points from at least two dealerships -- use the Autos.com free service to get competing prices from multiple dealers.
- You will get an email with your car car prices.
- Reply to the dealer(s) with the higher prices, and kindly tell them another dealer beat their price.
- The dealers with the higher prices will respond with a better deal -- and often with a much lower price.
Financing: You should apply for a loan before you enter the dealership. If you have a credit score above 620, apply for a loan here. If you have a credit score below a 620, you should apply here.
Independent Quotes: It is essential you obtain independent quotes on the following services. Too often the dealership charges too much for services you can obtain on your own. (Optional).
- Extended Warranty: Get a free no-obligation quote to extend your warranty coverage.
- Car Insurance: Get a free no-obligation quote on car insurance for your new car from multiple services. May the lowest price win.
In Detail
Buying your own Range Rover Sport will be fun.However it's can also be a difficult process through which you can end up overpaying by hundreds or thousands of dollars or with a car that you won't be happy with later.
The difference between the MSRP sticker price and the price the auto dealer paid for the vehicle, known as invoice, is usually between five and twenty percent. Most dealers are willing to negotiate. This guide will help you get a decent price for your vehicle.
Step 1: Understand how car pricing works because a knowledgeable consumer will make better decisions. Here are the different pricing terms the salespeople may use.
The Window Sticker:
Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The MSRP is the vehicle’s published retail (base) price, without options, destination charge, or other fees. Because it’s “suggested,” dealers are free to sell the car at either a higher or lower amount.
Optional equipment.
These are the features and/or packages you pay extra for. Sometimes there are no-charge options; these are usually limited to paint, interior, and transmission choices. Keep in mind that the price of options can be negotiated.
Destination charge.
This fee covers the cost of delivering the vehicle from the factory to the dealership. This non-negotiable fee is usually the same cost for all models within a brand, and doesn’t depend on the actual shipping distance.
Market adjustments.
Sometimes you will see a line on the window sticker or a separate sticker that adds an additional charge to the vehicle’s price. This is a fee the dealer tacks on, usually to vehicles that are in high demand, in an effort to make additional profit. You can try to negotiate this figure, but if the vehicle is selling well the car dealership won’t have much incentive to work with you.
Total price or “sticker price.”
This is the total retail price for the vehicle, including the MSRP, options, destination charge, and any market adjustments. Typically a salesperson will try to sell the vehicle for as close to this price as possible, or perhaps offer you a token discount or manufacturer discounts. To get the best price, however, it’s better to negotiate up from the auto dealership’s true cost, described below, rather than negotiate down from the sticker price.
Other Terms You Will Not See on the Window Sticker:
Dealer invoice price. This is the price printed on the vehicle dealer’s invoice from the manufacturer. However, this isn’t necessarily what the dealer actually paid for the vehicle. There are often behind-the-scenes bonuses, such as dealer incentives or a holdback, that give the dealer more profit margin. Looking beyond the dealer invoice price can sometimes save you hundreds of dollars.
Rebate.
A rebate is a direct-to-buyer incentive from the manufacturer. Since it comes from the automaker, disregard it when negotiating with the dealership. You will get the same rebate no matter what price you pay for the vehicle.
Dealer incentives.
This is money that the manufacturer pays the car dealer for selling certain, usually slow-selling, models. This money can be passed on to the buyer in the form of a price reduction, or kept as added dealer profit. This is how a dealer can afford to sell a vehicle for “dealer cost” or below. These programs come and go quickly and aren’t announced to the public. Buyers can learn about vehicle dealer incentives on some vehicle-pricing Web sites or through Consumer Reports New vehicle Price Reports.
Holdback.
Most manufacturers offer auto dealerships a percentage of the MSRP, or a percentage of the invoice price, as a refund upon sale of the vehicle. The typical holdback is 2 to 3 percent, meaning a car dealership can still make a profit on a vehicle sold for "invoice," even without dealership incentives. Holdback information can be hard to find, although it is listed in Consumer Reports New vehicle Price Reports.
The vehicle dealer’s true cost.
This is the car dealership invoice price, minus any incentives and the holdback. To get the lowest price, begin your negotiations with a starting price that is about 4 to 8 percent over the vehicle dealer’s true cost. You can get a close estimate of the dealer’s true cost with the CR Wholesale Price, which is included in our New Car Price Reports.
Step 2: Know your financing options before you go into the car dealership .
Financing and your credit score. auto dealers like to arrange the financing for your vehicle because it gives them another source of profit. But the interest rate they offer may be higher than you could get elsewhere. Don’t make financing a purchase-time decision. Before visiting the dealer, make sure you know how you’ll pay for the vehicle. Call ahead to find out what the dealer’s rate is, and compare it with what you could get from banks, credit unions, or other lending institutions. If you are preapproved for a loan, you can keep the financial arrangements out of the negotiations.
Remember that your credit score will affect what interest rate you’re offered, so it’s good to know it in advance. Ideally, check your credit score a couple months before buying the auto so that you have time to correct any errors in your report.
Knowing your credit score can also protect you if a disreputable dealer tries to give you a higher interest rate than you deserve. Any score over 700 should ensure you the lowest rates.
The question of extended warranties. At some point in the buying process, the dealership’s financing manager will try to sell you an extended warranty, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
Consumer Reports does not recommend buying an extended warranty unless you plan on keeping a trouble-prone vehicle for an extended time after the original warranty runs out. Most manufacturer warranties are sufficient, with bumper-to-bumper coverage of at least three years or 36,000 miles and powertrain coverage that’s often longer. If you want an extended warranty, ones offered by the auto manufacturer are typically better than those offered by third-party companies. You can see how much an extended warranty for your car here.
Some disreputable dealers may tell you that you must buy an extended warranty because the bank requires it. In fact, lenders typically don’t require it, and making you pay for one under these pretenses is illegal in some states.
Trading in: Less effort and money
Many buyers prefer to trade in their current vehicle because it's easy. All you have to do is drive to a auto dealership , sign a few papers, and drive away in a different vehicle. You can apply the trade-in amount to your down payment, reducing the amount you need to finance.
Find your trade in value.
There can be tax advantages, too. Most states require that sales tax be paid only on the difference between the price of your trade-in and the vehicle you are buying, not the full price of the car you bought. However, this tax benefit does not apply if you sell your old auto yourself. Check with the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state for details.
The downside of trading your vehicle in is that you might leave behind hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for the dealer. As mentioned before, the best you can hope for when trading in is to get the car's wholesale value, which is significantly less than what you would expect to get if you sold it yourself. In addition, even if you've checked all the pricing sources and think you know what your vehicle is worth, you'll likely have to haggle with the salesperson to get the best deal.
Another problem you may encounter: If a dealer already has six used silver Camrys on the lot, for instance, he isn't likely to pay top dollar for yours. And if your trade-in isn't one the dealer wants on his lot, it will probably be sent to auction and will be discounted accordingly.
Just remember, no matter how tired you may be of your current vehicle, a dealership isn't doing you a favor by taking it off your hands. If the dealership buys your car, it's because there's an inviting profit at the end of the transaction.
Buy or Lease
Buying a vehicle is a fairly straightforward process. You borrow money from a lending institution, pay the dealership for the car, and then make monthly payments on the loan until it's paid off. As you pay off the loan, you gain equity in the vehicle until it's eventually all yours. You can keep the vehicle as long as you like and you can do whatever you want to it, from giving it a custom paint job to entering it in a demolition derby. The only penalty for modification or abuse, perhaps, is a lower resale value when you're done with it.
On the surface, leasing appears even simpler. You pay the leasing company a monthly payment that's lower than when buying. Then, after enjoying the most trouble-free two or three years of the vehicle's life, you simply bring it back to the dealership and lease another new one, or walk away. No muss, no fuss, right? Gone are your worries about haggling over the trade-in value or how to sell your old car. With a lease, that new-car smell need never leave your nostrils.
Moreover:
• There's often no down payment required when leasing, or only a low one.
• You can drive a higher-priced, better-equipped vehicle than you might otherwise be able to afford to buy.
• You're always driving a late-model vehicle that's usually covered by the manufacturer's warranty. These benefits are very inviting for many people. Still, there are a number of compromises and disadvantages to leasing, which means that it's not right for everyone.
• Once you're in the leasing habit, monthly payments go on forever.
• You have a limited number of miles in your contract and will have to pay extra if you go over.
• You must maintain the vehicle in good condition. If you don't, you'll have to pay penalties for excess wear and tear when you turn it in.
• If you need to get out of a lease before it expires, you may be stuck with thousands of dollars in early-termination fees and penalties--all due at once.
• Leasing is rarely a better financial arrangement than buying. The financial advantage of buying increases the longer you keep the vehicle after the loan is paid off.
• At the end of the lease, you have no equity in the vehicle to put toward a new car.
• You can't customize your vehicle in any permanent way.
In addition, arranging a lease can be a confusing, complicated process that can easily leave you paying more than you should.
Who Should Lease a Range Rover Sport?
A lease comes with lots of limitations on how you can use your new vehicle. Do you drive a lot? Do you load your trunk or roof rack with paint-gouging flea-market treasures? Is your car a magnet for parking-lot dents and dings? Are your kids apt to turn its interior into a finger-painting studio? If so, you face a potentially costly problem trying to live within the strictures of a lease.
First, you'll have to pay for what the leasing company determines to be excessive wear and tear to the vehicle when you return it at lease-end. Second, you'll have to ante up 10 cents to as much as 25 cents for every mile you drive beyond what your lease allows. Driving 5,000 miles over your limit can cost you $500 to $1,250.
Leasing novices are particularly at risk of running up these costs. Nearly one-third of the first-time lessees in a Consumer Reports survey were hit with excess mileage or wear-and-tear charges.
To determine whether the leasing lifestyle is for you, look ahead to the full term of a lease. How likely are you to change jobs or move to a new home that requires you to rely on your leased vehicle for a long daily commute? Will one of your children begin driving soon? If so, leasing may not be the right choice.
Drivers who are hard on their vehicles aren't the only poor candidates for leasing. Driving too little can also saddle you with unnecessary costs. In the same Consumer Reports survey mentioned above, 20 percent of the drivers older than 55 returned their leased vehicles to the dealer having driven at least 10,000 fewer miles than their lease allowed. Since they got no credit for that unused value, they gave the leasing company what amounted to a windfall when it resold the vehicle. Valuing those unused miles at 10 cents apiece, that subsidy to the dealer can add up to $1,000 or more.
Leasing generally makes sense only if:
• You don't exceed the annual mileage allowance--typically 12,000 to 15,000 miles, but sometimes as little as 10,000 miles a year.
• You keep the vehicle in very good shape. Excess wear and tear charges can be steep.
• You plan to get a new vehicle every two or three years. If you keep it much longer than that, you're better off buying it from the start.
A guide to car insurance
Many people stick with the same insurance carrier year after year without ever shopping for a better deal. Blind loyalty to one insurer can cost you dearly. In a recent survey, Consumer Reports found that some drivers were paying twice as much for a policy than they would have with another insurer. You can check auto insurance rates for your sitution here. Do Not: 1) Do not fall in love with Range Rover Sport. It’s an easy car to like; however, you are better off leaving all emotions behind.
2) Do not negotiate the price around the sticker. Get a price quote online and compare the price the dealer offers you with invoice.
3) Do not negotiate the price around the monthly payment. You’ll overpay because dealers can adjust your loan terms to make it look like a better deal.
4) Do not wait until you’re at the dealership to think about financing. Contact your bank or credit union. Request a loan quote online to compare your options. Look for special financing on a Range Rover Sport.
5) Do not forget to research the value of your trade-in on multiple sites to give you an idea of your trade-in-value.
