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This post is a step-by-step guide on how to negotiate a car with my unconventional strategy that gets me new car deals for 35% under MSRP.
Buying a new car is extremely stressful.
In fact, I'd put the stress level of buying a car way above buying a home.
There's negotiating, sometimes dishonest car dealers, and the minute you buy the car, your asset depreciates. It's not fun.
However, we all need cars. Therefore, the important thing is to get a great deal on your new car.
In today's post, I'm going to break down my EXTREMELY unconventional negotiating strategy that got me a deal for 33% under MSRP on a newly released, high demand vehicle! (I can guarantee my strategy is one you've never heard before!)
Hint: I also tried it for my man's car and it worked flawlessly as well! He was thrilled!
How Did I Figure Out My Own Strategy for Negotiating a Car?
Being a woman and needing to buy a brand new car at a dealership, I was so intimidated because I felt like they weren't going to give me the best deal.
In fact, I knew they weren't going to.
Several car salesmen were coming back to me with an offer OVER MSRP!! Everyone knows you don't even pay MSRP, let alone OVER MSRP! They were trying to pull one over on me.
One car dealership even tried to sell me a car that was 2 years old for the MSRP sticker price, even though they couldn't sell the car for 2 years and wanted it off the lot.
I must look pretty stupid for them to think they could pull one over on me.
However, at that time, I was in my late 20s, so they probably didn't think I knew much about cars or about saving money. Ha! They clearly don't know me. I don't buy ANYTHING that's not on sale. (Well, for the most part anyways.)
I tell you this story because I knew I had to get come up with a new strategy. The normal tips of dressing poorly, acting like you don't care about the car, etc weren't working, clearly.
Therefore, I tried something different that I had never heard of. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure I invented this new strategy. I actually stumbled across it through trial and error and IT WORKED!
In fact, since it worked so well for me, I used the same strategy for my man's truck. He tried to get a better deal on the new truck he wanted for a year! I got him 30% less in 48 hours!
How did I do it? I'll break every single step down for you!
Let's get started on getting you the best deal possible!
Related Articles:
- 18 Actually Good Tips To Help You Land the Best New Car Deal
- Quality Car Add-Ons for CHEAP
First, Decide on the EXACT Car You Want
Before we can get started, you'll need to do research to decide on the exact car you want.
Yes, you may want a Honda Civic, but there are endless other features, models, bells and whistles you'll need to think about.
Go to the dealership, test drive the car, look at different models, and play with the options on their website.
You'll need to put together the exact car you want, including packages, colors, wheels, etc.
Here are some things to think about to get you started:
- Which model?
- What exterior color would you like?
- What interior fabric would you like? Cloth, leather, etc?
- What color interior fabric? Black, grey, beige, brown, white, red, etc.
- What kind of engine?
- 4WD?
- Do you want a sunroof? Panoramic sunroof?
- Electric doors/windows?
- Electric seats for driver? Passenger?
- Back up camera?
- Touch screen entertainment?
- Included warranty?
- Size of wheels?
- Type of rims?
- Size of trunk?
- Cargo cover?
- Cross bar roof rack?
- Heated seats?
- Ventilated (AC) heats?
- Dual climate control?
- Upgraded speaker system?
- Window tint?
- And the most important, but worst one…what's your budget?
Like I said, there's a lot to think about. To make things easier, I made a Car Buying Checklist and Comparison table for you! Download it below and view the tips on how to fill it out here: Free Car Buying Checklist and Comparison Scorecard Download
Go to the different car manufacturer websites, build out your desired vehicle and get an idea of the MSRP so you can decide what kind of car is in your price range.
Once you've decided on exactly what car you want, we can move on to getting you the best deal possible!
How to Negotiate A Car: Step by Step Guide
Picking out the ideal car is fun, but negotiating the price is no fun at all. Let's make it as non-miserable as possible with my negotiating strategy.
1.) Determine what REBATES you QUALIFY for on the Car Manufacturer Site
Manufacturers sometimes offer rebates for new car buyers. They often do this during holidays or weekends or just various times of the year. These rebates can offer HUGE savings so keep your eyes peeled.
They are often offers like “Get a $750 rebate if your old car was a competitive brand” or “$2500 instant rebate if you buy a car from us in July”.
Take note of those rebates. Write down which ones you qualify for and keep them in your back pocket. I will tell you when to bring them into the conversation. DO NOT MENTION THEM UP FRONT.
The goal here is to get the best deal possible BEFORE you tell the dealer you qualify for manufacture rebates. Often they include those rebates in their price to you…um no…those are rebates the manufacturer will be GIVING the car deal when they passed the savings onto you so NO, they cannot include them in their negotiated price to you.
Set those aside for now.
2.) Find the Dealerships That Have Your Car
Go on the manufacturer website and click on find a dealership.
Now you'll want to enter all of the details of the car you are looking for.
Note: You are not using the “build a car” tool here. That will give you a built to order car, which will cost you a lot. You are using the dealership tool to find your car pre-made in a dealership. This way, you can negotiate and get the best deal.
After you enter all of the details on the car you want, it should give you a list of dealers in your area or vicinity (I always do all dealerships within 500 miles of me) that have your exact car. I don't mind driving for a good deal if it makes financial sense. I figure I could always rent a car for $30, pay the gas and save thousands…sounds good to me.
Now that you have your list of dealerships with your exact car, move on to the next step.
3.) Contact EVERY Dealership that Has Your Car via…wait for it….EMAIL/TEXT
I told you this post was going to be different than anything you've seen before. Let me tell you, IT WORKS!!
Do not waste your time and gas going into the dealership for this. (You already visited dealerships when you decided on the car to get.) They know they have you once you're in front of them.
This is why my strategy works well.
You aren't in front of them and therefore if they want a sale, they'll need to give you a great deal to get you off the couch and into their dealership.
Feel free to mass email every dealership asking for the exact car you want via the list of dealerships that have your car or feel free to use other “car search” websites.
In your message, write the EXACT car you want with all of the packages, colors, etc. Tell them you are ready to buy the car immediately and want their BEST price. You you are a serious buyer looking to purchase the car quickly (I always say within the day if they are close or within 24 hours), you know exactly what you want, and will go with the dealership that can offer the best price.
Now…you wait…the emails/calls will start flooding in with quotes.
4.) Negotiate ONLY Via Email/Text
I'm not going to lie. After your mass email, it's about to get hectic, but it's worth it.
You may have 24-48 hours of total chaos, but you should negotiate with every dealer that contacts you back.
No matter what price they quote to you, respond by saying that's not within your budget and ask them how much lower they can go. Remind them you want to buy the car quickly and that you're a serious buyer. Now is the time to bring out your inner “Shark Tank” voice. Be stern.
I choose to negotiate ONLY via email/text. This has been the best strategy for me by far because I'm a young female with a “feminine” voice so phone calls aren't ideal either.
As soon as a salesmen hears that I'm a young female, they may think they can take advantage of my lack of car knowledge and give me a higher price.
Think again.
Again, I communicate only via email/text and am stern, strict, and to the point. I don't express any emotions, why I'm getting the car, or that I love it or anything.
I just strictly communicate numbers.
As a reminder, DO NOT MENTION THAT YOU QUALIFY FOR REBATES! (not yet)
[Hint: If you don't have enough dealers that have your car in stock, you can mass email all of the dealers in your vicinity asking for your same car. Often times, they will try to find it for you from another dealership to sell it to you.]
I recently negotiated a price that ended up being 33% under MSRP for a brand new car that had just hit the market the week before. There was only one of them in the state of California, and yet I still got the deal I wanted. It was also a standard manufacturer, not a luxury car brand! Typically those brand new cars are always priced above MSRP for at least 6 months so I really got an insane deal and proved to myself that my strategy works.
Keep the communication going via text/email.
You can ask them to ask their manager if they can go any lower in price.
You'll be able to tell right away which dealerships want to make a deal and which ones are not interested in negotiating.
No big deal. Work with the ones that want to negotiate.
For example, when I used this strategy with the car I mention above, I instantly had 7 car dealerships come back with a price under MSRP. I also had 5 dealerships give me a price OVER MSRP!!! They told me that since it was just released and it was next years model, it was in such high demand. You've got to be kidding me. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS. Do not fall for dealerships that tell you this. They are taking advantage of you. NO ONE PAYS MSRP!!! (At least no one that cares about saving money.)
Stay strong and don't fall for that nonsense.
You're better than that.
You've got this.
Work with the dealerships that are offering prices lower than MSRP and continue negotiating with them.
On the car above, I spent 24 hours negotiating via text and went back to them 7 times to get the price down even more.
You have absolutely nothing to lose. They do. Never forget that.
5.) Pick the Lowest Negotiated Price and Make it Competitive
Okay, now the fun starts back up again.
Narrow it down to the lowest negotiated price.
Make sure the manufacturer rebates we discussed are NOT on their quote.
Now, we're going to take it a step further.
This step is CRITICAL so don't miss it! This one step could help you get the BEST deal!!
Critical Step: Take the lowest price from one dealership and send it to another dealership. Ask them if they'll beat the price. Tell them that if they can beat the price, you'll buy the car from them in XYZ hours, days, etc. (Keep the time frame within the week)
After you negotiate a price that works for you, you can NOW tell them you qualify for rebates and you want the price adjusted down.
They may give you some push back or say they already included it, but stay strong. If they “included it”, that's on them as you didn't tell them anything about rebates you qualify for. They need to honor their original pricing. Plus, those rebates are given to them by the car manufacturer so when they give you rebates, they actually aren't losing any money.
Remember, you are channeling your inner “shark tank” negotiation. Would Kevin O'Leary cave in and agree? No! Neither will you.
After they've adjusted the quote and INCLUDED YOUR REBATES, you'll want to go on to the next steps.
6.) Confirm the “Out the Door Price” in Writing
Ask the dealer to send you a quote with ALL FEES, taxes, discounts, etc that has an out the door price on it.
This price will be all that you are expected to pay.
In fact, have them confirm in writing that these are the ONLY fees and there will be no surprises upon arrival to purchase the car.
Here's an example of what the Out the Door Costs will look like:
And another one:
There should be NO other fees EXCEPT these:
- License/title fee- can be found by going to your state's DMV website and entering your information
- Sales taxes- will be determined based on your zip code
Other fees to watch out for:
- Phantom footprints security or “security coding” on the doors- This is a car dealer scam. It's not necessary and it's just a way for them to take more money from you. Don't be coerced into buying it. Even when they say it can't be taken off, do not buy it. If they insist, buy your car elsewhere because they are not trustworthy.
- Document fee- Not my favorite and not necessary at all dealerships. It should be under $100 so I've paid this before if I'm getting a great car deal, but there are many dealerships that don't have it so watch for that and always ask them to remove it.
7.) Ask them to Have the Paperwork Ready to Go
After you settled on the fees and out-the-door price, ask them to get the paperwork ready to go. When you come in, there will be no additional negotiating as you just want to be on your way.
Make this clear with them. This way, when they create the paperwork, they won't be able to then change the price on you when you go in.
Schedule a time to meet with your sales rep and then GO GET YOUR NEW CAR!! Woohooo! Congratulations!!!
Successfully Negotiate a Brand New car
VOILA! You have hopefully successfully negotiated the best car deal possible!
Please let me know if you used my method and were successful!
For other tips and tricks on getting the best deal, visit my article here: 18 Actually Good Tips To Help You Land the Best New Car Deal
I'd love to hear your thoughts and any other strategies that have worked for you!
Related Articles:
- 18 Actually Good Tips To Help You Land the Best New Car Deal
- Quality Car Add-Ons for CHEAP
- Free Car Buying Checklist and Comparison Scorecard Download
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