How far should I Attempt to Haggle?

[drumdummy]

Looking to purchase a new Silverado, 4x4 Crew Cab.

Spec Im looking at has an MSRP for 38.5k. With this June's incentive the dealership wants 32.5k for the truck. They added chrome running boards and chrome rails on the bed, plus a few big arse Chevy stickers at "no cost". Its not listed on the MSRP...no dealer sticker amended, yippy. Danger zone will be in when the finance guy jumps into the loop. Anyway I can take the APR of 0% for 36 months or 3k for the truck and then fork out 2.9 APR with my bank for 36 months instead.


The one charge I dont want to pay is the 2700 for the bloody onstar/xm toys. Waste of money in my opinion. No way I can get them to remove it unless I downgrade my specs...its just rubish I dont want to pay for, but the Bose is nice

So how far you reckon I can cut this down to? Figuring I'll shoot for 30k with extended warrenty thrown in...see how that works out. Would love other's opinions!

[pbergmann]

drumdummy
I have bought many many vehicles for my business and personal use. Im actually in the market now. Heres how it works, if you are dealing with a retail sales person you have lost some edge. You or anybody needs to contact the fleet sales department. They are a seperate profit center in dealerships. They will talk to anybody, but you need to be pretty sure on what you want, there is very little negotiation but they cut right to the bone. The 2500 i bought last year was $500 back of book that is about the deal you will get now. I never went into the dealer until i picked it up, and told them to bypass the finance guy. literally I saw the truck at 2 pm, paid for it and was driving off the lot at 2:20pm. I have never had it go so quick, but you have to be ready to move. On your truck that you are looking at, you are probably pretty close, based on my truck 39k went to 33k and that was it. so good luck, let us know how it works out.
PS My contact at the dealership said the the employee price plan was going to be made permanent in the way of a price reduction with elimination / reduction of rebates. I would wait till the 06 arrive then you wont lose a year of depriciation.

[gremlin96]

call your bank with a listing of whats on the truck and ask them what its worth. thay will tell you the bottom line.

the guys at the dealer ship i whent to whent nuts when i told them the bank will handle the lone. thay tryed for two hours to talk me into the 0% for 36 months at that price if you read you must pay that sticker price. there is no dealing on it. its in there contract.

[bigbadram51]

A dealership will only go so far. They need to turn a profit. How big will that profit be varies from person to person. For every one person that goes in and grinds them down to the nub, there will be five that come in and pay sticker or very close to it. It happens, I used to sell cars. I know how the business works and what a dealer is willing to give up. I find it fair on both ends if you go in and offer 250-500 over invoice plus any applicable rebates. You get a great deal and the salesman will make decent money. Being in car sales might be one of the hardest jobs to make a decent living doing. The price you had is very close to what I paid for mine when the half ton crew just came out. Mine stickered at just above 39. Dont discount the Onstar until you have tried it, as for satellite radio, I havent listened to fm radio in over a year, and rarely cd's I love both of mine to death and dont think I will own another vehicle that doesnt have either of them. I also got an insurance discount because of it. As for the part of waiting for an 06 because of depreciation, its a truck man they are money pits, no matter how much you put in it, how good of care you take of it, how little you drive it. YOU WILL NEVER SEE THAT MONEY AGAIN. And it will make you sick to see what its "worth" A lot of that has to do with getting great deals on pickups. If all vehicles sold for sticker you could sell your 39k pickup next year for 28-30 easy, but when you buy that same pickup for 31-33 why would someone pay 29 when for a couple thousand more they could have a brand new one. Anyway i'll jump off my horse. Enjoy your Silverado I know I do. I just got my Nelson tune yesterday and highly reccomend it.

[BlenderWizard]

Shoot 'em a low ball offer. The worst they can do is say no. Works when you go to buy a house, too; I used to be a Real Estate agent.

[White Lightening]

Greetings Drumdummy,

Personally - I think you are confusing yourself. Stay away from MSRP and focus on what is the dealership invoice figure. MSRP is based on retail price of options - while dealer invoice is based ona price for the vehicle. This isn't nonsense. Options and accessories carry different profit margins to them. So a vehicle with lots of options will have a higher profit margin built into the MSRP. Meanwhile dealer invoice is a more reliable figure. Base your negotiations off the dealer invoice number - not the MSRP - is my suggestion.

THEN factor in incentives - because incentives come AFTER the dealer invoice. If there is a big rebate for GMAC financing - take it - then redo the loan in 45 days. If there is no rebate for GMAC financing - then look to a credit union etc. - they'll finance up to 6 years for about 3.9% right now on a NEW truck.

Also remember one thing - the dealership is a business - and they desire to either make a profit - or eliminate a problem inventory item. If you are buying what everybody wants - its not an inventory problem. Now GM on the other hand - has an inventory problem - a big one. Middle/later July and August are GREAT months to buy a new vehicle - thats when the new 2006 pressure starts to heat up.

My viewpoint - have fun with the dealership - don't make them your enemy - and be serious about your ability to make a decision when the price and product match your need. Remember - GM is ultimately the one you're trying to "dicker down" - because the dealership can only go so low on their own.

[jethro_3]

And don't forget that the longer that truck has been on their inventory list the more they will have incentive(rebate) to get it in your hands. They don't let you know that until you start asking them. Inventory over 120 days does get a better incentive than one that just showed up on the lot.

Good luck.

[drumdummy]

So far with these incentives its 400 under the invoice, which is listed at 32900. Thats fairly fair, still trying to squeeze down a bit


Anyone have success skirting down the lam dealer/group contribution? Think this is their advertising cost, this one is listed at 374 for both so a little of 700 total. I'll prolly finance through navy federal as well, far better rates for me.

[White Lightening]

Originally Posted by drumdummy

So far with these incentives its 400 under the invoice, which is listed at 32900. Thats fairly fair, still trying to squeeze down a bit
Anyone have success skirting down the lam dealer/group contribution? Think this is their advertising cost, this one is listed at 374 for both so a little of 700 total. I'll prolly finance through navy federal as well, far better rates for me.

Drumdummy,

I think you're a little confused from my post. The dealer invoice doesn't have anything to do with GM incentives unless you're talking about "package discounts". As an example - if GM has a rebate - that comes AFTER the invoice pricing. You stated that with the incentives you are $400 under invoice.

What are you at BEFORE incentives? Then are the incentives "direct to customer" or are they package savings?

As an example in August of 2004 when I bought my truck it was:
MSRP = 32952
package savings = - 1,000
dealer invoice was 31952 minus gross profit = XXXXXX
XXXXXX - $5,000 in GM rebates (available at that time) = 24150
24150 - tradein negotiated value = Final price to pay/negotiate from.

Note that my MSRP was 32952 and my AFTER incentive number was about 27% discount from MSRP. It really didn't matter - the important thing to me - was what would I need to pay with my tradein?

[mldennisaf]

It is true that you can haggle on the LAM fees. I told them that I would pay half. They said this was an expense to them that they never get back from GM. I told them that I was helping them make their sales levels for the month and they would get some money from GM if they made the deal with me. I ended up paying half but I could have probably gotten the whole thing if I wanted to stay at the dealership longer. All in all it was a fun negotiation. I learned that I didn't need to get mad I just needed to state how much I wanted to pay for the truck and they could call me when that number worked for them. I would have walked away and made them call me.

I used the spreadsheet at carbuyingtips.com chapter 4. I only paid 206.80 more than I wanted to for the truck. Yippie.!!

--M