Some advice
Glad you're looking at buying a RAM. Car buying can be frustrating so it's important to do some homework before beginning the process. I've bought a few new cars and I know a bit about the business from a family member and reading about the industry.
For RAM, check out Dennis Dillon's website. It's an Idaho dealership that does very good volume and advertises very low prices (they claim it's the lowest). In the car business, higher volume dealers have lower cost because they get large incentives for hitting benchmarks (for example, 100K at 100 cars, etc). You can either buy from them and fly out to pick it up or you can use this as a target price for your vehicle.
But a smaller dealer is not lying to you when they say they're not making any money at the Dennis Dillon price. But don't believe anything a salesman tells you either. They will show you an invoice, which is basically a lie. The industry has something called "holdback" which is a refund the dealer gets when they sell the car. The public invoices they show to customers exclude this and other things (of course, things like the volume incentive vary from month to month). It's really hard to actually know their cost and they won't divulge it (though they might claim to).
The dealer will also look to make as much money as they can on financing and your trade. Negotiate price first without talking about trade then try to get what you think is a fair price for your trade.
For financing, it's best to get approved at your own bank so you know what interest rate you should get. Dealers can often beat the rate you get with banks as a solo customer, so you can say, "look I'm approved at 4 percent at my local bank, beat that and I'll finance with you guys." ALWAYS double check the paperwork, it's not unheard for a dealer to say the loan is X percent but for the paperwork to actually vary. Even at a competitive rate, the dealer will get some extra profit from making the deal happen. That is OK, but if you have an offer from a bank in hand it allows you to gauge the deal much better.
If you are going used and there are things that need to be fixed and the dealer promises to do so, get it in writing. No need to be a jerk about it but say, look I would just need that in writing if we close on this deal. Don't trust anything they tell you for that matter. If they say the vehicle is under warranty, verify that (specifically, look on carfax to see if the maintenance as reported conforms to warranty requirements). If there is unreported maintenance on that carfax and you are buying used, a mfg can and will deny a claim related to that lack of maintenance.
The old saying that you should buy a car at the end of the month remains true. This is where they are looking to meet their goals so they can get their volume bonuses, etc. It is not unheard of to sell a few cars at a loss at the end of the month to reach whatever goal they have.
LAST, don't get pressured into buying. There are a lot of psychological games dealers can play that will just make you want to capitulate (making you wait for extended periods of time to break your will to walk away is a big one). Don't play their game and don't be afraid to walk away, either.
Some post purchase advice, DON'T buy any warranty from the dealer you buy from. MOPAR (Chrysler) offers an excellent extended warranty and the best price you can get is online, price is around $2500 or so for lifetime mechanical coverage.
Good luck!
