First rule, never ever give your phone number to the dealer. They know voice is hard to resist. Saying that you want best deal up front will most likely never work. No FCA dealer is going to give you their lowest price on the first round, and if you take that price you have overpaid. Maybe that dealer wouldn't go lower but I can almost guarantee you would find a better price on identical truck somewhere else. I did a inventory search on my new truck a year ago, did about 400 mile radius from DC region. Got my truck about 300 miles away in Upstate NY. A dealer in Scranton PA had all kinds of leftovers in their lot and and had it taken to their sister NY dealership since I have family there. I never physically saw it until the day I picked it up, all negotiation was fine before, was at dealer for about 20 minutes total. It was interesting, I would find a leftover here or there, but this dealer had like 15 of them. Assume they transfer them from other dealers after a period of time, I was able to track mine as almost 11 months from time of original delivery. Good luck.
For some, not me, the deal for you doesn’t need to be the smokin deal, just the smokin deal for you.
I actually Have negotiated 8 of the 11 vehicles I bought on the phone. It’s great that way. I always get the best deal in the least amount of time.
That being said I always know exactly what I want if I’m buying for me. If I’m buying for my wife or kids it’s much more difficult and I often end up walking away from the deal and have to wait for them to call back and beg.
The other trick I use is I figure out the best deal. I search in several states. Once I get the best deal and know what invoice is then I go to the dealer that’s closest to where I live and if I like him I ask him to beat the deal. It seems it works almost every time.
My rule is to know exactly what you want, know the best interest rate and where to get it and IF you get the warranty make sure you get the warranty for cost. If the finance manager tells you a higher rate, and they almost always do, you look him straight in the eye and tell him/her you can get it at a lower rate and you don’t like to be bs’d. Actually I did that a few weeks ago with my daughters car but I was pissed. I knew the rate (2.9) I was willing to pay and I could get even lower and the ***** not only tried to tell me my taxes were more but the interest was 5.9%! I was pissed! I looked at the ass, got off my chair and said loudly that he’s trying to screw me and started walking. The sales mgr ran up and asked, I told him right before I got to the door and next thing I knew, 5 minutes later, my tax rate was corrected and miraculously I got 2.9%. I would have walked anyway but my daughter kind of owns me and has me wrapped around her finger.
I know for the truck I want, ordered the way I want, has a MSRP of 89k and as I sit here now I have 2 dealers that will do it for 78k or better and 1 who says he’ll smoke that deal but seems to be having a hard time returning a phone call. I just started too. Invoice is $84,281. Verified.
I’ll probably go with Mike near me even if I pay a little more but I will still find the lowest before I do.
