Newbie help for negotiating new car price

[brucen36]

Note: I'm in Canada

So I finally decided on getting a new 2015 Mazda CX-5 AWD GS trim after test driving it, the CRV, RAV4 and Forester. I liked the CX-5 the best by far. After the test drive the dealer gave the MSRPs with tax but he said when you're ready to buy we can negotiate. So I'm ready now, what do I go in with? Do I start off at a very low price and then try to meet somewhere in the middle? I'm in Quebec, but a friend of mine in Ontario got a price of $33K OTR for the 2014 version in red mica colour with 4 mudflaps included which seems like a pretty good deal. Do I just go in with the unhaggle invoice price + 3% + freight/pdi + tax and not budge from that price?

Also, what additional freebies should I ask for to be thrown in in case they won't negotiate much? eg. roof rack, auto-dimming mirror with compass, roof bike carrier, door visor, cargo cover, floor liners, hood guard, mud flaps, cargo tray, etc. Are any of these extras useful? What about the rust undercoating and extra warranty?

Lastly, is it possible for some of you who have bought a CX-5 to disclose the price you paid so I know approximately what to expect?

Thanks.

 

[CC58]

You can get $1700 off US MSRP for the Touring, and more for the GT. Go to autotrader.com and search all dealers in your province for the model with options you want. Someone will offer less than MSRP. Print that out and take it to dealer and ask for price matching. The freebies are a distraction. Concentrate on the price.

 

[brucen36]

thanks. So I went to the canadian version of autotrader site (autotrader.ca) and I searched all of the dealers within my province for new cars. None of the posted prices are significantly better than what is given on the mazda.ca build car link. On Mazda.ca the price is $30895, not including PDI/freight and 15% tax. The best price for a new model on autotrader.ca is $30700 before fees and taxes.

 

[CC58]

Usually dealers are desperate on the last few days of the month to meet their quota. Check autotrader every day and try to buy your car on the last day of the month. Your best deal will be the last day of the month. This is more true in slow months such as January.

 

[tibimakai]

Do you have truecar.com there?
Usually I don't step in, in a dealership when I'm ready to buy a car, just to test drive it.
I use truecar, to get the best deal and I use that for leverage other dealers.
It can be done though Email also, send a bunch of Emails to all the dealers in you area and see, who comes back with the best price and tell to the other dealers what quote did you get from that dealer.
See if they can do better then that.
Do nut rush into buying it, though it's end of the month. Usually at the end of the month you can get better deals.

 

[Sekmor]

I'm in alberta, I notice dealers in my area were using Kijiji. I wanted to buy local but did a fair amount of shopping on line to get a ballpark figure. Some dealers are more hungry than others. I did the same comparison you did and that also played into the price.
I had a specific number in mind, and if they went for it, I would buy. Forget the extras for now. Negotiate their best price. When you get stuck, then throw in the extra list, which they can discount a lot more than the car.
I got all the extras I wanted for a great deal. Remote starter, complete frontend 3M film protection, all weather mats, cargo tray, and the cargo cover. Oh and few free oil changes.

Bogus things to watch out for; (they might try to force after the deal);
automatically tag the car with stickers and engravings to register in some kind of list to help deter theft. Small fee of $800. (umm, is't that what insurance is for?)
Tire insurance, if you have a blow out this will apparently help buy a new set of tires......again $600-800.
Super wax job, under coating, rust proofing, interior scotch guard, starts at $1500 and down to $400

Hope that helps a bit............good luck

 

[CXVille]

Spend some time on the internet looking for recommendations on how to negotiate for a vehicle. Edmunds has information as well as a lot of other sites. Go in with a CASH price ONLY. Do not go in with a payment in mind, they will get you the payment, for 72-84 months, and you get screwed. Go in with options, a cash price, out the door. Include all the "extras" like PDI, taxes, tags, whatever. Then when you get into the finance guy (where you sign the papers) turn down EVERY extra he offers you. EVERY ONE. He will probably tell you he will sell you maintenance on the vehicle for $1,000 for 3 years or something. Yeah, lets see, oil changes, every 7,500 miles, at two per year, that is $300. Throw in another $200 for "inspections" and they made a 100% profit on that. Say no and the price comes down 20% - uhhh....so you admit you were trying to screw me with the first offer?

If you are going to borrow to purchase the car, fine, but negotiate only on cash. Dealers make their money by confusing you on cash vs. payments. And make sure you get, in WRITING, every single thing that you think will be with the car. Or it won't be.

I have no idea what pricing is in Canada - good luck!!

 

[CC58]

Dealers make their money by confusing you on cash vs. payments. And make sure you get, in WRITING, every single thing that you think will be with the car. Or it won't be.

I have no idea what pricing is in Canada - good luck!!

A co-workers wife thought she bought a car, only to find out she leased it! Talk about confused.

 

[cybercruiser]

I bought literally on the last day of the month. The Stealer's initial offer was basically sticker, maybe a couple hundred off to attempt to make me feel like I was getting a bargain. I turned it down, and countered my bottom dollar, which was approx $1,500 off their initial offer. Long story, short, they eventually took my offer. You literally have to be willing to walk out, just don't walk too fast, if you want them to catch you to accept your offer.

It does suck that we have to play these games. Then, he has the nerve to ask for all "10's" on the after sale survey. I haven't got the survey yet, it's been several months, so, don't know if I will. But, I figure he did me no favors making me fight for the deal I wanted, I won't be doing him any favors on the survey, I will answer it honestly. More than likely, won't be all "10s".

 

[sjcx5]

I had better luck with Edmunds vs. truecar's buying program. Go through the no-haggle pricing on their website and wait for the salesmen to contact you via email. Take the number that is least and knock off an additional 1k or however much you wish (use the price thread in this forum for reference of what's the least people have paid). Some may not answer or even consider it but one of the sales men will reveal what their bottom dollar is and that's the number you use against the other dealers. If the other dealer's can't beat it, that's a good price. Request additional accessories as you wish.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

There is also around $400-$500 in deal holdback. I was able to get that as well with my dealer.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

A co-workers wife thought she bought a car, only to find out she leased it! Talk about confused.

I missed this one... all I can say is YIKES!!

 

[craigo]

Edmunds articles on the process are pretty much gold. Negotiate total cost, not payments. You can figure out payments ahead of time with a simple loan calculator that are on many finance websites and see how much interest you're paying. Finance rates are also negotiable, as is trade-in value. This is the basic gist I used:
Before dealer visit:
- Got a rough idea of what the car cost
- Had a rough idea of trade-in value from blue book
- Determined how much cash I would put down and moved money into account
- Got pre-approved financing at credit union for Car Cost minus cash + trade-in
Bought car, haggled a little with salesguy, got it for around invoice
- Right before I traded in my car I got an appraisal at carmax (takes 30 mins)
- Dealer offered same value as carmax for trade-in
- Dealer offered a lower interest rate than credit union
- Cut the check, didn't buy any BS "platinum maintenance" service plan while in the contract office
- Drove off

 

[Beefy]

In Canada, http://www.unhaggle.com/ will give you a starting point. I negotiated to something like $530 over invoice in a single visit; while I am sure the dealership made a lot more money than that I was happy with the time spent to savings ratio of the result.

The trick for me was simply to have done my homework. And it was quite clear to them that I had done my homework.

 

[Revers3]

You can try e-mailing each dealership that in your neighborhood for a quote to see who offers the lowest price.

Make sure in the e-mail you let them know clearly that you intent to buy and you are serious about the purchase, give them exactly what you want (trim, colour, addons) and also your timeframe.