How to Negotiate a New Automobile Purchase

Buying a new automobile is exciting, but you must put emotion aside if you want to negotiate the best purchase price. It takes research and a willingness to stick to your bottom line, even if it means walking out of the car dealership. You should have a firm plan before you ever walk onto a car lot. It will be easier to avoid emotion if you have your plan and have already rehearsed it in your mind. This will help you get a great deal on your new automobile.

Instructions

1

Put together a folder containing documentation of the new automobile's invoice price, current rebates, dealer incentives, the holdback amount (money given to the dealer by the factory) and forum postings or other evidence of what buyers are currently paying in your area. You can get this at sites like Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds. Your bottom line price should be based on this information, but a salesperson may question how you came up with your number and claim it is based on faulty data. Your research folder gives you ammunition to put him in his place.

2

Visit the dealership at the end of the month, when salespeople may be striving to meet a goal or earn a special incentive. This may make them more willing to accept a slim profit on the new automobile. It is especially helpful if you can buy your car around the holidays or when new models are just hitting the sales floor. The holidays are an extremely slow time for car sales, and dealers are often eager to get rid of current-year vehicles to make room for the new model year.

3

Tell the sales person you will only devote a limited amount of time to dealing with him, Negotiation Dynamics recommends. Many will try to keep you at the dealership as long as possible to wear you down. Head off this tactic by setting the alarm on your watch or saying, "I will be spending an hour here. I will leave at 7 p.m. if we do not have a deal by then."

4

Make your offer and stick to it. You will need to see and test-drive the suitable cars you found during your inventory search. Tell the salesperson what you are willing to pay once you have settled on one of those automobiles. Negotiation Dynamics recommends basing your offer on the invoice price, less rebates and dealer incentives, which allows the dealer to keep the holdback as profit. This should be adjusted based on what that type of car currently sells for in your area.

5

Get up to leave if the salesperson says your offer is too low. Don't sit around and let her try to get you to offer more or wait for her to keep running back and forth to her manager. Often she will stop you as you are leaving and suddenly be able to give you the new automobile for your price, Negotiation Dynamics states. If not, simply head to another car lot that has suitable inventory and repeat the process until you find one that sells you the car at your price.