how much info to give a dealer?

[hwoarang]

looking to get a mazda 3 or subaru impreza

all i want to do is test drive the cars at the dealerships, and get their best price if cash was paid on the day.

i dont wanna go through any of their 20mins sit down shenanigans...

is this doable? i hate wasting time with these ppl

[ThePointblank]

Not possible... Unless you find a dealer that's real desperate to sell a car. And for Mazda and Subaru, not likely.

[S203]

It depends on the dealership you get and the salesman you get. Some people will hand you keys to their flagship car while others won't even let you have to keys to their most basic model.

What do you mean exactly by "how much info to give to a dealer?"

[Anonymouse]

I've had good success negotiating on behalf of colleagues over email. I just say I'm very far away (which in my case is true) and I need to agree to a price before I show up with my cheque. Some dealers didn't want to negotiate over email, so I just welcomed them to 2009, wished them all the best, and moved on. They always contacted me after a week.

Typically, they don't accept these kinds of offers right away because they are used to being in control and all their sales training says they have to get you in the dealership. However, new car sales are down 20% so far for 2009 and it's not like the good old days for those folks.

The form my emails took was that I wanted a Studebaker Model 543X with option codes 678Y and 789Z, and I was offering CCC invoice (attached) plus 2% in the form of a bank draft. The deal was contingent on delivery by a certain day.

[hwoarang]

It depends on the dealership you get and the salesman you get. Some people will hand you keys to their flagship car while others won't even let you have to keys to their most basic model.

What do you mean exactly by "how much info to give to a dealer?"

i mean, i dont wanna go through their BS where they ask how much im willing to pay per month, when i wanted the car by, my name, phone number, etc.

how much info do i have to give before they tell me their best price?

im looking to give each dealer one shot, and if they BS me, i'll leave on the spot.. i guess i have a 'good idea' of the lower price range of these vehicles... so i'll somewhat know if you're playing with me

i do not want them to have any control. i've had experiences with dealers being pricks before

[T-Man]

i mean, i dont wanna go through their BS where they ask how much im willing to pay per month, when i wanted the car by, my name, phone number, etc.

how much info do i have to give before they tell me their best price?

im looking to give each dealer one shot, and if they BS me, i'll leave on the spot.. i guess i have a 'good idea' of the lower price range of these vehicles... so i'll somewhat know if you're playing with me

i do not want them to have any control. i've had experiences with dealers being pricks before

Dealers will be registering your vehicle and licensing it for you with the ministry of transportation. They will need your name, phone number, address, driver license info, and your current insurance info provider.

As for how much per month you're looking to spend. Its a basic qualifying question, if I had someone who said they wanted to spend $200 per month, with $0 Down payment, no trade, I wouldn't be wasting that customer's time by trying to sell them a Challenger SRT8 for example.

When you want the Car by?-Again another basic qualifying question. Because incentives change from month to month dealers do need to know if you're looking to take delivery within the same month you're talking to them. A colleague of mine had a customer on a vehicle once, the Customer was rushing, just wanted a quote, he got it based on the current incentives. When my colleague asked the guy when they can get together again, was told by the end of the week and that he'd be busy with work and again he was just rushing things, get all the info then left, no phone number left behind. Time went by. The guy did eventually return, a few weeks later....."into the following month", where one of the rebates was no longer offered. The guy was pissed saying had he known this, he would have came in to finish the deal. Well Mr Customer, you were in a rush, that day, didn't want to leave your phone number, told me you'd be back by the end of the week.

So anyways don't be offended if you happened to get a salesperson who is trying to help you figure out the best solution that makes the most sense for you.

how much info do i have to give before they tell me their best price?
All dealers invoice within the same region, and all factory rebates are the same. The best price is free of charge of course. If I gave you say $1 over cost, you would still take my number and shop me at another dealer and if that dealer was desperate enough, they might beat it by $10 bucks just to steal the deal. On the other hand, what if Dealership A quoted you say $700 over cost, but of course left some wiggle room for negotiating but then dealership B quoted you say $600 over cost, and you ended up buying at Dealership B, but Dealership A was willing to go down to $500. So any dealers who use the words "This is my Best Price" Thats it, they might as well kiss that potential sales out the door because they will very highly unlikely see that person again.

If you want to know how much margins there are in vehicles, without going into the dealership, most people on here would recommend getting a CCC (CarCostCanada) report, that way you know how much room they have to play with. Just negotiate on the margins after the current incentives.

If you want to negotiate over the phone or E-mail with dealers, be prepared to follow through with your offer. How does a dealer know they're negotiating with someone who's serious and will follow through on their offer or someone who's just window shopping? Simple, they'll ask you for your credit card info, if you're legit, you'd follow through with your offer anyways right? So therefor, you'd have no problems leaving a deposit right?

Most people shop around, thats human nature. Dealers know this.

Alot of my sales are made over the phone, E-mails, and PM's. I prefer phone as its much quicker when I get someone who doesn't know the difference between trims/packages on whatever vehicle and over the phone, I can quickly give them the information rather then E-mails.

Assuming you know exactly what you want, and want to minimize your time at the dealership, heres one method you can use.

Phone:
1) Ring Ring, call up a Dealer, tell them your exact trim, package, options, colours, you want. Don't just ask the dealer what the best price is, make an offer. Be prepared to follow though with your offer. If its just a quote you want, no worries, any dealer would have no problem giving you quotes. If you counter with a different number in mind, and they accept, then please don't play games, keep your word and follow through. You're making an offer, which is conditional upon them accepting it, and they agree to it, then follow through.

E-mail:
2) I get ask for quotes all the time for whatever vehicles. I do provide quotes, are they my "best price"?. Never, I know if I use the words, I'll never hear from the person again. The shopper would presumably take my numbers and shop me at another dealer. So I always leave the door open, I tell people that this number is just ballpark just so you have an idea and that I'd be willing to do something extra for them.

OK.... I think thats enough for now, I hear some people in the showroom. Hope that info helps!