10 Steps to Buying a New Car
Step 7: Negotiating with the Car Dealer
If you have requested an Autotropolis TIP™ price quote, you will be ready to breeze through the negotiation phase. Since you have been in contact with the Internet sales department, you will already have a read-to-buy price before even walking into the dealership. If you have not requested a TIP™ price quote, you have to sit down with the salesperson and talk about a price.
The negotiation process is not nearly as intimidating as it used to be. With the amount of information available to car shoppers via Autotropolis, you will have every opportunity to know almost as much about the car as the salesperson does. You will also be able to have a good idea on what a fair price should be. The key word here is fair. The deal must be fair to both yourself and the dealership. If the dealership offers you a price that is below your target price, then you got a great deal. If the dealer offers you a price that is within a few hundred bucks of your target price, you got a good deal. If the price does not fall into line with your expectations, you can ask for a better price or move on to the next dealer. Of course, you can bypass all of this with the simple click of a mouse and visit the TIP™ section of Autotropolis.
Some cars are very easy to find, but others will be more difficult to locate. The more difficult the car is to find, the less negotiating room you will have. The more common the car is the more negotiating room you will have. If more than one dealership has the car you want, then you are in a great spot to have dealers competing for your business because they will have to provide you with competitive quotes.
No Haggle Options -- Buyers who do not want to negotiate have three options. The first is to utilize our previously mentioned True Internet Price™ system. The second is to offer the dealership a fair take-it-or-leave-it price based on your thoroughly researched pricing information. If the price is close to what the dealer wants for the car, you may just strike a deal with the minimum of negotiation. The third option is to shop at a no-haggle dealership, such as a Saturn or Scion dealer.
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