Hello all, my wife and I are looking to upgrade from Mazda 3 to CX 5 as were expecting in Oct. this forum is super helpful. Ive been emailing several dealers but only one has given me a quote.
You need more quotes IMHO. Many more. Patience is your friend. Prices vary wildly among dealers in any given area. I was presented with a $5700 spread in OTD prices to my requests for quotes between what I'd purchased and the highest 'best and final' offer (and make no mistake, best-n-final is never best-n-final in the car business). Granted I had a trade that had sway...some may have wanted it, and others would have just shipped it straight off to auction. This is another important reason to get as many quotes as you can.
One quote is not enough in any case. You have time, October is a ways off. In fact, I'd say wait until the time gets a little closer say August as the 2019s will def. be on their way and possibly even start showing up on lots. The more quotes, the merrier for you. Three at a bare minimum. Broaden your search radius...who cares, you need written offers to use in your favor. Written offers because you may have to produce one to the dealer you're considering purchasing from to help them decide. I had to pull that card when I negotiated a 2016 RAV4 purchase for my daughter.
Be flexible on what you'd accept in the vehicle (options, color etc.) and hunt down dealers that have lower VIN cars sitting on their lots compared to other dealers inventory VINs (leftover incentives are usually huge). Look for dealers with lots of inventory of all models. The dealers, Mazda and whoever is financing their inventory will all be motivated to clear that inventory off their books. The CX-5 I purchased was one of 3 identical on the winning dealer's lot, and one of 21 identical/near identical cars I was getting quotes for from 7 dealers (9 total requests for quotes submitted). I knew right away that the winning dealer would be the one most motivated. The dealer I pass daily and where I first looked at, and drove, a CX-5. I knew right away that I likely wouldn't be buying from them even before I decided a CX-5 was the vehicle I was going to purchase. Low inventory equal no motivation to cut me a deal...there's always someone out there willing to pay the price the dealers present.
I researched the VIN numbers of all 3 of their identical vehicles from their website data prior to inquiries and saw one of them was really low compared to all the others I'd been looking at. Guess which one they offered up in the winning deal? The one that had been sitting there since February. BTW, I rarely buy new of the current model year and prefer to wait for the leftovers. However, I had a trade to contend with this go-round and it's trade-in timing to consider. I signed week before Memorial Day. Hadn't really planned on that, but the deal presented itself and the trade had everything to do with that timing. Patience is a virtue. Vehicles are huge emotional holes in the ground to throw money into. Don't fall into the trap. You lose serious bargaining power when you fail to pit one dealer against another for them to 'earn' your money. Else, they're simply going to take your money. I first made them compete on the new car bidding and then again on the trade. In the end, the dealer I figured would be th most motivated was and won the sale after being in second place overall going into face-to-face negotiations.
Happy hunting.