The blending of the numbers
zenmaster said:
When I bought my 3 Sport GT, the dealer absolutely wouldn't budge on price citing the usual reasons (It's too new! It's so in demand! blah blah blah). Finally I got him to waive the "documentation fee" ($90 I think) by pointing out (a) that the Toyota and Suzuki salesmen I met with waived their documentation fee before I even sat down in their offices and (b) I read here on mazdaiii.com forums the name and phone number of another dealer nearby was selling them at $200 off MSRP. So thanks mazdaiii.com!!!
A friend of mine whose hobby is playing hardball with car dealers insists that you should never pay for the PDI because conducting a thorough inspection is in the dealership's interest since it gets to charge the factory for any defects it finds and corrects. Obviously I didn't have a good enough poker face to pull that one off.
(hand)
Dealers love to blend all the numbers together - which can get confusing if you don't go in with the almost exact amount of money you are willing to spend on the car, the lowest you will accept on your trade, and then there's the dealer offered financing and Payoff on your trade to consider.
I suggest getting the financing ahead of time so you can already estimate how much the car will cost you, and if the dealer can beat that rate, all the better. So while the sales manager scribbles numbers around, I kept my out the door price in my head, and was always polite and friendly, as they had been. I didn't want a confrontational transaction as I have had in the past, but I did not believe for a second the crap about No discounts on such a brand new hot model that I had YET to see on the street. In letting them think they had total control, they indeed sold me the car for MSRP.
However, I had to decline their offer on my trade and thanked them for their time. Luckily (lol2) they re-evaluated it TWICE and agreed to give me $1500 more than originally offered and more than I knew it was worth. However they wanted to document the sale was fine with me as the additional trade value even saved me more money on taxes. And in the end, I got my loan for the exact amount I calculated. Of course I had to avoid the Finance Guy and all the add-ons. But he was a nice guy, too.
So, blending the numbers was fine with me as IMO, I got what I expected on my trade plus the "additional" money I considered off the MSRP and bogus Prep Fee pre-printed on every contract nowadays. I get a Great car I love and they get another Cool Maz3 on the street to advertise.
