I had a Porsche totaled and I worked with the insurance company (Farmer’s Insurance is awesome BTW) appraiser to give me $10k more because I didn’t agree with their first appraisal.
They used CCC Information Services (CCC One Market Valuation Report and also Experian Autocheck Vehicle Report) and also recent sales to come up with a number for me. I wrote a 5 page rebuttal with valid reasoning using Autotrader for recent sales comps and available cars for sale and after 2 weeks, they give me +$10k from the original appraisal. While it didn’t account for the $4k I spent on new wheels/tires 5 weeks prior to it being totaled, I was happy with the outcome.
Emails usually went out to the dealership’s onlines sales managers. Most times, they’ll try to schedule you to come in before they start talking numbers. For me, I’ve already test driven the cars and were set on the specific model/trim, so I declined and took the conversation back to the numbers.
From my experience, it was 50% or less. However, the number actually varies depending on various factors, including what brand you’re looking for. If I recall correctly, I had more managers willing to talk numbers for Infiniti compared to managers from Acura.
However, it’ll all depend on many things, such as your location, vehicle, message in your email, etc. Just make sure you sound serious/set on getting the car and provide as much information as possible if you want them to give you a worthwhile reply. For example, I had all the lease terms defined (e.g 15k/yr, 36mo, $0 down) as well as the vehicle information (e.g. white w/ black interior, premium package, etc.).
Next time you might try attaching a pic of your driver’s license and proof of insurance - even a copy of a personal check. To be safe, I would blur out some stuff.
I would also let them know what tier credit you fall under:
Then you don’t sign the paperwork and they take the car back. It’s no different than you being st the dealer except you didn’t have to drive out there.
I was able to get “the math” (drive off and monthly) from about 70% of Chevy and subaru dealers I contacted a few months ago via email or phone.
I didn’t bother inquiring on things like MF and residual until I had already found the price I wanted and just wanted to doublecheck the math.
The drivers license and insurance seems unnecessarily dramatic until you need to do a test drive or a credit application.
But I agree providing a credit tier for quote purposes would be vital, though. Although unless your credit score is on the super high or super low end, there’s always a chance that you may find yourself a notch higher or lower once your credit is pulled.
So I was going to take many of your suggestions on here about making deals through email, but I can’t seem to find actually e-mail addresses for who to deal with at each dealership. Most websites have a page where you can request a quote, but if they actually respond, its usually to tell me to come into the dealership.
They do not want to negotiate by email. If they do, they lose.
You have to write a “purchase order” via email.
Tell them exactly what you want… and use jargon and industry lingo to let them know you are an insider yourself.
Send them everything filled out - from the discounted sales price you want to pay, to the bogative fees you are willing to pay - even the Money Factor.
About your problem with getting the right contact:
Click on it to see the entire staff directory (along with its phone and email contact info).
Now, if there is no internet manager, I would go straight to the top and contact a general manager or sales manager.
Remember, it is all a timing game and number’s game.
New Year’s Eve falls on a Saturday. This is huge. End of month, end of quarter and end of year on a Saturday is the perfect storm. HUGE manager quota bonuses are on the line. If they need one more sale to make quota, you will literally steal your next car.
Thanks so much for all the info! That really helps a lot! I e-mailed 3 dealerships today, so far I have yet to get any quotes, but one dealership responded that they were working on one for me. I’m not holding my breath
As your X3 deal demonstrates, sometimes there is no substitute for just going in person. If when Maserati or Volvo was having their blow out deal, someone had emailed them, they would have lost out since the dealers sold the cars quickly on first come first serve basis.
Is there an easy way to look through dealer inventory for the features I want in an X3? Seems you have to judge it by price and then go into the listing and figure it out.
Yea, definitely worth a shot at it. I sent requests for quotes to 3 dealerships yesterday and still haven’t received one. I’ll resend some requests with car purchase order and see if that helps.
Thanks.