Hi all, I’m doing some car shopping for my parents who are price sensitive. As much as I want those unicorn deals, I live in Vegas and dealers are not seemingly down for things here.
My question is where can I do research to figure out what a reasonable discount is off MSRP?
Great question! I’d love to know this as well.
depends on the car / incentives / is it an EV
Just browse the marketplace to see what the brokers are offering.
To help your parents out, just let them read my reply here.
First, you must absolutely ignore the concept of % off MSRP (edit as a means to gauge a good deal). That is not a good way to go into a car purchase. I agree that it could be a part of the purchase decision since emotionally people love to boast about how they got a killer deal. But I cannot stress enough that % off MSRP is not going to be the key decider.
So what is the decider? The industry has a term called vehicle net pricing. This is what a buyer actually pays for any given vehicle on any given day; BEFORE any stuff like tax, title, registration, etc. Since every state is different (and I can’t tell if you’re in CA or NV), I’m just going to focus on net pricing.
If you’re financing/cash-paying a vehicle, your goal is to find a net price that gets you as much car as you desire for the least amount of money paid. Some cars have an astronomically high MSRP, and they give you very little car in return (see a Dodge Hornet). Some cars have a fairly low MSRP but give you a lot of car (see a Honda Pilot Touring). You could get 20% off MSRP on that Hornet, but that could be a bad deal compared to if there’s a Pilot for 8% off MSRP that is a better fit.
Leases just add complexity into the equation, but ultimately the logic is the same. You’re not looking for the biggest discounts. You’re looking for paying the least amount of $ for the most amount of car that suits your needs.
Being said, to help your parents, first understand what they want out of their next car. Then, lay out vehicles that meet those criteria and wants.
Establish a range of net pricing you feel would represent a good price and start hunting. In each circumstance, you must be willing to walk away from a bad deal even if you like the car. With enough time/sweat you’ll be able to get a car for a good price for them. Sure, some LH die-hard may be able do better on that one car, but we’re talking about a general purchase. Not some unicorn hunt.
Orrrrr just contact one of the brokers on this forum and have them ship a killer deal to your parents in NV. Save yourself and your parents the pain of the haggle.
This is great advice, but it comes with a caveat. I think most people lock onto a vehicle for whatever reason, then simply want to get the best deal they can on that very specific vehicle. A person really wants that German luxury SUV, but could pay much less on a Kia or Honda. I find very few people on this forum that don’t care what they drive as long as they get the lowest cost possible cost.
What is their budget and what type of vehicle are they looking for?
Sub $400 would be great. My mom really wants the most bang for her buck at this point. We’re looking at the 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe SEL since the money factor is so low on that. They want hybrid or PHEV, but I don’t see any good deals on that, so they are open to straight gas.
If it’s possible it should be in the Marketplace
As the total effective monthly, I don’t think that’s happening on anything outside an EV. People aren’t getting Honda Civics for < $400/mo.
I believe Jeff is giving out Camrys for under $400.
If you can get Findlay Mazda to part with a Mazda CX-30 2.5 Select Sport for $26,000, you’ll be at ~$400 after taxes on a 3 year 12k per annum lease. Edit $0 DAS.
@forbs and @holeydonut: good data points.
Are OP’s parents willing to give up the Santa Fe (b/c a CX-30 and Camry are both way different from a Santa Fe, obviously).
Going to put this as a deal check too but this is from Hyundai today. They add dealer add ons in Las Vegas so the price they are showing for the car is 38000 for a stupid desert package and some other thing.
Ignore scribbles ha
Looks pretty good if the price is $464 but YIKES on that sales tax. Must be a NV thing
herp derp not 1% so its not a good deal herp derp
So how does this structure benefit your parents? $465 this lease, followed by a little more for the next… that’s easily $34-35k spent in lease payments over 72 months. For a car that is priced at $36,996 OTD
Looked it up, and NV apparently taxes net selling price.
To the OP, is there any point in a lease, if the net selling price is taxed (I would personally not think so, but YMMV)?
Almost everybody is “price sensitive” but just how “price sensitive” are we talking about here? Like are your parents trying to be the absolute most frugal people trying to maximize as much vehicle-utility as they can with as little spent out of pocket?
Or are your parents “price sensitive” but still wanting to be in new cars that smell nice, don’t rattle, have shiny clear coat, don’t have faded black plastic, and have the full warranty in effect every time they go to drive it? But they just don’t want to spend too much to experience this perpetual new-ness?
