If you are putting internet quote requests out there, a lot of dealerships still use their “internet department” as nothing more than a lead generator to get you to walk in. I almost always ask to have a sales manager email me with the current selling price of the vehicle before any rebates and incentives are applied. It cannot be made any clearer than that. Either they will do it or they won’t. Saves everyone a lot of time.
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Yea this pretty much sums it up. They just want to get to in the door.
Good point about asking for a sales manager that’s something I need to start doing. The email/sales Dept seems to not give a shit. At least so far.
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The internet department usually has very little authority in this kind of thing. They exist to generate traffic mostly, outside of management.
Doesn’t hurt to have a phone conversation too. If you get an actual quote from a human with a name and a direct number/cell, make a call. This will give them the idea that your serious and you might be able to get them to send you all the details you’re looking for. You might also get an idea of how straight forward/shady they are.
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I am in the process of negotiating 2 leases right now. I only deal using email as my previous experience has proven to me that otherwise the major effort is to get you into the dealership where the games begin. So with an email to the sales manager stating what specific vehicle/equipment you are looking for and then a short concise itemization of your credit score(s), eligibility for specific programs (Friends and family etc.) and what kind of purchase plan or lease you are looking for…also create a deadline by which you will make a decision (and stick to)…you can expect only 1 out of ten of your inquiries to get a reasonable intelligent and meaningful response…Like it or not if you are not willing to be a student and learn the dynamics of the dealer/customer “dance” you are better off using a broker. Don’t kid yourself…no dealer is going to make a deal that is bad for them, if they can they will make a deal that is bad for you and good for them…if you have done your homework and are reasonable you will occasionally get a deal that is a good one for you (and doesn’t injure the dealer)
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In email requests, I think it’d be helpful to add something to the effect that you like playing with the numbers in your spreadsheet but, understand that things like rebates and taxes can be treated differently by the dealership’s DMS to match state laws so you know the numbers WON’T match up exactly, WHICH IS OKAY. Doing this may stop the dealership personnel’s eyes from rolling back in their heads because they’re thinking… oh one of THOSE people who’s going to be wasting my time asking me why my numbers don’t match up by $1.98/mo to their spreadsheet. You may find the information to be more forthcoming by doing this.
I just “bought” two cars recently, one purchase one lease. I sent lots of inquiries, many during the feeler stage and many as I narrowed my choices down and got more serious. I tried Costco and Truecar on one of them. I went into a few dealers but most was done via e-mail. I experienced the full spectrum of nutty things a dealership can pull. From one dealership who wouldn’t let me test drive a Charger Scat Pack (because it was too powerful I guess?) to another that changed the price five times but kept asking me when I could come in to sign the papers. I have concluded that, at least in my case, some dealerships want to sell cars and some do not. Maybe it was that they didn’t want to sell the particular car I was looking at at that particular time. I am not sure. If they truly wanted to sell the car, I don’t think it would matter if you put this or that in an e-mail or came in for a test drive dressed like a clown. I am glad it is over for now. It was very tiresome trying to convince people to take my money.
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I found the same thing when emailing dealerships. All you need is one dealership to send you an aggressive deal with the breakdown. After you have one offer, when the other dealers start emailing you random BS you can just forward the other offer and ask if they can beat it. Most of the time, they will send back a serious offer with all the information.
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Jumping on the phone makes a world of a difference.
Imagine how many leads they get a day from people just “wanting to know” but have no real intention of buying.
Jump on the phone, be straight with them, that you know the xyz incentives are decent this month, looking to buy before the end of the month, want to do stuff via email or fedex paperwork, lets make a deal happen ASAP etc.
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I have negotiated all leases by email (four total so far) without stepping foot onto a lot until the deal is finalized by email. These leases have been Honda, Toyota, Buick/GM, and Jaguar. They usually respond at first with BS like “The best payment I can do on that one is $xxx.xx with $xxxx down, why don’t you come in for a test drive?” You have to let them know directly and in no uncertain terms that you will not be making a personal appearance until the details are worked out over email. If they ghost you after that, they are not worth doing business with. This tactic can backfire with dealers of less mainstream vehicles since there will be fewer dealers for you to choose from, but that’s the breaks.
I find that rather than asking them for the best price (which they will always BS you on), I make the first move and propose something specific. I use an Excel spreadsheet to create a line-by-line quote of what I want, including MSRP, dealer discount requested, incentives/rebates that I know apply, the money factor, the residual, and the term (miles/months), and I ask the dealer if they can make my numbers work. Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it’s no. But this approach lets them know that you’re serious and you have done your homework, so the standard dealership tricks are less likely to work.
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Just like someone else mentioned above, on my most recent transaction I had a much better/easier experience by going on the “Meet our Team” section of a dealer’s website and contacting a Sales Manger directly.
As I worked with them I would make sure that my correspondence showed them that I knew what I was talking about and knew how the numbers worked. Once they knew I hadn’t just fallen off the turnip cart, the straightforward dealers would send good numbers and the other guys would ghost me.
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I guess it’s YMMV. I’ve personally never had much luck on the phone.
We completed and took delivery of two 2019 Chev Equinox with the Convenience package. This makes our third and fourth Equinox. We ended up with $445 DAS and $200 a month for 24 months. How did we get this? Visited dealer web sites and looked for “specials” and noted who was being aggressive. Made a connection with internet sales and asked for a quote on the vehicle mentioned and specified that DAS was limited to 1st month plus tax and plate transfer. Some offered ridiculous figures and some were serious and were a pleasure to deal with. Some dealers checked back and offered to make a more aggressive bid. When I arrived at what I thought was a fair deal both ways. We asked for a list of docs needed and sent them in and scheduled a closing and closed. No visits to the dealership until closing. Did have one issue with the F & I guy who offered extra damage protection for $94/month for 24 months. (a truly ridiculous and rip-off offer) It took a couple of polite refusals before the F & I guy got the message and we got down to doing what we were there for…sign doc’s and close. The F & I guy was so intent on trying to sell his “insurance” he didn’t even bother to explain any of the numbers on the contracts…just pointing to where we initial and/or sign. We like the new Equinox’s very much. Dealerships should stick to selling and leasing vehicles and stop trying to be insurance sales people…they do a bad job at insurance sales and it is obvious that they withhold final approval in hopes of conning the unsuspecting into exorbitant junk insurance. This probably nets folks with poor credit that can least afford the added charge. They say “a sucker is born every day”…at some point auto companies will wise up and stop looking the other way and demand honesty from the dealers.Until then “Caveat Emptor”…
I think my most recent post has some good information that can be helpful to those trying to protect their financial future from vultures…I know that being a car fanatic really puts me at risk for paying anything just so I can get the vehicle that I dream about…(at the moment) …thus I am trying to get some sense into the process because I believe that we can help each other out.
I have been trying to negotiate from Mercedes dealers for over a month now. Most of them will ask what is the monthly you are looking for or randomly throw in a mo thly number and fill other numbers after that. They dont like if i ask what is the money factor and how did you arrive at the monthly. Im going top down approach starting with a discount of MSRP first , then MF and then MSDs. Its a PITA process tbh but im willing to play the waiting game and be patient
I used a hybrid approach with my most recent lease hack (full size truck). I’d spent the last couple of months emailing dealers to get pricing across multiple manufacturers and models. Most of the time they would send purchase pricing back and tell me to come in for further discounts. Asking them for a lease selling price rarely if ever worked and seemingly only once we had several other pricing discussions. The F150 negotiations I did most of cloaked to hide the existence of my PCO. And one of my local dealers to whom I did reveal I had the PCO, in a cut to the chase, end of September timeframes, cut his dealer discount by about $2000, once he found out.
Just about every single dealer said they could offer additional savings if I came in. What I did toward the end of the process is scoured my in state dealers (was shopping Toyota so relatively ubiquitous vehicles and the SETF boundary is the NC/VA border so wanted to keep it narrow). The dealer who offered the lowest purchase price was also aggressive with lease pricing.
Once I had their offer, I fired up Google voice and pinged local dealers, explaining the offer and asking whether they could match or beat it on a specific stock #. (Similar to the approach @edmcman used on his last lease). The amounts proposed were based upon a similar % discount dealer 1 offered. It was a bit easier with Toyota because there was no roulette wheel of incentives which some people may qualify for. Some of them were adamant I needed to come into the dealership to get their best offer. I gave them a time sensitive deadline (which was valid as I was going to sign my already negotiated offer (couple of hours away) if none closer could beat it. I am thankful for the google voice as the velocity of texts that came in was easier to handle on a computer. Eventually had a local dealer get me to within $10 of my other offer on a vehicle with a $2500 higher msrp.
In summary, the cut to the chase can you sell xxx vehicle for yyy per month was the most efficient method and really weeded out the ones who couldn’t match it and saved a bunch of time.
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A big thank you to the veterans in this thread, helps me in my first time efforts at a lease, something I would have never dreamed of doing in the past
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