General question here on how much you typically engage in negotiation with dealers after you have your target. I’m assuming the answers may vary here, but curious to see people’s approaches.
Let’s say you’ve got your target after doing your research on incentives and looking at comparable discounts from brokers etc. and you start reaching out to dealers that you think can make it happen.
I’ve seen people say they send to a bunch of dealers and someone will bite eventually if your deal is reasonable, but I am wondering if there’s more to that. Thanks for the advice in advance!
Do you:
Move on from dealers that aren’t able to meet your target without negotiating further, only engaging with those that bite on or very close to your offer
Engage with all dealers that respond with a counter and begin negotiating by making your case
It depends on how far off they are, and you assume you will always have to keep negotiating them down to your target to get a great deal done
Research how to negotiate, as your inquiry isn’t specific to auto leasing. If you don’t understand leasing then that is an entirely separate question, and you would have no basis to begin negotiating.
Thanks. I understand leasing and how to negotiate, my question was very specific to people’s approaches here given they are reaching out to a large number of dealers at times.
Depends, as it is often a case by case basis. Again, this is where knowing how to negotiate (well). You have to access the situation/people and go from there. I’ve had great deals come from absolutely nothing, and I’ve had nightmares that should’ve been a walk in the park.
So only you know where you want to be at and depending on how aggressive you are with your ask, will depend if you even get to your options. I think it’s always good to keep communication going (especially with positive language)…I however usually fall under 1.
Try and keep the communication positive and non-combative as I have had dealers decline a deal only to say yes the last week or day or month when circling back.
Make it clear you’re ready to sign today with excellent credit (and mean it) with the offer.
If I get my deal and commit and another dealer responds later that they will meet it too I usually reply that I may already have a deal but will let them know if it falls through.
This is all great advice and I appreciate it. I’ve been following a similar path so good to hear. However, what if you can’t get to a SM or GSM the first time and you get a sales rep that just ignores your offer and gives you something ridiculously off. Do you still move on or try to get in front of a manager?
I’ve done fairly well over the years having previously been in the car biz myself. But buying BMWs in SoCal is a totally different experience. I got a great deal on my last car I did myself but it took over two weeks of haggling across multiple dealers to make it happen. I’m happy to pay a reasonable broker fee to not have to do that again.
Despite the word “broker” being used, it is typically not possible to negotiate with the broker. They are running with what their respective dealer partners are willing to do. Many on here first make aggressive offers to a number of dealers and are turned down, at that point you can see if a dealer responds and gets closer to the deal you are looking for in which you are willing to accept.
If that option doesn’t materialize, you can go with a broker offering, however if your looking for another 5% off a vehicle to get to your target deal, that most likely isn’t happening. Which you then either up your budget or move on to another vehicle and restart the process.
How likely is it for a dealer to discount a new car upto 18% if its been sitting for over a year. I cant get them to go above 10% currently. But I wanna keep at it maybe next month if its still there. At what stage does a dealer have to move inventory at any cost or is that even a thing.
When you get the internet rep, often times they’re paid on getting you into the dealer… they only get paid if you come in and you get something noncommittal.
But they’ll also get paid if you convert to a deal. In those cases I politely ask if they can get approval from their management for your offer.
But if it’s ridiculously off or they insist you have to come in to haggle I ignore. If another dealer is close I might share that info. “Dealer X is only $200 off my asking price, so I’m guessing we’ll probably get it done there or elsewhere. Thanks for your help”
It’s very unlikely for them to move from 10% to 18% off within one month and far more likely that at some point they may go to 11% off then12% and so on. Hopefully this was a dealer that you made an offer to and not one you solicited a quote from as then it is less likely for them to move on it. Typically in those instances you guys are just too far apart to make a deal and the SM is anchored to making X on the vehicle when you were shooting for a far skinnier deal.
Many times a dealer has other avenues to move a vehicle then sell / lease it to someone off the street….a dealer can send it to another dealer in their network ( Autonation, etc… ) or someone within the dealer family ( employee, management, friend of the GM ) may take it when it gets to 15% off. In the collective experience on LH, if they’ve had it a year, they are well aware of how long they’ve had it and the chosen business model dictates to hold out for top dollar. LH’er @trism has a BMW he made an offer on a couple of years ago right before lease support ended and within the last few months the dealer website still shows that car sitting there.
