I was asking about the availability of a 4 series loaner yesterday and was given a quote on a new one instead, with literally no discount. The discount section was the exact amount of available rebates. I agree that these initial quotes are pretty useless most of the time, but if they are starting with no discount at all, I am not going to continue.
Yes it does.
It shows that you’ve at least done your homework and won’t have to rely on your salesperson to do the shopping for you — qualify you for specific model(s), which in my opinion is one of the more time intensive parts of making a sale.
Howdy all - any advice on how steep of a discount to initially request? I’m reaching out to Audi Q5 dealers and am asking for a 18% discount on the MSRP.
Was tempted to ask for 20% but feel like that sounds crazy high. What number do you all usually start with?
18% on a new unit is already pretty crazy. But hey, ask whatever you want, worst they can do is say no or ignore you.
I shot well above what my actual target was thinking that was probably the best way to negotiate… do you have a more proven approach? All new to me 
It’s more of an art. Just keep sending out offers until someone agrees. It’s really hard to determine what “reasonable” is. There’s no go fast rule for it.
Probably the best way to get ignored.
If you are too far off they will just ignore you.
Thank you for the help guys! I received a counteroffer of 10% off MSRP, so wasn’t a total waste of time 
Does it ever make sense to state somewhere in the request that you’ll accept a Demo or Loaner unit so they’re more inclined to reduce price?
You can ask up front if they have any loaner inventory or look on their website for new cars with mileage on it. They would advertise loaners if they had any available.
You need to do put the effort in yourself and ask them to quote specific stock numbers.
Yeah if you do this you’ve already taken most of the work out of it and at that point you just need them to get the numbers to work for you.
1 Like
Absolutely. I think it instantly conveys that you’re a serious buyer too. What’s your first response to their initial mediocre quote usually like?
1 Like
Depends how mediocre for the car but a good rule of thumb for me is as follows:
-
First pencil behind invoice on a fresh new unit is a like a green light: Grab on and go!
-
The same on an aged but new unit: Proceed with caution as it will take some social engineering and or otherwise a competing offer close to what your goal is on a comparable spec.
1 Like
How about dumbass responses like this?
This was in response to a selling price/MF proposal on a 530i demo on the lot for 330 days. I didn’t include a monthly payment amount, just selling price and MF 
So tempted to tell him to get ahold of me when he needs help on his next lease since clearly his store has no interest in getting rid of year old inventory, but I’ll just leave it alone.
3 Likes
Tell him to hire a broker from LH
I mean, he may be telling you the truth unless the number you were looking for wasn’t much of a discount at all. Some dealerships simply can’t match others. I have a close friend who is a salesman and I would always prefer to deal with him, but several times he just couldn’t get close to what another could.
Offer him your services… lol.
1 Like
I don’t doubt for a second that he’s telling me the truth. This particular dealer believes that 10% off a demo is a unicorn deal. It’s the holier-than-thou attitude of SE MI BMW dealers that drives me beserk. How dare he make me an offer on this vehicle that no one else is asking about. I’ll tell him to pound sand and run to the Hyundai store instead of making a counter or continuing the conversation