That’s the fun bit!!!
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Maybe for you 
…
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Not “all of it,” no, but I’d consider sharing some. I’d like to be seen as a helpful member of the community here and an asset, so that’s something I’d be willing to do once in a while or after I’ve worked out a deal or something.
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It’s not hard, it’s time consuming. Negotiating is hard if one party has more information than the other, in which case the party with the info has an advantage. That’s why buying a car pre-internet was hit and miss and nobody really knew if they got a good deal or got taken to the cleaners. Dealers had all the info, buyers had nothing.
But today, everyone has all the info, both dealer and buyer. We know all the factors that go into a lease. MF, Residual, MSDs, MSRP are all fixed. We can also find out how long a car has been sitting on the lot, we know what holdback is, we know if a particular model is selling well or not, etc. So we know exactly the same info as the dealer. The only real variable in the equation is how much will the dealer sell the car for. And that negotiating is pretty simple…I offer $X, which is what I know someone will eventually agree to. The dealer either agrees or doesn’t. If he doesn’t on to the next one. Rinse repeat.
Again, for someone who either doesn’t have the time and/or the ability to gather information, a service like this has value. But if you have the time and the ability to gather/analyze info, you’re as well off on your own.
Edit: Actually today buyers have the upper hand as far as info goes. I know how much money the dealer will make on a unit sold. But the dealer doesn’t know how much money I earn and how much I can spend or how much I want to spend. We as well informed buyers, actually have an upper hand.
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It takes two to tango
You make it sound much easier than it really is. How do you know exactly how much to offer? Every market seems different. And if one or more dealer accepts, that probably means you left some money on the table. In SoCal, the market is super competitive and dealers lose money on units to make volume bonuses. How can a customer know how much each dealer is willing to lose on a unit?
How do you find out that X you mention on What a dealer will take. Doesn’t each dealer have different codes for factory and make dates? I guess we can figure that part out.
Generally speaking, by reading forums like this, Edmunds and the rest you pretty quickly get a sense of what is out there. Fo example on the e300 demo deals, $400 with $0 down is the going rate for a good deal. Could I maybe do $390? I suppose if I kill myself for the next 6 months and call every dealer in the country.
Or I could go into it with $400 being my X, and be happy when I get it. And if I leave $10 on the table, so be it.
Ok thought you were saying you knew exact number not just using the crowd sourced deals and useful smarts to create a deal
This is a dumb statement, sorry. Doing it for 6 months (!!!) on a lease? What about inventory, changing RV/MF, incentives? I posted 2 loaners with great selling price that could potentially be had for mid-400. Guess what? A few people contacted the dealer and no one got any deal so far.
Not sure what your point is. Yes MF/RV change every month. And it takes about 2 minutes to get the latest values. Inventory changes as well, and again you have access to every dealer’s inventory online.
As far as 6 months, I didn’t mean literally 6 months, I meant I won’t kill myself to save $10/mo as long as I can get what I set as my goal. It was in response to “leaving money on the table” comment.
I’m working the e300 as well, I’m close to $400, playing 2 dealers off each other. Actually not really playing them, just willing to walk away from either one, knowing I have the other as a fall back. That’s the real power of negotiating, knowing you can walk away. And I know that both of them have a lot 2017s on hand with new 2018s rolling in. And also, there are the intangibles. I’m looking for a 4matic. One of the dealers is in a city where it never snows. Guess how much demand there is for 4matics there? About as much demand as there is for 2WD trucks in Denver or Salt Lake City…that is to say virtually zero. I have no idea why they’d even have a 4matic , but that’s not my problem, that’s the dealer’s problem. Zero demand for a car that I am offering to buy? Hmmm…
Stuff like that is as valuable as knowing the exact dealer hold back to the tenth of a percent. And I trust myself to analyze all these factors better than a 3rd party.
Like I said already, I wish these 3rd party companies all the luck. There is a definitely a market for their services. But my point about negotiating is/was it’s not hard. It’s simply having information, and the ability to analyze and process that information. If you are willing to invest the time and have some smarts, it’s easy.
My point is that we got your point long ago - [you think] you don’t need/want a broker. Good for you. But also that you still need to make a dealer to give you all you want and this is the hardest part for everybody.
I personally would pay $200 to @Benedetto if I could not get a deal I want within 30 miles from me and wanted to save time.
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Of course you would. That’s just efficiency. We’re here to make your lives easier, and are in the business of saving you from the timesuck and headache that is going to the dealership for most people, but not all.
I completely agree. Besides, not everyone has a personality that absolutely has to negotiate and WIN. We are all different and don’t approach same situation is a same manner.
I agree also not everyone know how to make a deal or how to be stern or even really know how the industry really works but that’s why we have certain set positions to help the customer out but what happens people become to greedy and stem roll the customer instead of helping them making them feel safe and confident in there decision, what you get is a life long bussiness relationship, that is what I have been doing for the past 10 years with my customers and it seems to work the best, you need to always do the rite thing because you wouldn’t want that to happen to you. Honestly is lost this industry
So what was the Corolla deal he got you?
Doesn’t really sound like a good deal. 2017 Camry SE goes for less, but you are getting more miles.
18K miles/year, right?
That’s right. Son needs generous mileage for his job.
You can only compare apples:apples when you compare both with same mileage.