Learning the Terms
Negotiations often have a vocabulary of their own. Here are some terms you
may hear when you’re talking price.
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Invoice Price is the
manufacturer’s initial charge to the dealer. This usually is higher than
the dealer’s final cost because dealers receive rebates, allowances,
discounts, and incentive awards. Generally, the invoice price should
include freight (also known as destination and delivery). If you’re
buying a car based on the invoice price (for example, "at invoice,"
"$100 below invoice," "two percent above invoice"), and if freight is
already included, make sure freight isn’t added again to the sales
contract.
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Base Price is the cost of the
car without options, but includes standard equipment and factory
warranty. This price is printed on the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)
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Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)
shows the base price, the manufacturer’s installed options with the
manufacturer’s suggested retail price, the manufacturer’s transportation
charge, and the fuel economy (mileage). Affixed to the car window, this
label is required by federal law, and may be removed only by the
purchaser.
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Dealer Sticker Price, usually
on a supplemental sticker, is the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price plus the
suggested retail price of dealer-installed options, such as additional
dealer markup (ADM) or additional dealer profit (ADP), dealer
preparation, and undercoating. If a car dealer has any extra charges
added just walk away and purchase at an honest car dealership or
consider buying the new car directly from Car
Buying Tips, Auto
Mob,
Stoneage,
AutoBuyingUSA,
CarsDirect, Ford Direct
and
CarPrices.com.
Car Dealer Scams you must watch out for at the Dealership.
Mixing Transactions:
Salesman: What would you
like your monthly payment to be?
Never tell a salesman what you want
your payments to be! You should shop for the total price not monthly
payment. A salesman could spread your payments out to make it what you
want it to be! Guess what? YOU JUST PAID $5,000 MORE FOR THE CAR AND THE LOAN IS
FOR 60 MONTHS NOT 36.
Asking For A Sign Of Good Faith
Salesman: These things are
just flying off the lot how much can you give me today to hold this car.
DON'T EVER PUT ANY MONEY DOWN UNTIL YOU
ARE READY TO SIGN THE PURCHASE CONTRACT.
HOLDING YOUR TRADE IN
Buyer: This
doesn't seem right for me right now! I think I will have to go home and
think about it. Where is my old car?
Salesman: Joe took it for
a short ride to appraise it he will be back soon. Just sit tight!
Make sure you get your keys back right
away so you can head for the exit sign if needed!
Overpriced Dealer Installed Options
Salesman: OK That will Be
$900.00 for VIN Etching and $600.00 for mud flaps and $1000,00 for paint
sealant!
Sometimes dealer's like to over charge
for options to make up for what they lost on your trade or how much they
took off MSRP. Say MSRP is 23,000 you made them come down to $22,000 and
they gave you $1,000 for your trade that's $21,000 right? Now they charge
$1,000 for paint sealant, $900 for window etching, $300 for pin striping
and $2,000 an extended warranty. Now the same car cost $25,200 That's
$2,200 above MSRP not much of a deal is it?
The same Window Etching Kit the dealerships use can be bought by the manufacturer
Car Etch.
for only $15.00. Check our
extended auto warranty section for warranties
thousands of dollars cheaper then dealership's charge. Paint Sealant can
be found online for only $69.95 at
5 STAR SHINE the same paint sealant now being used by the US Navy to
protect its Aegis radar systems. If this trick is ever tried on you tell
them to take it off. If they refuse walk away without looking back!
5 Star Shine
versus the Dealer paint protection
Many people ask us how we compare to
the premium paint protectants the dealers sell on new cars for anywhere
from $299 to $1000. The main difference is that
5 STAR SHINE guarantees 5 year
protection with one application on a new car (less than 6 months old).
Car dealers prep every car for a maximum shine in the showroom. They
usually do this with inexpensive waxes to give the car a high gloss
shine at the lowest possible price. At the time of closing, dealers will
try to sell you a "premium" paint sealant at anywhere from $299 to
$1000. These "premium" paint sealants make the car look really great for
about a month and then the waxes begin to wash off and the paint starts
oxidizing. Most of the dealers guarantee their sealants for 3 to 5 years
but they have to be reapplied about 4 to 6 times per year! Who has time
for this? The dealer knows that few people will actually take their car
in every few months so they end up making a HUGE profit on these
"premium" paint protection up sells. Make sure that your new car gets
the patented PPS system. Remember, if it doesn't have the PPS logo on
the bottle and Patent #5081171, it's not the real deal! Visit
5 STAR SHINE and get your new cars
paint protected
before the elements start damaging your beautiful showroom finish!
Good Cop / Bad Cop
Salesman: My
sales manager is just not playing Ball!
Buyer: That's too bad, John.
Salesman: Tell me about it. You know I bet if
you came up in price a little more, I could get him to come down.
Don't fall for these car dealer scams
and trick! If you gave a
reasonable price, that you are willing to pay based on the quotes you
obtained from
Car
Buying Tips,
Auto Mob,
Stoneage, AutoBuyingUSA,
Cars Direct , Ford Direct
and
CarPrices.com
then you will get a great deal and the
car dealership will make a fair profit.
You should offer the dealer 5 % about dealer
cost. Dealer's can live well off of a 5% profit since an average car
costing $16,000 would give them 3,200 profit at 5 % that's a good
percentage to start at. Plus they will make money off of you in the long
run with car repairs throughout your ownership of your car.
INTIMIDATION
salesman:
Look if I sold it to you for that much we would not make a profit. Plain
and Simple! I have to support three children your robbing us blind here!
Like I said before 5 % profit is just
fine to offer on a car purchase. If you fall for this one you will be the
one stuck with the high payment while the dealer watches you struggle with
your car payment as he sits in his 5 million dollar beach house.
LIES
Sales Manager: (Laughing)
These research numbers you have here are way off!
Holdback? There is no such thing as dealer holdback!
Don't believe them when they lie right
to there face. How can they go home and kiss there family with the same
mouth they lied all day to Mr. and Mrs. Car Buyer with?
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Expert Lease Pro comes with a
full-featured database of new car prices (Invoice and MSRP) for all new
vehicles. This allows you to configure the vehicle by selecting
options and option packages. Granted invoice pricing is all over the
web, but having it tightly integrated with the analysis package saves
time (point, click and its in) and avoids data entry errors. One can
easily price-out three or four vehicles in just a few minutes.
- Residual Data.
Expert Lease Pro now includes
industry standard National Auto Research's Black Book
residuals. This gives you a bench mark to see how much the residual
from the dealer is inflated (higher residuals mean lower payments).
Black Book residuals also give you a conservative estimate of the
vehicles lease-end value which is required for true lease/buy
comparison.
- Rebate and Incentives.
Expert Lease Pro comes with the Car
Deals report which lists all rebates and factory-to-dealer
incentives. Believe me, if you don't know about these incentives,
they will go straight into the dealer's pocket.
We suggest offering the dealer 5 % above dealer
cost this gives the dealer a fair profit and you a fair new car buying deal.