Magoomba

I'm in Vancouver, Canada.

I'm trying to get the best quote from a number of local dealerships and have found them to be very unaccomodating.

Most have said they don't want to give me a price because I'll just take that price to another dealership and get them to beat it by a few bucks and then they would lose my business.

I'd prefer not to go into a dealership and negotiate for a few hours only to walk out at the end of it.

Is there another better way to go about this so I can score the best price and buy my new car?

I'm also interested to know what others have paid in my area for the 2004 TL auto w/ Navigation.

Thanks.

PG2G

Were these the Internet managers you were talking to? They should give out quotes pretty freely, I thought that was the whole point .

I was told the same thing when I went in and asked about pricing, wouldn't even come close to giving me a number unless I stepped into the back, for the same reason they gave you.

Magoomba

I think one guy was the GSM (General Sales Manager?).
I'm not sure about the others. I just faxed the dealership. Is there a way to find out the contact info for the Internet managers?

PG2G

I don't know if Edmunds or cars.com work in Canada, but check them out. Aside from that, the dealer websites themselves may have some sort of form to get price quotes online, which would normally put you in contact with the Internet manager.

Casper42

www.Acura.com has a "Get a quote" thing on it.

But also on the front page if you put in your Zip Code, you can get the 15 closest dealers (in groups of 5) and they show you the name of the Internet Sales Mgr next to the phone number. I wish they gave you an email address (duh, its internet sales) but they dont.

markj

I'm having problems getting the Internet sales guys to return my E-mail. Earlier this week, I sent the following E-mail to every Acura dealer in Texas:

Its been two days and 5 dealers haven't replied.

For some reason, I thought these guys were in the business to *sell* cars. They don't seem to be trying very hard. Has anyone else had this problem?

--Mark

cdavec

Hello all Canadians, here is the site for you!!!

http://www.carcostcanada.com/en/

Dealer cost
I used this site to buy my '04 TL. They were great. For $20 they will give you the dealer invoice price. Take this with a grain of salt, because dealers may get incentives after they have sold these cars.


They'll negotiate the deal...
The cool part is for another $20 (it may have gone up, I think I got this service on an intro sale) they will contact up to three dealers in your area and negotiate a price for you!!! However, watch what the dealer offers you, even though it is supposed to be a pre-negotiated deal, they may try tricks, especially with a trade in.

Anyway, in the end I didn't buy from the guy they negotiated with (too slimy), it was great leverage for when I went and bought the car at another dealer. I actually managed to buy the navi package car for less than the sticker of the regular model.


Don't be araif to walk away...
Don't be afraid to walk away, if the dealer senses they'll lose a sale they will be more willing to talk. Honestly when it comes down to it, you can always buy a TL next year, and then it'll be the newest model.


Leasing...
Last tip, if you're planning to lease, negotiate the full price, then tell them you want to lease. Don't worry about the haggling, you haven't bought the car until you've signed. Don't get sucked into the trap of "how much can you afford a month?". There are all sorts of tricks the dealer can use to give you an attractive monthly price, but you end up paying more.

Hope this helps!

bluejb

Sounds like the Dealers were right you will sell them out for $1 ......

04acura tl

find the best price that members paid here and take that to your closet dealer and tell him thats where you want to be. Do not tell him if you have a trade or not! If he asks you about a trade tell him maybe but you have some one that wants to buy your old car from you.
After you get the price you like tell him your kind of wondering what you can get for your trade, but not untill you get the price on the new one you want.

ravi

$1500 off MSRP with winter floor mats, locks from richmond acura

Magoomba

That's pretty good.
Did anyone else get lower?

fuque

"Excuse me, Mr. Sales Manager, but the best way to guarantee that you will lose my business is not not quote me your best price right now."

Don't feel bad about walking away from places like this. Stealerships that play games like this aren't interested in giving you the best deal; their game plan is to jerk you around, wear you down, and, when you're too exhausted to fight back anymore, they rape you without Vaseline. Best to just thank them for showing their true colors up front so you can avoid wasting your time.

BTW, even the Internet reps are not above playing these kinds of games. A while back I emailed the Internet reps at several Ford dealers within striking distance of my home and asked them for their BEST price on a particular car. One guy (ironically from the "No Bull" dealership in Phoenix) responded with a ridiculous price, hundreds of dollars over MSRP. I emailed him back saying thanks but I've got much better bids than that. His response was "tell me what your best price is and we'll match it." I replied saying "What a pity you didn't give me your BEST PRICE in the first place like I asked you to. Now you've blown whatever chance you might have had to earn my business."

Bottom line, don't play these kinds of games with them (unless you really enjoy playing and have nothing better to do with your time, like drive your new car). When you participate, it only teaches them that this is a successful tactic; OTOH, if you refuse to play, they might get the message that dishonest games don't work and try something else.

I'm such an optimist, huh?

fuque

How does this stop the dealer from lowballing you on your trade? Unless you've shopped the car and know its current wholesale value in your market, you could negotiate the world's most killer deal on the new car and lose all you gained and more by sacrificing your trade for less than it is worth.

Stealerships are extremely adept at taking money of multiple pockets; even if you catch them with their hand in one pocket, they can still manage to slip some money out of a different pocket without you noticing...

Magoomba

Should I just make em a lowball offer and guage their reaction and get a counteroffer?

oneilc

you should join costco and buy a car through them ... no bullshit

markj

I didn't know that you could get the TL through costco. Maybe I should join.

--Mark

Magoomba

Well if I can find out the invoice price in my area, then why would I need to use Costco or carcostcanada.com?

Also want to know if the Freight/PDI charge can be negotiated as well or is that normally a fixed cost like documentation fee and taxes?

DC5_Integra

I think dropping by each dealer would be my best bet.

miiipilot

At this point in time, with the new 05 coming out, you can get them for invoice. I just bought an '04 NBP 6mt for 30195. This is 3000 off retail.

One thing of note though. Hopefully they have the color combination u want. The dealership WILL NOT give a huge discount if the have to dealer-trade a car to get the one u want. That creates more work for those yahoos. I wanted the SS, but they were NOT willing to dealer-trade since they were letting the car go at invoice.

Ohh...stick to ur guns and WALK if you feel you arent getting a good deal. I used to be in the car business and still have friends in it. Pls feel free to ask me questions about specifics in your transactions. MOST cars have between 8% - 12% markup from invoice. The '04 TL non-nav has exactly $3000 markup to sticker.

In some cases, u MAY get below invoice, but it might be with a NON-desirable color combination.

my
Miiipilot

04acura tl

You will get the best price on a new car if you don't tell them you have a trade. The dealerships are alway going to low ball you on your trade but if you go to www.carpoint.com and look up your car you will at least have an idea what you should get for it. expect about 3k less than what dealers are selling them for if you do better than that more power to you! Dealers will usally come back with a single number if you have a trade they don't want to tell you what they are giving for your trade or what the price on the new one is.... you will have to drag it out of them and they will give you the run around. By getting there best price on the new one and make them write it down on thier bussiness card for you that will be a good solid number to start with. low ball is the name of thier game