How to Negotiate a Car Price: Car Buying Tips and Advice

[00:00] Want the best price on your next car? Unless you're ordering directly from a company like Tesla or Rivian, buying a car involves some negotiation. The dealer, they set their price but you want to pay as little as possible.

[00:16] How about? Free. Free is good. Negotiating a price somewhere in the middle, it doesn't have to suck. We're going to cover three strategies to find the negotiating style that fits you. Share Edmonds, and we test hundreds of cars each year on the road and at our private track.

[00:32] So you get the most trusted reviews. If you want to know which car, truck, or SUV is the best, then stick with us. Now we should mention that before you enter into any sort of negotiation, there are important

[00:47] steps to do first. Like figuring out the right car for you, taking some test drives, and exploring financing options. If you haven't done any of those steps yet, it's worth checking out our car buying the stakes video with a very handsome host that will break all of that stuff down for you.

[01:03] Alright, so you've locked in on the car you want and now it's time for the game to begin. Step 1 is going to be determining the market value of the car you want to buy. Manufacturers will attach an MSRP or suggested retail price to a new car, but that is just

[01:20] a suggestion. So you should pay depends on a lot of things like a vehicle's popularity, how recently it's been updated, or if it's a special car in some way, like a limited run special edition.

[01:32] There are plenty of tools out there to help you, but we're partial to the one on our site because there you can select the trim of what you want and will give you a suggested price based on dealers in your area. Now if you're buying used, it's easy to find its estimated value or use the Edmonds appraisal

[01:47] tool to get a price range. Your next step is to get a few actual actual quotes by calling, emailing, texting a few nearby dealers, confirm that they have the vehicle you want and get a number from them.

[02:03] That's important. This will help to give you a baseline idea of what the car should be selling for, whether you're looking new or used, and that's where you can start to negotiate using one of our three strategies. This video is brought to you by Bumper.com, get an AI powered summary of a vehicle history

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[02:32] Negotiation strategy number one is don't negotiate. Look, we get it. Some folks just really don't want to negotiate and they're okay paying a bit more for their car. But if you follow along with us so far, you'll at least have a few quotes to choose from

[02:48] and all you have to do is pick the cheapest one, no stress. Now at a minimum, we'd at least recommend asking the dealership closest to you if they'll match the lowest price so you don't have to travel as far to pick the car up.

[03:01] This is the path of lease resistance. Since you've shopped around, you can feel confident you're not getting the worst price, but it definitely won't land you the best one because dealers will rarely offer that up front.

[03:14] Negotiation strategy number two, use the offers. If multiple offers in hand, this will give you some leverage. We would recommend trying to get quotes from three to four dealerships, but you can cast an even wider net than that if you really want to.

[03:28] What you do next is you pick the best offer you got and shop it around at the other dealerships. Tell them what the offer was and then ask if they can beat it. The worst thing that can happen is they say no and that's fine. You still got the other dealerships to try to make a deal or you can just go with the original

[03:44] dealer if you can't get any traction, but we think you will. Do this for a few rounds and you should start to get a sense of how low the price can go and you can stop there if you want, but if you want to try to go even lower, it's time

[03:57] to put in a little extra legwork. Negotiation strategy number three, wheel and deal. The methods for this part will be a bit different whether you're shopping new or used.

[04:10] We'll start with new cars and our first tip there is to avoid the what monthly payment can you afford question entirely. The number that's more important is the out the door price. The total you'll pay for the vehicle with taxes and other fees included.

[04:26] Negotiate off of that number first. The monthly payment can vary widely depending on your loan or a number of other factors and it can be misleading. So leave the financing aside for now. If they come back with a price and it doesn't work for you, show your research.

[04:41] This is where the offers from other dealers and even the pricing tool on our site can come in handy. That lets the salesperson know that you've done the work and you're asking for a better price because you're informed. And this will also let them know that there are other dealerships in play for your business.

[04:57] This strategy is definitely the most work and requires the most time and you have to be willing to walk away and go to other dealers. And if you want the best deal, this is the way to do it. Now for a used car, it's a bit different because you're probably looking for something specific.

[05:12] Use an online tool like ours to see how the price on the car compares to similar vehicles in an area. Say it's $30,000. Our tool might tell you that the dealer's price is a fair deal so it's best to make an offer

[05:24] near the top of the great deal range around $27,000. Know ahead of time you're opening offer, how you'll counter and what your highest price will be. And then you won't be flustered when you're sitting across the table from someone.

[05:37] Oh, and if a used car has a no-haggle tag attached to it, that means the price is fixed and won't budge. You can always try but just be ready if they say no. There's no best strategy here.

[05:50] It's all about what level of time and potential stress is worth the savings to you. Now we've also got some other negotiation tips to keep in mind which will run through quickly. The first one is to not be intimidated.

[06:03] You and the salesperson are both playing the same game and if you've done your research that will put you on more equal footing and remember, it's not personal. If you don't like a salesperson, ask to speak to a sales manager to get another person

[06:17] to talk to or simply take your business elsewhere. If they're rude or too aggressive, you can always vote with your dollars. They haven't earned it. Second tip, unless you absolutely have to, don't buy a car in a hurry.

[06:30] What's up people end up with cars they didn't want at prices higher than what they should have paid. If there is no time pressure on your process, you can walk away when you need to in order to find the right car at the right price.

[06:42] Tip three, plan to spend a while at the dealer. With test drives, trade and negotiation, financing stuff, you could be there for at least three or four hours. Eat beforehand or bring a snack or if you're meat, do both.

[06:56] Flame and hot, cooler ranch Doritos. If you can, visiting a dealership on a weekday will make the entire process go quicker. They're generally less busy during the week than on the weekends.

[07:08] Fourth tip, everything is negotiable. It's not just that all important out the door price that you can drive down, you can also negotiate the interest rate of your loan, how much you're getting for your trade in, if you have one, the cost of the extended warranty, all of it.

[07:23] And as an aside, and this is one of my biggest car buying tips, if you don't plan on paying all cash, getting pre-approved for a loan is a must. Otherwise, you might end up paying a higher interest rate than necessary, and that will cost

[07:35] you a lot of money in the long run. So if you've been enjoying our videos and find them helpful, the best way to help us make more of them is a like and subscribe, and if you've got any other questions about buying

[07:49] a used or new car, let us know in the comments below, we do read them all. So there you have it, following those steps will help you get a better price on your next car than you would have otherwise and remember.

[08:01] The more work you're willing to put in, the better the likely result, just like exercise. Be sure to check out all of our helpful car buying tools at Edmonds, links to those will

[08:14] live in the description, and remember, we believe in you, you can do this.