How to Get the Best Quote at a Car Dealership
Buying a new or used car can be a stressful and difficult process. Not only do you need to do a ton of research into the vehicles you’re interested in, but you also need to negotiate a fair price with the car dealership. It’s not uncommon to see varying prices of the same car at different dealerships, making the process overwhelming. In this article, we’re going to give you four tips on how to get quotes from car dealerships to ensure you get the best possible deal.
1. Get The Dealer to Quote the Price First
One of the unwritten rules in negotiation is that whoever offers up a price first is in the less advantageous position. So with that being said, it’s important that you don’t name a price until you’ve received a quote from the dealership. You being the customer, have all the leverage here because if you’re not satisfied with the offer, you can easily go to the next competing dealership to do business with. There’s nothing a dealership hates more than losing business to a competitor, so it shouldn’t be difficult to get a quote from the dealership first. It’s common for salespeople to ask questions like “what are you looking to pay” or “what’s the best offer you’ve gotten so far?”. Don’t fall for these tricks as they’re only trying to get a number out of you. If they’re hesitant or unwilling to give you a price, do your business elsewhere.
2. Call or Email Three Dealerships About Getting a Quote
The second tip we have on getting quotes from a car dealership is to call three dealerships about a particular make and model of vehicle. While this may require a bit more effort, it can pay off and save you thousands of dollars. In your email, make sure you tell them the type of vehicle, which trim level you want and the colour you prefer. From there, you should hear back from the dealership with the vehicle options they have in stock that match your description or are close to it. Your response should be “what’s your asking price” or something along those lines so it doesn’t come off as aggressive. Be sure to ask for the quote over email so you have it in writing if they were to dispute the quote they made over the phone. Once you have quotes from three different dealerships, it should be easy to go with the dealership that offered you the best price.
3. Don’t Buy Any Extra Add-ons
Most car dealerships have sneaky ways to make more money off a sold vehicle at every stage of the car buying process. So don’t be surprised when you’re at what you think is the end of the deal closing and you get hit with an extended warranty promotion. Regardless of how good the deal may sound, it’s recommended to pass on anything additional. It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking that $700 isn’t a lot of money when you’re buying a $25,000 car, but this is how they get you. To avoid spending money on extra add-ons, get an “out the door” price from the salesperson before coming to the dealership and write a cheque for that exact amount. This way you won’t be as tempted to opt into additional upgrades or promotions.
4. Get One Dealership To Beat Another Dealerships Price
Many dealerships have a policy where they claim to be able to beat any competitor’s price, and it’s important you take advantage of this. Most dealers will only beat the competitor’s price by a small amount and will want to have you at the dealership to do it so they can close the deal. Because of this, you shouldn’t ask the dealer to beat a price until you’re ready to buy. When the time comes that you’re ready to buy and you believe the quote you received is as low as the dealership will go, that’s when you try and take advantage of this policy. This should give you the ability to drop the price even lower than what you had originally thought would be possible.
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