subject: Getting The Best Car Deal Starts With Getting Car Quotes [print this page] Before you even think about walking into a car dealership to sit down and work on getting your best car deal, you absolutely should have already calculated and gotten quotes for the base cost of the car that you're looking at.
As a benchmark for your price negotiations you should use the dealer invoice minus any holdback and any dealer cash or marketing allowances. If you do this, you will have set up a good starting point from which you can then begin negotiating.
As you might expect, not many dealers are going to sell you a car for below their actual cost so you will need to work up from that number. And this is a good time to remind you that when it comes to negotiating your best price on your car, you always want to negotiate from invoice up and never MSRP down.
Believe it or not, there really is no set amount above dealer invoice that is considered the best price for car. This is because any negotiated price that you're able to work at the car dealership or with a dealer is greatly determined by supply and demand first and foremost.
For example, if the car that you're looking at has plenty of supply, then you've got a better chance of paying an amount closer to the dealer cost. The converse for this works as well. If there is plenty of demand for the car that you're looking at, what the supply is low or restricted than your chances of negotiating close to dealer cost are essentially slim to none.
There are people that consider 5% over dealer cost as the determining number for a good deal. However, if your timing is good and you visit the right dealer, you can many times get your car for less than 5% over dealer cost. On the other hand some cars can never be purchased for price anywhere near this type of percent.
Although this may seem like your trying to hit a moving target, you goal is still to focus on getting the best price you can possibly negotiate. But remember a low sales price is just the beginning and there are other critical factors such as financing terms that also come into play when determining the overall success of your car deal.
Regardless of the make and model of the car that you're looking at as a potential buy, it all starts with getting some research done and getting some car quotes put together that you can put in your information folder.
Take advantage of the tools you have today such as all the information available on the Internet. Stay home and protected from the assault of the sales people while you get some car quotes under your belt. Don't ever go to a car dealership and try to negotiate the price of a car as an unarmed buyer.
