Dealer negotiation

[Spicedaddy]

(keep in mind it's Canadian money, so don't compare to US prices...)

I went to a VW dealer to see a 2007 GTI with 104,000KM (64,000 Miles), DSG tranny, leather, sunroof, 18" wheels. It was advertised on VW's web site as Certified PreOwned, so 2 years 40,000km warranty, for 17,995$.

After trying it, we sit down and the first thing the seller says is that the CPO warranty is 1000$ extra. (wtf?) He says he can come down a bit on the price (now 19000$), but his boss probably won't go under 18000$.

I tell him I'll take it for 17500$. He comes back after a few minutes with 18250$. I say I'll think about it and start to get up from my chair, but he says he can make a last try. Comes back with 18100$. So I thank him, and leave.


So what do you guys think? Anything I should've done differently? I wanted to buy it, but would've felt dumb walking out of there paying more than the advertised price...

 

[AsianriceX]

Yeah, same deal when I got my VW.

"Oh when the ad says it's CPO, that just means it's eligible to be certified which costs extra."

In the end I got it CPO for lower than Edmunds TMV and under original asking price so I was OK with that. I'm betting it had been sitting there for a while and they just wanted to get rid of it.

Don't feel bad walking away. There are always plenty of other cars out there for you to buy.

 

[jlee]

I don't have much experience with dealers, but your decision sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I knocked my last purchase from $7995 (already below book) down to $7390 by telling him I wasn't going to pay advertised price. An extra $1k for CPO sounds odd..and $500 off an $18k car is nothing.

 

[alexruiz]

You did what you had to do. Dealers sometimes think that we people are afraid to walk out of a purchase. You taught them a lesson, so maybe next time they will reconsider how they make deals.

I was in a similar situation a few days ago. After cross-shopping a car, I finally settled in a dealer. He initially offered $3500 for the trade in. His price on the new car wasn't the lowest, but the trade in money was close to what I wanted to get, he seemed wiling to deal, and he was local, so I said, ok.

Then, as the process kept moving the trade in allowance came lower to $3000, as "there was no way my car was worth that much..." He didn't have the car I wanted in stock, it would have had had to be brought from another dealer.... and yes, they would charge for the transport.... I still was willing to do it. A day before closing, suddenly they "forgot" to add some fees, and some that were already there magically were higher... and he kept insisting than even at $3000, my car wasn't worth that much....

Well, sometimes you just feel this bad vibe, and I really had the bad vibe. I foresaw what would happen on closing day, more fees would appear and my car would be worth only $2500. I just called him, thanked him for the dealing, and said I would not go forward, as the process was turning sour. He obviously complained about me being the most difficult customer he ever had (well, he promised something, I was just sticking to the already agreed numbers) and that he had wasted so much time in a deal where he was losing so much money.... I just said he should be grateful that it didn't go through, so he didn't have to lose all that money...

I ended selling my used car for $3700 and getting the new car for over $1k cheaper somewhere else.... out of state, but an extremely smooth transaction.

Moral here? As long as you have not signed anything, you can can walk away at any time. They want to play hard ball with high pressure tactics, so can we. Well done!



Alex

PS. By the way, I was bringing my own financing, as even though he initially "offered" a good rate, his estimated monthly payments didn't match the loan calculators using that rate and loan amount....

 

[Spicedaddy]

Thanks, makes me feel a little better. Back to my old 94 car, lol. They just got the car, so that might be why they wouldn't come down much on the price. Oh well, we'll see if they sell it in the next few weeks.

I'll try my local dealer tomorrow to see if they also charge for CPO...

 

[Lotheron]

Good for you. They made gobs and gobs of these cars, even in GTI form. Should not be hard to find another one for the price you're willing to pay.

 

[alkemyst]

Trick is to have your price in mind for the bottom line (reasonable of course) and don't budge. There are enough dealers out there to find any car if you are offering a fair price.

I remember when the Camaro RS came out with V6 and the SS body. My wife wanted one so bad. She didn't want the V8 nor the manual. The insanity was they had a $4,000 'rare option package' on the car.

My wife originally did the looking and they thought it was going to be a slam dunk. I remember the sales dude going into another room and slamming around a phone only to come back one last time to his final bluff.

We got up and just walked out.

Four hours later he called back. I told him Ft Lauderdale is going to match our offer and throw in the factory mats and CD upgrade free so we were just on our way down.

He told us he'd match that and gave us something else...

It was awesome.

 

[Gibson486]

When I tried shopping for a VW Rabbit, their idea of price negotiation was knocking $200 off the sticker price. I thought they just wanted me to be more aggressive. Nope. That was the bottom price.

 

[JCH13]

Definitely shop the deal around, that doesn't sound like an amazing deal to begin with. When I got my Speed3 I test drove one at a local dealer about 90 minutes away. He wouldn't even negotiate price over the phone, just kept on telling me to drive back to talk... really annoying. I called a couple out-of-state dealers and said "I'll buy a Speed3 GT for $xx" (essentially 10% off) and one said "sure, when can you be here?" sold. I did contact 4 dealers total, but a few hours of calling is worth the money I saved, easily.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

I did something similar a few years ago. I emailed 5 or 6 dealers saying I am buying this car in the next 48 hours, send me your best price.

 

[amdhunter]

Dealerships hate me. I am very good at getting what I want. Call him back tomorrow and ask him if he was able to better the deal.

 

[Spicedaddy]

I'll wait a week or two, it'll probably be snowing by then and the car is on 18" summer tires...

Best thing would be to find one from a private seller since you only pay one tax here. (7.5% vs 5%+7.5%)

 

[Spicedaddy]

LOL, they just called back and offered 17800$. I think I'll take it, it's the only DSG with leather I can find right now (except for orange Fahrenheit editions).

They also have 0.9% financing for 24 months that expires in a few weeks.

 

[Tristicus]

DO IT!

Why not? You only live once!

 

[JulesMaximus]

DO IT!

Why not? You only live once!

Yeah...what could go wrong? It's a used VW...with DSG after all!

 

[exdeath]

Best negotiating tool is being unafraid of walking away.

 

[exdeath]

LOL, they just called back and offered 17800$. I think I'll take it, it's the only DSG with leather I can find right now (except for orange Fahrenheit editions).

They also have 0.9% financing for 24 months that expires in a few weeks.

Case in point to my previous post

 

[Farang]

I think your mistake was offering your mid-high price rather than your low. You let them dictate the terms of the negotiation when you are the one making the buying decision. Let's say they advertised their mid, changed it to their high when you got in. So you counter with your mid-high (basically the advertised price, what you expected the negotiation to start from). They've already won. Now they come back with something just below the advertised price because they know you don't care about getting the best price, you just want to feel like you negotiated and saved some money. So they throw you a $195 bone to get you to bite.

In this situation I would have been unafraid to lowball them, because my first instinct would have been to walk out the door because they falsely advertised. Before I leave I figure it wouldn't have hurt to give my lowest offer, worst they can say is no.

Not to say its a bad deal or anything. But if you can wait and this car isn't super special, you could use some practice and try again somewhere else.

edit: I'd also add that if you haven't been literally laughed off the lot, or pissed off a salesman who DOESN'T call you back to take your offer, you haven't ever gone low enough. Nobody bats 1.000 and if you haven't done this it means you're always missing too high.

 

[Tristicus]

Yeah...what could go wrong? It's a used VW...with DSG after all!

Yeah! After all, he could be a puss like you!

 

[Spicedaddy]

I think your mistake was offering your mid-high price rather than your low. You let them dictate the terms of the negotiation when you are the one making the buying decision. Let's say they advertised their mid, changed it to their high when you got in. So you counter with your mid-high (basically the advertised price, what you expected the negotiation to start from). They've already won. Now they come back with something just below the advertised price because they know you don't care about getting the best price, you just want to feel like you negotiated and saved some money. So they throw you a $195 bone to get you to bite.

In this situation I would have been unafraid to lowball them, because my first instinct would have been to walk out the door because they falsely advertised. Before I leave I figure it wouldn't have hurt to give my lowest offer, worst they can say is no.

Not to say its a bad deal or anything. But if you can wait and this car isn't super special, you could use some practice and try again somewhere else.

edit: I'd also add that if you haven't been literally laughed off the lot, or pissed off a salesman who DOESN'T call you back to take your offer, you haven't ever gone low enough. Nobody bats 1.000 and if you haven't done this it means you're always missing too high.

I checked, and all the VW dealers around here do that. They advertise a lower price on the web and tack on 800-1200$ for CPO. Kinda shady, but in this case, getting it CPO lets me have 0.9% financing, so it pays for itself.

But you're right, thinking about it, I should've tried to hold 17000$ yesterday, and they probably would've met me in the middle at 17500$ today... In the end, it's 300$ and I want the car.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Pic of the car so the thread is complete

http://pictures.dealer.com/v/volkswagenstjrometc/0496/5f67d1a50a0a0064003d511ec3f42f76.jpg

 

[alkemyst]

In the end, it's 300$ and I want the car.

That's the way it rolls. To me if it's new I can negotiate, if it's common the same.

Even when I bought my 98 240SX SE back in 04, I did this. Total 97-98 production was only about 5000 with only 2178 units built in 98. Out of them even fewer had no abs, were pearl white, had a manual, no leather, no sunroof and in mint condition.

When good specimens were going for $12,500+, I snagged mine for $8,800. It had one replaced fender due to a shopping lot issue. People were avoiding it because the poster had '1 previous accident'. Still today the car is a cherry even though I myself was involved in an accident in it.

I also picked up a 1988 Mustang GT with T-tops, 5 speed and the rare but so nice with dove gray red interior for only $7500 in 1991 in absolutely mint condition. Less than 30k on it. Other GT's at the time were much higher, this seller needed cash that weekend for a sailboat he found a equally crazy deal on. That seller also needed cash for a deal he found.

My new 97 GTI VR6 I picked up for a steal as well. Candy white on black leather. Took it to Stu Bremmer at BSI for a full re-do.

Chicks really loved that car, valets would park it up front. Very spartan and simple yet sounded and drove so nice.

 

[Spicedaddy]

97 GTI VR6 in white... Nice!

Can't beat the sound of a VR6, although I like the turbo 4's for fuel economy. (had a 1.8T for the last 4 years, and now 2.0T)

 

[alkemyst]

Yeah...plus the turbos are far easier to mod to nice hp numbers...

this was mine:

http://30moons.com/cars97GTIVR6.php

the pictures don't do it justice, they look ackward to me.

 

[AsianriceX]

DO IT!

Why not? You only live once!

Hah, sometimes I wonder if that's a good way to rationalize a financial commitment...

Pic of the car so the thread is complete

http://pictures.dealer.com/v/volkswagenstjrometc/0496/5f67d1a50a0a0064003d511ec3f42f76.jpg

Nice! Black Karthoums weren't stock (at least in the US).

If you do decide to go with this car, force them to check the cam follower that actuates the high pressure fuel pump. On the 2007 it should be as easy as removing the engine cover, removing 3 bolts to take off the pump and looking at the follower.

If that follower is punched through, you'd be in for a week at the shop while they replace the intake cam, hpfp, and follower... all that for a stupid $50 part.