If buying a new car, do you pay full MSRP?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I will be going to look at (and hopefully purchase) a new 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX Prestige which costs $54,820 ($52,600 MSRP + $1,395 freight and handling). We've never bought a new vehicle before. Is there any negotiating on the MSRP when it's a brand new car? We really want this car and are prepared to pay the $54,820. We're not sure if we'll finance a portion of it or just pay cash, which we can do. My understanding is that dealers make money on the financing. So do we pay full price or is there any negotiating? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I just knew car shopped and bought two weeks ago. No one is negotiating on hybrids. The waitlist to get one is long and there is always another buyer if you walk out the door.

We were able to negotiate on a fully gas powered car.

[Anonymous]

We bought a year ago and found for EVs that nearly evdery dealership was charging well above MSRP. Quite a change from last time we went car shopping. We eventually found a dealer willing to sell for MSRP and that was the best we could do.

[Anonymous]

We've paid MSRP in cash for our last two cars bought since the pandemic. Some dealers wanted more but we refused.

[Anonymous]

Oh wow, I didn't know/think that they could charge above MSRP. I guess we'll plan on paying MSRP. Additional comments still welcome. Thanks everyone!
-OP

[Anonymous]

Depends on the car and the timing. We paid MSRP for our last car (Porsche Macan) because it was in high demand at the time. Some dealers were charging a premium.

You can try one of those buying services to see if there are better deals to be had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the car and the timing. We paid MSRP for our last car (Porsche Macan) because it was in high demand at the time. Some dealers were charging a premium.

You can try one of those buying services to see if there are better deals to be had.

PenFed car buying service which is free is a good place to start and pits dealer vs. dealer.
It has a great search engine

[Anonymous]

OP, it's really hard to know. It depends on conditions of all sorts. I would suggest you go with a negotiating service like PP recommended.

Also, I would recommend you look outside the DC metro for a price break for a vehicle that might match your specs but be stuck in a local market where it's not going to sell very fast. You could save thousands.

I have heard of people getting great deals on hybrid Jeeps lately.

MSRP is only as real as the dealers feel it is. They are free to sell for lower. They can get money added to the deal in various ways.

I've been told you should agree on the price stating you will bring your own financing. Cash tells them they can't make loan origination bonus money off you.

[Anonymous]

You lost me a “buying a new car”. What’s that like?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, all! So the model we want is very specific and we've been routinely checking for inventory on the Kia website. We've also been in touch with a local dealer who said they "may be able to order it" for us but they need management sign off. I have no idea how long that will take... Meanwhile, yesterday I found the exact model we want, which is located 1.5 hours away from our home and in a neighboring state (we no longer live in the DMV area). We've confirmed with the dealer that it's still available. I just don't want to drive 1.5 hours there and come home without the car because they won't sell it to us for MSRP. Should I just call them back and ask them what they're selling it for or what the total cost is out the door (including tax, title, destination, fees)? I just don't want to deal with "well that depends on XYZ." They emailed us some financing paperwork and said we could fill it out ahead of time and they won't run it until we come in.

In other news, I filled out the PenFed info (thanks to the PP who recommended this) and got a bunch of offers, but they weren't exact matches to what we want.

[Anonymous]

No!

[Anonymous]

It can't hurt to ask, OP. We were told the total out the door price by our dealer before we made the trip. You should hustle, though, because they could sell the car to the first person in the door who qualifies. Our dealer had 2 on the lot available when we called and one sold in the 30 minutes we took to get there.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]You lost me a “buying a new car”. What’s that like?[/quote]

DP. It's great! We only buy new cars with the options we want, maintain them well, and drive them 10 or more years.

[Anonymous]

For a Kia, absolutely not. For a Range Rover, sadly yes if they are in demand. You can go online and see what others are paying for the same car. If expect at least a few thousand off a Kia.

[Anonymous]

Financing - if they offer you a better deal to finance, accept that offer if the loan can be paid in full in 3-5 mo without penalty

Then, figure out what that will cost you in interest and see if they’ll take it off the price of the car.

I’ve done this three times and no dealer has said no; they get the cash from the loan because you don’t pay it back early and you get a better deal.