Does negotiating for a car via email really work in real life?

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to persuade my husband to try it this time, but he's skeptical. And pretty old-school, traditional thinker. Any personal experience?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely 100% yes. Not all dealerships are willing to play ball over email, but those were not going to be the best deals anyway. Anyone who didn't want to engage over email or pressured me to call or come in before giving a price, I simply disregarded.

When I bought a car recently, I was getting price quotes that varied $5-6K (on a roughly $40k car.)!!!! Its pretty easy to tell which dealers want your business on price and which ones only want the suckers.

[Anonymous]

Emailing makes things very fast, but, if your husband prefers to do some negotiating in person, the next best thing is to figure out how low a dealership is likely to go. And then identify a couple of dealerships that have the exact car (with the feature level) you are looking for. Just tell them what you want to pay, and see what they say. Be prepared to move on to the next dealership if you can't get your price.

[Anonymous]

It is the only way I buy cars. I’ve done it three times. I don’t have time in my life to haggle. Email keeps the whole process short and done on my time. I also get lost in all the numbers they throw around. It gives me time to figure it all out.

I narrow down my search to two cars, visit and test drive both. Get the business cards of the two people I’m working with and let them know I will be buying a car on Sunday. I then commence emails with both letting them both know the other current offer.

[Anonymous]

It worked for us. Not sure where your DH’s skepticism is coming from.

[Anonymous]

One more vote. Worked for 3 cars over the past 15+ years.

1. Research the cars you want to buy and develop a shortlist.
2. Test drive and pick one as well as the specific trim, etc.
3. Create a new Gmail account; Also get the free google voice# that goes with it.
4. E-mail all dealers within 50 miles with the specific model, trim, etc and ask for best price. Give them the google voice# if that's a requirement.
5. Close the deal with the dealer who gave you the best price.
6. Delete the gmail account.

[Anonymous]

Yes

[Anonymous]

How much does it vary though? Like $500? $1500? Lets say the MSRP is $35k.

[Anonymous]

I did it this year, and now I can't imagine doing it any other way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more vote. Worked for 3 cars over the past 15+ years.

1. Research the cars you want to buy and develop a shortlist.
2. Test drive and pick one as well as the specific trim, etc.
3. Create a new Gmail account; Also get the free google voice# that goes with it.
4. E-mail all dealers within 50 miles with the specific model, trim, etc and ask for best price. Give them the google voice# if that's a requirement.
5. Close the deal with the dealer who gave you the best price.
6. Delete the gmail account.

PP again. In step 4, some dealers will call and want to talk to you or ask you to come in. Ignore them. Not worth your time. You can check Google voice messages online or through your phone through the GV or Hangouts app.as well as call back using that number through the app..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much does it vary though? Like $500? $1500? Lets say the MSRP is $35k.

Depends on the car.

If the car is a new model (e.g. Pallisade), not much if any. If the model has been around for a while or if a new model is coming, thousands..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much does it vary though? Like $500? $1500? Lets say the MSRP is $35k.

Depends on the car.

If the car is a new model (e.g. Pallisade), not much if any. If the model has been around for a while or if a new model is coming, thousands..

Let's pretend it's a Honda Odyssey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much does it vary though? Like $500? $1500? Lets say the MSRP is $35k.

Depends on the car.

If the car is a new model (e.g. Pallisade), not much if any. If the model has been around for a while or if a new model is coming, thousands..

Let's pretend it's a Honda Odyssey.

This was in 2016 but I think we saved more than 5k on a new Odyssey over MSRP.

[Anonymous]

Yes it works if played it correctly

[Anonymous]

It absolutely works. Get a detailed out the door price from each dealer and don’t bother with any dealers that refuse to provide this information.