Reply to Buying a car - what % of the price is a realistic "low" offer?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So I'm OK with haggling as long as I know I have decent solid footing, but my problem is that I don't know what "solid footing" means for car prices.  Is 10% below asking price realistic?  20%?  We're looking at the $15-20k range, so for example, would offering 18k on a 20k car be realistic, too much off, or not enough off?

TIA
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Impossible to answer without more information.  New or used?  If used, from dealer or private sale?  What make and model?[/quote]

OP here - sorry - didn't think it actually made a difference!  Used car, either a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna, through a dealer.  Will give preference to lower mileage versus newer model year.  Other than that I'm not terribly picky.  [/quote]

The reason it matters is because some cars are more in demand than others.  You'll generally be able to negotiate more off the price of a Ford than the price of a Honda, for example.  A better source than truecars.com is to look at completed auctions in Ebay autos for the car you're looking for and see what people actually pay.  Edmunds car forums are another place for information as is craigslist and auto trader just to get a feel for the market for the car you want, both in terms of pricing and availability.  Remember that dealers make a ton of money off used cars because they screw people on trade ins so there's a lot more room to negotiate on used cars vs. new cars.  Don't buy any of the extra stuff they offer you, it's either unnecessary or overpriced.  Be aware of various other fees they may try to tack on (documenation fees, ad fees, etc.) as most of them are pure profit for the dealer.
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