Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought an end-of-model-year new car about a year ago, and I just emailed the dealerships and asked for a best out-the-door price (and then eliminated anyone who wouldn't play ball). I wanted a very specific vehicle but was somewhat flexible on color, so I didn't need to go to each dealer and test drive.

This is basically my approach every time. I send my husband to do the test drive without me so they can’t pressure us into buying on the spot or waste hours of time. You can also go to a no-haggle place to test drive. Then I email everyone within about a 90 minute drive. I give our home phone number, which we never answer. Get a bunch of quotes, and leverage the best 3-5 against one another. If you have a trade, get a quote at Carmax before. Don’t let them put the trade in the offer. If you trade, you should not owe tax on the value of the trade. Don’t set foot into true dealership until you have the offer on writing. Arrange to meet your salesperson there to complete the paperwork and pick up your car.

OP here. Thanks for this advice. We already made the cardinal mistake of stepping into a dealership thinking we had an offer and basically wasting our time. After that we refused to go without a sales quote/firm offer and waited out any of the “come in and we can talk price then” pressure per the advice above. Got the online price we wanted and did online with Carmax to sell our old car so we didn’t have to worry about the trade.

I bought a new vehicle (sticker $83k) for $74k in 30 minutes with no test drive.

Anonymous wrote:I bought an end-of-model-year new car about a year ago, and I just emailed the dealerships and asked for a best out-the-door price (and then eliminated anyone who wouldn't play ball). I wanted a very specific vehicle but was somewhat flexible on color, so I didn't need to go to each dealer and test drive.

I did this and then took the offer to the close dealer I knew I would service the car at- they matched it

Anonymous wrote:I bought an end-of-model-year new car about a year ago, and I just emailed the dealerships and asked for a best out-the-door price (and then eliminated anyone who wouldn't play ball). I wanted a very specific vehicle but was somewhat flexible on color, so I didn't need to go to each dealer and test drive.

This is basically my approach every time. I send my husband to do the test drive without me so they can’t pressure us into buying on the spot or waste hours of time. You can also go to a no-haggle place to test drive. Then I email everyone within about a 90 minute drive. I give our home phone number, which we never answer. Get a bunch of quotes, and leverage the best 3-5 against one another. If you have a trade, get a quote at Carmax before. Don’t let them put the trade in the offer. If you trade, you should not owe tax on the value of the trade. Don’t set foot into true dealership until you have the offer on writing. Arrange to meet your salesperson there to complete the paperwork and pick up your car.

I bought an end-of-model-year new car about a year ago, and I just emailed the dealerships and asked for a best out-the-door price (and then eliminated anyone who wouldn't play ball). I wanted a very specific vehicle but was somewhat flexible on color, so I didn't need to go to each dealer and test drive.

I’ve been looking at all the car sites and even when dealers “compete for your business” they all want you to come in and test drive and dance around giving an out the door price. The e-price excludes so many fees and can include discounts you aren’t eligible to receive that’s it’s difficult to calculate what it would actually cost you out the door much less compare based on e-price. So if you don’t have hours to drive to multiple dealerships 30 miles away and sit there for hours negotiating, how do you get a good price on a new car in a limited amount of time and are any of the online sites actually useful to do this?