How to get a good deal on a new car? Any pro car shoppers out there?

My neighbor is looking for a new 2013 Altima and I said I'd help him find a good deal. I know a decent amount about cars but almost never buy new from a dealer so I need a little help, helping him out. I looked up "dealer invoice/cost" and got a bunch of similar prices, around $20,300 for the base model. So I start shopping around on cars.com and autotrader for local dealers, there are hundreds of Altimas for sale around $18,500, brand new. So what am I missing? I know they have a holdback but that's usually (IIRC) a few hundred dollars. Are they really selling cars for $1500 below invoice? How much should we be able to haggle at this price point? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong price for dealer cost also, don't know. My neighbor also said they are offering 0% financing so they aren't making any money on that, which is a huge margin for most dealers.


Anyways, any help on getting him a good deal is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

2014s are out...maybe just clearing out the 13's.

 

Why haggle? Use a site like truecar.com

 

I'm sure they are clearing out the 2013's. I looked at the truecar.com site. They said the average dealer price was $21K and change. When I searched on autotrader and cars.com there were tons of 2013's brand new for $18,500 etc. I guess my question is how much negotiation is typical when it appears the car is already $2000 below invoice? Does this even sound right?

Thanks again.

 

When we bought our CX9 we just looked on their website and found the exact car we wanted BELOW the price any of those websites were showing them selling for. I showed up, beat them up a bit, got my moral victory ($500 below the price listed), got the 0% and they gave us more for our trade than we factored.

Funny, we were going to buy a Toe-rag but looked at the mazda dealership website one last time.

Truecar is great for high dollar, in demand cars. For leftovers and less in demand, just check their website and see what the deal is.

 

They could be offering the dealers some incentives that you don't know about.

 

And some dealers may advertise a price that includes other incentives that all buyers may not be eligible for. Need to be careful with that.

 

if you really want to help your neighbor, tell then to buy a Mazda 6 or Accord before an altima.

 

The new mazda 6 is the shit! :up:

Just needs a better motor with some guts.

 

the diesel is supposedly coming but i would still take it in it's current form.

 

Hells yeah. That or the Hyundai. Those would be my choices for a leased company car.

That's shocking since I'm a VW/ Audi cult member.

 

This is on the money, I've managed car dealerships for nearly a decade now and people run themselves to death over a hundred bucks. Find your car, the one YOU want. Look up the invoice and current incentives on kbb,edmunds, truecar, etc and go in make an offer a few hundred below that and see what they come up with. If you lose out on $50 bucks, what the big deal? If you lose days of your life fighting and scratching for that last little bit, will you ever get that time back?

 

funny but my mother is looking to get rid of her Jeep (the Hemi is killing her) and get an outback or an RDX (or audi?). she went to a Subaru dealership today in ATL and turns out the sales guy used to race WERA or at least rides. didn't get his name yet but if anyone on here is in ATL and works at a Subaru (or Acura or Audi) dealership let me know. She's just looking right now but I would guess she'll buy something sooner rather than later..

 

Truecar and the like are in my experience pretty close. You should be able to get a car for well under the factory invoice price.

Spoken like a true salesman. Why beat yourself up over a few bucks... that I am going to make selling you this vehicle. Really though GrayGhost is dead on, but I say offer them a couple grand below the numbers you can find. You won't ever get anything you don't ask for.

 

The new Mazda 6 with a manual. It's awesome. I'm getting ready to buy one for a daily driver.

 

That will be an awesome buy...can't wait to see the pics!

 

I have a very good friend that is high up in a very large dealership. Learned a few important things...

1. That thing about buying in the last day or two of the month is real, and is VERY relevant on the last few days of a calendar quarter..something to do with the dealers qualifying for bonuses from the manufacturers.

2. A shockingly high profit is made after you agree to buy the car. It happens is the finance office...beware.

3. your best tool is your willingness to walk away.

4. Let the salesman know you are educated on numbers...it clears the path a bit...they then know you arent a sucker.

Good luck.