Negotiating a car price and dealer incentives

July 27, 2009 9:30 PM

This is an awesome askme on negotiating a new car price but not covered is when do dealer incentives come in? Working from the TMV price, should I negotiate the price with the incentives applied? or negotiate the price with the dealer and then assume that the dealer will apply any available incentives? Thanks.
posted by bluesky43 to travel & transportation (3 answers total)

I would think that the dealer would apply the incentives to get you to the price you are asking for and not apply them after the price has been agreed on. They will try to sell you the car at the price minus incentives and not lower if they can.
posted by saradarlin at 9:57 PM on July 27, 2009

Walk in the door knowing what the incentives are. When you're discussing the price, be very specific about how much you expect to pay, and whether the incentive(s) you qualify for apply. Don't wait for them to do it, don't treat it like something special; "The sticker on this is $23,480 with $600 destination, your invoice is somewhere around $21,200 including destination, and I qualify for the $1000 cash back rebate. I want to pay $20,600 including destination, which is around $400 over invoice -- $21,600 -- before the rebate is applied. So $20,600 including destination with rebate applied, plus tax title and license."

Then, when they bring back the numbers that show you paying $400 over invoice -- $21,600 -- AFTER the rebates are applied, you can calmly point out that's not what you agreed to and do it again. Believe me, they WILL do this. Also, when they bring back the numbers showing the destination charge above the line, and then again below it, you can point that out, too. And so on. Make sure you have your numbers laid out in advance, itemized, and if their numbers don't match (and they pressure you to believe yours are wrong), walk.
posted by davejay at 12:50 AM on July 28, 2009

The "out the door" price is what really matters, which lets you easily compare prices between dealers who may add different charges or play different games with incentives.
posted by Forktine at 6:02 AM on July 28, 2009