The markup only matters if you are the dealer.
As a buyer, why is it important?
Find the car that has the value to you.
Buy it.
Enjoy it.
Happy Life.

 

Here was my story. I found a 2014 jaguar XKR 40K miles pristine on line with no pictures. One owner, still had jaguar warranty until May of 2021. I called the dealership. The sales manager called me back and sent me a picture of the car at 5 pm on Wednesday. I called back the next day to buy it and it was sold. It looks like I missed this one. If the deal does not go through they will call me I hope. Damn.

JDog

 

The dealer used your inquiry to scare an earlier potential buyer into pulling the trigger at the asking price.

 

Dealers are sneaky , I once seen a car on the web and phoned the dealer in question only to be told the car was sold , a few days prior they want people to call them take down your credentials then bombard you with messages of Hot deals , Hot deals they cant get rid off , i call them Ghost adverts

 

Dealer markup should not make a difference to you as the buyer. What should count is how much you are willing to pay for a particular car. If the dealer/seller won't accept that price - you walk away. Many times that is what I do and what do you know, the dealer/seller comes back to me with a dollar figure that either matches my offer or comes very close to it. So in the end, his markup his issue not the buyer's.

 

Absolutely. I had to leave a scathing review since I said, I'm about to drive 200 miles RIGHT now. I'd like to buy this car; can I leave a deposit; No its not necessary... The dealer did this crap with a local buyer and I had to turn around at 120 miles. It was a franchise Fiat dealer with a SC Full Size Range Rover.

I looked at a Range Rover again at a Kia dealer (bought at auction), and we couldn't agree on price. They spammed me with Kia deals; like I was remotely interested in them compared to a RANGE ROVER.

 

I like this method, especially if the make/model is readily available elsewhere. Walk away and buy the model you like elsewhere.

If you've been looking for a certain car (the right model, right color, right equipment, right miles, right location) I'll revert back to my previous remarks about not being too stubborn....as you'll end up seeing some other guy drive off in the car that you wanted !

Cheers
DD

 

When I bought mine, we couldn't reach a deal after I test drove and made an offer. To me, they wanted too much. 3 days later I called and asked if they still had it and they did. I offered even less than the original offer and they took it. Every situation is unique. Give it a try.

 

a) depends on dealer and your negotiating skills
b) depends on CarFax or AutoCheck report (s). Does the dealer offer free VIN check?
c) depends on independent mechanic's general report: compression, suspension, gauges, OBD II readings, etc.
d) depends how long on the lot. If car has been sitting for a while always point out it's getting more UV damage by the day.
e) depends on financing if going that route. Being pre-approved is an ace up your sleeve.

Bottom line, is this a need to buy, want to buy and how much time the buyer is willing to do some leg work. Even low mileage cars may have a sketchy history. Knowing all one can before sitting down with the seller is a second ace that can be played.

 

When my son was ready to buy his first new car (Kia Optima-loaded) I thought we had a deal with the Kia show room. When the financing guy sat down all the Ts&Cs had changed including the bottom line, out the door price. So of course they played the old "I'll have to check with my manager" game. After (5) minutes of that BS we got up, got into my XJ-8 and headed off the lot. In our rear mirrors we saw three guys chasing us. We did not stop. About an hour later the dealer manager called me, citing 'misunderstanding'. My son let him sit on the deal for two days then went back, renegotiated their financing getting better terms and made a lower offer than original. I coached him but he did most of the dialogue with Kia. All worked to his favor and we sold his used car at full asking price through Craig's List.

 

Yup. Got to be ready to walk.

I'm not saying that I enjoy it or am good at it but in my many years of buying cars, I've learned the walk away tactic. There are plenty of cars out there. They want to sell you a car more than you want to buy one. In 2018 I bought a CPO 2015 Lincoln MKS. The dealer found me exactly what I was looking for but it was about 3k more than I wanted to spend. I found a Cadillac CTX at a local dealer, same year, same options, for 2.5k less. I told the Lincoln salesman If they don't match that price, I'm going to buy the Caddy. The salesmen said the finance guy would never go for it. I said go ask him and if they do, I'll buy it right now. Well they matched it, threw in Tinted windows and I went home with that car the same night.

 

I love it.

 

I am done with dealer financing. When I bought I my Rapide, I traded in the Vantage for it and needed to pay the difference and wanted finance it. I said I would give the dealer first shot at financing. They came back with like 5% financing.. "It's an Aston and that's what banks are charging... That's the best we can do." I said no thank you, went to a local credit union and got around 3%. I told the dealer I got 3% locally and all set on their financing. They came back "what if we can do 3%"? I replied you cannot, you already told me this. So much easier to deal with the bank direct.

 

Interesting discussion as living in my new car world it is funny watching some of the unethical dealers at work. There have been several posts in the C8 world where when the car was delivered to the dealer they would contact the person who ordered it and tell them there was a Market Value increase of $10K. These were independent dealers as the major players were using MSRP . Oh and there was no negotiating off of MSRP. Then again my boss of the past used to tell me there is no such thing as ethics in business.

 

My buddy is a sales guy at Lexus dealer. Had his own auto dealership for many years. He says you can tell a salesguy is lying when their lips are moving. When he bought his old dealership, it was previously a Buick dealer and the previous dealership would throw customer keys onto the roof to keep the customers there long enough to sell them a car.

 

About (3) years ago a college student ran a red light and crushed the left front of my wife's van. No one was hurt, but my wife was shaken up. Kid's insurance deemed car totaled and was going to pay her "FMV" for the car. Since she had no car payment I got involved and got that number bumped up to give her enough for a decent down payment on a goodly rated SUV with low mileage, etc.

When we went to close on the deal 'they' couldn't understand the principle of 'pre-approved' via one of the banks I work with. Well we knew they could. Apparently the dealer got a bonus for at least trying to get us/her to finance through them. This is the only incident car buying transaction where I could not walk as wife had a road trip the next day. The selling price was already negotiated and fine with us, but these jerks kept insisting we at least look at and refuse their financing terms/conditions. They then called my bank to confirm the
pre-approval although I had the bank's pre-approval paperwork in front of them.

We had closed on our house in our present location in less time than was committed to this SUV purchase.

Lesson learned: never put oneself in a position with time constraints. I was seething. Sadly the guy who was mucking up this transaction died of a heart attack about two months later. I sincerely hope my red-in-the-face and spittle did not contribute to his demise.

 

Am unsure if stateside the independant car dealer is different to the UK.

Typically on higher end value models here the dealer takes out a 90 day loan to buy the car into stock, at the end of the 90 days they then have to either repay the loan or from day 91 start paying a higher rate of interest.

When the guy selling me my car for £33k went to make me a coffee, I had a look in the folder and the finance purchase price was £29500 and it was day 85. I knocked him down by £500 as a cash purchase, got them to deliver it with a full tank of fuel (all tax deductable for them) and was quite happy with the deal...they even threw in a decent bottle of red and one of champers So I believe I got a good deal.

That said I bought end of Nov and they bought it into stock at the end of Aug (our Summer) so probably weren't expecting it to be hanging around until Winter.

If I'm buying a 4x4 I do it in Summer, a sports GT or vert I'll buy in colder months as will save thousands and easily offsets the depreciation of a year lost of driving it in earnest

 

In the States they call it floor planning, same idea as in the UK, also applies to other retail industries as well.