Buying a New Car? Skip the Negotiations

Posted by Madison on March 7, 2008

In Save Money at the Pump a reader, Jim, mentioned that he could sponsor my purchase of a new car. That reminded me of some great discounts that exist when buying a new car. Many are hard to beat if negotiation makes you queasy. If you are a great negotiator you can compare the discounts to the True Market Value at Edmunds.com to see what your best route is.

Friends and Family Discounts

When we purchased our Dodge Durango in 2001 we were able to use a friends and family discount as we had a relative that works at Chrysler. We were able to get 2% below invoice plus the manufacturer rebates. Because car manufacturers employ so many people, you probably know someone at least indirectly who would be happy to help you out. Ask your friends, family, co-workers, etc.

Corporate Discounts

Our company has partnership programs with many companies for discount pricing. I usually remember to check for discounts with cell phones and restaurants, but forget some of the other benefits.

Here’s some of the car manufacturers that have corporate partnership programs:

GM supplier discount which includes a search function to find out if your company is listed. Some popular models included are Chevy, Saturn, Buick, Pontiac, and GMC.

Ford partner program includes discounts on Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mazda.

Chrysler program. Check with your HR department for the appropriate code to take with you to the dealership.

Action Plan

We’re still trying to decide which car to get. We’re considering the Mazda5, but we’re torn between a used one and a new one. I wanted to try to buy used, but the 2008 model actually has a new package not available in prior years that we might want. With the corporate pricing, the new one is actually a reasonable cost.

Check out other articles in the car series:

This article is featured in: Festival of Frugality #116.





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Comments to Buying a New Car? Skip the Negotiations

  1. Madison – Using a family and friends discount at a car dealership seems like a great idea. I’m doing my best to save up enough cash to buy my next vehicle without going into debt. I think this is the best way to save money when buying a car. Dealerships like almost everyone else in the retail business seem to make most of their profit on financing. If I could combine paying cash with such a discount, it might make sense to buy new instead of used.

    Jeff@MySuper-Charged Life


  2. We use the discounts and they are amazing.
    Even with the discounts you can still get the rebates and/or the special financing and can save a ton of money.
    We save up, trade in our old car and use the discounts and rebates and come close to paying in full every time! It is awesome.
    We do drive our cars for ever though, so we have plenty of time to save!

    Take Care

    LJ

    LJ


  3. I used to pride myself in my negotiating skills when buying my first car (and my wife’s), but it is a real headache even if you’re good at it.

    Recently we got new cars and I went to a dealership that offers a “one-price” system where there’s no negotiation. Basically they have one price (below MSRP) that is fair for the product, and you don’t go through the negotiation mess. They pride themselves on service and since they’re a Honda dealership, it works for them. You won’t have much luck negotiating down the price on a new Honda anyway since they’re fairly high demand, so you end up with a good price, low stress buying environment, and great service even after you drive off.

    We’ve been extremely happy with the process. I used to loathe talking with car salesmen, but we’ll probably end up continuing to buy from them in the future.

    Know The Ledge


  4. I’ll have to check this out. Very interesting.

    @Know the Ledge
    Where you DO have some negotiating power is in your trade (if you have one). There’s still plenty of chances to use your negotiation skills there!

    Ron@TheWisdomJournal


  5. Great title – made me want to read more. Negotiations are draining

    Katie



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