How to deal when paying cash

[priusgurl2]

Hello

I've enjoyed reading threads and thought I would ask the experienced a question.

So, do you have any pointers for haggling a price when paying cash? From my reading I can tell dealers would prefer you pay with loans (interest = more money), and if they knew I planned to pay cash I may not reach a lower price.

Also, when discussing a price, is it customary to request a total price to include taxes, lice. fee etc?

I'll be buying in Northern California. From what I've read I understand it is the buyer's advantage when the car is in stock and perhaps they have a few more than just one.


I look forward to hearing from you

[lchamp]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusgurl2 @ Jan 14 2007, 08:06 PM) [snapback]375633[/snapback]</div>

So, do you have any pointers for haggling a price when paying cash? From my reading I can tell dealers would prefer you pay with loans (interest = more money), and if they knew I planned to pay cash I may not reach a lower price.

Also, when discussing a price, is it customary to request a total price to include taxes, lice. fee etc?

I'll be buying in Northern California. From what I've read I understand it is the buyer's advantage when the car is in stock and perhaps they have a few more than just one.
I look forward to hearing from you
[/b]

Every time I have bought a car, the sales person has asked if I was going to pay cash or take a loan. My answer has always been "which will give me a better price?"

When I bought my Dodge, he said he could give me $1000 off final price if I took a loan. He also said I could pay the loan off after 3 weeks and there would be minimal interest charged...only for time of loan. It was less than $100. Good deal for me, I got 1000 off and paid less than 100 for the privilege...paid the loan off within the month. I think it was like $6000 off MSRP at the time. That was a little over 2 years ago.

When I bought my Prius yesterday, I asked the same question. Salesman said no difference, so I just wrote the check...no loan. Same price either way.

I got a very good price negotiating from a known invoice price that I got from Edmunds.com. He showed me the invoice and price was the same. I know that the invoice contains hidden profits for the dealer and told him so. We negotiated from there. Total time from entering the dealership to driving a new car home was about 3 hours.

Cheers,

Larry

[abqpete]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusgurl2 @ Jan 14 2007, 05:06 PM) [snapback]375633[/snapback]</div>

Hello

I've enjoyed reading threads and thought I would ask the experienced a question.

So, do you have any pointers for haggling a price when paying cash? From my reading I can tell dealers would prefer you pay with loans (interest = more money), and if they knew I planned to pay cash I may not reach a lower price.

Also, when discussing a price, is it customary to request a total price to include taxes, lice. fee etc?

I'll be buying in Northern California. From what I've read I understand it is the buyer's advantage when the car is in stock and perhaps they have a few more than just one.
I look forward to hearing from you
[/b]

I just bought my '07 Touring Package 5 a few weeks ago, paying cash as well. After calling around, trying to find one with my color and package, I went there. I looked the car over and said "Let's talk pricing." We went in and he brought out the paperwork with the price they wanted. I offered exactly $1500 less than the sticker. He said he would have to talk to his boss. I said fine. I was prepared for them to say it was too low. Instead, they asked if I would be buying today. I said yes and wrap it to go! Not sure if there is a glut of Prii in the Bay Area but it did not seem hard to get what I consider a reasonable deal.

I bought mine from City Toyota in Daly City. My sales guy was Alan (last name was Hispanic like Sanchez or Ramirez -- cannot remember).

Good luck!

Regards, Peter

[Teddydmz]

Hey there, PriusGurl2.

If you're paying cash, it also helps to go in at the end of the month when they're trying to reach or exceed certain sales quotas and they're most interested in "making the sale now."

Best of luck and let us know how you do!

Teddydmz
2006 Silver Pine Mica, Pkg 8

[fphinney]

Cash - Huh?

Well, from what I've read on this website, & I had it all to do over, again - I would use a cash-back credit card, to the max! It's not hard to find one that pays at least 1% cash-back.

I think I've read where some buyers pushed hard to get a fairly large share of the price on a card. On a $20,000 car, if you could get $10,000 of it on a card, you'd get $100 cash-back. I think that makes it worth the effort!

BUT this only works if you pay off that card, in full, the first month! Good luck,

[lchamp]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fphinney @ Jan 15 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]375757[/snapback]</div>

Cash - Huh?

Well, from what I've read on this website, & I had it all to do over, again - I would use a cash-back credit card, to the max! It's not hard to find one that pays at least 1% cash-back.

[/b]

We joked about that with the dealer and he just laughed. It coses the dealer 3-5% when you put it on a card. That is going to figure into his pricing. He'll just raise the price to accommodate the fees associated with the card. You lose...or at least, you don't win. He raises the price 3% and you get 1% cash back...does not look good to me.

Cash is the great leveller. Every time you use a card, the dealer/merchant pays a fee to the bank that issues the card. That is always added to the price of any item.

Cheers,

Larry

[Walker1]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fphinney @ Jan 15 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]375757[/snapback]</div>

Cash - Huh?

Well, from what I've read on this website, & I had it all to do over, again - I would use a cash-back credit card, to the max! It's not hard to find one that pays at least 1% cash-back.

I think I've read where some buyers pushed hard to get a fairly large share of the price on a card. On a $20,000 car, if you could get $10,000 of it on a card, you'd get $100 cash-back. I think that makes it worth the effort!

BUT this only works if you pay off that card, in full, the first month! Good luck,
[/b]

When we bought our '06 Prius we used a home equity line check for the balance after out trade in-(It was a Hyundai & hard to sell outright). We went through Sam's Club for the local dealer, so no pushy sales person. But, at the time the Toyota dealers were selling at list or higher. Anyway, after 3 months paying 4-5% interest on the rising variable % equity line we got a fixed 4.99% credit card offer so we took it.

Next time we will go through our Toyota dealer as we know who to talk to for our next Prius. It will be real easy to sell our 2003 Accord EX outright as Honda's have high resale & rep.

I always found paying cash with no trade to be a plus with buying cars. i also check the cars Direct web site to see the current internet price for a car. Most dealers have an internet person who handles those sales. We had a very pleasant exp. when we bought the '03 Accord. It was a good price on the phone, then dropped off the trade car, picked up the keys & signed the papers in about 30 minutes. No pressure, no hassles, and no stressful experience.

I think paying cash is most always a plus as the dlr. knows you don't have to qualify for a loan and you're a today buyer. In our case we don't mind paying the 4.99% on the CC for now as we are saving about 20-$25/wk. on gas by driving the Prius vs. the 2002 Hyundai Sonata V-6 gas hog. It did have a nice ride though.

I usually don't like paying interest, but in this case it's saving us money so it's OK.

[tumbleweed]

I consider it best to give the salesperson/dealer as little information about me as possible. If they ask how I'm going to pay I tell them I haven't decided yet and ask them which way would give me a better price on the car. I don't mind letting them think I'm going to use their rip off financing even though I plan on paying cash. If you have a credit card that gives you cash back or some other kind of rewards consider paying with that, then pay it off before they charge you any interest. Just don't tell the dealer until you are ready to pay because it costs them money when you use a credit card.

Be careful of dealers that want a lot of personnel information. If you are not going to finance the car with them all they need is what's required for the title and registration, i. e. name address and drivers license number in some states, and they only need that after you definitely decide to buy the car. Don't give them your SSN or let them run a credit check on you unless you are going to finance through them.

[dancekat59]

I had planned to pay cash as well at Melody Toyota in Burlingame. The sales guy told me that if I financed a certain minimun amount, I could get "free" pre-paid maintenance and that there is no pre-payment penalty on the loan. To get to "said minimum amount", he convinced me to also purchase the extended warranty for ~$2000.

I financed through Toyota, took the extended warranty and the "free" pre-paid maintenance... paid off the loan within a month, cancelled the extended warranty, and kept the "free" pre-paid maintenance. (I'm still deciding whether or not to get PC's discounted extended warranty or not.)

[catsbox]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dancekat59 @ Jan 15 2007, 12:46 PM) [snapback]375858[/snapback]</div>

I had planned to pay cash as well at Melody Toyota in Burlingame. The sales guy told me that if I financed a certain minimun amount, I could get "free" pre-paid maintenance and that there is no pre-payment penalty on the loan. To get to "said minimum amount", he convinced me to also purchase the extended warranty for ~$2000.

I financed through Toyota, took the extended warranty and the "free" pre-paid maintenance... paid off the loan within a month, cancelled the extended warranty, and kept the "free" pre-paid maintenance. (I'm still deciding whether or not to get PC's discounted extended warranty or not.)
[/b]

I paid cash for my Prius. They tried to talk me into a loan. I told them I understand it is a better deal for them financially to deal with a loan rather than cash. However, my Prius was the 4th Toyota I bought from this dealership. I reminded them of this and said it would cost them a lot more money if they lose a good customer because they did not want to deal in cash. I ended up getting a really great deal. I really did not have all of the money in cash, but used a cash advance credit card check with no interest to pay off the remaining couple of thousand.