By Josh RosenbergOkay, this is really good and works like a charm. And it's incredibly easy ... taking less than two minutes of your time.
Sound too good to be true? Well, it's not and smart new car buyers are doing it all the time. You can even test it out yourself even if you're not interested in buying a car right now as a sort of "dry run" for when the time is right for you.
Bear with me for a few paragraphs because I need to explain the background for this technique first.
It's based on a free service we've all probably seen before. Then we're going to add a simple, but incredibly effective, "twist" that turns seasoned Car Dealerships into jello ... and gets you the best possible new car price.
This Is How It Works Without The Twist
It's very likely that you've seen "new car quote" services on the big automotive sites such as Automotive.com, Cars.com, Edmunds.com and many others. You know, "Tell us what new car you want to purchase and you will receive competitive quotes from multiple area Dealers" ... or something along these lines.
That's all fine and dandy. Dealers want your business and know you're getting offers from their competitors. They don't want to lose the sale so they give you a very good price in order to be the winner.
Theoretically, what then happens is the car buyer looks at the bids, goes to the Dealership who won the competition, does the paperwork and drives home in their new car.
By itself, this is a very legitimate way of getting a "good" deal ... much better than shopping at a Dealership and hoping you can negotiate something good. After all, it's good to have Dealers competing for your business.
But we're not interested in "good". We're interested in "great" ... or even "crazy".
This Is How It Works WITH The Twist
In order to get the quotes (I'll tell you where in a moment), you're going to have to submit your email address and phone number. Don't worry about giving your phone number. This is a part of this strategy that pays off in a big way, as you will see. And you will receive the emailed quotes as normal.
You've invested less than 2 minutes of your time. It's been free and you are under absolutely no obligation of any kind.
So, let's say you now have 3 or 4 bids. The prices already look good to you based on the new car prices you've seen on Autotrader and so forth. But now, you take this a step further.
Why should you accept ANY of these bids? There's no reason to even go with the lowest bidder. Why? Because you can easily make them go still lower.
Here's how:
You'll likely receive follow-up phone calls from some of the Dealerships as well. They'll say something like,
"So we gave you an incredible price. When would you like to come in for delivery?"
Your response, nomatter how low the bid, should always be,
"Sorry, while I really want to buy this car, I'm afraid your bid takes you out of the running. If you want to make another offer today, I'll look at it."
Say this (or email it if you don't get a phone call) to every bidder. Trust me, they WANT this sale and you'll now get a new round of even lower offers.
If a Dealer says there's no way any other Dealer can be underselling his price and he wants to see the lower offer in writing, don't play his game. Instead say,
"Look it. I'm pretty happy with the price I've been given. Put yourself in my place. If I give it to you, you'll undercut it by $100 and then I have to go back to him and he'll undercut you by $100 and it turns into a real pain for me. All I can tell you is that if you want to send me another offer, I'll definitely consider it. It's up to you".
You'll either get another offer, or the Dealer will drop out. And when a Dealer drops out, you know you were really getting their best price ... the strategy was working.
The last Dealer standing gets the sale. And believe me, it will be at an outstanding price following this process.
Okay, Here's Where To Do It
My two personal favorite free quote services, both of which provide multiple dealer quotes from a single form, in no particular order:
I've found that CarsDirect.com has just massive dealer participation and is super fast and easy, with quick response times as well.
In addition, I also highly recommend Edmunds.com due to their quick and easy format as well. They also provide lots of vehicle research, if needed. Just enter your make and model, then select the year, and then "Check Availability".
Doing both ensures more dealer competition ... and the more competition, the more prices tend to drop. I normally include dealers within 100 miles to be sure of a brisk competition, but you may have to go further if you are in a more rural area.
Both sites also have long-standing reputations for helping consumers in what can be a fairly "adversarial" auto industry. Their participating dealers are required to offer significant discounts right up front to anyone who does this. And you can then compare these discounts and negotiate further as described above, if you choose to.
In addition, you are never under any obligation at any time.
And fortunately, they both literally take all of about one minute.
So, to get started, head on over to CarsDirect.com and/or Edmunds.com and I think you just may find this quite illuminating, and even fun.
Well, I hope this has been helpful. Have fun turning the tables with this ... and let me know how you do.
All the best - Josh