Finding dealer invoice cost online

[buckeyefarmer]

Ok, missed the snark. Lol

Edmunds used to post "dealer cost", and I've had dealers show me their invoice, but that was never the true dealer cost.

I've been looking at vehicles lately. There were lots and lots of salespeople at some dealers. I wondered how many vehicles they sell in a day.

 

[dmccarty]

My brother in law works for Ford. As a relative of an employee, we get the same pricing he does. As soon as we tell them we are A plan, out comes the invoice with the pricing as you described. That's the number, LESS any incentives currently available. Easy way to buy a car. No negotiation at all. We were done in 30 minutes.
...

I can get, or at least used to be able to get, discounted vehicle prices via my employer. I think it was Ford/Dodge/GM employee price or maybe a bit higher. Anywho, My truck just turned 16 just as it hit 240,000 miles on the anniversary of it's buy date.

Since the truck is getting up there in age buying a replacement has been on my mind for years. Looking at MSRP vs Invoice pricing seems to show that today's numbers are only 5% or so apart. I think 16 years ago they were around 10% apart. When I bought the truck I went in and negotiated the price without mentioning my discount. I wanted to see if I could get a better deal without the discount. As I remember it I got them to around "invoice" aka 10% off MSRP but they would not move below that number after a couple of hours of back and forth. So I pulled out the discount information which was 13ish% lower than MSRP and we were done.

Looks to me that the car companies have squeeze the invoice margin over the years to a very minimal amount.

To replace my truck with the same features would cost double what the truck cost me 16 years ago so I don't see buying another truck. :shocked: Using an inflation calculator, the replacement cost of my truck should be around $50,000 but the MSRP of the truck is at least $80,000!!!!!! :shocked::shocked::shocked:

Later,
Dan

 

[txdon]

You mean to tell me if you run a business, you have no problem with just giving your products and services away by letting your customers know what your actual cost is for product, labor and overhead? You will never gain market share with that kind of business attitude

We all expect Hospitals to do just that, why not car dealerships?

 

[kenmac]

The line I like best is, Where do you want your monthly payment to be ? I hate to even hear this.
They think everyone that walks through their doors (new ,or used) is the dumbest person on the planet.
I always tell them. I'll take one payment please.
Of course, they hate this. They lose money when you pay cash and don't finance through their company

 

[Clint S]

One trick I have used is to do all negotiations via e mail or text message. I pick a salesperson look at the car and ask for a card. With this you are in control of the dialogue, and the pressure to ''make a deal'' is on them not you. They cannot use their pressure tactics and you can pressure them with waiting to get back to them and saying you are talking with several dealers at once, even if your not. In some cases I have forwarded e mails from other dealers (some imaginary , some real) to add to the pressure I put on them. Also waiting till the end of the month so they want to get the sale in for that month helps too. I too have had several ''mad'' salespeople and I knew I was getting close to the tip point. I buy for my whole family and seldom cannot get to where they want to be. It usually takes a few days, but better than the ''back and forth'' to my sales manger bit.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

The radio show "This American Life" did an hour-long episode where they followed the employees at a car dealership while they tried to make their number for the month. It's at 129 Cars | This American Life and it's worth a listen before going in to shop for a car.

Some tidbits from the story: dealers get a monthly quota from the manufacturer, and making that quota is worth a lot of money, at the dealership they profiled, $85,000. If they get to the end of the month and they're close to their quota they will sell cars at a loss. Early in the month they want every sale to be profitable. Months with a holiday near the end -- Memorial Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas -- are particularly hard for the dealership to make quota. The reason the salespeople do the back and forth to the sales manager bit is that they don't know the selling price of the car either, the managers won't tell them. Oh, and the salesman is just as likely to lie to his sales manager as to you.

 

[jerrybob]

You mean to tell me if you run a business, you have no problem with just giving your products and services away by letting your customers know what your actual cost is for product, labor and overhead? You will never gain market share with that kind of business attitude

Funny how that works.........years ago.....I worked in a retail dept. store.......when a new shirt style came out.....we sold the shirt for $70.......a few months later we marked them down 20%........a few months later we marked them down another 20%.........when the new styles came out.....we sold the shirts for $9.95.........guess what.......we still made money............the shirts originally cost us $6.00. What a steal!!!!!

 

[2458n]

I worked for a Ford dealership a couple of years after my first job out of college. Highest paid salesman always had the happiest customers because they had beaten him on selling price. Lee always told me to let the close deals walk because the customer would be more trouble then the 50 dollars you were paid on a minny. He was so right. Salesmen were always coming up with side bets. Six people working the sales floor. Everyone put in 50 dollars to see who could get a customer in the trunk of a car first.. About 2 in the afternoon Lee had a man on the showroom floor crawl in the trunk of a Crown Vic to see how much room there was. Going home that night he handed me a 50 in the parking lot, and said that the guy was his friend and to keep my mouth shut.