What Can I Offer without Pissing the Sales Guy Off?
Asked by speckidz Jun 24, 2015 at 11:39 AM about the 2015 Chevrolet Equinox 1LT FWD
Question type: Shopping & Pricing
OK... there's a 2015 Chevy Equinox LT1 with nice options that's been sitting on a dealers lot for 195 days. The MSRP was listed at $29,815. I did some research and know that that figure is at least $326 over priced on the option packages. They've had it priced at $25,377 in Dec., then lowered it June 18th to $25,077 and today (6/24) it's listed for $22,055. Being that's it's been sitting a long time, how much more should I realistically try to negotiate down? I'm sure with all the kickbacks there is still some wiggle room. I know I shouldn't be concerned about offending a car salesman, but I don't want to piss them off to where they won't respond back to me. I want to try to settle on a price on-line before I walk in the dealership. I also have an old van to trade-in, but they'll probably not give me more that $500 for it, so I'm not counting on that to help me much. Any advice or thoughts is much appreciated!
9 Answers
If any offer pisses a sales guy off, find another sales guy. I would never be afraid of offending a salesman. Salesmen will low ball your trade without any thought or concern of offending you. Do some research on values and make a determination what is fair. Remember, you will never steal a car from a dealer, but a fair deal is good for you and the dealer. Try offering them $2,000 less than they are asking.
Do you mean value of the new car or trade-in? According to one site, the new car is being offered for a loss of $393. That's what I don't get. No dealer would list a vehicle for a loss, would they? And if they did, would they really give it to you for any less? My thought is they must be getting a bunch of kickbacks from the manufacturer to offer it at such a low price. The average buy paid about $25,000 in my area...according to several TMV sites. But I don't trust those either! You have a lot of lazy, well off people that use Costco's pricing and it ends up making everyone look like they got a great deal, when if they did a little "work" they could have most likely saved a lot more $$.
I just offered $20,500 and more than willing to negotiate higher. They must think I'm a prankster as they haven't responded. It's very irritating, but I guess it's part of the process. If they don't respond back I'll just move on. I'm confident I can find what I'm looking for elsewhere. The car I put an offer on is nice and had more options than I really need. I just thought I'd try for it as the price was pretty good. But I can get one with not as many options for the ballpark I want to be in and be just as happy.
An in person offer is always better than an online one.
That could be. But that doesn't mean they can't talk to you about the offer!
One of the guys emailed this evening. Apparently his associate was suppose to get in touch with me and never did. We're stopping in this weekend to look at the vehicle.
Thank you all for your input and advice. We bought a 2015 Chevy Equinox with a V6 today for $24,644.01 out-the-door. The MSRP was $29,815.00. It was deeply rebated, good on only a certain VIN number of Equinox and we just happened to stumble into it. I can't believe no one snatched it up before us! We're extremely happy!
Looks like you got a pretty good deal. Thanks for posting the result.
Here is the scoop. Dealers do get kickbacks. Those kickbacks are tied to advertising and GM is strict with how the money is used. To top that off GM ties the money to performance as well. So none of it is guaranteed. Now there is hold back. Hold back is paid to the dealer after the vehicle is sold. That money is generally used to pay for holding or interests costs for the vehicle. Sales people most of the time do not get paid on holdback or any kickbacks. We get paid a percentage of sell price minus invoice before hold back. 90% of deals are under invoice or just above. The sales person is making a flat commission. The point is dealers do not make as much per deal as some would think.
