I just ordered an 05 Xterra, S model, power package, AT, carpeted floor mats and cargo mat. Invoice on the car I wanted was $21,835. I bought the car for $21,399…$22,485 “out the door.” Many dealers Emailed me and couldn’t believe the price and alluded that it was probably a gimmick and wouldn’t be honored. The car was ordered, I have the order slip reflecting my payment of $500 deposit..car should be here late May/early June. I bought the car $500 below invoice! Pretty good on a car that was released just over a month ago, uh? Here’s how I did it:

Check websites to get a good idea of the invoice price of the car you want, options included. Also, check for current rebates and/or factory to dealer incentives so that you can get a goodd idea about what a fair price is for the car you want. (I cannot post websites here but I will Email them to you if that is allowed)

Go to Nissan’s website and get the websites for the all dealers within 100 or more miles of your home (depending on how far you want to drive). The key is to get as many dealers as you can to fight over your sell. This way, your “drag net” will most likely include dealers that need to meet sales goals, etc. and are willing to go low on price.

Call each dealer and ask for the first and last name of the Fleet Manager or House Manager. Get his fax number. You will be dealing with Fleet Managers who are on salary, not commission. They are more ready to meet your price so that the dealership can meet its goals. No more dealing with salesmen who need to rob you so they can make a living!

Prepare a fax letter with the fleet manager’s name on it informing him that you will be buying your vehicle within the next two weeks and you will be taking bids on the vehicle you want during the next five days. Each letter should include the fleet manager’s name to add a personal, professional feel to your offer. Tell the manager that you need an “out the door” price (price that includes tax, tag, title, fees, etc.) Inform the manager that you can only take responses via E-mail. Prepare a cover fax sheet addressed to the fleet manager and announce in large bold letters what the fax is regarding (i.e. RE: PURCHASE OF 2005 NISSAN XTERRA WITHIN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS). This will get the manager’s attention. Overall, fax must be cordial, professional, and convey that you mean business. At the bottom of the fax letter include all details of the vehicle you want including options and accessories. Convey in a firm but cordial way that you are not interested in any other options or accessories. If most lots don’t have the exact car you want, include in your letter that you will gladly submit a deposit after a price is agreed upon and that you will purchase the vehicle after the car is ordered and you have driven it and looked over it.

Sit back at your desk and watch the bids roll in! Be sure to be available during the following 5 to 8 hours after faxing your letters so that you can immediately respond to emails on that day. This will convey to managers that you are serious and will help to avoid a manager pulling his offer if you respond to his email five days later.

After most dealers have responded, get the best bid and inform the other four best bids of the top bid. This will cause dealers to begin to fight for your purchase; they will begin to bid against each other, though you.

After settling on the best bid, call the fleet manager. If the price could be better, set up an appointment with the manager. If you know the price is fair, set up an appointment to do the paperwork and pick up the car (or to have it ordered if applicable).

All in all, you should only have to go to a dealer twice: to test drive the car and later to do the paperwork and pick the car up.

The days of being brow beaten by salesman, driving all over town, and losing your patience are officially over!

Wow, this sounds amazingly familiar

Congratulations on your new purchase. Great feeling getting a good deal, eh?

Wow that is awesome that you were able to work them, and get the price you wanted. I just bought a new 04 XE for 21,000....we talked with many Nissan dealers and they all said they could not offer this same low price. So you got an AWESOME deal congrats!

That is a great price and a great (but a bit invloved for me) tactic for haggling. My approach instead is to do all the research first and know basically what I should be paying before even going in the door. Then I just skip the haggling (who says you need to haggle for hours anyway?).

I learned this from a car salesman buddy who sells Hondas...just offer up the price you are willing to pay and say "take it or leave it". You can be out of there in an hour if they accept. If they try to haggle...just leave. They'll call you back the next day and usually take the deal. Of course, it has to be a "fair deal"...not $10K for a new Xterra. I never talk for more than a few minutes tho. If they want the sale, they will cave. If not, then go to the next dealer.

Makes for a quick process, you just gotta be willing to seriously walk out the door and resist the urge to haggle. 5 minutes is my max. Dispense with the pleasantries and go for broke. I'm not a dick about it, but the salesman is not my friend and I will never see him/her again so I give them a few minutes to make nice and then hit them with my offer. "$21,500 for this Xterra...that's my only offer." If they start in on negotiations, or say they have to get a "manager"..I just tell them I'm leaving.

Either they bite or they don't. Half the battle for salesman is just getting someone to walk in their door. Once you are inside they do not want you to leave.

Their are lots of diffent tactics, inlcuding faxing/e-mailing everyone an offer. I just prefer the plain and simple "take it ir leave it" method. Congrats on your X!

I have somewhat bad thoughts on your tactic, but it works - I give you that. Congratulations.

This is a technique that is seen everywhere these days. I see it most with General Contractors - its called shopping a bid. It makes everyone go to limits that are not fair. Yes, the GC or the buyer in your case make out like a bandit. But it has its negatives.

Shopping causes companies to give bids that they would not otherwise want to engage in. Their profits are slim and if they miss something in their bid you are setting them up for failure, either in service or product. If they come back and realize that they did not charge you for something that is a must, guess what... you will either be charged it or they will either go into the hole or find another way to jip ya. With contractors its a scarey game - from the architects point of view you know something will eventually not pan out in either quality or abilitiy to complete (I know we are not building anything, just buying a vehicle).

Another note... the price you have gotten, $500 under invoice is a sweet deal... but it is also an S. I guarantee you that it would be harder (not saying impossible) to get that on an OR. Supply on the S is plentiful. More on the price. $500 under is great... but what about the dealer making 100% of the hold back. Hold back is given to the dealership for prepaid interest (at least $800 but up to perhaps $1000) for vehicles sitting on the lot. Another note is the doc fee... there may be a dealership that has a lower doc fee. All in all, the place selling it to you will make some profits, but nothing like a normal buyer - so congrats.

On the contrary to what was posted above, I go into a dealership wanting to create a relationship. It is important for me to get to know them and let them know that more people will come because of me and my recommendations. Since my first X I have referred over 15 buyers (with a decent bird-dog too). I like the idea of talking numbers, even talking about how much they are about to profit from me... keeping it simple, everyone wins. For more negotiating tips I HIGHLY recommend a book called "Getting to Yes!"

Buying a car is quite the experience. Sometimes I wish people would do more homework, detach themselves from emotion and work a good deal. End of the month is a great time for dealers to make the deal to get another one scratched up for the month.

All this said... I was fortunate to get an awesome deal on mine. After being involved with my dealership for several years, attending Nissan events and working the system I was invited to use a VPP deal for my 05X OR. I don't say this to boast - thanks NISSAN!

That's how I see car-shopping. Thanks for reading.

Problem there is, the dealer might be willing to take less but you will never know because you already set your limit up front.

Make them show their cards first, not the other way around.

That's what's nice about the fax method, you let them come in with their best price. I got $300 off what I would have accepted as a good deal. If I would have told them up front what I would have been willing to pay, that $300 would be with them, not me.

Your not marrying them, your buying a car :rolleyes:

If you want to build a relationship, do it with your service manager, not the sales guys. You typically buy a car once or twice, but will get it serviced many more times than that. Unless you are getting a piece of the action - but then your recommendations wouldn't be unbiased, eh?

Has worked fine for me - and I never have a problem getting my truck fixed. The dealer I get my truck serviced at didn't have what I wanted, and couldn't get it - no hard feelings. Frankly, I doubt they care - they will make way more on service than they would have on the sale of my truck by itself.

Oh, you might want to browse a site like http://www.carbuyingtips.com. Invoice/holdback is rarely reflective of the true dealer cost. There are all sorts of unpublished back end factory to dealer incentives. Since "by the books" my Xterra was a zero profit sale (below invoice too), yet dealers are in business to make profit - it was in there somewhere. No doubt when I bought my X, there was a back end sales incentive. Ironically, I got my X the day before the end of the month, and I believe mssw07 ordered his around the end of the month. Hmmmmmmm......

Took me less than four hours to get my current X. I doubt it will take much longer to get a good deal if/when I decide to replace it in the future. Bottom line is manufacturers/dealers need us way more than we need them. It just comes down to timing and finding a dealer that needs that no-profit, no-hassle sale to meet a quota. That's what the fax gets you - that dealer. That's why faxing more is better.

But hey, to each his own Congrats on your '05....

Point taken DocNo... but you probably bought yours when there were plenty of incentives. Different story, different ballgame.

Making a good relationship with the Service Manager is also key! I know him by name, they have offered me more than you can imagine... different story too!

The issue I am bringing up with a newly released vehicle is that there will not be incentives on the backside and that holdback is real money. It is considered especially when the vehicle is pre-sold.

Have them show you their cards... exactly! Put the pressure on them to make the deal, rather than you offer the deal.

We are both pointing out good tactics, but both scenarios are very different. This is a great thread!

You would think that, but the fax actually works any time.

Example - Christmas before last my parents wanted a Lexus RX 330. Brand new, highly anticipated luxury vehicle. Many fewer Lexus dealers than Nissan dealers and they know it. It took a month, but my dad got an RX 330 exactly the way he wanted it for $400 over invoice - something that dealers swore up and down he wouldn't be able to do.

There is always one dealer that will be willing to make that sale - for whatever reason. I don't care, as long as I am the one getting the good deal it doesn't matter That's why I faxed almost 30 dealers - took less than an hour, and within 12 hours I had an offer below what I thought a good deal would be, and less than 48 hours later my new X was in my driveway, exactly what I wanted - no compromises.

Yup. I just like the fax method better - absolutely no haggling, no BS and it's very fast.

The fax method is the same as the internet method. When I bought my Titan last month, I searched the inventory of all the dealers in Atlanta through Nissan's website. When I found the truck I wanted I submitted the online request form. One dealer emailed me back almost immediately and we talked back and forth through email and he gave me a really good price quote. It was $1000 under invoice. The other dealer called me later that day and "was ready to make me an aggressive offer" as he put it. $24,500 for a $31,500 truck. I went running...that was 2 grand under invoice! I already had financing though my bank and NMAC could not match the terms and the finance guy was really working hard to get my business. They were really good at this dealer, but the point is that weather you fax or email, the internet sales runs seperatly from the front sales in terms of what they can offer. I have bought two cars through the internet guys and will never set foot in a dealer to be helped by the next salesman who is "up". My $.02.

The dealer was Stone Mountain Nissan and I really enjoyed my experience there. They came from the recommendation of a few others on this board, so thanks!!

I work for a GC, and bid shopping is indeed a big no-no. I can see your point, but this buying a car is not a relationship-building activity. When you're working on a structure that will takes years of work from concept to completion, cost millions of dollars, stand for 50 years, and everyone hopes to build another one with the same architect, owner, subcontractors, and GC later...that's a relationship. Bid shopping is off limits. This is some piece of metal that will last 15 years and cost $25,000. That car dealer wants to make you pay $40,000 for that $25,000 car if he could. If you get away with paying $500 under invoice, the next person to walk through the door will pay $5000 over invoice. I am friends with people in the sales and finance part of a few dealerships, and they have all told me how they practice on people. This isn't a friendship...this isn't a relationship...this isn't a career move. When it comes to buying a car, it's as unemotional for me as buying a toaster. All I care about is the best bang for the buck.

I bought my OR 5AT today. I emailed 5 dealers in my area with the exact car I wanted and every single one told me they had the car but they wanted to meet with me. What's the purpose of an internet manager if you have to visit the dealer. I've been buying cars for 25 years and over that time have refined my negotiating ability to a fine art. I agree with the statement about this not being a relationship. Car Dealers are in business to do one thing...make money . The only way to do that is to separate each and every buyer from as much of their money as they can.

The one statement that kills me and I've been hearing for aout 15 years is..."we want to earn your business." Cars are commodities, just like sugar, oil, wheat and pork bellies. Don't earn my business, give me the best price. I wish I could buy a car on the floor of the Chicago Merc!

Anyway, I knew I was at a competitive disadvantage as I was trading a 2004 Explorer XLT but I was armed for bear. I first visited the Manheim Auction Site (I have access through a wholesaler I know) and printed the recent transactions for similar Explorers. Mine was high miles for an '04 so I was ready to get beat up a little but I still felt it was worth $19,500 wholesale.

The salesman took my truck over to their used car mgr for an apprasal and after 30 minutes cam eback with $16,600. Before I could even respond he says..."you know, we give you what the car does at the dealer auction we just want to help you out." I reached into my pocket and pulled out my printout from Manheim and asked him to see if his manager was willing to reconsider. Out comes the GM and we exchange pleasantries. He whines and cries about how the best he can do is $17,800 on the trade and I begin to stand up. He asks which Xterra I am interested in and I tell him the OR. He leaves and comes back with the "dealer invoice" showing MSRP, Invoice and in the lower left corner $752HB. I'll cut to the chase, after some more whining he sells me the car for invoice and gives me $18,800 for my trade.

Could I have negotiated a better deal, sure, if I didn't have a trade I know 1/2 that hold back was mine. Such is life when you need to unload an old horse before you ride away on a new one.

Moral of the story, EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE especially CARS. Be armed with all of the information you can muster ans let the dealer make a few bucks, afterall he is there for a reason. Let him live just not too well.

I just bought an '05 Subaru Outback LL Bean for my wife. We pick it up in 4 hours.

MSRP w/Options and Delivery: $33,500
Dealer Invoice w/Options and Delivery: $30,758
We Paid Total: $29,120

Yup, $1600 below dealer invoice. I was smart and played the whole I'm not trading a car in game to settle on the price first. Then I threw in the trade. They lowballed us on the trade because we were getting such a great deal on the car. So, I got pissed and walked out telling them I'll enjoy my new Honda. They called the next morning asking $1350 more for the trade. I countered with $700 worth of free accessories and they took it! Wife was happy because she really didn't want an Accord and I was happy because I got a good deal.

We were able to get such a great deal because we found a Subaru dealer who had this particular model in a color we wanted that had sat on the lot for over 3 months. They were losing money by not selling the vehicle so they were just looking to take one last hit and get rid of it. Wife was okay with the color (only because she really wanted an Outback) and I personnally loved it. So, we got every option we wanted in a color that wasn't our first choice but was in our top 3. Of course, I have no clue what hidden incentives the dealer had and I really don't care. I just shot off of the listed dealer invoice.

Now today when we pick it up I need to negotiate GAP insurance and an extended warranty. The dealer wants $700 GAP and lord knows about the warranty. I am offering $250 for GAP since they only pay $210. They can either make $40 off of me or nothing off of me. I already have another company willing to sell me GAP for $299 so I am sitting good. As for the warranty, I can always buy that later.

Edit: Just got back from picking her up.
GAP Dealer: $700
GAP Paid: $360

100,000/6yr Dealer: $1899 w/$100 Deductable
100,000/6yr Paid: $1600 w/$0 Deductable

Uh, IT'S NOT A CAR!

My X was my first "REAL" car buying experience. With the help of my dad, my uncle (a real car shark) and my boss, I was able to gain the knowledge I needed to strike a deal. I, too, used internet bargaining. I live in the state capital city for South Carolina, and found that dealers outside the city limits were lower in price than the ones in the city. So, I purchased 45 miles away. I was very specific on what color, year and options I NEEDED, and then was flexible on the ones I didn't need. This dealer ended up having to do a dealer trade with another one in Georgia to get my exact model, but it made me happy they did. Also, since I had everything in writing, they goofed and quoted me saying taxes and tags INCLUDED, when they wrote up bill of sale, they added tax and tags... so I just pulled out the little email I had with the salesman's now apparent TYPO, and BAM! I saved another $400 -- boy was that sales manager PISSED!!!! Anyway, I financed through one of their banks, got a lower rate than my credit union, and life was pretty simple from there. Oh yea - because he was giving me an UNBELIEVEABLE deal on the car (I got my 04 at the end of Sept. - they did not have any 05s out yet), he wasn't going to give me nearly enough on my trade. So, I sold my car to CarMax for about $800 more than he was going to give me. If you don't sell privately, I really recommend selling to CarMax. It literally took 2 visits.. one to get it appraised (for FREE), then I had the value they would pay to take to the dealers, and the second (within 7 days or they have to appraise again) to sell it. All in all - it took about an hour. Easy.

Hope this helps some of the "lesser-experienced" buyers out there.

INTERNET SHOP! SELL TRADE IN TO CARMAX! GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING.

*** SEPARATE NOTE AND QUESTION -- Anyone from the Columbia, SC area who has dealt with Dick Smith Nissan for Service.. please PM me. I'm interested in your take on them.

-Shannon-