So as I search and scour the internet and everywhere else for the right car to come along for me I wanted to ask the members here a simple question. How did you negotiations go when you finally bought your car? I am seeing some prices that are all over the place and want to really know what I can realistically get off the asking price of a used 997.

I guess what I'm looking for is basic info on the car, asking price, and final price you got it for.

How did you manage to get the price? Did you low ball them? etc.

 

^ Low balling is probably not a good idea..
I don't tend to get too ferocious with dealerships.. after the final price is set, I usually ask for a discount or whatever wiggle room they have..

I notice that people who go aggressive on the dealers tend to have worse after-sales support.. But that's just my epxerience

 

Pulled up Cars.com on my phone and showed them the online prices. As long as I pay what I consider fair market price I do not really care how much the dealer makes.

At first the dealer moved down $4K, then after looking up Cars.com it went down another $3.5K.

 

+1, I usually know what a fair price is going to be when I negotiate my deal. You can check ebay, autotrader.com, cars.com, local classifieds, etc. I don't low ball as I already know what the fair price is. Depending on what the price is, I'll negotiate accordingly.

 

What r you considering fair price? The kbb, Edmunds, cars.com valuation of the car?

Or what the prices you see people willing to pay on eBay. Cause I have been following a lot online and see list prices in the high 60's buy never get closing bids over 55 or so which I know is a lot lower than fair market.

Do you use that as leverage to say market is not that hot?

 

See how long the high 60's will list for? You can list it at 100K if you wish but you will never sell. Fair market price for me is what everyone else is listed for with the same options. Great price would be the one's listed below it and are the one that usually sells faster. I mainly used cars.com and autotrader.

 

I research what things are selling for as a % of original MSRP and then I factor in mileage, etc...to come up with what I think is a fair price for the car. This helps level the playing field with cars that have a lot of options and those that don't. MSRP's can vary greatly depending on the equipment on the car. I then negotiate accordingly.

 

Yeah I have been keeping track of listing price of the cars that have basically what I want and then seeing what the auction ends at to see what people are actually willing to bid on the car. I know that final price that didn't meet the reserve is quite a bit lower than what KBB and Cars.com says it is but at least it's a starting point to meet in the middle of that you think?

 

I think it'll work. I also think sometimes it's worth paying a grand or two more to get exactly what you want. Some people have a budget of $55K and that is all they are willing to spend, then settle on a car w/o Sports Chrono, full leather, etc., options on their wish list. Then try to convince themselves they don't need it. Or skip on it b/c it's a little more than they want to spend and not see anything similar ever again for that price. Prices for used 997 are going up, not down.

 

I have bought a lot of cars and each has a different story but one of my favorites happens to be my 09 997S .

On that day i had no real intention to even buy a car at all but i read here that someone got 20 percent off MSRP on a 997s . I thought that it was such a gret price that i walked into my dealership and told the salesman that if he coild match it I would look around on his lot and buy a car that same day .

I looked at the different cars ,picked one, and it was a take it or leave it one day offer deal . They accepted my offer and i still have the car .

 

Mine is a rather short story. I went to the dealer with the intention of buying a new GTS. When he wouldn't budge from MSRP, I left and found a great barely used C2S, saving over $50k in the process.

 

for me. I always seem to be in a "sellers market" where I find the exact car I want, and it always seems to be such a rare animal that I can't find it anywhere else.

Rule #1-- I never buy from a dealer-- too much markup and games.

Rule #2 -- ALWAYS get the car checked out by an independent tech before buying from Mr. Craigslist

Which is what I did with mine. 2006 C2S had 5,400 miles on it (in 2008)-- obviously a garage queen. Black car was loaded-- every available option and was literally flawless, minus two minute dings in the front air scoop (it was his wife's car!).

Car had never been eaten or smoked in-- as I was absent mindedly gently scraping white wax residue from the roof rack holes with a finger nail, the owner got nasty and said: "Hey-- don't do that!!" I was not abusing the car and first I got pissed-- then I realized if this guy was that ****-- maybe he took really good care of the car. I even ignored rule #2 above since he changed the oil at 5,000 miles and I checked the dealer who changed it to confirm and check the history. I could only get him down to 68K from 70K, but I basically got a new car that he paid 97K for 2 years earlier.... I got a fair deal.