Finding out what the dealer invoice price is on a new car is a lot easier than it used to be, but also a lot less helpful. Not that it isn’t important–it just isn’t as important for getting a great deal. It simply doesn’t contain all the information that you need.
The truth is that the invoice price doesn’t mean that much because it can vary so easily. One of the ways this can happen is with rebates. Rebates are everywhere, often offered by the manufacturer at a national level. You can find out about those rebates in magazines and ads on the TV. But there are more rebates besides just those. Rebates are also offered by region or state, so you can take advantage of those. Besides that, there are rebates to keep you with the same manufacturer, because if you’ve already bought a Kia, they don’t want you to ditch them for Toyota. You can get info on rebates from from newspapers like Automotive News and websites like Edmunds.
There are things besides rebates that the manufacturers offer. They offer incentives to dealers that can reduce the cost of the dealer’s price. You shouldn’t ignore these offers, because if you do you won’t do as well in the haggling process as you would have if you did not ignore them.
So how do you find out about incentives? It’s cheap and easy. There’s the Consumer Reports New Car Price Service, which costs a measly twelve bucks and tells you about any incentives, holdbacks, or rebates for the new car you’re buying. So once you know the actual cost the dealer has on the car, you can negotiate for a price that’s an actual win.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.