A general question, Will I get better offer from a sale associate or from sales manager?

 

Internet Sales Manager...do everything by email before you set foot on the dealership.

 

+1
This what I did. Once I got to the dealership I was in and out in 45 minutes.

 

Another thing is do not limit your self to one dealership. Email several dealers and let them all know that you will be visiting the dealer that gives you the better price. You do need to take note what model and options you want so you can do as much of an apples-to-apples comparison on pricing. Check sites like KBB.com too for gauge the worth as well. Bluebook values tend to be on the high side of what you can buy through a dealership nowadays. Do 30 minutes of online research and save yourself a lot of time by the time you hit the dealerships.

 

I worked the deal over chat for about 1 day or 2, then when finalized and agreed, I asked for an email on the details so I have it in writing and then walked in to sign and drive.

 

I did internet sales last time but still got the jerky "let me talk to my sales manager" crap for 5 hours. It was hammering out the final price and terms that took extra time. I honestly should have just gotten a paper offer and taken it to a closer dealership, but whatever.

 

Always work with the least amount of resistance. The sales associate is selling a car to make a commission/sale but if you go to the GM he does not care about a single sale but amount of sales. He already knows how low he can sell the car to still make a profit. In general, the GM does not want to haggle but make the sale (straight to the price the lot can let it go).
If you are from California, I would check craigslist for car brokers and contact them first. Then WILL get you the lowest price because they have zero to low overhead and works directly with Lexus HQ or fleet sales GM. Once your get thier quote then challenge your local Lexus dealership. If local dealership beats then buy/lease but if not, then get broker to get it for you and ship to your front door. I been helping friends buy cars for over 14 years and in the past year have gone through brokers for three cars. Each time the brokers drove/shipped the car to my friends house. They singed the paper work from the comfort of their living room(s). If anybody is interested I've worked with three solid and honest brokers and I can pass on the names/phone numbers.
The last car I got for friend of mine was a 2016 Honda CRV EX and went through brokers first and took their quotes to the dealership and they were able to beat by $1,900 out the door. However, my other friend purchased a 2016 RX350 fully loaded and none of the dealerships came close to the broker's price (saved over $7K).
I agree with earlier point and that is never go to the dealership to negotiate. That is their territory and they are great at it. Get them out of their environment and that is either via phone or email. Selling and buying cars is ALL about control. If you go to the dealerships you lost control but if you do the negotiation from your house/phone you maintain control throughout the buying/leasing process.

 

The best weapon you have is to get up and walk out.

 

I would have walked out at the mention of "let me talk to my sales manager".

 

Dealt with an Internet sale manager and only set my foot to the dealer, when taking a delivery. I was in and out of the dealer about 1 hr and 40 mins.

 

Another point of advice I've found to help is to focus on out-the-door price. For me, that's the most relevant way to compare prices across cars & dealers and really tells me what I'm going to pay.

 

Also check Truecar to get a baseline price so you can argue and negotiate low but at a reasonable market rate low.

 

And that advice works the best, just say thank you for the time i want to get it today but the price just isn't there. Get up and start walking out, they will chase you.

 

I sold cars years ago...GM's would be furious if a Salesperson let someone walk out. Dealers know that once a prospect walks out on a sale, the probability is low that the customer returns.


I was there at the beginning of the internet boom. The customers that were the most challenging were the ones that did their research on the Internet before they came in. If you are buying new, it is easy to find invoice price online. You can calculate mark ups, rebates, etc. There are rebates that you cannot see...the back end stuff. But even doing some basic research can save you several thousand's of $'s.


As ModInJapan pointed out, Truecar is a good starting point.

 

Also you have negotiating power if the car has been sitting on the lot for a while, most dealers will do anything to get rid of it. Thats how I got mine, it was on the lot for over 2months.