How do you know what the invoice price is of a car before purchasing?

 

KBB.com. One of my favorite car research sites.

 

Ask the Stealer to show you it or look on Edmunds.com

Koz

 

Also can check MSN.com Autos. It may be too early for them to be listing 2008 prices. You can also pay for the info from Consumer Reports.

 

Those things I find to be a bit off. I was using these to price out the IS my g/f bought and invoice was like $37,024 (KBB), but the sales person showed me their invoice print out and it was $37,412. So just be wary of this.

 

I'd recommend getting invoice prices from several places for comparison: KBB, Edmunds, Costco Auto. They might be off a little but they should average out pretty close to the actual invoice.

 

Do not rely on Edmunds. Use carsdirect.com. They are accurate 100% of the time and list options exactly as they are available from the dealer.

Good luck!

 

or just look at costco auto site... and configure it how you like and itll list the invoice for it

 

Invoice isn't really what the dealer pays. There are things like factory to dealer incentives and holdback that reduce the dealers actual dollar cost. So you can buy at invoice or even below and the dealer is still getting more than they actually paid

Check this out

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/car4.htm

 

One more thing. Dealers like to keep the upper hand and if you go in there and tell them you know what the invoice price is they will ALWAYS correct you and tell you it's wrong. They're trained to do this so that they can keep the negotiation power in their court. It's a psychological power they have over you. It makes you question your source and it confirms that they were right and you were wrong, keeping the negotiations in their favor. Works every time.
A salesman's worst nightmare is an educated consumer.