One thing to be careful of --
Make sure you're eligible for all bonuses that the dealer tells you are part of the price. Because once you get into the building, they'll pull the "oh, you aren't eligible for our loyalty bonus? You weren't former military? Sorry, those two $1000 cash-back bonuses don't apply. The price we gave was our best-case scenario."
As @NokieHokie says, go online and get price quotes from all three. And as @FfxStationHokie says, get that final, out-the-door price. Then and only then can you play them against each other.
Once you get those emails back -- your "quotes in writing" -- you can start the game. Have a reason in your mind that you can tell each dealership "you're the ones I'd really prefer to buy from -- if only you'd beat your competitor's pricing."
Example: A dealer 60 miles away has a price that's $1,000 less than a dealer 10 miles away. You tell the dealer 10 miles away, "Look, I can go an hour out and save $1000 -- that's worth it to me. Can you match or beat that price to make it the smart move to buy from you instead? Say they match it only; then you go back to dealer one and tell them "Look, I got the same price quote from both you and dealer 2. But honestly, I'd really prefer to purchase from you because (made up reason here -- maybe you tell them a friend had a bad experience with a salesperson there or something). However, it's not worth my while to drive an extra hour for the same price. Is there anything you can do to make it worth it to me to make that extra drive?"
If they bite, you can even try going back to the first one and say "You won't believe this, but they actually dropped their price. If you can match it, I'll be there in 10 minutes with my checkbook." Always have that end game ready to go and a powerful carrot ready to offer them. They can make the sale THAT DAY with minimal effort on their part.
The thing to remember is that Internet salespeople don't operate on a commission basis; they operate on a number of cars sold basis instead. So they aren't as concerned about making sure they get something over on you.
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In response to this post by bourbonstreet)
Posted: 07/28/2020 at 11:22PM