I just realized I never updated my car search in this thread.
Wife was looking for a 3 row SUV/Crossover to replace our minivan. Came down to the VW Atlas, Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander. She did the test drives, liked them all. I was pushing for the Atlas, but at the time you could barely find one on the lots and they weren't budging on the price. At least what my cheap ass calls budging.
We were down to the Pilot EX-L or the Highlander XLE. Pilot was about $1500 higher as configured. I emailed 10-12 dealers for each car. They got back to me fairly quickly with a "no haggle price". Between both cars, the first quotes were all over the place. I specifically asked for an out the door price and to list out all fees. Most gave the info I wanted, some sent the before tax price, some wouldn't list the fees. They ALL wanted me to come in to talk. I'm not setting foot in the showroom until I know exactly what I'm paying and let them know I was serious and working with multiple dealers.
All of the Honda dealers got to about the same price, within $500. None would budge at all on the fees. They were all at $800 total for doc and DMV fees. In the end, the Toyota was much more negotiable. This car was the lowest on my list mainly because of the small amount of space behind the 3rd row, but my wife liked it, and it has a features the Honda didn't. We ended up getting the Highlander for $5k less than my lowest price on the Honda.
We've leased the last few vehicles. I wanted to get out of leasing, but I like having the wife and kids in a new car. The last vehicle we bought went to hell after 70k miles. Once the wife is stranded on the side of the road with 2 kids, it gives a compelling argument to get her in something reliable. This is how I convinced myself against my better judgement to lease again.
So now I go back to the top 5 dealers and start negotiating a lease. No money down, only 1st month and fees. Plus, let's lower that DMV fee. $400 to title a car is insane. $400 doc fee? For what? Again, the prices came back all over the place. Toyota of Morristown came in with the best price, and they're close. They were the only dealer who agreed on 1st month and fees. I had a set price/out of pocket set and wasn't going to budge. Since we had a car to use in the meantime, and didn't have to get anything right now, I felt secure in letting this all go if we weren't happy. I threw out a price much, much lower than quoted and well below my set price. They came back with to get to that we'd have to raise the out of pocket. I said thanks, but we'll have to pass. We heard back a few days later and they took my offer. I told them I'd have a check written out, I wanted to come in sign and hit the road. We get there at 9am, were sent to talk to someone other than the woman I dealt with through emails. He asks for the check which I thought we'd give to finance, but ok. Did the insurance thing...........then sat. We had to wait for the finance guy.
Finance goes through the usual stuff. Tries to make small talk. I don't trust him. I ask him to show me the last page with the final totals to make sure it's what was agreed upon. He says he has to start from the beginning with the digital desktop they use now. OK. We go through it all and he says, "now all I need is the check for $2500". WTF?????? I already gave a check! I brought up the emails with the agreed price, how much down, detailing payment, out of pocket and specifically stating that if any of the listed amounts change, we walk. So we did. Got halfway down the hall and he comes out and says let's see what we can do. I tend to get a little excited, what my wife sometimes calls "overboard". I don't think I yelled, but he did get us back in his office, this time shutting the door. Magically, the $2500 disappears and we sign for the agreed price.
Bottom line, it took a lot of work, A TON of emails, but I set a price, stuck to my guns and the wife is happy. (even if we can't fit softball gear for 2 girls behind the 3rd row.)
Oh yeah, TrueCar, Costco Auto Program were about the same price. The prices I negotiated when we were looking at buying, were much less than that.
