How to Get the Best Deal on Your Next Car

When you have chosen the car you want, it’s time to get serious about price. To help you determine the best price you should settle on for your new car, here are several words of advice and terms to consider:

General Advice:

Seeking out a Deal?

For the bargain-hunter, here are some helpful car-buying tips that may position you to get the deal you want:

• Purchase a model late in the year before the body-style change
• Buy an overstocked or mass-market car with a customer cash incentive — incentives are usually high in the summer and winter months
• Buy around the end of the month -dealerships often have monthly sales quotas. Contact this Jeep dealer in Thomson, GA for more information about this!

Terms

MSRP

The MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) is a “suggested” the manufacturer seats. By law, this price is displayed on each vehicle sold in the country. Does anyone really pay MSRP?  Not often but it can occur and in some cases, where demand is higher than supply, people have been known to pay more than the MRSP. For instance, when the Chrysler PT Cruiser was first available, they demanded prices above MSRP.

Invoice Price

The dealer invoice is the dealer’s cost for the car only and does not include any of the dealer’s costs for advertising, prepping, displaying, sales or financing the car. Knowing the dealer invoice price will be a helpful bargaining tool but it does not always tell the whole story. Behind the scenes are almost always manufacturer’s incentives and “holdbacks” that could actually lower the price below invoice.

Fair Purchase Price

Updated each week, the Fair Purchase Price (FPP) is the industry’s newest, most reliable car pricing tool. Based on specific make and model cars, FPP pricing reports show you a new vehicle’s average selling price, its typical range of selling prices, and any relevant market conditions. It’s important to know that the FPP is not a number influenced by dealers or manufacturers — it is real transaction data. The Fair Purchase Price has become a popular tool for people researching pricing.

Available Equipment

When calculating the price you’ll pay for your next car, you must include the value of the wanted options.  Thankfully, the trend is now to bundle the options together into packages. That makes pricing the vehicles much easier. For example, the Honda Civic has been available in three separate packages, the DX, LX and EX.  If you’re still trying to discover a car’s total price with accessories included, the best way is to “build a car online”. The popular tool will automatically add the cost of each available options and provide a new total cost reflecting the additional added costs.

So, before you visit a dealership, research the pricing categories we discussed above. Thankfully, today’s car buyer has the internet to assist with this.  In particular, be sure and know what the Fair Purchase Price is for your desired car. A reputable dealership will work with you and do their best to convert you into a loyal return customer.