How to deal when paying cash

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusgurl2 @ Jan 14 2007, 08:06 PM) [snapback]375633[/snapback]</div>

Every time I have bought a car, the sales person has asked if I was going to pay cash or take a loan. My answer has always been "which will give me a better price?"

When I bought my Dodge, he said he could give me $1000 off final price if I took a loan. He also said I could pay the loan off after 3 weeks and there would be minimal interest charged...only for time of loan. It was less than $100. Good deal for me, I got 1000 off and paid less than 100 for the privilege...paid the loan off within the month. I think it was like $6000 off MSRP at the time. That was a little over 2 years ago.

When I bought my Prius yesterday, I asked the same question. Salesman said no difference, so I just wrote the check...no loan. Same price either way.

I got a very good price negotiating from a known invoice price that I got from Edmunds.com. He showed me the invoice and price was the same. I know that the invoice contains hidden profits for the dealer and told him so. We negotiated from there. Total time from entering the dealership to driving a new car home was about 3 hours.

Cheers,

Larry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusgurl2 @ Jan 14 2007, 05:06 PM) [snapback]375633[/snapback]</div>

I just bought my '07 Touring Package 5 a few weeks ago, paying cash as well. After calling around, trying to find one with my color and package, I went there. I looked the car over and said "Let's talk pricing." We went in and he brought out the paperwork with the price they wanted. I offered exactly $1500 less than the sticker. He said he would have to talk to his boss. I said fine. I was prepared for them to say it was too low. Instead, they asked if I would be buying today. I said yes and wrap it to go! Not sure if there is a glut of Prii in the Bay Area but it did not seem hard to get what I consider a reasonable deal.

I bought mine from City Toyota in Daly City. My sales guy was Alan (last name was Hispanic like Sanchez or Ramirez -- cannot remember).

Good luck!

Regards, Peter

 

Hey there, PriusGurl2.

If you're paying cash, it also helps to go in at the end of the month when they're trying to reach or exceed certain sales quotas and they're most interested in "making the sale now."

Best of luck and let us know how you do!

Teddydmz
2006 Silver Pine Mica, Pkg 8

 

Cash - Huh?

Well, from what I've read on this website, & I had it all to do over, again - I would use a cash-back credit card, to the max! It's not hard to find one that pays at least 1% cash-back.

I think I've read where some buyers pushed hard to get a fairly large share of the price on a card. On a $20,000 car, if you could get $10,000 of it on a card, you'd get $100 cash-back. I think that makes it worth the effort!

BUT this only works if you pay off that card, in full, the first month! Good luck,

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fphinney @ Jan 15 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]375757[/snapback]</div>

We joked about that with the dealer and he just laughed. It coses the dealer 3-5% when you put it on a card. That is going to figure into his pricing. He'll just raise the price to accommodate the fees associated with the card. You lose...or at least, you don't win. He raises the price 3% and you get 1% cash back...does not look good to me.

Cash is the great leveller. Every time you use a card, the dealer/merchant pays a fee to the bank that issues the card. That is always added to the price of any item.

Cheers,

Larry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fphinney @ Jan 15 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]375757[/snapback]</div>

When we bought our '06 Prius we used a home equity line check for the balance after out trade in-(It was a Hyundai & hard to sell outright). We went through Sam's Club for the local dealer, so no pushy sales person. But, at the time the Toyota dealers were selling at list or higher. Anyway, after 3 months paying 4-5% interest on the rising variable % equity line we got a fixed 4.99% credit card offer so we took it.

Next time we will go through our Toyota dealer as we know who to talk to for our next Prius. It will be real easy to sell our 2003 Accord EX outright as Honda's have high resale & rep.

I always found paying cash with no trade to be a plus with buying cars. i also check the cars Direct web site to see the current internet price for a car. Most dealers have an internet person who handles those sales. We had a very pleasant exp. when we bought the '03 Accord. It was a good price on the phone, then dropped off the trade car, picked up the keys & signed the papers in about 30 minutes. No pressure, no hassles, and no stressful experience.

I think paying cash is most always a plus as the dlr. knows you don't have to qualify for a loan and you're a today buyer. In our case we don't mind paying the 4.99% on the CC for now as we are saving about 20-$25/wk. on gas by driving the Prius vs. the 2002 Hyundai Sonata V-6 gas hog. It did have a nice ride though.

I usually don't like paying interest, but in this case it's saving us money so it's OK.

 

I consider it best to give the salesperson/dealer as little information about me as possible. If they ask how I'm going to pay I tell them I haven't decided yet and ask them which way would give me a better price on the car. I don't mind letting them think I'm going to use their rip off financing even though I plan on paying cash. If you have a credit card that gives you cash back or some other kind of rewards consider paying with that, then pay it off before they charge you any interest. Just don't tell the dealer until you are ready to pay because it costs them money when you use a credit card.

Be careful of dealers that want a lot of personnel information. If you are not going to finance the car with them all they need is what's required for the title and registration, i. e. name address and drivers license number in some states, and they only need that after you definitely decide to buy the car. Don't give them your SSN or let them run a credit check on you unless you are going to finance through them.

 

I had planned to pay cash as well at Melody Toyota in Burlingame. The sales guy told me that if I financed a certain minimun amount, I could get "free" pre-paid maintenance and that there is no pre-payment penalty on the loan. To get to "said minimum amount", he convinced me to also purchase the extended warranty for ~$2000.

I financed through Toyota, took the extended warranty and the "free" pre-paid maintenance... paid off the loan within a month, cancelled the extended warranty, and kept the "free" pre-paid maintenance. (I'm still deciding whether or not to get PC's discounted extended warranty or not.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dancekat59 @ Jan 15 2007, 12:46 PM) [snapback]375858[/snapback]</div>

I paid cash for my Prius. They tried to talk me into a loan. I told them I understand it is a better deal for them financially to deal with a loan rather than cash. However, my Prius was the 4th Toyota I bought from this dealership. I reminded them of this and said it would cost them a lot more money if they lose a good customer because they did not want to deal in cash. I ended up getting a really great deal. I really did not have all of the money in cash, but used a cash advance credit card check with no interest to pay off the remaining couple of thousand.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lchamp @ Jan 15 2007, 03:12 AM) [snapback]375769[/snapback]</div>

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NEGATORY!

I've read about two or three others on this website that have used credit cards! The process isn't easy, but does SAVE MONEY!

Also - - in California, it is illegal to charge anyone an extra fee for using a credit card. The price is supposed to be the same whether a person uses cash or a card. Yeah - I know - sometimes it does happen. However, if a guy got really irritated, I suppose he could win a lawsiut about this?

 

Consumer Reports advises that you refuse to discuss payment options until the price is agreed. Keep the two transactions separate; a dealer makes a profit on financing and can drop the price a little if they think you will finance. See the links under the heading "Buying Advice" at http://www.consumerreports.org:80/cro/cars/index.htm

 

Like suggested, leave the payment portion of it to the end of the discussion. Get the base price of the car figured out, etc, and then at the end tell them you want to pay cash. We did that, got a decent price, and when we said that at the end the sales manager came over and told us that if we financed at least 2k, we would get a 500 buck discount because i had recently graduated. Definitely worth it, since that dealership was also running a deal where you don't pay interest for the first 3 months.

 

As previously posted, whether or not to pay cash is a question to ask the dealer - which is the best deal. I have always intended to pay cash but on the pickup I purchased 3 years ago, they offered me $1000 to take their attractive financing, which I paid off in 6 months.

Regarding the haggle - DO IT OVER THE PHONE or INTERNET. Chances are, you will find the best deal from

a- car salespeople advertising on Priuschat
b- the largest volume dealer arounnd

As a side note, I did see an ad a week ago in the Sunday LA Times for two loss-leader Priuses -- base model at $4000 under MSRP.

The time is good for bargaining!!!!

 

Read through www.carbuyingtips.com. I would start the negotiation at invoice and work your way up. There are lots of cars around now so you'll be able to get a better deal than you would have on a 2006. All the other posts offered good advice. You won't know what works until you try. Don't fall in love with any car--it's inventory--the car sitting on the other lot is just as good. Personally I wouldn't buy from anyone with add on costs on the sticker. Good luck.

 

Dealer: "Why yes, Honored Customer, of course we'll tell you which option will minimize our profit!". Yeah, right. :_>

 

I never understood why people pay cash for cars if their credit is good. Invest the cash and you'll make more in interest (even a simple ING savings account) then you'll pay in finance charges (again if you can get a good rate which isn't too hard).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Jan 18 2007, 11:31 AM) [snapback]377198[/snapback]</div>

if you were quoting me, I said to ask him how to get the best PRICE, not deal. Lemme give you an example...

If the finance company is giving the dealer an incentive/kickback, the dealer would really like to finance your car. In order to do that, he will offer you a better price if you tell him you are financing the car.

2 years ago, I bought a Dodge. The finance company was giving a dealer incentive of $1200...because I financed the car, the dealer gave me an additional $1000 off the negotiated price. I paid off the loan before the end of the month. Dealer made $200 more profit and I saved $1000 off the negotiated sales price. We were both happier that way. If I hadn't financed the car, he wouldn't have made the extra $200 in profit. It cost me less than $100 in finance charges when I paid off the loan in a couple of weeks.

cheers,

Larry

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(R32 @ Jan 18 2007, 12:13 PM) [snapback]377228[/snapback]</div>

but if you have no cash at the moment, you can pay for the car with a 0% for a year credit card and pay it off within a year and pay no interest