Sitting at a car dealership's negotiating table is brutal. By the time you're ready to have the money talk, you've done test drives, explored your options, talked trim levels and packages, and then undoubtedly sat through a long diatribe about how this is the one car dealership that actually values its customers.
Then the first offer comes, and it's insulting. Over the next few hours, you haggle over pricing. Then you haggle over accessories. Then you haggle over financing. Each time the salesperson walks away, taking 15 minutes to answer your two-second question. They wear you down, knowing that eventually you'll agree to a worse deal just to get out of there.
Get Fully Charged
Why Dealer Strategy Matters
While EV-only manufacturers like Tesla and Rivian offer no-haggle pricing through company stores, new legacy-brand EVs have to be purchased through car dealerships. That process is daunting and—if you aren't careful—can turn a tantalizing advertised lease deal into a convoluted financial disaster.
It is a rigged game. According to a car-buying expert, the only way to win is not to play. That's even true when EV shopping; even with all of the crazy-good deals we're seeing out there right now, you can't just walk into a dealership and expect a steal without coming prepared first.
"I never, ever recommend talking numbers in person. Ever," expert car consultant Tom McParland told InsideEVs. "That's their home turf."
Car-Buying Sucks Because It's Supposed To Suck
As the founder and owner of car-buying service Automatch Consulting, he's been dealing with car dealers like this professionally for over a decade. (He's also an occasional contributor to InsideEVs and other fine automotive publications.)
The reason it feels exhausting, he said, is because it's supposed to.
"I think going into a dealer and spending hours of your time—back and forth on this and that, and 'I gotta talk to the manager,' and 'this is what we can do—that's the process they want you to go through. So eventually you're like, 'I've been here all day, I'm tired. I'm hungry. I really want this car. So fine, I won't pay the five grand markup that you initially said but I'll just suck it up and pay two grand over,'" McParland said.
Instead, McParland recommends soliciting quotes before you ever walk in the dealership. Don't ask for the price alone, though. Ask for a full written breakdown of the total cost, including all taxes, dealer fees, accessories and upcharges. Feel free to do your own financing calculations, but don't try to negotiate based on a monthly payment, as dealers often use payment-based negotiations to obscure your out-the-door price. That way you'll avoid the pain of seeing a great Equinox EV with a low MSRP online, only to walk in and realize the dealer has slapped a $5,000 markup on it that isn't listed on AutoTrader. You won't drive an hour to get a sweet lease deal on an Ioniq 6 only to learn that the $4,000 paint protection package isn't included in the listed price.
Get Numbers In Writing. Always.
Make sure, too, that you have the pricing sheet emailed or in writing. I made the mistake of getting a verbal promise—that the dealer would not make me buy accessories I didn't see value in—only to drive two hours and find out that the sales manager wouldn't allow me to take the car home without purchasing the pre-installed LoJack system. Note, however, that a price breakdown in writing isn't a guarantee.
"It's not a legally binding thing," McParland said. But if you walk into a dealership with a written pricing sheet and the salesperson refuses to honor it, you just walk right back out. Plus, with a written quote, you can shop it to other dealers and offer them the chance to beat it. That's especially useful if you're shopping for a new car, where dealers are selling essentially the same product and often willing to undercut each other. That's especially true when it comes to offloading vehicles that are piling up on lots or that have sat for over a month. F-150 Lightning buyers, for instance, should be able to get a sweet deal if they're willing to shop around.
That's another key point of advice: Don't be afraid of a drive, McParland says. Over his career he's even found situations where shipping a car from a far-flung dealer was cheaper than buying locally. When you have a full pricing picture that includes all fees, it's easier to know where to go. If a dealer isn't willing to provide one, there's a simple solution: Don't work with them.
"Basically there are going to be two kinds of dealers. There are going to be your straight shooter dealers, and they're going to say it's the online price, plus sales tax for your zip code. There's usually going to be a DMV or a doc fee, and in many states some sort of a 'dealer fee,'" McParland said. These places often work based on volume or repeat business.
Then, he says, there are the dealers that make their money on accessories, markups, extended warranties and other add-ons. These dealers, he said, usually don't want the customers who are going to fight every addition and negotiate pricing before coming in.
"If we see, you know, $1,500 for LoJack and a $1,200 reconditioning fee and then this and then that, then we push back and say that these aren't accessible. We'll say they need to wiggle down or else we're going to go elsewhere," he said. "Sometimes they will. Sometimes they'll go tell us to pound sand, and then we'll go after other leads."
A Good Time To Buy Electric
The good news for electric car shoppers is that finding a cooperative dealer these days is easier. Many automakers overproduced certain EV models, and dealers want to get them on the lot. If you're after an EV from a legacy brand, McParland says it "shouldn't be super difficult to find a store that's cooperative."
That's the key, though. Work multiple leads, and don't get emotionally attached to any specific car on any specific lot. Cars are mass-produced, and detached from the urgency of the dealer floor and the false scarcity of one dealer lot, it's easier to realize that you can just walk away.
A car is the second-priciest thing most people will ever buy; Make the dealer work to win that business. Not just on the price, but on financing, too.
"Used car interest rates still kind of stink, so it definitely pays to shop around and get some approvals before you go to the dealership," McParland said. "Because then you've got a card to play, because the dealer wants you to finance, they don't want you to pay cash."
Dealers work with a variety of banks and lenders, and may be able to match or beat your rate on a used car. For a new car, automakers will often offer lower-than-market financing rates to lure customers. But it's still worth getting a base rate from a credit union or bank you work with. Just do it shortly before you intend to purchase.
Having multiple hard credit pulls within a week shouldn't hurt your credit significantly more than just having one, McParland says, as credit reporting agencies know people shop around. But if you wait a few weeks between applications, it's more likely to cause a big impact.
Also, having arranged financing and pricing ahead of time, the actual dealership experience should be relatively seamless. Ensure that the dealer will make good on the promised price, skip the accessories you don't want and arrange financing through whichever lender offers you the best rate.
And if the process of soliciting multiple quotes from a handful of different dealers sounds too daunting, a service like Automatch can do it for you for around $500.
Contact the author: Mack.hogan@insideevs.com.
