"It's not unusual for there to be a couple of dealers who are desperate for the deal and keep coming back with lower bids," Bragg says. Do you like the idea of dealers competing for your business, but don't have the time or the inclination to contact dealers and sift through offers? Let somebody else do the heavy lifting and research for you. If you're looking for a quick, no-fuss way to study offers from dealers in your area, check out online sites such as
CarsDirect.com,
Autobytel.com,
InvoiceDealers.com and
Car.com.
All you have to do is complete a quick online form and a dealer in your area will get back to you with a quote on the vehicle you want, typically within 24 hours. These pricing services are free and you're under no obligation to buy. "This is the preferred method for people who dread negotiating," Ostroff says. "Nine out of 10 times you're going to get a pretty good deal and you don't have to haggle." If you'd like more specific information on the car you want as well as negotiating tips, you may want to shell out $34.95 for a car-buying information package from
FightingChance.com.
This package gives you the lowdown on prices and incentives for the car you want plus detailed sales data. It's also chock-full of car-buying advice and even includes sample faxes to send to car dealers. Drive dealers in a frenzy
Bragg is a big believer in getting dealers to compete for your business.
"Make it a competitive bidding situation," Bragg says. "Use the fax attack and save time, money and aggravation." Another option for negotiation-averse car shoppers is to sign on for a car-buying service. One of the best is
CarBargains, which is part of the Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit consumer research group in Washington, D.C.
The service is pretty straightforward. You tell CarBargains the make, model and style of the vehicle that you want and they'll get at least five dealers in your area to bid against each other for your business. Once this happens, CarBargains will send you all dealer bids and contact information, as well as invoice cost information and consumer advice on everything from financing and extended service contracts to the value of your trade-in. Then it's just a matter of selecting the dealer bid that you want and wrapping up the deal on your own. "In 30 to 40 percent of cases, they get prices below invoice," Gillis says. The only downside of the CarBargains buying service is the cost, which is $190.But once you weigh the cost of the service with the money you're likely to save, it's still a pretty good deal. You could save hundreds, even thousands of dollars by getting dealers to compete for your new-car business. And with CarBargains doing all the legwork, you can avoid the hassles and headaches of contacting dealers on your own. "Let someone else do the dirty work in terms of getting the best price," Gillis says. "It's well worth a couple of hundred bucks to have someone else go through the process." Whatever negotiating help you choose, it's bound to be better than giving up an extra $1,300 to a dealer just because you hate to haggle. Hear that, ladies? |