Do you think it would be okay to negotiate price by using email with dealership?

I've received Autocheck and everything to check out the vehicle and now only things left to do are to check out the tacoma with my own eyes, test drive, and negotiating price. But I am little far away from the dealer and I do have to borrow ride from my friend to go see the tacoma. The worst fact is that I cannot guarantee when this would be possible.

So my question is if it is okay to negotiate price by using an email without even seeing the vehicle first. Maybe talking on phone would be better than an email???

Sorry for asking too many questions...

I don't have skill or knowledge for choosing vehicle and getting little frustrated for making all the decision for my first ride... haha... I hope you guys can understand the way Im feeling about all these...

Thank you very much guys and have a good day.

 

i negotiated mine from another country. it was pretty easy to do actually. I had everything worked out and than when i showed up my truck was sitting there waiting. I drove it around and asked where do i sign.

 

Personally, I found that most dealers wouldn't respond to emails at all, or very slowly when they did. Some even have online forms you can fill out for a quote, but they never respond to them. When I finally found a few that would deal by email, they got my business.
I don't mind driving around a bit, but I want to know they are at least willing to spend a little time on me before I drove up to 100 miles to their lots.

 

I did, it went well but i think they got what they wanted.

 

Most usually won't take negotiations seriously over the phone. You will definitely have more haggling power in person, since they know you are seriously interested in the vehicle. If you can get a loan already setup through your bank, the dealer will treat it like a 'cash offer' and definitely be more willing to drop the asking price.

 

I've bought one car completely by email from a dealership... from half way across the country, too. It was the best car deal I have ever done. Easy, hassle free, at my pace, got what I wanted, etc.

And, I just bought my '11 DC TRD-O/R in a similar manner. Established everything by email. The only thing I had to do was negotiate the trade value, as they want to see the car.

I've become a huge believer in negotiating by email. The best part of the whole thing is you can pit 4 or 5 dealers against each other. Ultimately, I had one dealership say "You find the best price you can, come to us, and we'll beat it." And sure enough, they did.

 

Ive purchased 12 vehicles in my life and the best, easiest, most stress free way has been by email. I go to the dealers website and email through their internet sales (most dealers now have an internet salesman). I email several dealers and specify exactly what I want and tell them upfront I am getting quotes from several dealers. Take the lowest quote and email the other dealers and see if they can beat it. This takes a lot of driving around and legwork out and emails give you time to think about numbers rather than sitting in an office under pressure by a salesman. I go to the dealer after hours to look at the vehicle. When I went to the dealer all I had to do was test drive it and write the check.

 

I delt directly to there internet sales manager. I did the same as others and had 3 different dealers giving me quotes and i would just send them back and forth between the dealers till i got a great price. Very easy and hassle free. I will only buy cars that way from now on. You will also get a better price if you work everything out ahead of time.

 

I did that as well, but not on my Tacoma. Had all the options and pricing nailed down in advance, and met with the salesman I'd been dealing with. That didn't stop the finance manager from trying to re-negotiate once I got to that stage, and of course then they tried to add on all the "extended warranties" and "dealer markups" when we got down to signing. I had to walk out twice before they'd honor the original deal.

 

Yea Ive had the f & i guy pressure me for extended warranties and crap before and you just gotta be firm and let them know you dont want any of that. It really helps if you secure financing in advance so you dont have to deal with all that...just hand them the check.

 

My last 2 cars were purchased through the dealers via Internet. Every dealer I contacted responded. If they don't, don't give them your business. I worked out a price I wanted then went to go drive the truck. Better than going to the dealer and spending a whole day there.

Let me add that dealers would rather have you come into the showroom to pressure you and give you a bad deal. Go striaght to the Internet/Fleet Sales department and by pass the hassle and high pressure sales.

 

I actually got a better no fight deal through the internet salesman. Way easier than going in there and haggling right away.

God I hate buying vehicles.

 

Why would talking on the phone be better than email? Can you see the truck through the phone? Are you using Facetime to take a virtual tour? j/k

But seriously, out of all the vehicles I have purchased, I have found that working out details via email first tends to be the easiest, most stress-free deals. An Internet sales manager will work with you just as if you were on the lot. But if you go that route, hit up 3-4 different dealerships Internet sales departments. Then you can use that for negotiating. "Well, Joey 3-Toes Toyota offered me the same truck for $500 less, plus they're throwing in window tinting..."

I actually negotiated my Tacoma via Facebook, e-mail and text message. Once I got it to the price I wanted, I filled out the paperwork for the credit app, got approved for the loan and then went and picked it up. When I got to the dealership, I test drove the truck I was buying, signed the papers on it and then drove it home.

 

New or used?? I took your post as you are looking at a used vehicle (Autocheck...). If that's that case I think you may have a problem negotiating virtually. New is different as it's a known quantity, for both you and them with invoice prices and such available over the Internet. There are more variables with used.

Personally, I would try it, but would not expect much to happen.

 

I bought my truck this way. I took care of everything online and when I arrived at the dealership all I had to do was sign a couple papers. The whole thing took 30 minutes and I was driving home in my new taco.

 

yes

 

Yes I did it. .. They do have Internet sales

 

Internet sales saved me time.

 

I negotiated with my salesman via phone text. I don't see anything wrong with email, I do business via email all the time in my day job - why would your salesman's job be any different?

 

I second what others are saying about emails. They really do not want to put anything in writing if possible. Also, some are very slow to respond to emails. I found I had to suck it up and sit down and call each one of them get the "best" deal and call them all again to see if they could beat it. Over and over before I got what I thought the lowest possible price would be. Huge pain.