How to buy a new truck ?

What a typical car salesman douche.

"Our cars are only marked up 6-8%"

And in almost the same breath;

"This industry has integrity...great integrity. And I get personally offended when people say I don't have integrity".

Typical car sales unadulterated bullshit. The markup on new cars has "dropped" from 15% or more in the 80's to the so called 6% it is now. Why? Because of the internet. People are more informed now then they ever have been. So manufacturers jacked up invoice pricing (the price the dealer wants to tell you they pay). Why? To cover the HIDDEN incentives dealers receive. Those highly lucrative incentive checks a dealer gets for meeting their monthly and quarterly sales goals given to them by the manufacturer. The incentives you CAN'T find on the internet. They are still getting their 15% profit or more. It's now just hidden via performance incentives.

Holdback and financial reserve are still the same. But incentives? Way up.

Manufacturers had to find a way to combat the vast amount of information available to everyone via the internet now. That is how it was done.

 

From their website....

• 
  Collaboration
• Non commissioned sales staff – buy the car that’s right for YOU
• Educational approach to finance and additional products
  Transparency
• Upfront pricing and negotiation free buying. All the time. On every vehicle.
• Transparent trade evaluation with a written offer to purchase.
  Peace of Mind
• 3-day money back guarantee on any vehicle purchased
• FREE NH state inspections with us for you and your vehicle for the next 10 years

 

To answer your question yes the house always wins. You are buying a product that decreases in value everyday so how could you win.

My approach was:

1. 1st I knew what I wanted down to the color and trim package.
2. I emailed 5 or 6 dealers within a 80 or so mile radius asking if they would like a chance to price OTD what I was looking for. Put everyone on the email list so they see your potentially getting quotes from multiple dealers on the same thing. Also give a deadline that prices need to be in and that the lowest price OTD gets your business. Price is to be all inclusive of all taxes, fee's or other BS they want to tack on. You only deal with OTD pricing.
3. I pre-arranged my financing through a credit union and had an auto draft check waiting to fill in the final amount. This takes away a lot of power from the dealer.
4. Be courteous and polite in your email especially when inevitably one or more dealers will say they can't give you a price until you come in and see and/or test drive a vehicle. Simply thank them for their time and move on (they'll end u giving you a price).

I would encourage you to no go into a dealership cause if you do you'll be setting down for 2 or 3 hours while they wear you down. If you do go into a dealer and a sales person comes over to talk about the vehicle or numbers tell them they have 30 minutes of your time because you have an appointment to get to. This will keep all the dealer BS to a minimum like the sales guy having to privately talk to his manager 37 times about the numbers. Their goal is to get you in there and let new vehicle fever take over then they can get more money out of you and also up-sale you on extended warranties and other wastes of money.

Good luck and remember you aren't buying a new vehicle you are buying debt that devalues daily.

 

A lot of good info here for you OP.
The thing that concerns me most is that you say you feel like they hold all the cards. YOU have the biggest card, you have the money to spend.
They NEED to sell a vehicle, but you can buy it from another dealer. Don't get attached to any vehicle until you get it home. Be ready to walk away 100%. Know exactly what you want and dont play the payment game, you're guaranteed to lose.

I'm very non-emotional and analytical so the attachment part is easy for me. I know I really want X vehicle but 95% of the time I can get it from a few different dealers, so I leverage them against each other to get as close to my perfect number as possible. If they're playing tons of games like they did when we bought my wife's T4R, I'll let them know I'm offended that they think I'm that dumb or that they'd try this on anyone for that matter. I don't discuss trades or cash down until we work out a total price. I also plan on NOT using their financing, making them sweeten the deal for me to use theirs. Of course the financing trick only works if you have good-great credit.

Good luck!

 

There is a Sticky at the top of the 3rd Gen Section that has the invoice and MSRP prices

 

The thread linked in the first post is good stuff but my strategy is pretty straight forward and worked well. Only 3 steps.

1) figure out exactly what you want
2) figure out exactly how much you are willing to pay
3) find a dealership willing to do it

All 3 steps can be done without ever entering a dealership and negotiations are simple. They take it or leave it.

I got a "rare" loaded 6MT TRD OR with exactly the options I wanted for $500 over invoice. Spent a grand total of 1 hour in the dealership to sign papers and drive it home.

 

Nice choice in trucks!

 

That's how to do it. Don't enter a dealership to negotiate. Steps I took, starting on the last Monday of the month;

1. Research every dealer's website in 200 mile radius.
2. Make list of dealers with configuration and color I wanted on the lot.
3. Call to speak to internet sales manager or fleet sales manager. Tell them I'm going to send email asking for a price quote, that I'm a serious buyer, and will be buying by end of week. Ask if they are interested. They all were.
4. Email specs, invoice and msrp pricing, and info on what I will and won't accept (add ons, etc).
5. Field emails and calls.
6. Wednesday. Called 3 lowest bidders and tell them they are all close, and see if they want another chance to adjust price, and I'd be making a final decision by 1pm that day (1 of the 3 dropped it an additional $250, one stayed at invoice, and one didn't respond in time).
7. Called dealer who had me at $491 below invoice and accepted deal.
8. Drove down and picked up truck that Saturday. Brought in check from my credit union. In and out of dealership in just over an hour.

Getting them bidding against each other gets you a very low hassle way of getting a reasonable deal. And perhaps a very good deal if you manage to contact a dealership that is reaching to get their numbers for the month or quarter.