Negotiating A New Tacoma

I feel in having money (sizable) as a down payment helps you to have leverage in the purchase price that's what I'm sayin and I'm not arguing with you. Here's another way in looking at it you and I may be the exceptions to the rule, Most people are broke these days they all get rolled over the coals by sale men who are daily doing it to these people who in most of the time NEED a car bad and will just pay a price and what ever financing they can get BUT if you have money the price can truly be worked on by both sides cause in my case I will walk. I didn't need a new truck I bought I wanted a new truck big difference, 10k down and I was treated very nicely with all of the truck accessories and the price I wanted to pay.

 

My most important comments to first time buyers:
1. DO NOT tell the dealer what you want your monthly payment to be. They can get you into a Ferrari for $500 a month.....for 30 years of payments with a high interest rate
2. I usually tell them I'm considering trading my current car in (even if I know I am I leave it open). DO NOT tell them how much you owe on your current vehicle if you owe money on it. They will miraculously come in with a trade in value near your pay off if you do.
3. First negotiate selling price...nothing else (unless you are at a stale mate and close to the price you want to pay, then ask them to throw in extras like accessories or service packages). I negotiate trade in after agreeing on a price on the vehicle I want.
4. If you are financing, get preapproved. This will help you negotiate a rate when you have settled on a price you are happy with and get to the finance office to close the deal.

Last one! Walk into the dealership prepared to leave without a new truck.

 

You all rock! Thanks for the tips and resources.

I've decided to follow this guide, keeping everything you all have said in mind:

 

Don't forget the lube.

 

Keep in mind you are in California. Your deal may be out of state.

 

Go in and say this is what im willing to pay. Take it or leave it. If they dont like it walk out. 99% of the time they will call you before you even leave the parking lot wanting to negotiate with you.

 

Great post! That is almost like what I did on my 2015 and working on with a 2018. Everything was settled before I walked in to pick up the truck. Good luck!

 

I agree with you on this to a extent but having a down payment helps the salesperson be more willing to give you a better deal since you have money in hand which shows more interest and more seriousness into making a deal happen. I’ve had better luck saying I have a down payment then not but of course this is not always what happens.

 

.............ok lol

 

Ferrari for 30 years @ 500 per month is not a bad deal, sign me up

 

I know you're joking but just to put this in perspective. If you were to put $500 a month in an investment for 30 years, that has an 8% yearly return, you'd have $750,147.59.

 

Wow where are you getting 8% on a 500 a month investment lol

 

Me two or three ..red white and black!!!

 

Annualized rate of return for the S&P 500 for the last 30 years is 11.06%. So not too difficult.

 

I was about to reference the same thread lol.

 

Down payment may help IF you’ve got low credit scores and need money into the deal to make it work. But if that’s not an issue, dealers would rather you finance. They wouldn’t give a crap how much you’re bringing in.

With financing done all online now, that doesn’t matter. The fact you’re in the building is what constitutes real intent and now their job is to get you to sign the papers right then. Financing approval is done in 10 min. As stated above, if you’ve got decent fico, down payment doesn’t matter.

 

Any index fund will net you that. Especially in the last few years. Set up a Vanguard account.

 

So knowing this, I’m curious why you paid cash for your truck? Why didn’t you take your ~$35k and invest it for the ~60 months that you could have a payment? Then finance your truck at 1.99% or so. Paying 1.99% on a truck while earning 6-8% (15-20% in current market) on the $ invested, 4+% ahead over the same 60 months.

That’s what I did. I had the cash, but for the last 5+ years I’ve been getting double digit returns on my investments. I put 1/3rd down in cash and then kept the rest in my investment account earning $. Glad I did this as my 2017 returns were between 17-22% on my various accounts (401k, IRA, new mountain bike play account, etc...).

 

Not to mention inflation on the verge of increase. I financed 100% for those reasons. Too greedy to even pay 1/3 in cash.

 

Only reason for 1/3 cash was to manage monthly payments around other expenses (kids in preschool and daycare are expensive).