[Pie]

Mazda3 S S 4-Door, Titanium Gray, cloth seats, Moonroof/CD Changer package and Sport package.

$17,441 before tax, title, etc. and I will be getting the 3.9% financing.

I believe this is $400 over invoice... is this a pretty good deal? I live in Seattle.

Any advice would be much appreciated... I could be driving my new Mazda3 today if all works out!

 

[LeeLee]

There is a good number of these vehicles in the Seattle area, I would expect to buy this car for invoice or at most $200 above it before tax, and government assessed fees.

Edit: Dealers in VA will claim a "mandatory processing fee" of $200 to $250 and claim that it is required by state law. However, this is not a government assessed fee, but a dealer add-on fee. The law simply says that they need to charge all customers the same fees. I've never paid such a fee when buying vehicles in VA. So make sure which fees are truely mandatory, and which one is being pulled out of the dealer's @ss.

 

[Pie]

Lee,

Thanks for the response!

Wow, if I could get it at invoice I'd be pretty happy. I've been getting pricing via the internet and so far the best I've gotten for a car equipped like I want is $17,391 before tax, title, etc., and that's for Velocity Red, which is a beautiful color but scares me a bit in terms of possible speeding tickets.

I guess I will do a little more negotiating and try to get the price a little closer to invoice.

Thanks again.

 

[freston]

if you have several dealerships in the area, make sure to pit them against each other. i did and wound up paying about $600 less ($400 under invoice) than their 'best' quotes.

also, if you don't NEED the car (ie, you already have a nice functional car), you can play hardball and tell them you'd like to buy the car but only if you get exactly what you want. dealers salivate when they know that a customer has to buy a car then and there...they know they have you basically cornered.

 

[Pie]

Well, I am without car right now since the '85 corolla I have been driving since my '99 Civic Si was stolen over a year ago just died. So, I'm kind of desperate and I need to get the car within the week. Therefore I'm limited to stock on hand for the most part.

 

[freston]

sorry to hear that.

but i'd still keep that knowledge from the dealer. maybe you can't play real hardball and walk out on him, but you can at least play hard to get.

 

[LeeLee]

Well, even if you are desperate, don't say you are desperate. Never reveal to the other party any weaknesses in your position.

If you are in a hurry and want the dealer to "soften up", tell them you have nothing to do for a couple of days and plan to shop for the car. If you don't get your price, you'll try somewhere else. Dealers do not want you going to other dealers and potentially buy a car somewhere else.

Don't say you are going home to think about it. They want you to do that. Instead say "let me see what other dealers can offer me".

 

[Pie]

I definitely wouldn't be telling the dealer that I am desperate. So far I have quotes from 3 dealers, all pretty close to each other. I've made a couple counter offers, but I'm running in to the problem that they all want to sell me Velocity Red. I guess that color isn't too popular here in the pacific NW.

 

[freston]

yeah, the first couple guys i talked to tried to talk me into getting something else if they couldn't find what i was looking for. i told them no way, i want what i want. end of story.

and if there is only a $100 difference between dealers, you can still use that as leverage. look at it this way: you may see the difference as 'only $100,' but so do they . one guy quoted me $100 less than anyone else, and i STILL got him to drop the price ANOTHER $200, simply by telling him the other dealer had exactly what i wanted on his lot ready to go, while the lower priced guy would have to go get the car from another dealer. he lowered his price, got the car (free of charge), and got my business.

 

[Pie]

Well, there are ZERO titanium Gray S Sedans in Washington State with the options I want (cloth seats, manual trans, moonroof, sport package). So I can't get anyone to budge on the price for this high demand color, best I'm getting is $400 over invoice. I can get $200 over invoice on a black one (my second color choice), but I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and pay for tit. gray. A dealer has agreed to have one brought up here from Oregon without me having to put a deposit down, so on Thurs. or Fri I'm going to check it out and if there are no problems I'm going to be buying at $400 over invoice.

I guess I just fell in love with Titanium Gray and I can't wait several weeks for my car.

 

[Absinthe]

Pie, please put your location in your profile. Thanks!

 

[Pie]

Just to update anyone who might be curious, yesterday I made my purchase!

Mazda3 S Sedan, Satin Silver, 5-Spd, Cloth Seats, Moonroof/CD Changer, ABS/EBD/Side Airbags, Sport Package

Price: $250 over invoice - decent price, could have done better but there were very few cars with the color and equipment I desired in my area. I'm very happy overall.

Thanks everyone for your advice!