[sovereign82]

Im going to be ordering a 3. There isn't one in my area with the options I want. It isn't that there aren't 3s avaliable...just not in my choices.

So Im going to order one with a dealer through their online reps. I've submitted what I would like to a few local dealers online service reps. I've recieved one reply so far and that was at MSRP. I'm defintely not paying MSRP because they do have about 6 3s on the lot right now. So they can't say they are selling that fast. So my question to you guys is this.

What should I be shooting for over invoice? The car Im looking for is 3-S 4 Door, ABS, Sport Package. MSRP off the top of my head is $18145. Invoice is $16985.

I was thinking coming in with an offer of $17300, with a target of an argreed upon price of $17400. What is everyones thoughts on this. I do have about 4 dealers within 25miles of me...so I have room to work with. (Though I won't be playing one dealer off another...I dont think thats right...but I'll just choose the dealer who offers me the lowest price).

Thanks,
Matt

 

[rpc180]

$250-$500 over invoice. I paid $17,500 for mine and it had moonroof and 6CD in addition to what you're getting.

 

[sovereign82]

Did that include any rebates? Thats a good price and you aren't too far from me...Im in CT.

 

[rpc180]

It includes a $500 loyalty rebate, though edmunds lists invoice as $17,729 and $18,000 is only $250 above.

 

[LeeLee]

I would try to get the car for invoice. They are not selling that well right now. But it's tough if you are ordering a car... because it eats up one allocation for the dealer and it's a car they don't have on the lot and costing them interest per day.

 

[sovereign82]

Ya thats why I figure I'll pay $300ish over invoice.

 

[fearturtle44]

DIO

If you want the car and you can't get for $200-300 over invoice, see if dealer will give you "special" deals on other DIO (dealer installed options) such as a spoiler, wind deflector, wheel locks, etc. At least you will be getting something "extra"....

Kevin

 

[m3]

What? you guys are cheap! only willing to pay for $200 above invoice or even invoice! You guys don't deservce any service! That's why dealer don't like to help you guys for any problems of the car.

 

[mz6zoomzoom]

No more than $500 over invoice, BEFORE rebates. Ever. On any car (short of high end impossible to find luxury cars).

 

[lmp180psu]

What? you guys are cheap! only willing to pay for $200 above invoice or even invoice! You guys don't deservce any service! That's why dealer don't like to help you guys for any problems of the car.

The market for Mazdas ( and small cars in general) is different in the US than in Canada. You can tell by the way people talk about their deals; In the US, people refer to deals in terms of amount over invoice, while in Canada people refer to $X off MSRP. Also in the US more companies offer greater rebates, and the economy still hasn't recovered here, so people expect better deals.

 

[LeeLee]

What? you guys are cheap! only willing to pay for $200 above invoice or even invoice! You guys don't deservce any service! That's why dealer don't like to help you guys for any problems of the car.

What does the price I pay for the car have anything to do with service? When I go to a dealer with a warranty problem, Mazda pays for it, otherwise I pay for it. Either way, the dealer makes money on service.

I paid less than invoice for my Mazda3 and the dealer called me later to "remind" me that their service department offered great service and offered me discounts because I had purchased a car there.

Dealers don't sell cars at prices they can't operate their business on. The fact that they sold me this car for this price means the transaction brought them an adequate profit.

 

[DJSCIASCIA]

What? you guys are cheap! only willing to pay for $200 above invoice or even invoice! You guys don't deservce any service! That's why dealer don't like to help you guys for any problems of the car.

What does the price I pay for the car have anything to do with service? When I go to a dealer with a warranty problem, Mazda pays for it, otherwise I pay for it. Either way, the dealer makes money on service.

I paid less than invoice for my Mazda3 and the dealer called me later to "remind" me that their service department offered great service and offered me discounts because I had purchased a car there.

Dealers don't sell cars at prices they can't operate their business on. The fact that they sold me this car for this price means the transaction brought them an adequate profit.

A dealer selling a car to u under "invoice" only means they made their money up in the back-end.

 

[LeeLee]

A dealer selling a car to u under "invoice" only means they made their money up in the back-end.

That doesn't make any sense. Explain to me how they've made their money up in the back-end despite selling me a Mazda3 for under invoice.

 

[fearturtle44]

Getting a car's "true" cost is very difficult to obtain. Though the dealer or a site like Edmunds will give you invoice, remember the dealer also had inside deals with the car company and will get such things as internal rebates which in turn lower the cost of the car (but the buyer never knows about). So maybe a car you get for $200 over invoice is really a profit of $450 to the dealer (example only).

Kevin

 

[DJSCIASCIA]

A dealer selling a car to u under "invoice" only means they made their money up in the back-end.

That doesn't make any sense. Explain to me how they've made their money up in the back-end despite selling me a Mazda3 for under invoice.

Did u pay cash for the car or did u finance?? If u finaced at what rate?? Did u take any extras?? eg Alarm, warrenty vin etch?? Were there any fees?? eg Doc, destination etc....

No business is out there to lose money. There are no special dealer rebates on this car, so it wouldn't make sense to me for a Dealer to sell the car at a loss without making it up elsewhere.

 

[DJ Spencer]

It is true. They can make it up in things like APR and warranties....

 

[LeeLee]

A dealer selling a car to u under "invoice" only means they made their money up in the back-end.

That doesn't make any sense. Explain to me how they've made their money up in the back-end despite selling me a Mazda3 for under invoice.

Did u pay cash for the car or did u finance?? If u finaced at what rate?? Did u take any extras?? eg Alarm, warrenty vin etch?? Were there any fees?? eg Doc, destination etc....

No business is out there to lose money. There are no special dealer rebates on this car, so it wouldn't make sense to me for a Dealer to sell the car at a loss without making it up elsewhere.

I financed at 3.9% for 60 months, same as what my credit union offers. I didn't buy anything extra. No extra fees. Just $17,250 plus 3% VA sales tax, plus $51 for registration, bringing the total to $17,818. Invoice on the car is $18,368. Financing depends on your credit score and downpayment size. It is not something informed buyers negotiate on. You should always be able to get the absolute lowest financing rate available regardless of how the rest of the deal is structured.

You are right that they are not out there to lose money, but they made a business decision that they could justify to themselves. I am not going back to that dealership for service because it is 45 minutes away from me. As far as I can tell, there is no opportunity for them to make any more money off of me.

 

[neoriffic]

A dealer selling a car to u under "invoice" only means they made their money up in the back-end.

That doesn't make any sense. Explain to me how they've made their money up in the back-end despite selling me a Mazda3 for under invoice.

Did u pay cash for the car or did u finance?? If u finaced at what rate?? Did u take any extras?? eg Alarm, warrenty vin etch?? Were there any fees?? eg Doc, destination etc....

No business is out there to lose money. There are no special dealer rebates on this car, so it wouldn't make sense to me for a Dealer to sell the car at a loss without making it up elsewhere.

I financed at 3.9% for 60 months, same as what my credit union offers. I didn't buy anything extra. No extra fees. Just $17,250 plus 3% VA sales tax, plus $51 for registration, bringing the total to $17,818. Invoice on the car is $18,368. Financing depends on your credit score and downpayment size. It is not something informed buyers negotiate on. You should always be able to get the absolute lowest financing rate available regardless of how the rest of the deal is structured.

You are right that they are not out there to lose money, but they made a business decision that they could justify to themselves. I am not going back to that dealership for service because it is 45 minutes away from me. As far as I can tell, there is no opportunity for them to make any more money off of me.

Your telling me you got your car for over $1100 under invoice? U sure about that?

 

[bknauss]

Here's my dealings with dealers when buying my 3 (warning, this might be a long story):

Went for a test drive on a Saturday, loved the car, and absolutely hated the seller. This guy was not professional looking in any sense of the word and was not easy to talk to. The conversations were very strained... anyway, to make it short, the guy was so bad that I can give my gf a good laugh by making fun of him 2 weeks later!

After going for the test drive and being thoroughly impressed, I checked for issues for users on message boards and came across this forum. I saw the link for www.carbuyingtips.com, and spent the next day reading it. I used the great spreadsheet to get a target price. I sent out emails to get the ball rolling with getting quotes (if nothing else, to not have to ever deal with the seller again)... and I sent emails to just about everyone within a 2 hour drive. I knew I probably wouldn't go to the far reaches of the earth to get the car, but I wanted to pit dealers against each other to get the best deal.

By Tuesday afternoon, I had bites by about 3 dealerships. They gave me quotes, and I sent them back the information from the spreadsheet from the carbuyingtips.com site saying I would show them the calculations for the price. A dealership about 2 hours away said they would go with the price I gave them, plus they would get the car I wanted without charging me to go drive to get the car (I was quoted this would cost $500-$1k by a couple other places if the problem came up). With this info, I called up the dealership I did the test drive at and said I would come in that night and pay for the car if they went $100 below what the other dealership was going to give me. The guy said it wouldn't happen, and I politely said thanks and ended the conversation. As I was calling up another dealership to try to get the lowest price, the "test drive" dealership called up and said I had a deal. This was literally not more than 20 seconds after I had gotten off the phone with him.

After all was said and done, what I paid before taxes/tags/etc, was not even $150 over invoice, and with the $500 college incentive, it comes out to a couple hundred dollars less than invoice. I look back and know I could have gotten the car for invoice since I was later told this was the first 3 they sold.

As mentioned before, these things are not selling overly well. I think its the commercial Mazda put out... I know when I see those commercials I either switch the channel or it fails to stick in my head that its a commercial for a 3. Its not a commercial that sticks in your head like Happy Jack H2 commercials. You should use this information against the dealer. They want to get these things off the lot!

 

[DJ Spencer]

Your telling me you got your car for over $1100 under invoice? U sure about that?

Yeah, Lee.... How the fudge did you pull that off? The best I've done is $300 over invoice on my P5.