Used Car Negotiation Help?

[YukonGlocker]

I would fight the doc fees to the extent I'd walk out the door.
There's no reason for them. As I've said, not all dealerships have them. That should give you a bargaining point.
Nortcutt in Enid has zero.

The deal with doc fees is they have to charge everyone the same fee, whatever it it. If it's zero, it's zero for everyone at that dealership. If it's $300, it's $300 for everyone at that dealership. The only way to negotiate around it is to adjust the purchase price around the doc fee.

 

[Lenpelfrey]

They will take as much as you give them...id offer way less than what you're thinking of..you can always go up. I usually almost insult them ..but generally get deals ...I never ever buy without leaving at least one time .they will call you back and you will save.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've not bought many cars off a lot in my life, but my buddies that do, walk out like I did. A bad deal is a bad deal and doc fees are one of them.
Had one dealer when buying my latest offer to cut them, but he was the only one.
Get an email showing out the door price like has been already said.

 

[montesa]

Doc fee is just a little extra profit thats easy to get people to accept most of the time.

What is the KBB private party value of the vehicle? It's rare that a dealer has a car listed at a reasonable price. If you're looking at the price several dealers have listed and they're similar, it's probably thousands too high.

 

[BReeves]

Doc fee is just a little extra profit thats easy to get people to accept most of the time.

What is the KBB private party value of the vehicle? It's rare that a dealer has a car listed at a reasonable price. If you're looking at the price several dealers have listed and they're similar, it's probably thousands too high.

This ^^^ Check the on-line sites for car values and look at the trade in value.. You can assume the dealer doesn't have more than whatever the trade value is in it. Add a thousand or so but do no go over the low BB retail you find. Make that your offer and if you catch him at the end of the month you might get it. I bought a 2013 Gran Caravan in Dec 2013 with 10,000 miles on it for about 2000 under what they were selling for at the time with higher mileage.

 

[farmer17]

Look on the Autotrader website and type in exactly what you want with the features you want. Do a 500 mile radius search to pick up the DFW and Kansas City area because used and new cars in Oklahoma sell higher than in other places. If you don't want to drive that far at least you'll have pricing to show the local dealer and you can bluff that you will go out of state if he doesn't match their "out the door price".

 

[ultimase]

Price: $12,250 (I missed the "sale" when it was $12,000, but it's still $500 cheaper than comparables in OKC and Dallas)

Issues:
Spark plugs are 3k miles passed due

One headlight had pretty bad condensation (probably just needs some more sealant around the seals)

Windshield needs a fair sized rock chips repaired

Doc fee is $350, but average fee is $230 in OK according the Internet.

My plan: Ask for the spark plugs and headlight to be fixed. Also have the the doc fee reduced by half.

What would you ask for?

I'm going to go with the condition of the vehicle as you've gotten some sound advice on pricing.

Spark plugs may or may not be a huge issue, 3k past due isn't too bad, and unless they are a huge pain to get to it's not too big of a deal.

Headlight condensation is a bit of a warning to me, you want to make sure that the headlight itself isn't cracked, if it is then I'd be curious if it was involved in a minor accident.

Windshield, on some vehicles this is 200 to 300 bucks, on some it might be 600+.

 

[smcgee10]

Why would you pay doc fees for the dealership to fill out paperwork that the state requires them to fill out such as liens and title? The dealerships call it ADP. Additional Dealer Profit.

 

[montesa]

Don't worry about the doc fee. Don't worry about the payment. Dont worry about a "sale" price. Don't worry about anything other than the total that you're paying out the door. What you need is someone that has sold cars and understands the business thoroughly to help you.

Tell them you'll pay a doc fee of 9k dollars and $300 for the car. $9300 out the door!

What is the KBB private party value of the car you're looking at?

I bet you would be very surprised to find out exactly how much money the dealer has in that car.

 

[YukonGlocker]

Don't worry about the doc fee. Don't worry about the payment. Dont worry about a "sale" price. Don't worry about anything other than the total that you're paying out the door. What you need is someone that has sold cars and understands the business thoroughly to help you.

Tell them you'll pay a doc fee of 9k dollars and $300 for the car. $9300 out the door!

What is the KBB private party value of the car you're looking at?

Agreed.