On buying a new vehicle part I

Many of you know what it's like to drive off of an auto dealer's lot in a brand new vehicle or in a brand new (to you) used vehicle. The latter I have done, the former I have not - yet.

I took the first step this morning towards that new vehicle. The smart step.

Armed with a gaggle of price information on the vehicle I want, I selected fifteen dealers in my geographic area (NH, MA & ME) that sell that vehicle. I faxed the sales manager at each dealership a letter telling them exactly what I want and asking them a) if they have it (or something close to it) and b) what their absolute best price would be. This method helps to smoke out better offers because every sales organization has hidden sales goals and some will sell at a slim or no profit just to make a sale.

So far I have received nine responses from the fifteen faxes that I sent - eight of which have given me a price and one I need to call back tomorrow afternoon. And the response rate could improve if I recieve any more calls tomorrow morning. Then there's my sales boy at the dealership that is closest to me that showed me the vehicles I was interested in and allowed me to test drive them. After I make the one remaining call-back I will call this dealership (they were purposefully not faxed this morning) and see if they want to play the game.

This faxing strategy was not actually my idea but has worked brilliantly thus far. I actually read about the idea in this book and went to the website to purchase their information package specifically tailored to two vehicles I was interested in.

So I'll end up spending less for this vehicle than if I had just gone into the showroom to negotiate on my own.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to see the vehicle from the dealership that has offered me the best price so far.

to be continued...