KCTiger83

You are not taking into account other factors that may accompany accepting paying MSRP. If you get more for your trade in than KBB or their original used car trade in offer, that impacts the net price of the car. Also, if you negotiate in things like tint, front end/quarter-panel & hood clear coat protection as well as a deal on Audi pre-paid maintenance program, you are in effect paying less than MSRP. It was my case to have agreed on MSRP, but then work the other angles. Just the additional trade-in value over KBB was an almost 4% discount, plus lessened the taxable amount of the transaction.

An aside...in another industry: we were aware of a privately held company putting itself on the block. We did an internal evaluation, and knew we were going to have competition. We met, asked their price, and upon hearing, agreed to pay it. Effectively blocked ourselves from becoming involved in a bidding war for an asset that we wanted. Completely different paying "asking price" for an asset that can appreciate and deliver earnings and cash flow as opposed to a car, which is almost always a depreciating asset producing negative cash flow. Just an example where paying "MSRP" worked to the advantage of the buyer, and the seller (created liquidity from an illiquid asset), so was not a win-lose, but more of a win-win.

Just because you were talking about the "Fundamentals of Negotiation" and not restricting to the automotive purchasing experience....

ArvX147

Yes, other scenarios present win-win negotiation parameters. Car buying not one of them unless maybe were talking collector cars.

I prefer to avoid negotiating on things with variable prices because the dealer prices are so inflated. They routinely claim it costs ~$4k to do PPF on the front panels for instance. I know for a fact its less if you go direct to installer. It's just quicker overall to stick to the simple parameters of price.

njspeedfreak

I disagree with the idea that anyone is "losing" something, unless what they lost was something that they had assigned some significant value to.

Me losing that 1% on the sale price of the car ($650) is the equivalent of me losing a game of tic-tac-toe with my 6 year old niece. Were they both losses? In you view they were, in mine they weren't. This is where you are projecting your own value judgments onto others, or perhaps you are just a highly competitive personality that feels that every interaction needs to be categorized into the win or loss column. That's fine if you are, but please understand not everyone operates that way. The column on my score-sheet that gets used most often is the one that says "it doesn't really matter", and once you realize that is another option besides win or loss, life becomes so much more enjoyable, not just for yourself, but for everyone around you too.

markcincinnati

Why all this animus?

I've lived long enough to know that NO MATTER what I pay for something there is always someone who "knows" they could've done better. In some instances, this "someone" is probably correct.

I would not think that someone who is buying a limited production car -- and I'm also assuming it is in demand -- will believe himself screwed if he paid 1% more than that "someone" who swears he would've beaten that deal like a . . . fill in the blank with some term indicating bravado and certainty that "they're right" and "you're wrong" (you poor hapless moron).

I assume the test is to answer the question "are you happy with the product and the price you paid?" If I tell you I got 6.25% off and you're sure you could do 7%, I actually just assume it's all chest pounding. Where were you when I bought the thing? It would be easy for "someone" to claim they could get X% off -- the comment is free to be made and largely unprovable. I guess if we're measuring something here, both parties would have to be willing to "show" their deals to each other and then what? Go to the dealer so that guy #2 could be made to feel bad since he paid .75% more than guy #1. Is this even possible?

I can tell you who I bought my car from. I can disclose the deal. You may or may not beat the deal. Either way I would be happy for you (and the dealership) if you felt you got a product you liked at a price you felt good about. Some people say "no matter how much off I get, I know I'm getting screwed." I have no idea how these people don't die young of ulcers or worse -- because they must feel taken advantage of about everything. Once I leave the dealer, I put that all behind me -- I was an "early" adopter customer for a new S4. Had I waited 6 months, maybe I would've gotten a "smokin' hot" deal -- frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn.

I got a good deal on a great car -- and I assume someone did better than I. And, I assume I did better than some others.

The balance of nature.

Now I'm pissed at myself for posting this -- or writing this even. I just saw the ***** dimensional aspect of this thread and decided to say, "who cares." Who the "F" cares? I love my S4 and my SQ5. I love my wife and my dog more, but that's a different story.

New topic, please.

Nikon1