re: Anyone Ever Try To Negotiate the Price For a New Vehicle Online?

I would let them make their best offers and go from there. You are the customer, you accept their best offer, not the other way around.

I always ask for an itemized price, because the dealers all seem to offset any discount they offer from their pocket with the current rebate by not making all the elements of the deal clear. I don't deal with a dealer who only offers a single figure with no explanation.

The dealer's price should be clear and unaffected by the rebate from a manufacturer/distributor.

I only negotiate online for cars but it has gotten harder each time, simply because some dealerships insist that you come into the dealership (which I will not do until picking up the car) or they fail to give you all the information you request. You may need to widen your search. I generally start by emailing 7-8 dealers as close to me as possible, asking for a quote on a specific vehicle. Usually, 3-4 do not respond or want me to come in, 2-3 give me a BS offer and 1-2 give me a solid offer. I then take the solid offer and send it to the others and ask them if they can beat it. They have to believe you are serious or they will not respond. It usually comes down to 2 dealers and after I get them down a bit I go with the one closer or the one who throws in a extra at the end that I want, like cross rails. Don't be greedy. Once you get them down to a reasonable price, according to your research, then go with the dealership that you are most comfortable with. And do use the Houston dealers to get a good first price. Last car I bought was an Infiniti. Local dealer would not return my emails, BR insisted I come in, Houston dealerships gave me some great prices; then I bought from Jackson for the price and they drove the car down to me.

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The trucks are listed with MSRPs between $49-$51K and with rebates at $9-$12K. Is it possible that they're already discounted so close to what their minimum is that they just look at my offer ($3000 below sale price) as an insult

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Not really. One of my cars was already discounted around $17,000 off sticker, and I still got them down another $2-3,000.

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I find every dealer within 500 miles that has the vehicle I want (model, color, equipment packages, etc.). I ask for their best price then start playing their deals against each other. A few you can instantly weed out who won't deal. But I always end up with 2-3 dealers in different states who keep going lower and lower.

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Im doing this right now with multiple Mercedes dealerships. 2 in Atlanta. 3 in Tennessee.

The problem is that it has to be a special order because no dealerships actually keep that style of car on the lot. I'm finding that dealerships are still willing to compete. Had Mercedes in Nashville tell me they'd do whatever it took to get my order. They won't stop calling me. I'll probably play this game for another couple of weeks.

ETA: I'm not much of a haggler or negotiator. If I want something I just buy it. But I had someone recommend that I try this before ordering and it's kind of fun/interesting having dealerships compete for your business.

I was able to check inventory at many dealerships online and find which dealers had the model, color, etc I wanted.

Why would anyone offer their best price just because you asked? Same logic behind why you shouldn't out all your cards on the table when asked what your price is. You never know what the other party has on their mind, so let them sweat it and make the offer.

I will admit that I did not complete negotiations online, but found my one dealer and continue in person. Emailed every dealer in Houston. Dealt with the most responsive. Used other offers as leverage. Even used other makes as leverage. Still, the most money came off after we were given a full offer approved by the manager in person. Walked out the door to see another vehicle . They called constantly willing to take a little more off each time while increasing packages until I couldn't pass it up. 4 days of emails, 1 long Saturday bouncing between 2 dealerships across the interstate from each other. Ended up with right at 9-9.5k off msrp which is crazy since it was not a Chevy or Ford truck. So, I still had to go there to get the final deal but it all started online

1st thing about buying any car. You don't ask anything. You demand it.

Book marked, great info guys.

I had an offer sent to me in hand from a dealer in Houston TX. They had the MSRP and the highest and lowest paid for that same vehicle in a 250 mile radius. I was able to get them to match the lowest amount paid for that vehicle which was almost 5k from the sticker price. I had a few things going for me though it was October so they needed to start making room for the new year vehicles, I had 12k to put down, and my credit score was 790ish and I already approved for the loan with my bank that more than covered the rest. What is you financial situation? Do you have anything to put down? Credit Score? Pre Approval? Are you limiting your search to a local smaller market? There are so many variables that come into play.