Location: Huntington Beach, CA Dealing with car dealerships is a miserable experience. Long story short, I was told by one dealership $27,800 out the door on a 2014 Prius 4 with 0% financing. When I showed up they said they couldn't do it. I ended up going to another dealership and bought the car in Blizzard Pearl for $31,526 out the door with $5k down and the rest at 0% financing. The MSRP was about $29,885. I feel like this was a fair deal, but not a great deal. Any opinions? Thanks so much.
I think most people would have to know the before the taxes and fees price and the sticker price on the car, that being said, my father always said you are automatically screwed buying a new car, just lay back and enjoy it. I had a similar experience in December, still having trouble following that advice, however I like my new car.
Buyers remorse is useless. Over the years, I'd say that I have always felt that if I didn't get the "best" deal on a vehicle purchase, the best way to minimize the pain, was to keep the vehicle a long time, and enjoy it as much as possible. After a while, it just becomes something you like...that maybe you paid a little too much for. Off hand, I'd say your gut instinct is correct. Fair deal but not a great deal.
My opinion is the same as your father's. I get screwed every time I buy a new car. I think everyone does as well but some can not believe it. I like my new car as well and I do not regret buying it.
When we bought our 2014 Prius (3), I searched around for prices using truecar.com, and edmonds.com, etc. etc. until I found the best price, for what I wanted. Then I printed the best price quote, (which was TrueCar but for a Toyota dealer 45 miles away - when there are two Toy dealers closer than that). I took that printed quote into the closest Toy Dealer, and once I saw they had the exact same car that I wanted, handed them the True Car quote. The look on the Sales person face when they looked at the price on the quote, was totally priceless!!! They did, the usual,, "Uhm, I have to check this out with the manager" as it was a price well below the MSRP sticker snicker. They did their usual dance, saying they could not match it at first, and I just said "thank you very much" as I turned to walk away. Amazing how good that works. Got it for the exact price on the TrueCar quote! Still doing the "Happy Dance"! As others have said, just enjoy what you have, as there is nothing you can now do. I would say most everyone here has had to learn the dance steps to use around the car salesman, and most of those steps take time, and repeated practice, to learn! Just be ready and practiced up for your next dance lesson, and you too will use all that you are learning here-next time!!!
Sticker MSRP: $29,865 Cash price paid for the car: $28,995 Document Processing Fee: $80 Sales tax: $2,326 Registration: $29 License Fee: $188 Title/Transfer Fee: $81 California Tire fee: $8.75 Smog/HOV Lane Fee: $20 Total price: $31,727.25 We put $5,000 down, to which they added the $500 rebate you get with the 0% financing. So we financed $26,227.75 at 0% for 60 months. Monthly payments will be about $437.
Not a bad deal. You can't go wrong with a Prius since you live in an area with a moderate climate which is devoid of steep hills/mountains. Could you have done better? Maybe. You will get the most out of your investment by driving it until it's paid off and for many more years after that. Cars today make it to 200K miles easily. 300K miles and more are achievable as well with proper maintenance and a little luck.
Next time read through Car Buying Guide for New and Used Vehicles | CarBuyingTips.com and use a pricing service. AAA contracts TrueCar. If you can buy the car below that price then you know you have done well. However, the lowest price is not always the best deal and only you can assign values to the intangibles. Now, it doesn't matter if others paid more or less than you did for the car. The auto market is strong so there is no incentive for dealers to shave their profit margins. Maybe it'll be cheaper next month. Maybe it was cheaper last month. Over its lifetime the difference is insignificant--just enjoy every mile.
