I think you might be confusing a few things here.

Invoice - the amount the dealer pays the Manufacturer/Distributor for the car

MSRP - the asking price that the Manufacturer lists on the window sticker

Dealer Markup - something to ignore

The invoice is the number you should be paying attention to when negotiating the purchase price of your new car. Take that number, tack on a reasonable profit for the dealer, negotiate like hell.

As I told Tsurara above, don't listen to any #'s the dealer give you! Do your own research. You shouldn't be asking the dealer for any numbers when you negotiate. You should be telling him the #'s. Let him know you have studied the market and you know what a reasonable price for this particular car is, at this dealer, on this day. If you just throw some lowball # out there and stare at him sheepishly, he's going to know you are just guessing. If instead you throw out a low, but not insane #, and then back it up with just a few quick, honest reasons why that is a good price, you will have disarmed him quite a bit.

So what #'s should you know before you walk into the dealership? The invoice price of the car in question. The cost of any options or accessories that appear on the car. The going rate for that car in this market. But wait. There's more...

Sometimes Manufacturers want to help increase retail sales. Lower prices equal more sales. But they rarely drop the invoice price that they charge the dealer. Instead they give the dealer some additional money for each car they sell. This "incentive" is called an...................."incentive". Anyways, keep an eye on sites like Edmunds.com or others to see what the current incentives are for the Evo. If you know the dealer gets a special $750 incentive back from Mitsu for selling an Evo this month, that is profit for the dealer. If you had already intended to offer the dealer invoice + $500 (because let's say that is the current going price in your area), you might want to bid lower, as you now know the dealer has more profit in the deal. With that $750 incentive in place, you can now offer the dealer $250 BELOW invoice and he'll still make that same $500 profit.

Again, knowledge is power. Do your research beforehand and you can get a very good price on your next car purchase.

Joe

 

^^

Actually, i wasnt confusing anything. I'm saying why would they say what they REALLY get them for? That allows the consumer to shoot for that price when they are going to buy the car.

So what if, and this is hypothetical.... they take MSRP, subtract $2,000 advertise it to the consumer, and claim that as invoice. That makes the consumer shoot for that number when they are buying the car. BUT.... the trick to this is, is that the "invoice" isn't really what they get the cars for...... in reality they are knowing that educated consumers will want to get the lowest price (Invoice). So by setting a fake "Lowest price" they can gain profit.

Here's an example:

They really get the cars for .... lets say...... $26,000. They decide the lowest amount of profit they will make is..... $2,000. So they set the "invoice" at $28,000. They then make an MSRP of $30,000. This way the consumer is tricked into thinking that the invoice is the lowest the dealer can go. They leave getting +$500 over invoice thinking they got a good deal... and the dealer makes $2,500. Both ends are happy.

This is what i was explaining. So, no i didn't get things mixed up.

This is really the only situation for the people who got their 2003 Evos for $28,000 or however much below invoice. Otherwise the dealer would be losing $2,000, and i don't think that ANY incentives at least not at a Mitsu dealership would cover that loss.

 

True invoice is not a number someone makes up. It is a real number. It can be verified through 3rd party sources (Edmunds.com, KBB.com, etc.). All that gibber-jabber you wrote is a figment of your imagination.

That is all.

Joe

 

flythefluffy is correct when i was looking into the 05 gsr i found all the invoice #'s etc and looking more and more into the numbers i found for the dealers cost was somewhere at like 26K so yeah...

evoisdream

 

If all the dealers had to pay the invoice price no one would ever sale cars to begin with. A salesman get a percentange of the sale so does the sales manager. The dealer is renting the car from Mitsubishi until they sale it. They have to pay so much each month they keep the car on their lot. Thats why at the end of the month they try to give better deals.

 

Dealers do pay the invoice price. What you are talking about is 'flooring' costs. If someone wants to research that, there is some information out there on the subject. Personally, I don't think the average buyer needs to worry too much about it. If you know a car's invoice, what the going rate is in your market, and any current incentives, you will not get ripped off. Sure, you may be leaving a few hundred on the table, but at some point you are spending hundreds of dollars' worth of time chasing down that last $50. Usually there is no need to research a car purchase to death.

Joe

 

I got mine for 29,900 with sun sound and leather, and they gave me a check for $612. I don't think anyone else got that good of a deal on a GSR with SSL. It was on Halloween and they needed to sell the car to get the factory spiff for all the cars they sold. you wanna see the tax reciept PM me. If anyone got a better deal i'd be surprised and GOOD FOR YOU! I love my evo. I woulda paid over msrp for it. I just held out a little bit and called the dealerships bluff.

 

I got that price in dealing with the finance manager direct. Plus he was the guy i bought my eclipse from. So that might of helped.

 

U SOB.

Sam

 

Holy **** man, thats a great deal

 

So if they pay the invoice price. Your saying that the dealer decided to lose $2,330 to the guy above who payed $29,900. The invoice on the car with SSL Package is $32,230.07. Man I'd to be the owner of that dealership. They must be going out of business paying employees and giving $2K to customers out of thier pocket to buy a car from them.

 

Go back and re-read what I said. I think you read like you write. The dealer is paying the invoice price. The manufacturer/distributor might be giving some of that money back in the form of a hold-back or other incentive, but the invoice is the invoice.

In this particular case, it sounds like there may be some details he is conveniently leaving out. I don't know. But my advice still holds true - find out the invoice and any current incentives, factor in local market conditions, and negotiate away.

Joe

 

But there are mulitple times where a person gets it for alot less than the invoice, and this isnt on a sale.

So are you asying that the dealership buys it for $28,000. Then sells it for less than invoice at lets say one of my friends that got his for $27,000 OTD. But they might get $500 for an incentive. But they are still $500 down...... So they are $500 down, and the Salesman and the Manger get a %. So they are even more under than before.

if this is so then how do they make any $?

Even if they were to sell it for $200 over invoice as I believe someone stated that they paid that, and from the POSSIBLE incentive of $500 (for this case) they have only made $700.... which is still a very small amount of profit from the time and energy it takes to sell the car.

But what I don't understand is WHY, would the dealer tell you what they can get the car for!?

 

Slow down there, sparky. The dealer agrees to buy the car from Mitsu at invoice price. That doesn't change. What does change is incentives from Mitsu to the dealer. These allow the dealer to sell the car for less money, helping them to move more iron. Or the dealer might be sell the car for the same amount as usual and then puts that incentive money towards their profit on the deal.

Why would the dealer tell you what they can get the car for? Normally they don't. Which is why you have to look elsewhere for that info (which is what I've been saying all along).

And lastly, no the dealer isn't losing money on any given deal unless they screw up royally. A dealer may agree to sell someone a new car for $1000 below invoice because they are making that money up on their trade-in, or in financing the car for you, or in tacking on all kinds of junk you don't need (extended warranties, Lo-jak, paint protectant, chrome wheels, etc.). You may have eeked a few bucks out of the deal here or there, but just like in Vegas, the dealer always comes out ahead.

Joe

 

Eh, to each his own. BTW my name isnt sparky, and i don't think i was in a hurry of any kind.