Please help me with the New Car Sales Contract Stuff...

Gregg Loewen · 12-18-2003, 01:16 PM

Hi

Heather and I will be purchasing a 2004 Suburban tomorrow (hopefully). We started to haggle a little and then I pulled out my internet stuff (

), then the salesman said a flat $300 over invoice and you get any rebates. This seemed good to me.

Now the questions, while looking at the invoice.

The vehicle has the added options of:
Liftgate MSRP 250, Inv 215.00
Cargo Pkg MSRP 205, Inv 176.30
17" wheels MSRP 295, Inv 176.30
ALS Tires MSRP 125, Inv 107.50
Trailering Eq MSRP 305, Inv 262.30

Also listed is a destination charge of 850.00
Dealer Coop Advertising 205.15
And dealer hold back of 1230.90

So anyways there is a MSRP total, then a Inv total, then lastly a total less holdback and approx wholesale finance credit.

Please help me make sense of the above numbers. At least there were no BS stuff added like pin stripping or undercoating.

Also Ive been quoted financing of 3.75% for 60 months (which I think is quite good, as I am also getting the $2500 rebate).

Please help me!!!

Regards

Gregg

Brian Perry · 12-18-2003, 03:02 PM

You may want to consider taking a 0% financing deal (if they offer one) in lieu of the rebate. $50,000 financed at 3.75% over 60 months will cost nearly $5000 in interest vs. your $2500 rebate.

The destination charge is probably non-negotiable, but they should be willing to work with you on the advertising fee.

Gregg Loewen · 12-18-2003, 03:58 PM

hi Brian, I will have to reconsider that.

I also figured out the hold back thing. It is the 3% rebate the Chevy gives back to the dealer. So their profit is 3% plus 300, plus their markup on the add ons?

David-S · 12-18-2003, 04:24 PM

Gregg:

Yeah, the hold back is a profit the dealer would get, even if they sold the car to you exactly at invoice...

Since you said you had done internet research, did you ever check out edmunds?
They have a pretty good description of a lot of this:

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/?tid=e...der.advice.4.*

Ted Lee · 12-18-2003, 06:00 PM

yeah, the holdback thing is kinda funky. here's the edmunds article on that topic.

i absolutely recommend you go through the articles on the edmunds site. they're *extremely* valuable. i'd go so far as to say hold off your purchase until you've thoroughly reviewed the site.

oh yeah, here's another good article with some financial calculators. they'll help you decide if the financing program or rebate is better for you. almost always, the zero financing is better, but dealers know most people want the instant rebate.

are you financing this elsewhere? definitely go that route if possible. that will *significantly* simply any negotiating you may have to do.

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Gregg Loewen · 12-18-2003, 06:07 PM

hi

Ive been over at Edmunds...many of the pages dont fully load for me. I did a search on hold back but didnt find
anything.

My bank said they could only do 5.9% on the loan and actually recommended the car dealer for where to go for the best deal in financing.

Once thought through: Im sure the zero % financing from GMAC is a better deal than the cash back. I'm figuring that the dealer didnt tell me about this because they get a kick back / commission on the loan deal from what ever company is offering the 3.75%. As the world turns.

Ted Lee · 12-18-2003, 07:44 PM

Quote:

actually recommended the car dealer for where to go for the best deal in financing.

whoa! red alert! red alert!!!

from just about everything that i've ever read, the last thing you want to do is finance through the dealer. they have lots of sneaky ways of playing with the numbers to their advantage.

there's another really good website, but i can't find it. it's written by a guy who gives lots of good examples of how dealers can hook you with their financing. hopefully someone else will chime in - it's often mentioned.

i financed through my bank, then went to the dealer and simply negotiated the bottom-line cost of the 4Runner. it was so much easier.

definitely, if at all possible, try to do your financing elsewhere.

ps - my previous post has the link on the holdback thingy...

edit: that other website i like is www.carbuyingtips.com

Lee L · 12-19-2003, 08:56 AM

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