Cash for Clunkers and ability to negotiate.

tbonesteak

Wow, Joe and Fusz you guys are great. It's always great to have honest dealerships that participate in the forums. I've taken nothing but tons of useful info from you guys. Thank you. Ok, back on topic. I currently have an 07 sl550, 09 z, and a ford bronco from like the 80s. I'm hoping to pick up a 2010 rx350. The reason why i initially asked the question was because 2 salespeople that i've spoken to this weekend told me that utilizing CARS has a big impact on ability to negotiate the selling price. I didn't know about the demand that has been created for new cars via this program. I guess i'll start calling and telling the dealerships everything up front and see where i can go from there. My goal is 1000 above invoice. Do you guys think that's possible with the Cash for clunkers program? Thanks again.

MeetJoeAsian

Unless the dealership is paying someone some mad money to handle the clunker program, it shouldn't impact the selling price. At our dealership, we have 2 guys who are assigned to handle all reimbursements with the government. They are paid a small flat fee, but the fee is so minimal that it doesn't affect the profit of the deal.

The only reason how I can see that this program will affect final negotiated price is that the dealership you're going to is a small dealership where they don't have the money to front the clunker deals (since the government is REALLY SLOW PAYING us back) until they are reimbursed, or they fear not getting paid because of their past shady practices.

There is a LOT of paperwork for the dealership to process the rebate and get their reimbursement. And we are SLOWLY getting funded. Our 2 guys who handle the reimbursement stayed at the dealership to 4AM a few times just to get their paperwork processed and try to get as much of them billed as possible, and we're still not getting funded...

As far as what you're trying to accomplish, paying $1000 over invoice, that all depends on the dealership you're going to. If a few dealerships tell you they're not discounting, I would believe the popular consensus. And remember what I said above, the longer you wait, the fewer selections you will have.