How much does paying CASH help when bargaining for used cars?

[ArkiStan]

Just curious. My friend said he was able to buy a $6000 car at $4000 when he said he would pay the full amount in cash. I wonder how much this applies to more expensive cars. Just hypothetically, let's say I was gonna buy a used...Mercedez for... $25000. If I said I'll pay the whole amount in cash. How much do you think the dealer will be willing to bargain?? Isn't this VERY favorable for the dealer?

[Blu]

It probably doesn't matter too much. The dealer is walking away from the sale with a check either way (you weren't actually goin to take 25000 in bills were you?). I've tried that before, and so have my parents, but the dealer usually doesn't care.

[ArkiStan]

Ok I guess CASH wouldn't be the perfect word. Of course I'd be paying with a check. But the thing is If I'd be able to pay all at once instead of being financed/ in installments. Don't you think they would be willing to cut the price a lot if I said I could pay at once?? If I were selling the car that would be great incentive to sell the car cheaper. I'd say something like, "I only have $22,000, but I can pay it all at once." Would do you think??

[brain]

It does absolutely nothing. I remember when I purchased my 1999 Honda Accord, a young Vietnamese gentleman was trying to buy a Prelude. They finally settled on a price. He asked for a cash discount. The salesperson said there was no discount. The guy pulled out a paper sack from his car with about $26k in CASH in it and paid for the car. At any rate, banks that do financing cut the checks to dealers so efficiently now that it doesn't really matter whether you pay cash or not. They'll get the money wired to them or a check cut to them in 3 days or so. They even prefer financing since some of the banks will give them 1% kickback or so.

[pd123]

I once purchased a Toyota and said I didn't need financing, they tried to convince me to finance. The reason for that was they got a comission for bringing in financing business so in that case they made more money if I financed.

[ArkiStan]

really? hmmm...I guess it doesn't help....

[shoeish]

The best method, I have found, is to walk in saying you will be paying without cash and most importantly no *trade in*. Then, once you decide on a price @ no trade in, make them give you book for your trade in. This way they can't fudge the numbers to get what they want. Keeps negotiation easier, if you know what I mean.

When I bought my bike they didn't care about cash, check, loan, or whatever, but they did take an extra (after bargaining with them) off when I said no trade in.

Also, let them know that you don't have to have it today. Let them know that you are considering other cars at other dealers, even if you aren't. Make an offer, and if they don't take it, tell them to call you when they do. They would rather sell you a car than let another dealer do it. Payed $10k for my car that was marked at $16,999. Took two months of waiting and pestering for them to call me, though.

In short, make them work for you. You aren't doing them a favor by walking in there. Just my own opinion.

[spigidygak]

Nothing if anything worse. Dealers make extra profit on the finance. At least thats according to my neighbor who used to own an auto center with Jeep, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Isuzu and maybe some others I forget what else. But he told me he always had his sales peeps give more "discounts" when the customer would finance, hehe. Now he just sells harley's and used autos but still same philosophy.

[whitak24]

as Spigs said, it sometimes makes it worse for you. it depends on the dealer -- whether they provide financing in-house or not. if they do, then offering to pay cash will hurt you. most of the used car dealers around me that offer in-house financing do the whole "we finance anyone regardless of credit history" thing, which means they also charge 20% interest or something equally crazy. obviously, they're making big money of doing the financing.
on the other hand, if you're buying from a dealer who does not do their own financing, they may be more willing to bargain with you because if you're saying you have cash, they don't have to worry about the deal falling through if you fail to qualify for financing. so in that case, you might be able to knock off a few dollars.
the time when it really helps is when you're buying from a private seller and they have been trying to unload the car for awhile without much luck. then, you wave the stack of cash at them and they can't resist :D

[Realrammstein]

Well, while buying my 2nd to last car my dad and I were paying cash for it. Some dealers really weren't happy about paying cash(suggesting that I finance and use that money to invest or something). but still others were very happy with it(my dad and I went to almost 50 dealers during a 2 week period). for example at a Lexus dealership in Santa Clara the salesman asked if we were serious aboutbuying the car today....my dad reached into his pocket and pulled out the 1K bills...then the used car manager ran out ot help us with all our questions. On the other hand, we used it when we recieved poor service from salespeople. If they didn't send anyone out to help us, while we looked...We would show the money and say that we were very dissatisfied with their service and would have bought the car from them that day. We had one salesman follow us back to the car, apologising over and over.:heh:

[ArkiStan]

haha I see. Well, I guess it really depends on where I buy from. But I wasn't really thinking about carrying around actual cash. I was trying to say that I would pay "all at once" and not in installments. Well, I guess that depends too. I guess that would help more with private sellers, though I doubt that I could "finance" with them at all. Wow, it must be quite a comforting experience walking around the streets with thousands of dollars in cash in your pocket!! :D