Advantage or not to putting down $20k?

[Sequoia2003]

with zero or 2.9% intrest why would you put $20k down??? Take that money and invest it at the very minimum a 5.5% CD and make more money!

When I purchased my $50k Dodge and they offered me 2.9% I put 500 bucks down.

[Ricirich071]

If you are getting that rate put as little down as possible and put your 20K in CD or IRA and forget about it!

[Vetteguy]

This is my my seventh Toyota since 1975. I have always bought at fleet pricing from a close friend who is a fleet general manager. I received my Tundra at $3200.00 off MSRP. He showed me the actual paid invoice which showed the dealer paid $1100.00 less after incentives from Toyota. The fleet managers cut is $350.00. Dealer profit is $750.00. If anyone is getting a better deal there dealer must be getting better volume incentives from Toyota. It's possible but not very common. The dealers have got to profit because of the high overhead.

[HOGWILD]

Originally Posted by Buckeyefan

It only depends on the type of interest rate Toyota is offering versus what you can get on your money in savings/etc... If you can do better than 5.99% on your own, don't put anything down. If you can't, put it down on the vehicle.

The amount down has nothing to do with your chances of getting a great deal. If your credit is shot, $30,000 down won't do a bit of good.

The last part of negotiating is how you are going to pay for it. Go in educated - find out what the invoice is on the vehicle you want, and shoot for invoice or $500 over. No more. If you can't get it there, go to the next closest Toyota dealership.

Even make phone calls and tell them that is what you expect, and save yourself some haggling. I buy all my vehicles over the phone. No confusion when I walk in and buy. It's quick and painless.

I put $18,000 down, and got my Tundra for $7000 under invoice. It had nothing to do with the deal. That was decided at the very end.

If you are correct with your figures would you deal with for me!! I claim fowl here, that just seems impossible you got that good a deal? unless you forgot to mention a trade in or somehing? Toyota has NEVER given anyone that good a deal not even an Employee!!

[Ricirich071]

The MSRP was around 43,780. I put 1500 down. My negotiated price before tax license, reg was 38,881. Buying at the end of the month sometimes helps I've been told. I don't have the best credit and I'm betting I got the deal because the dealer thought they would make up for it with financing. But I got financed by my own bank 3 days later, and Voila!!!

[f6487]

Originally Posted by Ricirich071

If you are getting that rate put as little down as possible and put your 20K in CD or IRA and forget about it!

So if I put almost nothing down and put the money in a c.d. I'm gonna be looking at huge monthly payments. I'll only be pulling the money from the c.d. every month to make the $500 - $600 payment. I understand that the money would still be gaining interest daily.

[f6487]

Originally Posted by Vetteguy

This is my my seventh Toyota since 1975. I have always bought at fleet pricing from a close friend who is a fleet general manager. I received my Tundra at $3200.00 off MSRP. He showed me the actual paid invoice which showed the dealer paid $1100.00 less after incentives from Toyota. The fleet managers cut is $350.00. Dealer profit is $750.00. If anyone is getting a better deal there dealer must be getting better volume incentives from Toyota. It's possible but not very common. The dealers have got to profit because of the high overhead.

The base MSRP price of the truck I'm looking at is $28110 before options. I just offered a fleet manager 4k under MSRP. If for some reason this offer was accepted would you consider that 1k or more under invoice. I have the invoice price from edmunds as $25439. I know it was a low ball number that I threw at him but he can counter and tell me what he can do. Any thoughts?

[bugchucker]

I always pay cash. However, I don't tell the dealer that until the deal is done. He doesn't need to know and it won't help you if you do.

[Buckeyefan]

If was a leftover '06. I bought right when they started shipping the '07's to the dealers. I also bought on the last day of the month. I took an ad in from a competitor to a different Toyota dealer across town, and told him to match the deal. They took a nice loss, but probably needed the capital with all the new Trucks coming in. The truck was identical to the ad truck, but also had a drop in bed liner, a cold kit package, tow package, and front skid plate. It was on the showroom floor. I can still sell it on autotrader and get a 3-4,000 profit right now if I wanted, but I like the truck too much to give it up, even if it is an '06.

These trucks hold their value so well, it doesn't matter when or how long we keep our trucks. We'll always be ahead.

[nuke1]

If you are not trading, then save your time and gas and work your deals over the phone/internet. Give yourself a 100 mile radius and go to work. Set a limit and stick to it. Once you have selected a dealer(s) that act like they want to sell, then see them in person. DO NOT AGREE TO A PRICE OVER THE PHONE. It works even better to negotiate the price "out the door", i.e. a price that includes taxes, title fees and their BS processing fee. Don't get involved with "...how much can you afford each month...". If you seem to have made a deal and it starts to smell fishy (add ons, fee for this or fee for that) get up and walk out. STICK TO YOUR PRICE AND DON"T GET EMOTIONAL ABOUT A HUNK OF METAL. They make these things every day. If possible, go alone. Salespeople are well trained in playing games to get you to buy what they have on the lot. In the southeast, Tundras are not that plentiful. If you don't see what you want ask when they are getting their allocation. If they try to trade one of their trucks for one you want with another dealer, beware of any hidden costs. You don't buy new trucks as often as a salesperson sells them. You are on their turf so go into this educated. It took me three weeks to finally get the truck for what I was willing to pay.

[TundraMaxxer]

Originally Posted by f6487

Does walking into a dealership with $20k as a downpayment give you any kind of an advantage or chance to work a deal at invoice or close to invoice. I would think they would take you pretty seriously if your showing them that you are a serious buyer. Any first hand experiences.

Now I'm well aware of the the interest you lose by putting down $20k instead of putting it in the bank to gain interest. Some people like putting down a fat chunk of cash and other's like financing the entire sale. Personal choice.

I don't think it matters the least bit. I say that with confidence because $20K is exactly what I put down on my truck. I financed the rest through Toyota Financial with their 3.9% financing.

First, the dealer didn't have a clue what I was going to put down until the deal was made. It just doesn't come up. He doesn't care how you pay for it. I could have paid $1,500 down if I wanted to do that, but it didn't make much sense to pay 3.9% interest on that much larger financed amount, so I put down my cash and opted for a smaller financed amount.

A dealer's willingness to play close to invoice has nothing to do with how you plan to pay for the truck. It has to do with how bad he needs to sell it. If the vehicle you're buying is hot, and they can't keep them on the lot then don't expect to play close to invoice. If, however, they have a chitload of them with few customers buying, then you're in for a sweeeet deal.

[f6487]

[quote=Ricirich071;656513]The MSRP was around 43,780. I put 1500 down. My negotiated price before tax license, reg was 38,881. Buying at the end of the month sometimes helps I've been told. I don't have the best credit and I'm betting I got the deal because the dealer thought they would make up for it with financing. But I got financed by my own bank 3 days later, and Voila!!![/quote

Do you think asking 4k off MSRP is a little much to ask for. That seems well below invoice to me but I'm not sure. The base MSRP is $28110. I figure I can start at 4k off and see what they are willing to let it go for. I can't stand this part of the deal. I've got the cash now but it all comes down to negotiating a good deal. I think I'm going to do it all over the internet and phone and when they tell me they are ready, then I'll go in to finalize things.

[07 firecrew]

if you get a low interest rate, keep $10k in pocket.

[Ricirich071]

Finding your truck over the internet is how I found my truck. But I had a few things going for me.

One is I wasn't in a hurry and knew axactly what I wanted right down to the last option. This is important because you want to know as close as possible what their true invoice is.

Second, I knew my credit score could be financed outside the dealership. The only reason to have the Dealer finance you is if its through TFS and they are giving you a promotional rate that other banks can't touch.

Third, is I got quotes from other dealerships. Longo Toyota had the same exact truck and I had their quote. I used it to negotiate where I bought my truck. I told my dealer they had to do better than Longo if they wanted my business. Of course I fudged a little on the numbers but that's part of the game. As long as you don't get crazy demanding too much. You can't go in and say I want 4k off MSRP or I'm paying 500 over invoice unless you know your numbers.

Longo is the biggest Toyota dealer in America and they deal in volume. So they let some go sometimes at a loss because they make up for it in volume and incentives of units sold and other rebates they get from Toyota on the back end. If they have your truck ask for a quote. They gave me a "internet" price which was 500 off MSRP right from the start before I even set foot in the place.

[LawyerRon]

"Does walking into a dealership with $20k as a downpayment give you any kind of an advantage or chance to work a deal at invoice or close to invoice."

The answer is no. In fact, you never tell how much you're putting down up front, or whether you have a trade-in, etc. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION, PERIOD! YOU'RE ONLY INITIAL CONCERN IS THE PRICE OF THE VEHICLE!

The first thing you do is you learn the invoice price of the vehicle. The next is you negotiate the price of the vehicle, from invoice. $100, over, $500, over, $1,000 over, whatever, it depends on how good you are.

Once that's established, the only issue is how much your monthly payment is, which is determined then by the size of your down payment, and the interest rate.

Actually, the dealer would rather that you not "pay all cash" as they make good money off the financing.

Of course, if you can afford to pay all cash up front, it saves you a tidy sum in interest.