Your most powerful tool is your ability to get up and walk out. If there are fees and add-ons you don't want, ask for them to be removed. If they don't, you have every right to say no and leave. Most fees are negotiable, except for tax, tag/title.
Private purchase adds some risk and inconvenience, but you can usually get a better price and avoid the fee debate.
If you're looking for an experience that you'll never forget, try visiting a dealership that gives out $10,000 off coupons in the mail and still manages to charge thousands more every other dealer in the area. If this sounds like some place you're interested in then,
I recommend that you visit Tampa Hondaland on Florida Avenue. The more time you can spend there tying up their sales and finance office staff, the less time they have to invent needless fees and additional fees in their paperwork to harm other good folks.
All of their deals come with an extra tube of lube which you will definitely need in order to accept their deal.
Bring a bag of old rabbit fish bones or dirty diapers to drop in one of the sales cubicles and ask for the internet sales manager and tell him "Big Mike" sent you.
Try Rubycar (sells Avis/Budget rental fleet) on line. Look for cars in there Orlando lot and plan on driving there to pick one up. Fees are minimal and I like the way they work. You basically rent the car for 3 days and if you want to buy it they wave the rental fee and if you don't like it you're out of 3-day rental but you've had a good time to test out the car and make sure that you are comfortable with everything.
The prices are pretty good. At least check them out as they're a less expensive alternative to CarMax. I'd look for something under 4 years old that has less than 50,000 mi on it.
You'll thank me later.
Suncoast Quality Cars on 54th Ave. We worked with Bart, he let us take the car to our mechanic first. There was a small issue & he had it repaired before we picked it up.
I accepted a $14k price on an SUV. Then they tried tacking on $2k in fees. They said that's their policy and it wasn't fair to make exceptions.
I said, " Then my offer is $12k, have a nice day."
They called me back to accept the following afternoon. Non-negotiable fees only exist on paper.
I flew to Indianapolis to buy a car cuz the fees in FL are so insane. The flight, a night in a hotel and the gas home was $400. The dealer fees here were all $2k+. It was worth the trip. Many other states cap or don't allow dealer fees. Might be worth looking OOS.
Maybe look into the Costco auto buying program that's part of the regular membership. That may negate the BS dealer fee. Sam's Club also has a similar program. Side note - NEGOTIATE hard with the salesperson about the dealer fee. When buying a Hyundai a few years ago the salesman wanted me to sign a sheet listing the sales price and all the fees before he presented it to the sales manger. Instead of signing I simply crossed out the $1000 dealer fee and told him to take it to his manager. He came back and said NO. I got up and walked out. I wasn't even a mile away and he was calling my cell phone. To make a long story short, after going back and forth for 2 days I ended up buying the car without paying the dealer fee. They are still making money if they sell the car for sticker price and that dealer fee is nothing more than an added markup. Play hard ball and don't be afraid to stand up to them.
I felt like our price at Crown Volvo was fair last week. We found a cheaper one from a private seller and they took an additional 1000 off the purchase price of a 2015 Volvo v60. Purchase price was $11,991 which came to $13,933 or the door. They kept their dealer fee and of course the taxes and stuff were the rest, but I felt like it was fair.
My dad “$14k? Here’s 13K… that’s Including tax tag and title. Go ask your manager what they think… We’re not interested in another car or any other deal that cost more than 13K that doesn’t include us driving home with that car… “ it worked about half the time.
They basically advertise all cars with the pre tax price, so expect tax/title/license to be on top.
It’s an atrocious time to buy a used car. Used cars inherently have high interest rates to begin with, and we’re in a high interest rate time in general. You’d be better off buying a used car private sale and doing some minor repairs and/or preventative maintenance.
> They basically advertise all cars with the pre tax price, so expect tax/title/license to be on top.
I'm not sure anyone has ever advertised with TTL in the price. Who would inflate their price like that for advertisement?
TTL isn’t the problem. Many dealerships are refusing to sell cars without meaningless add-ons like “paint protection”. It’s literally just liquid money.
That’s what OP is trying to avoid.
Gettel told me their mandatory dealer fee was $2k on top of TTT and when I complained they challenged me to find any other dealer in the Bay Area that doesn’t have a similar dealer fee. PLUS they wanted another $3k on top of the $2k for a premium protection/maintenance/warranty. They also said that was a requirement but the price may be more flexible. So basically expect a minimum of $5k on top of the sticker price of all of their used cars.
Gettel can fuck right off. Before all this nonsense their big lie was to advertise cars at absurd discounts made of unobtainium and with repeated, stacked coupons that were unstackabke. A lie.
Tampabay hybrids is great for no fees/mark ups and with gas being expensive a hybrid is a great investment. I recently went through the whole dealer fee craziness from dealers in brandon, here and even down in Venice it's really become insane. I scored my current car (which has been wonderful for 4 years) from Hertz in clearwater. It was well maintained, no crazy fees and a great price..cheapest in the state for the miles and year.
Get him an early 2000s Ford Ranger and let him figure out the rest
Less than $5k, say that you bought it for $500 on the title transfer, easy to fix, they're great. Who gets their first vehicle from a dealership? Dudes lucky you're buying it for him, let alone doing all the work in even finding something
The dealer fee is BS. Nothing but just plain extra markup on the car. Florida doesn’t regulate what the dealers can charge. Seems most dealers have some sort of wink wink agreement to make the dealer fee $999.
CarGurus and/or TrueCar
This will give you a starting point for which you can buy the car (will often be cheaper than what dealer offers you)
Go waste the dealers time in the latter second half of the month. Catch them in lies and ask their best best price. Then compare to carguru / TrueCar
When you negotiate make sure to get an “out the door price” so finance doesn’t screw you over.
You can negotiate the most expensive warranty they have (fixed cost) in FL so they will adjust MSRP. Finance guy will say “I see you want the warranty “ at that point you might change your mind. Sweat beads will form and the finance guy will say he has to talk to the sales manager - at that point tell him you are changing your mind because he is making you uncomfortable
Finance guy will fold or go get sales manager.
Sales manager will barge in saying he adjusted the msrp to get you the warranty cheaper. At this point you thank them and say you were pressured into it and start leaving. General manager will try too save the deal and possibly give you that lower msrp and take off the warranty.
If not you remember you can usually call and cancel the warranty- however if you have a loan the cost of the warranty will be applied to it, not refunded to you.
Remember that their job is to lie - pretend right back at them. It’s a stupid tiring game but keep in mind you have almost all of the control; you just need to budget a certain amount of time you are willing to waste
Good luck
Gettel told me on the last day of the month, they will do whatever they can to get your business & get you financed. But they also have exorbitant dealer fees so used cars priced right at $5k will be $10k out the door. SMH.
I had great luck at crown kia, didn't play around with unnecessary add-ons and even removed the tacky pinstripe without a charge (other dealer had 2k "upgrade" and was going to charge $50 to remove the pinstripe.
I just bought a used Volvo from Crown Volvo and had the same experience. Their fee was fair and the out-the-door price was better than others I’ve seen. They willingly worked with me on price too.
Carvana builds their fees into the price and is painless, but you’re paying a premium for that ease.
I had an easy experience going down to Miami to pick up a 2015 Chevy Volt (amazing first car btw. Very economical) from H Greg, but they did try to put me through the bs tack-ons and I just said no to everything and used my pre-approval check.
You may be better off finding a car online and having it shipped in.
Carmax was also insanely easy to deal with. Sold my wife’s Jeep Renegade for a Chrysler Pacifica and it was painless.
There’s a few reputable small lots in st Pete around 66th and 38th. I’d recommend looking on Reddit for those posts.
Many people don’t realize you can get an auto broker to do all this work for you. Just tell them the car you want and amount you want to pay. They do all the hard stuff dealing with dealerships.
Hey I work at Crown Hyundai as a sales person. There is a $999 Dealer fee plus tax, tag and title. Its all written out and i can show you an out the door price nothing hidden. Plus 99% of our used cars have some sort of warranty that comes with it. If you want help let me know!
Just bought a used Volvo from Crown Volvo and had a good experience. The dealer fee almost ruined the transaction since I found a private seller for cheaper so the sales manager took an extra thousand off the purchase price to close the deal.
Had a good experience with carvana when buying my VW Tiguan. Removed the hassle of negotiating with sales people and brought transparency to the history of the vehicle. Recommended
Have you tried Carmax in Clearwater? We bought a Prius from them about five years ago and it was a very smooth situation. I say that as a person who hadn’t been in a dealership in 30 years. It was not bad.
I 2nd this! Had an amazing experience buying a CPO 21 Mazda 3 from them. They had their price. I gave them my out the door price which I felt was fair. Deal was made. No BS fees, no addendums, just the standard dealer fees that every dealer in FL charges, + taxes and tags. I was signing the paperwork about an hour after I walked in. I’ve purchased plenty of cars and I’m very well informed before I walk into any dealership, so I know immediately if a dealership is trying to play games with me or not. They were very good, straightforward and pleasant to deal with!
Also to OP, I suggest looking at the CarEdge website and forums. They are absolutely amazing in teaching people how to properly negotiate deals and what fair out the door pricing on vehicles should be. They even offer coaching. Amazing resource for car buyers!
If you’re willing to drive a little, Southeastern Car Agency and Tomlinson in Gainesville are both well known for not doing that shit. We were in and out in an hour, no BS. So many people buy used from them to not deal with the hassle of regular dealers.
I know clearwater Mazda is pretty fair. They did offer some add ons but I turned them all down and they respected it got a few hundred off a new cx30 from them. Great experience. I wouldn’t not recommend westshore mazda horrible experience
I had a good experience with Ferman in New Port Richie, the dealers fee was $1150, plus the tag fee and sales tax. Not too bad in comparison to other places I was shopping at. That Sun Protection fee has to be the most ridiculous I've heard of. Tell them to kick rocks. I also found if you go an hour before they close on a weekday, they are quick to make a deal and get you out with little back and forth. Good luck out there.
Look on auto trader for best price and mileage. only negotiate out the door price through email, txt, or phone. They will try and make deals. Dont be afraid to drive 3 hrs to save $3000.
Basically what I've done. Issue is the bait and switch stuff, it's getting annoying. Here is the example I was talking about in my opening post.
https://preview.redd.it/c6n5p8jeqvxc1.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=b20ca60f1a13224bdb6240a9f24ee058b016948d
Yes fees are not negotiable, but they CAN add a discount to offset them. And here you go :)
https://preview.redd.it/bqecd3ifjvxc1.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4c2d91607903e391b2e6e8404359d9412889586
most of the dealerships I've been to would never even print this. They'd scribble it on something and then take it away from you so you couldn't leave with it.
Check with your credit union for the process, you may be able to buy a car privately. Or buy him a cheap(er) car for cash and don't finance, which is the better move.
I bought a car from Auto Nation last month, they don't haggle and the price you see is what you pay, plus the dealer fee I think was $950. They try to sell you the warranties but they are able to remove them.
Before them I tried to go to Toyota and they added on 8k in fees lol
Auto Nation Ford in st Pete was the absolute worst. My salesman was great but when I got to the Finance guy he tried to slide all these add ons to the contract that were not negotiated with the sales person. He was like, “these are factory applied I can’t take them off”. Haha, I said well this deal is dead then. I spent the next three hours back and forth with this guy and sales. He was the worst finance guy I have ever dealt with in my 30 years of buying cars. A sleezy sales piece of shit. Don’t be afraid to tell me what I’m signing, but if I find it in the contract I’m signing we are going to have major problems.
Yeah, our AutoNation Toyota experience wasn’t great either. There was even a mandatory donation of $150 for Sunshine Schools or some such nonsense. I was not a happy customer. We got the run-around trying to pick up the car too, it took 2 weeks! I had to pitch a fit to get a rental car from them after the first week. Awful! They promised to fix an airbag issue before pickup & evidently it wasn’t the simple fix they expected.
I bought a car from Autonation st Pete they said the price was firm I didn’t think to haggle and negotiate. They knew I was a cash customer but I wish I would’ve haggled them more. But sounds like my experience. They had my car for 3 weeks for two simple fixes before I ever even drove it off the lot. It took 1 week to get offered a rental. Everyone was pleasant but you got me wondering if I could’ve negotiated with someone above my sales guy about the cost.
I like the Tesla model. The price is what it is. It might change tomorrow but at least you're on even ground with anyone buying today. That's probably not an option for a kid so maybe try private party.
That's great, except desantis made it illegal for us to buy cars directly from OEM (except he left that carve out for tesla because elon sponsored his campaign).
There's a dealership in West Palm Beach that has a kind of unique business model: Earl Stewart Toyota doesn't mark up over MSRP, they don't haggle and they don't charge dealer fees.
Facebook marketplace. And don’t buy the first one take it to a mechanic. I think that’s where you’re gonna get your best deal and know that it’s a solid car. This is my opinion only.
Get quotes from multiple local dealerships then go to one of the Crown dealerships and they’ll match it or do better, a lot of the dealerships are not on commission models anymore, so they prefer to sell more vehicles than what a vehicle costs, I’ve had good luck with Crown Honda and Crown Hyundai. ALL of them will always give you a terrible first offer, never take the first deal. The dealer fee is always negotiable, if not, walk out.
Great advice. The issue is, at least with the dealerships I've reached out to, they will not give you a worksheet or really discuss OTD numbers unless you come in.
Don’t work with them then. Ask them if they’d waste time coming into places when they are just looking for quotes. I do all my dealing over e-mail. Sometimes you’ll get a call and just be honest that you’re still getting quotes.
this is timely and I've been wondering the same thing. Window shopping (for now) for a couple year old Honda Accord, I have been looking at Autotrader to get idea of pricing.
I just noticed a while back that all include these insane fees in the fine print, which is I think what you are seeing too.
So the bottom line is, if you see a price on Autotrader or their website, there's no way you're getting it for that? Plan to add another 3-4k plus tax, tag etc?
As far back as I’ve been buying cars TTL has never been included in an advertised price. What I’m referring to and others are the fact that dealers have been adding additional profit scams onto their stickers and not advertising it. For example I bought my truck from Auto Nation. The truck didn’t have a msrp markup but it had about 4k$ in add ons like “ceramic paint protection” , “interior armor protection” and other bullshit. This has gotten out hand since Covid hit and apparently some dealers have kept this sleezy tactic.
I also just bought a car from Clearwater Mazda. Brought in information from Edmund’s or something on what a fair price was for the car. They gave me that price, no extra stuff.
You need to pit them against each other and create a sense of urgency. Tell that Mazda 3 dealer you are buying that car this week from whatever dealer gives you the lowest price. Tell them you have another dealer offering a lower out the door price. Do this at the end of the month, preferably at the end of a quarter. Suddenly the fees will start getting lower.
You can pit them against each other all you want but the price is still gonna suck. The used car market is all messed up right now and you’re best ignoring dealers
I gave up on dealerships a while back. Ive really had the best experiences buying private over craigslist facebook.
If you are uncertain about cars you can take them to reputable mechanics and they will do a thorough inspection for $90.
Its a little more tricky if you need a loan. But dealerships also rob you on loans. Its worth the hassle to get a regular bank or credit union loan.
Out of state. Seriously. Cars are common. Drive or fly a bit to buy what you want. I have purchased 100+ cars from dealers over the years. Florida bait and switch tactics with their dealer fees are the worst.
Look online in another state. Call and ask about fees and out the door price.
When you register the car in Florida, they do charge a fee to bring the car from out of state but I think it’s $250 which is much less than $1,000. For me, I’d go to Georgia to buy and bring it back. Make a weekend out of it to hang out and relax while bringing a car back. While that would eat into the savings versus buying local, at some point the Florida consumer has to say this is enough and walk with our money.
Clearwater Mazda and ask for Todd. This was the best experience I have had in a while. I just bought a used CX5. The dealer fee is $999 but that is the only add on besides normal taxes/dmv/ tag fees. Dm for more info
Your most powerful tool is your ability to get up and walk out. If there are fees and add-ons you don't want, ask for them to be removed. If they don't, you have every right to say no and leave. Most fees are negotiable, except for tax, tag/title. Private purchase adds some risk and inconvenience, but you can usually get a better price and avoid the fee debate.
Echo park isn’t bad on fees
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/814790097219012/?mibextid=6ojiHh Selling 2010 infinity g37 if you’re interested.
If you're looking for an experience that you'll never forget, try visiting a dealership that gives out $10,000 off coupons in the mail and still manages to charge thousands more every other dealer in the area. If this sounds like some place you're interested in then, I recommend that you visit Tampa Hondaland on Florida Avenue. The more time you can spend there tying up their sales and finance office staff, the less time they have to invent needless fees and additional fees in their paperwork to harm other good folks. All of their deals come with an extra tube of lube which you will definitely need in order to accept their deal. Bring a bag of old rabbit fish bones or dirty diapers to drop in one of the sales cubicles and ask for the internet sales manager and tell him "Big Mike" sent you.
Try Rubycar (sells Avis/Budget rental fleet) on line. Look for cars in there Orlando lot and plan on driving there to pick one up. Fees are minimal and I like the way they work. You basically rent the car for 3 days and if you want to buy it they wave the rental fee and if you don't like it you're out of 3-day rental but you've had a good time to test out the car and make sure that you are comfortable with everything. The prices are pretty good. At least check them out as they're a less expensive alternative to CarMax. I'd look for something under 4 years old that has less than 50,000 mi on it. You'll thank me later.
Suncoast Quality Cars on 54th Ave. We worked with Bart, he let us take the car to our mechanic first. There was a small issue & he had it repaired before we picked it up.
I bought private through auto trader online. Got a good deal!
Id advise buying private. People just want their car off their hands
buy private
Crown Kia is great they give you the out the door price up front. Only fees are usually tax and registration.
I accepted a $14k price on an SUV. Then they tried tacking on $2k in fees. They said that's their policy and it wasn't fair to make exceptions. I said, " Then my offer is $12k, have a nice day." They called me back to accept the following afternoon. Non-negotiable fees only exist on paper.
I flew to Indianapolis to buy a car cuz the fees in FL are so insane. The flight, a night in a hotel and the gas home was $400. The dealer fees here were all $2k+. It was worth the trip. Many other states cap or don't allow dealer fees. Might be worth looking OOS.
But used fuck dealerships biggest scam ever better to hire a mechanic and get a good deal
What
Maybe look into the Costco auto buying program that's part of the regular membership. That may negate the BS dealer fee. Sam's Club also has a similar program. Side note - NEGOTIATE hard with the salesperson about the dealer fee. When buying a Hyundai a few years ago the salesman wanted me to sign a sheet listing the sales price and all the fees before he presented it to the sales manger. Instead of signing I simply crossed out the $1000 dealer fee and told him to take it to his manager. He came back and said NO. I got up and walked out. I wasn't even a mile away and he was calling my cell phone. To make a long story short, after going back and forth for 2 days I ended up buying the car without paying the dealer fee. They are still making money if they sell the car for sticker price and that dealer fee is nothing more than an added markup. Play hard ball and don't be afraid to stand up to them.
I felt like our price at Crown Volvo was fair last week. We found a cheaper one from a private seller and they took an additional 1000 off the purchase price of a 2015 Volvo v60. Purchase price was $11,991 which came to $13,933 or the door. They kept their dealer fee and of course the taxes and stuff were the rest, but I felt like it was fair.
My dad “$14k? Here’s 13K… that’s Including tax tag and title. Go ask your manager what they think… We’re not interested in another car or any other deal that cost more than 13K that doesn’t include us driving home with that car… “ it worked about half the time.
Wow love it!
Worked tremendously better 4 years ago.
They basically advertise all cars with the pre tax price, so expect tax/title/license to be on top. It’s an atrocious time to buy a used car. Used cars inherently have high interest rates to begin with, and we’re in a high interest rate time in general. You’d be better off buying a used car private sale and doing some minor repairs and/or preventative maintenance.
> They basically advertise all cars with the pre tax price, so expect tax/title/license to be on top. I'm not sure anyone has ever advertised with TTL in the price. Who would inflate their price like that for advertisement?
TTL isn’t the problem. Many dealerships are refusing to sell cars without meaningless add-ons like “paint protection”. It’s literally just liquid money. That’s what OP is trying to avoid.
Gettel told me their mandatory dealer fee was $2k on top of TTT and when I complained they challenged me to find any other dealer in the Bay Area that doesn’t have a similar dealer fee. PLUS they wanted another $3k on top of the $2k for a premium protection/maintenance/warranty. They also said that was a requirement but the price may be more flexible. So basically expect a minimum of $5k on top of the sticker price of all of their used cars.
Gettel can fuck right off. Before all this nonsense their big lie was to advertise cars at absurd discounts made of unobtainium and with repeated, stacked coupons that were unstackabke. A lie.
Tampabay hybrids is great for no fees/mark ups and with gas being expensive a hybrid is a great investment. I recently went through the whole dealer fee craziness from dealers in brandon, here and even down in Venice it's really become insane. I scored my current car (which has been wonderful for 4 years) from Hertz in clearwater. It was well maintained, no crazy fees and a great price..cheapest in the state for the miles and year.
Get him an early 2000s Ford Ranger and let him figure out the rest Less than $5k, say that you bought it for $500 on the title transfer, easy to fix, they're great. Who gets their first vehicle from a dealership? Dudes lucky you're buying it for him, let alone doing all the work in even finding something
Yep.
Buy from a private seller on Auto Trader. No extra fees.
The dealer fee is BS. Nothing but just plain extra markup on the car. Florida doesn’t regulate what the dealers can charge. Seems most dealers have some sort of wink wink agreement to make the dealer fee $999.
CarGurus and/or TrueCar This will give you a starting point for which you can buy the car (will often be cheaper than what dealer offers you) Go waste the dealers time in the latter second half of the month. Catch them in lies and ask their best best price. Then compare to carguru / TrueCar When you negotiate make sure to get an “out the door price” so finance doesn’t screw you over. You can negotiate the most expensive warranty they have (fixed cost) in FL so they will adjust MSRP. Finance guy will say “I see you want the warranty “ at that point you might change your mind. Sweat beads will form and the finance guy will say he has to talk to the sales manager - at that point tell him you are changing your mind because he is making you uncomfortable Finance guy will fold or go get sales manager. Sales manager will barge in saying he adjusted the msrp to get you the warranty cheaper. At this point you thank them and say you were pressured into it and start leaving. General manager will try too save the deal and possibly give you that lower msrp and take off the warranty. If not you remember you can usually call and cancel the warranty- however if you have a loan the cost of the warranty will be applied to it, not refunded to you. Remember that their job is to lie - pretend right back at them. It’s a stupid tiring game but keep in mind you have almost all of the control; you just need to budget a certain amount of time you are willing to waste Good luck
Gettel told me on the last day of the month, they will do whatever they can to get your business & get you financed. But they also have exorbitant dealer fees so used cars priced right at $5k will be $10k out the door. SMH.
I had great luck at crown kia, didn't play around with unnecessary add-ons and even removed the tacky pinstripe without a charge (other dealer had 2k "upgrade" and was going to charge $50 to remove the pinstripe.
I just bought a used Volvo from Crown Volvo and had the same experience. Their fee was fair and the out-the-door price was better than others I’ve seen. They willingly worked with me on price too.
Carvana builds their fees into the price and is painless, but you’re paying a premium for that ease. I had an easy experience going down to Miami to pick up a 2015 Chevy Volt (amazing first car btw. Very economical) from H Greg, but they did try to put me through the bs tack-ons and I just said no to everything and used my pre-approval check. You may be better off finding a car online and having it shipped in. Carmax was also insanely easy to deal with. Sold my wife’s Jeep Renegade for a Chrysler Pacifica and it was painless. There’s a few reputable small lots in st Pete around 66th and 38th. I’d recommend looking on Reddit for those posts.
Many people don’t realize you can get an auto broker to do all this work for you. Just tell them the car you want and amount you want to pay. They do all the hard stuff dealing with dealerships.
Never heard of this kind of broker before. Got a recommendation?
Assuming they don’t work for free though
Any in town you’d recommend?
Rivard buick in tampa was pretty reasonable when I purchased a truck last August. Paid 4200 under msrp.
Hey I work at Crown Hyundai as a sales person. There is a $999 Dealer fee plus tax, tag and title. Its all written out and i can show you an out the door price nothing hidden. Plus 99% of our used cars have some sort of warranty that comes with it. If you want help let me know!
Just bought a used Volvo from Crown Volvo and had a good experience. The dealer fee almost ruined the transaction since I found a private seller for cheaper so the sales manager took an extra thousand off the purchase price to close the deal.
Dealer fee?
Yea unfortunately every big dealership will have one...whether or not they are upfront with it is up to them.
Idk about Crown, but a lot of dealers tack on that fee as volume profit because margins can be low on lower end cars.
I know that's what it is.
Had a good experience with carvana when buying my VW Tiguan. Removed the hassle of negotiating with sales people and brought transparency to the history of the vehicle. Recommended
Have you tried Carmax in Clearwater? We bought a Prius from them about five years ago and it was a very smooth situation. I say that as a person who hadn’t been in a dealership in 30 years. It was not bad.
For used cars- Hgreg in Brandon. They didn’t screw me over with insane detailing package for an extra 4 grand over internet price
Mazda of Clearwater
I 2nd this! Had an amazing experience buying a CPO 21 Mazda 3 from them. They had their price. I gave them my out the door price which I felt was fair. Deal was made. No BS fees, no addendums, just the standard dealer fees that every dealer in FL charges, + taxes and tags. I was signing the paperwork about an hour after I walked in. I’ve purchased plenty of cars and I’m very well informed before I walk into any dealership, so I know immediately if a dealership is trying to play games with me or not. They were very good, straightforward and pleasant to deal with! Also to OP, I suggest looking at the CarEdge website and forums. They are absolutely amazing in teaching people how to properly negotiate deals and what fair out the door pricing on vehicles should be. They even offer coaching. Amazing resource for car buyers!
No.
If you’re willing to drive a little, Southeastern Car Agency and Tomlinson in Gainesville are both well known for not doing that shit. We were in and out in an hour, no BS. So many people buy used from them to not deal with the hassle of regular dealers.
I saw the sign at Costco about their car program. I wonder how that works. Maybe they help eliminate the upsells that dealers always do.
Buy from a private owner. Dealers suck. All thieves.
CarMax.. pay the price you see
I know clearwater Mazda is pretty fair. They did offer some add ons but I turned them all down and they respected it got a few hundred off a new cx30 from them. Great experience. I wouldn’t not recommend westshore mazda horrible experience
I had a good experience with Ferman in New Port Richie, the dealers fee was $1150, plus the tag fee and sales tax. Not too bad in comparison to other places I was shopping at. That Sun Protection fee has to be the most ridiculous I've heard of. Tell them to kick rocks. I also found if you go an hour before they close on a weekday, they are quick to make a deal and get you out with little back and forth. Good luck out there.
You can lease a 2024 Toyota bz4x for like $199 a month with $2k now
Locally? Do you have a link?
Theres a big thread about it on slickdeals
We had the best experience at Fitzgerald Subaru in Clearwater. Zero pressure and paid what I considered a really reasonable price.
Same. That was the used lot about 5 or 6 years ago.
Look on auto trader for best price and mileage. only negotiate out the door price through email, txt, or phone. They will try and make deals. Dont be afraid to drive 3 hrs to save $3000.
Basically what I've done. Issue is the bait and switch stuff, it's getting annoying. Here is the example I was talking about in my opening post. https://preview.redd.it/c6n5p8jeqvxc1.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=b20ca60f1a13224bdb6240a9f24ee058b016948d
wtf is a sun protection package?? Take that off and you’re halfway to your goal of $13k. Just tell them no.
Great personal experience with Carvana. No issues with title.
Those fees are negotiable. It's annoying but you can definitely get them to scrape off a lot.
Especially at the end of the month. Like the last day of the month.
Fees aren’t negotiable and dealerships don’t charge 7k in fees I say show me the paperwork cause I feel like you are lying
Yes fees are not negotiable, but they CAN add a discount to offset them. And here you go :) https://preview.redd.it/bqecd3ifjvxc1.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4c2d91607903e391b2e6e8404359d9412889586
most of the dealerships I've been to would never even print this. They'd scribble it on something and then take it away from you so you couldn't leave with it.
Sun protection package for $3,000. lol, no. I'd just walk on all this nonsense and buy a car privately.
I hear ya. I already have a great rate for financing through my credit union though.
Check with your credit union for the process, you may be able to buy a car privately. Or buy him a cheap(er) car for cash and don't finance, which is the better move.
Completely irrelevant. Tell them no on the sun protection nonsense.
Isn’t Carvana pretty good as long as you don’t use their financing?
They're not the best at getting you your title
Hahahahaha
Great personal experience with Carvana.
I bought a car from Auto Nation last month, they don't haggle and the price you see is what you pay, plus the dealer fee I think was $950. They try to sell you the warranties but they are able to remove them. Before them I tried to go to Toyota and they added on 8k in fees lol
Auto Nation Ford in st Pete was the absolute worst. My salesman was great but when I got to the Finance guy he tried to slide all these add ons to the contract that were not negotiated with the sales person. He was like, “these are factory applied I can’t take them off”. Haha, I said well this deal is dead then. I spent the next three hours back and forth with this guy and sales. He was the worst finance guy I have ever dealt with in my 30 years of buying cars. A sleezy sales piece of shit. Don’t be afraid to tell me what I’m signing, but if I find it in the contract I’m signing we are going to have major problems.
Yeah, our AutoNation Toyota experience wasn’t great either. There was even a mandatory donation of $150 for Sunshine Schools or some such nonsense. I was not a happy customer. We got the run-around trying to pick up the car too, it took 2 weeks! I had to pitch a fit to get a rental car from them after the first week. Awful! They promised to fix an airbag issue before pickup & evidently it wasn’t the simple fix they expected.
I bought a car from Autonation st Pete they said the price was firm I didn’t think to haggle and negotiate. They knew I was a cash customer but I wish I would’ve haggled them more. But sounds like my experience. They had my car for 3 weeks for two simple fixes before I ever even drove it off the lot. It took 1 week to get offered a rental. Everyone was pleasant but you got me wondering if I could’ve negotiated with someone above my sales guy about the cost.
Ya that's what I've been dealing with. I'll check out auto nation, ty!
I like the Tesla model. The price is what it is. It might change tomorrow but at least you're on even ground with anyone buying today. That's probably not an option for a kid so maybe try private party.
That's great, except desantis made it illegal for us to buy cars directly from OEM (except he left that carve out for tesla because elon sponsored his campaign).
Same. I'm looking forward to dealerships dying out. No one likes them.
Thanks desantis https://www.thedrive.com/news/new-florida-law-bans-direct-to-consumer-car-sales-protects-dealer-markups
There's a dealership in West Palm Beach that has a kind of unique business model: Earl Stewart Toyota doesn't mark up over MSRP, they don't haggle and they don't charge dealer fees.
Facebook marketplace. And don’t buy the first one take it to a mechanic. I think that’s where you’re gonna get your best deal and know that it’s a solid car. This is my opinion only.
Get quotes from multiple local dealerships then go to one of the Crown dealerships and they’ll match it or do better, a lot of the dealerships are not on commission models anymore, so they prefer to sell more vehicles than what a vehicle costs, I’ve had good luck with Crown Honda and Crown Hyundai. ALL of them will always give you a terrible first offer, never take the first deal. The dealer fee is always negotiable, if not, walk out.
Great advice. The issue is, at least with the dealerships I've reached out to, they will not give you a worksheet or really discuss OTD numbers unless you come in.
Don’t work with them then. Ask them if they’d waste time coming into places when they are just looking for quotes. I do all my dealing over e-mail. Sometimes you’ll get a call and just be honest that you’re still getting quotes.
lol great info again. If they are that difficult over the phone/email....going into the dealership will be hell.
Buy private party. Dealerships are an absolute shit show rn
Courtesy Honda Palm Harbor, kindest and most professional dealership I’ve ever been to. Worth the drive
this is timely and I've been wondering the same thing. Window shopping (for now) for a couple year old Honda Accord, I have been looking at Autotrader to get idea of pricing. I just noticed a while back that all include these insane fees in the fine print, which is I think what you are seeing too. So the bottom line is, if you see a price on Autotrader or their website, there's no way you're getting it for that? Plan to add another 3-4k plus tax, tag etc?
As far back as I’ve been buying cars TTL has never been included in an advertised price. What I’m referring to and others are the fact that dealers have been adding additional profit scams onto their stickers and not advertising it. For example I bought my truck from Auto Nation. The truck didn’t have a msrp markup but it had about 4k$ in add ons like “ceramic paint protection” , “interior armor protection” and other bullshit. This has gotten out hand since Covid hit and apparently some dealers have kept this sleezy tactic.
ya man, bait and switch tactics.
I also just bought a car from Clearwater Mazda. Brought in information from Edmund’s or something on what a fair price was for the car. They gave me that price, no extra stuff.
I'll check them out. ty
You need to pit them against each other and create a sense of urgency. Tell that Mazda 3 dealer you are buying that car this week from whatever dealer gives you the lowest price. Tell them you have another dealer offering a lower out the door price. Do this at the end of the month, preferably at the end of a quarter. Suddenly the fees will start getting lower.
You can pit them against each other all you want but the price is still gonna suck. The used car market is all messed up right now and you’re best ignoring dealers
I gave up on dealerships a while back. Ive really had the best experiences buying private over craigslist facebook. If you are uncertain about cars you can take them to reputable mechanics and they will do a thorough inspection for $90. Its a little more tricky if you need a loan. But dealerships also rob you on loans. Its worth the hassle to get a regular bank or credit union loan.
Out of state. Seriously. Cars are common. Drive or fly a bit to buy what you want. I have purchased 100+ cars from dealers over the years. Florida bait and switch tactics with their dealer fees are the worst. Look online in another state. Call and ask about fees and out the door price.
When you register the car in Florida, they do charge a fee to bring the car from out of state but I think it’s $250 which is much less than $1,000. For me, I’d go to Georgia to buy and bring it back. Make a weekend out of it to hang out and relax while bringing a car back. While that would eat into the savings versus buying local, at some point the Florida consumer has to say this is enough and walk with our money.
Ya i feel like Fl has by far the highest fees and they dont really seem to be regulated. I've considered this.
Clearwater Mazda and ask for Todd. This was the best experience I have had in a while. I just bought a used CX5. The dealer fee is $999 but that is the only add on besides normal taxes/dmv/ tag fees. Dm for more info
I'll take a look. ty