MarkyMark
Active Member
Get out of my car last night at the grocery store and a brand new Stinger pulls up! Nice timing! GT1 as it turns out. Guy tells me he got a great deal on it (yah, sure...). In reality he did. $46,XXX (AWD GT1), and landed on just over $40k!!! He mentioned a $5300 rebate...
Something wasn't adding up.How is this possible?
Well, I did some homework last night. He DIDN'T purchase - rather, he leased it for 36 months and the dealer gave him all $5300 in lease cash and a bit more on their side of the coin.
AutoByTel shows all the lease cash options dealers have to use to get you into a lease - and it's a LOT! However, that program expired on 01.02.18 - last night! AutoByTel now only shows the military $400. There will be a new incentive for the month/s coming out very soon so check back, and if you are leasing, check out the 36/48 month terms - and work to get ALL that lease cash the dealer has to work with. And THEN get another $2k or so off and you'll end up with a pretty sweet lease deal.
What I can recall from last night is the following (other websites also verify the program that expired last night was valid:
Kia Stinger GT1 AWD: 36mo = $5300 lease cash
Kia Stinger GT1 AWD: 48mo = $4700 lease cash
I also looked at a purchase of a base model and a few others for purchase, and discovered the dealers were getting a Factory-to-Dealer rebate/cash of $750 to play with.
The GT1 AWD also has a holdback figure of $725. That's about 2.9% of the MSRP. I'm not sure if the holdback figure is 2.9% or just a flat $725 for any Stinger (likely the latter).
Reading MORE last night, dealers are really being pushed into a volume play. Ford is moving away from the programs, but really, the market of car manufactures are having dealers move to just selling numbers, and if they hit the bonus number at month or quarter's end, they can get $150k - $300k in sales target money. A company that can move 200+ a month in vehicles can get this type of big money.
The game for us buyers is pretty much the same (some tips most know, but maybe some don't?...):
- NEVER start with MSRP, Invoice - nothing. Just tell them, "Hey, whatever, Dealer Invoice vs Dealer Cost, Rebates, the bottom line is we need to work together to get me in this car, so let's talk." Dealers will like the "team play" as they will think they have a patsy.
– ALWAYS know the "Invoice." Which is different than "Dealer Cost" but that's a different story.
– ALWAYS know the Factory to Customer Rebate and suggest you start with what the dealer can do with the price, WITHOUT any rebates of any kind, as those are from the factory, so once we are done, we add those in at the end (they cost the dealer nothing).
– ALWAYS know the Factory to Dealer rebate. If you don't, they might give you $2500 off and you might think that's really great. But what you didn't know is $1500 of that $2500 discount was from Kia Corporate. The dealer just took off $1k and you could have had $2k from just the dealer, and another $1500 from the Factory to Dealer money.
– ALWAYS know the holdback money (Stinger $725).
– ALWAYS know their loyalty cash or Conquest Cash (if you have a Hyundai/Kia product or car they are targeting and you own it). No, you don't need to sell or trade in that car, it's just the type of owner Kia is going after and they'll give $ to get you into a Kia.
– WORK WITH A LARGE DEALER - IF POSSIBLE: Smaller dealers are getting squeezed out of the volume monthly/quarterly bonus game car manufacturers are offering. Thus, the smaller dealer is less likely to be able to sell cars at cost or even a loss in some cases, as they won't make it up with a big bonus check at the end of the month. Smaller dealers are more likely to need to make a bit of money on every car they sell. Large dealers can go lower per vehicle sold (more on this below).
– TRY to find out how many cars that dealer sells a given month. If they are around 150 - 200 that's perfect! Stop by and talk to a few different sales guys/gals, or the fleet manager to get this information. You'll get an idea pretty quickly.
– WHEN TO BUY: Going in the last day might not be so effective anymore... If a dealer made "200" sales that month, and you walk in the last day of the month thinking you'll get the deal of a century, think again. The dealer made their bonus money from the factory already, thus they won't cut you a screaming deal anymore. They'd rather you come in the first day of the following month or quarter and buy then. Conversely, if the dealer isn't going to come close to 200 in the last few days of the month, they won't cut you a deal either, because they didn't hit the bonus sales figure, and thus won't be giving away cars to try and make it. The dealer would rather hold you off and start anew the following month to start off volumes sales in earnest. Strategies of "when" to buy are car are changing.
– NEVER mention the holdback money (they hate people that do that), but when you've reached the limit to where you can go, try for another $500. Holdback cash is the LAST thing they'll let you pry out of their cold icy fingers. ; )
– LASTLY (perhaps should have been "firstly"), when the dealer asks what else you are looking at, don't mention OTHER Kia Stinger from another Kia dealer!!! Rather, pick 2 or 3 other diverse cars. It makes it much more unlikely the Kia dealers is owned and/or works closely with these other dealerships, if at all. They protect one another with back-channel calls - which they absolutely do! When I go to buy a Kia Stinger, I'll likely let them know when they ask, I'm looking at a Buick Regal Sportback, a 2018 Mazda 6 Turbo, and and Ford Fusion or Honda Accord... Different, cheaper cars, from different manufacturers. This will put considerable pricing pressure on them.
– LASTLY PART II: Never volunteer information if they don't ask. The more you talk, the more ammo you give them against you end game to get the car you want and give them as little as possible for it. If you don't mind paying more for a car, then let me ask you, do you ever over-pay taxes just because?... Yah, it's that bad. It's a product and you should always want to pay as little as you can for it. And you can do so in a nice way also.
– LASTLY PART III: I do all my initial shopping via emails to the dealers. You can quickly weed out non-aggressive dealers quickly and save a lot of time!
Okay, my $.02 or $.03 worth. Good hunting!
Can't wait to see what type of incentives Kia delivers for the Stinger this fall!
Something wasn't adding up.How is this possible?
Well, I did some homework last night. He DIDN'T purchase - rather, he leased it for 36 months and the dealer gave him all $5300 in lease cash and a bit more on their side of the coin.
AutoByTel shows all the lease cash options dealers have to use to get you into a lease - and it's a LOT! However, that program expired on 01.02.18 - last night! AutoByTel now only shows the military $400. There will be a new incentive for the month/s coming out very soon so check back, and if you are leasing, check out the 36/48 month terms - and work to get ALL that lease cash the dealer has to work with. And THEN get another $2k or so off and you'll end up with a pretty sweet lease deal.
What I can recall from last night is the following (other websites also verify the program that expired last night was valid:
Kia Stinger GT1 AWD: 36mo = $5300 lease cash
Kia Stinger GT1 AWD: 48mo = $4700 lease cash
I also looked at a purchase of a base model and a few others for purchase, and discovered the dealers were getting a Factory-to-Dealer rebate/cash of $750 to play with.
The GT1 AWD also has a holdback figure of $725. That's about 2.9% of the MSRP. I'm not sure if the holdback figure is 2.9% or just a flat $725 for any Stinger (likely the latter).
Reading MORE last night, dealers are really being pushed into a volume play. Ford is moving away from the programs, but really, the market of car manufactures are having dealers move to just selling numbers, and if they hit the bonus number at month or quarter's end, they can get $150k - $300k in sales target money. A company that can move 200+ a month in vehicles can get this type of big money.
The game for us buyers is pretty much the same (some tips most know, but maybe some don't?...):
- NEVER start with MSRP, Invoice - nothing. Just tell them, "Hey, whatever, Dealer Invoice vs Dealer Cost, Rebates, the bottom line is we need to work together to get me in this car, so let's talk." Dealers will like the "team play" as they will think they have a patsy.
– ALWAYS know the "Invoice." Which is different than "Dealer Cost" but that's a different story.
– ALWAYS know the Factory to Customer Rebate and suggest you start with what the dealer can do with the price, WITHOUT any rebates of any kind, as those are from the factory, so once we are done, we add those in at the end (they cost the dealer nothing).
– ALWAYS know the Factory to Dealer rebate. If you don't, they might give you $2500 off and you might think that's really great. But what you didn't know is $1500 of that $2500 discount was from Kia Corporate. The dealer just took off $1k and you could have had $2k from just the dealer, and another $1500 from the Factory to Dealer money.
– ALWAYS know the holdback money (Stinger $725).
– ALWAYS know their loyalty cash or Conquest Cash (if you have a Hyundai/Kia product or car they are targeting and you own it). No, you don't need to sell or trade in that car, it's just the type of owner Kia is going after and they'll give $ to get you into a Kia.
– WORK WITH A LARGE DEALER - IF POSSIBLE: Smaller dealers are getting squeezed out of the volume monthly/quarterly bonus game car manufacturers are offering. Thus, the smaller dealer is less likely to be able to sell cars at cost or even a loss in some cases, as they won't make it up with a big bonus check at the end of the month. Smaller dealers are more likely to need to make a bit of money on every car they sell. Large dealers can go lower per vehicle sold (more on this below).
– TRY to find out how many cars that dealer sells a given month. If they are around 150 - 200 that's perfect! Stop by and talk to a few different sales guys/gals, or the fleet manager to get this information. You'll get an idea pretty quickly.
– WHEN TO BUY: Going in the last day might not be so effective anymore... If a dealer made "200" sales that month, and you walk in the last day of the month thinking you'll get the deal of a century, think again. The dealer made their bonus money from the factory already, thus they won't cut you a screaming deal anymore. They'd rather you come in the first day of the following month or quarter and buy then. Conversely, if the dealer isn't going to come close to 200 in the last few days of the month, they won't cut you a deal either, because they didn't hit the bonus sales figure, and thus won't be giving away cars to try and make it. The dealer would rather hold you off and start anew the following month to start off volumes sales in earnest. Strategies of "when" to buy are car are changing.
– NEVER mention the holdback money (they hate people that do that), but when you've reached the limit to where you can go, try for another $500. Holdback cash is the LAST thing they'll let you pry out of their cold icy fingers. ; )
– LASTLY (perhaps should have been "firstly"), when the dealer asks what else you are looking at, don't mention OTHER Kia Stinger from another Kia dealer!!! Rather, pick 2 or 3 other diverse cars. It makes it much more unlikely the Kia dealers is owned and/or works closely with these other dealerships, if at all. They protect one another with back-channel calls - which they absolutely do! When I go to buy a Kia Stinger, I'll likely let them know when they ask, I'm looking at a Buick Regal Sportback, a 2018 Mazda 6 Turbo, and and Ford Fusion or Honda Accord... Different, cheaper cars, from different manufacturers. This will put considerable pricing pressure on them.
– LASTLY PART II: Never volunteer information if they don't ask. The more you talk, the more ammo you give them against you end game to get the car you want and give them as little as possible for it. If you don't mind paying more for a car, then let me ask you, do you ever over-pay taxes just because?... Yah, it's that bad. It's a product and you should always want to pay as little as you can for it. And you can do so in a nice way also.
– LASTLY PART III: I do all my initial shopping via emails to the dealers. You can quickly weed out non-aggressive dealers quickly and save a lot of time!
Okay, my $.02 or $.03 worth. Good hunting!
Can't wait to see what type of incentives Kia delivers for the Stinger this fall!
I know there are going to be sales people who don't like this information but there's a bright side. If you can move a car, even if you don't make a lot on the deal, spending hardly any time with the customer - it can't be a bad thing. I mean - if you make a lot of spend a lot of time - that's probably normal. But if you can make a little, and spend a tiny bit of time - then there's more time to earn from more customers. I mean - if you could move 20 cars per day - even if you don't make a lot of money on each sale - I'm sure there's enough in incentives and bonuses to make a good living...
