jx3

Don't look a "gift horse" in the mouth!!

bigbear2k

If they make no money, then how do they pay the employees, building cost, and advertising? I live in Bentonville, AR (Home of the Wal-mart Homeoffice) and the dealer gave me a $1000.00 of the top just because I work for Wal-mart. Plus they gave me almost Blue book value on my trade in (the other dealerships wanted to give me $3k less for my truck). So if they make money on the trade in how do they pay for all that stuff. They only made about $500 to $1500 on my trade in if that. Just curious .

hhrcrafty

If you're not very far, take your Matrix out to one of those Carmax locations in Hartford or New Haven and have it appraised there. Keep in mind that you're waaay over mileage for the year of the car, but they'll give you a free written appraisal offer that you can take to get more money out of your Matrix. Traditional dealers wind up making about a 23% profit on used cars and $1,300 is NOTHING to them to even out the trade. However, $1,300 adds about $23 a month to your payments and means a higher "packing" commission back to the dealer from the bank who finances your car.

Also, HOLDBACK is what the dealer receives from GM for selling that car. It's pure profit! The $1,500 rebate doesn't come out of the dealer's profit either! It's your money, paid to you by GM! In this case, the dealer is taking your money from GM and giving it to the dealer to reduce the price of the car! They aren't losing a dime! That's $1500 in their pocket!

I'm sure there's probably a few GM to dealer incentives that they're not telling you about, either. Believe me, they're making a lot of money off of you on this. It's still a good deal, but don't let 'em snow you on them not making any money here. Get the $1,300 more for your 'trix or walk!

Remember, negotiate down to 85% of MSRP before July, 80% after July, then add rebates, then add trade, and never finance more than 48 mos. That formula will give you the best possible price and keep you out of the hole!

Goose

You know Crafty- I was starting to think the same thing when I was burning the numbers last night..."Hey...this 1500 is for me from GM not for the dealer" I'm looking at it as this 1500 as well as the military, trade assistance and GM $$ (which all together total 3700 dollars) basically are the same as if I was paying that amount in cash towards a down payment no?

I'm a little confused on where the holdback figures into this..where do they get the holdback money from..meaning if they sell the car for less than invoice does that cut into their holdback?

When he showed me the invoice for 20128.68 and then subtracted his holdback of 618.15......what did that number (19510.53) tell me? (btw the 618.15 is 3% of the MSRP before destination)

I'll have more questions I'm sure so please bear with me



Goose



PS Thanks!

ecniv

Very interested in this discussion... looking at buying an HHR soon, and definitely want to get the best price possible.

BTW, new to the forums, first post. Hi!

-Vince

hhrcrafty

Holdback is the money the dealership gets from GM for selling the car. They'll actually wind up getting even more money back from them if they keep your rebate. Think about it like this: they're telling you that they're dropping their holdback out of the final price of the car to make you think that they aren't making any money. In return, they're keeping your rebate that's more than twice the holdback. Also, they're keeping whatever GM to dealer rebates are available, plus the extra money GM is giving them to sell the car to a supplier. If you give 'em a 100% Completely Satisfied rating on the survey they'll want you to fill out at the dealership before you leave, they'll get even more money from GM.

Also, if they snow you on the trade, that's another $1300 they just packed onto your payments, meaning a higher commission from the lender to the dealer and FI Manager. It's also more profit on the car when they either sell it or flip it to auction.

Back to the holdback: they get that money no matter what. It comes straight from GM to the dealer. They'll knock $600 off the car in order to get your $1500, but that $600 is still coming to them from GM.

HHRDE

17,600 out the door still sounds like a GREAT deal no matter how you write it down. If you like the deal then go for it......

solman98

I'm showing $17213 without boards for my area according to Edmunds.

Looks like a decent deal to me.

solman98

Now that's funny there......

Goose

Are you guys just taking into account just the 1500 dollar rebate? The 17331 I was quoted includes 1000 military, 700 GM Card $$ and 500 trade allowance..and my negative equity (-1300)

Not such a good deal now eh? If they give me 10K on the trade then we are talking deal


Goose