GDZHHR

I've been reading the stuff on that site while waiting for posts!

Harpozep

We bought a "used" HHr. It had 8,700 miles on it and had come from an auction. The dealer's daughter drove it for a month or two in the winter. It is loaded, a $25,000 one. They had it at $19,999. We worked off that price since a similar loaded one was going at then $25,000 price.
They did not want to give me as much for my trade as I wanted, so I started to walk. That got me another grand and a half on the trade.

Then I said I wanted the mudflaps added ( it has the running boards ) and a bottle of paint ( it has some paint chips). I was still going to walk, but disliked our Vibe so much I went for it. I probably could have played a bit more hardball.

We got financing through the dealer as a used car and refinanced it through Navy Federal the next week as a new car. 4% difference. Now , new for 0%! COOL! Everyone buy one!
Man, should have waited two months!

Nah, our HHR is a fine bucket.

SindyDix

I also ordered specific to the HHR a report from FightingChance.com. I paid $35 for it. Now that I know more on the car buying 'experience', I think that report was allot of money for what I got. But, I got that money back in getting a better deal on my HHR. Otherwise, I would have settled for MSRP because I had never bought a brand new car before.

I also got more discounts through the GM supplier discount. Check if you qualify. Not all dealers participate in the program though.

I know you'll get alot of info from this group!

SoCalHHR

Here's mine:

Do all your "dealing" online. I'll never deal with a floor salesman again. Total waste of your time. I handled everything online. I heartily recommend that you do a search for your HHR using the GM Vehicle Locator and search by zip code. Here you can pull up every HHR at a dealership near you, and see the actual window sticker. This allows you to find the exact HHR in the color you want with the options you want - saving you valuable time (and haggling!).

Once you find the HHR you want, email the Fleet (or Internet) Sales Manager at that dealership for his "best price." (You will find most Fleet or Internet Sales people are not on commision and can offer you a lower price than floor salespeople.) Once it looks good to you, call him (or her), to set up a time to talk in person.

I walked right in (past all the salesmen), and into his office and wrote him a check for $500 as a deposit until it arrived (mine was actually in transit to the dealership at the time).

He then called me when my HHR came in and I went down for a test drive. The Fleet Manager didn't even go with me - he just gave me the keys and said "go have fun!" When I came back, he had all the paperwork ready to go - no haggling, no trying to sell me "security" or "paint protection" or pushing the "extended warranty" packages (he did gently offer the ext. warranty - they are required to). I was in and out in 45-minutes (that included them installing the running boards detailing it, and filling the tank).

My recommendation: go Internet sales - all the way!

Harpozep

I used that locator. Great device.
I printed out many cars from several dealers and even had a salesman friend at one dealership offer to get one in from another dealer. He was getting us the car for $200.00 over their invoice.
This was last September. I was hot on th HHR, I even joined an online HHR forum who shall only be alluded to here as still existing and kinda expensive.

The Gm locator service was my favorite tool and my friend in sales at the Chevy dealer was at the ready to get me one as cheap as he could.

So we bought a VIBE???

Any way, months later we traded the Vibe for a slightly used, slightly blemed HHR and all is well!
Still, damn you I just found the orange HHR 2LT I wanted at a dealer through the locator service! Hmm, trade.... 0% financing.......Hmmmm.........
Time to ......oh yeah, go to sleep and dream. 1:30 AM here. G'night!

MiDan

That's what I did. However, I was being "cheap," and only wanted an LS, with running boards (because of the info on this site... thanks guys!), and nothing else. I spent about a month going the internet sales route, and couldn't get one. So I went to the 'discount sales' dealer in this area. (There's probably one in every market... cowboy hats and horses in the commercials...) That was a mistake.
On a whim, I stopped by another dealer a little ways out of town that I knew of, but that didn't have an internet sales department. They had an LT with the basic options I wanted, and were willing to sell it at the price of the LS.

I'm not saying to not check the internet.. by all means do your homework... but don't limit yourself either. And NEVER EVER let the salesman get you talking about your 'payment'. That's what happened to me at the discount dealer... Keep him/her focused on the actual sale price of the vehicle. Once they've met your price.. then you can discuss your trade, and the financing.

Note: I've never haggled either. This was the very first time I've ever payed less than sticker... and that's because of internet sources like edmunds and, of course, chevyhhr.net (Thanks again to all the wonderful people here!!!!! )

FRITZ45

Dealing on the Internet is good if you are buying without a trade. But what if you have a trade? This can make it confusing if they don't see your car, so how can the car be bought from a new car dealer internet manager if a trade is involved? I like the idea of not training car salesmen, as it gets old after awhile.

Should I send detailed description with many pictures, mileage, etc.?

I like to trade my old car on a new car, as in Ohio, we pay sales tax on the difference between the trade and the new car. (Does not apply on buying used cars in Ohio). As an example, if I have a $15,000 trade, I lose about $1,000 in sales tax if I sell my car outright and then buy the new car. Also trading in a car saves a lot of hassle in selling the used one and since so many people are leasing cars, feel that selling outright might be difficult??

MiDan

Having only done this once, I'll defer to ... anyone else here who has an opinion (wow.. doesn't that leave it open???).., but you still go to the dealer to fill out the paperwork and finalize the sale. Just take your trade then. If they would give you a different price knowing that you have a trade vs a down payment, I'd think something was a little fishy.

Remember, you're dealing on the internet for the purchase price. The trade-in is a down payment, and shouldn't affect the sale price. (It affects the finance amount. Or the net amount if you're rich like SoCalHHR and pay cash for vehicles... no offense intended SoCalHHR -- I would if I could.)
PS-- I don't have my sales paperwork in front of me, so I'm probably using the wrong terms for the amount lines.. but I hope it still makes sense.)

hvrod

yeah, tell them while your leaving, your going to check some other cars out...

Check the internet sales prior to going the dealer.. see what there offering that way... do your haggling via the internet...

dbarberaz

Internet only way to go
I emailed the internet manger told him what car I wanted off the lot and had him send me his out the door price. I then went down (he was not in the office on a Sunday) but I talked to a sales guy, they brought me the price 1200-1400 more than the internet manger gave me, I them pulled out the paperwork and got that price. Then gave them my trade in car information. They even did a blind trade, they never seen the car till the next day when we took the HHR home.