I'm surprised there doesn't appear to be an official/sticky thread for people to report prices paid? One of the challenges though is a lot of people get sucked into the trap of negotiated trade-in price before new car price. The problem with that is the dealer will adjust the new car price based on how good of a deal they give you on the trade. So really, to determine how good/bad a price was you need to know three things (in cases where you are doing a trade): True Market Trade In Value, Trade-In Price, New Car Price. The problem with True Market Trade In Value is that number varies depending on the source of your data. I can tell from 40 years experience buying and selling 29 new and used cars, Edmunds, KBB, and NADA Consumer are all aligned more with dealers than consumers. Their figures are low and the dealers LOVE them for doing that. Most Dealers use NADA or Black Book to determine used car values. BUT, the NADA numbers they use are NOT the same as the NADA numbers the NADA public consumer site spits out

In my opinion, Black Book is the best source as they use Manheim auction history which is where dealers sell used cars they won't keep on the lot and the second tier dealers buy their used cars from. But Black Book is a subscription service for the dealer not the consumer. You need to find a dealer that gives public access to their Black Book subscription. This GMC Dealer gives access to their Black Book Portal.

https://www.intelliprice.com/intelli...11#/trade/home

Also, the prices on new cars that TruCar, Carsdirect and the like spit out are also inflated. Basically the lowest price in the range is really closer to what should be the middle price of the range. Again, they are more aligned with helping dealers, not consumers even though they try to portray themselves as being consumer advocates. So typically a good price target is the 25% point on the TruCar range or halfway between the lowest price and the middle price.

So when you report your deal, include the (a) if you did a trade, the Blackbook trade value range and what you think is a fair price in that range based on the condition of your car. (b) The Invoice on your car including destination and all the extras, (c) the MSRP on your car - the sticker price with destination and all the extras, (d) your new car price. You really can specify just invoice or just MSRP, but since some people may have one or the other at hand, the more people that can report both the more data points we'll have to compare.

** The main thing to remember when you negotiate, if you have a trade, always negotiate the new car price first, and always have a target number on the difference between the trade and the new car. Don't have a target price on the new car or a target price on the trade. Those numbers are completely irrelevant. It's the difference that you need to focus on. If your difference is $5000 you can pay $255,000 for the new car as long as the dealer gives you $250,000 on your trade. Tell them that. But don't tell them your bottom line from the start. They will ask what your target is first. The rule in negotiation is he who names a price first loses. But not necessarily if you are prepared. So tell them you need the difference between to be $3,000 and then let them haggle with you until they get to $5000.

July 9, 2021
Dealer: Puyallup, WA Mazda
Trade: 2019 CX-5, 20,733 miles, mint condition
Black Book Trade Value Range: $24,105 - $28,175
Estimated actual trade value: $28,000 (car is 9.9/10 condition)
2021 CX-5 GTR Price (only extra is roof racks and red paint charge) Invoice: $36,033
MSRP: $37,555
Price quoted: $1000 under invoice = $35,033
Mazda Loyalty Cash = -$750
Price paid excluding tax an license: $34,283 + Doc Fee $150 = $34,433
So with doc fee I got $850 under invoice with Loyalty Cash, $1,600 under invoice.
Trade price: $26,500 (Other trade offers I got from two other dealers: $25,000, $26,000 and $26,175)
I told them I wanted more for the trade and suggested they throw in moving my trailer hitch from my old car to my new car. They agreed to install a brand new trailer hitch for free on the new car which if I had this done after I bought it would have cost me $400 in parts in labor so I consider the net trade price was $26,900 well within 5% of my target trade price.
So difference between trade and new car was $7,533

Note that another dealer offered $1,400 off invoice but only $26,000 on the trade. So the dealer that was $1000 off invoice with $26,500 on the trade was the better deal due to the $100 less differential. That's why you need to focus on the differential and forget about the price of the new and used car.

Note that I used Checkbook.org's Car Bargains service which contacts the Fleet Sales Managers bypassing the commission sales people, getting you the dealer's bottom line price on the new car. It's truly their bottom line price. It's well worth the money as it will definitely save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars and hours and hours of emails and phone calls. It is NOT the same as TruCar or Costco which are essentially lead generation services. In most cases they will get prices lower than the Costco price. Note they cannot get you the price on your trade. I just took the three lowest dealers, send photos of my car and asked for trade price and then picked the one with the lowest price difference between the trade and the new price.

https://www.checkbook.org/carbargains/

 

Your trade was what model CX-9 (GT, Signature?)

 

2019 CX-5 GT (thanks for catching the typo.) I think I could have haggled and got $27K instead of $26.5K but considering the other dealers offered $25 and $26 and the price was already $1000 under invoice, once they threw in the free trailer hitch in it was basically like getting $26.9 on the trade. Vroom quoted me $27,380 to buy the car which I think, similar to Black Book, is a good data source for determining a fair target trade price. Steer clear of any Carvana figures. Their buy prices are a lot lower than Vroom in most cases and neither company is going to be leaving a bunch of money on the table. And as I said, KBB/Edmunds/NADA, just ignore. They are lowball figures. I found another Black Book source and it spit out slightly higher numbers showing a trade value of just over $29K on a Clean 19 CX-5 GT with 20K miles. I think that is high even for Black Book and the current market conditions but possibly those are the auction prices in other areas of the country. Basically the dealer will tell you, a $26K trade offer is the same as buying it for $28.5K because sales tax is 10% in our state and they save you $2800 on sales tax but that's only if you owe nothing on the trade.

The dealers ALWAYS lowball on the trade to feel you out as far as (a) how knowledgeable you are about the market value and (b) how hungry you are to get out of your old car and into the new one. If you are actually at the dealership you need to be prepared to say thanks but no thanks and walk if they don't meet your trade price target. 9 times out of 10, they'll come around if your target isn't ridiculous. When you go through a buying service that gets the price on the new one from the owner or the Fleet Manager, that's the price, no negotiating. That's their bottom line. I love not having to negotiate on the new car. So all you have left is to negotiate on the trade. Dealership with the smallest differential between the trade and the new price wins!