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Anyone have any good negotiation tactics they like to use when they buy a new car?...I personally like the haggling that takes place...and I like to learn new tactics...share if you can...

 
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What I did was emailed several dealerships and started playing them off one another, until I had a price that no one was interested in beating.

The problem with the Civic is that it's so popular, and there are many that will just come in and pay MSRP that you'll get a lot of "If you don't buy it for this price, some one else will." Honda also does a lot less of the dealer kick-backs that the American auto makers do, and even less with the Civic. The last time I looked, the Civic didn't even have an entry for dealer incentives on Edmunds.com.

There's some room to haggle with the Civic, but not a whole lot. I ended up getting about $700 off of MSRP. Not great, but better than any other dealer within 100 miles of my house was interested in doing.

 
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I don't have a lot of experience buying cars off the lot. I did buy my CRX that way and did a horrible job. The problem was I absolutely fell in love with the car and was just going to have it now. So I paid the horribly inflated price on the sticker. Live and learn. DH is good at buying cars.

 
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I would not even have enough room on this post box so I won't go there, however, the honda dealership I went to for my 06 civic has finally learned to offer "no haggle" pricing.

I had a trade in with an accident so I had to be fair with the dealership. I paid 17,100 for my civic which in my area is pretty darn good considering it's Long Island where everything costs an arm and a leg.

If you don't have a trade, well, you can really work some numbers.

THE KEY IS TO USE OUTSIDE FINANCING AND THEN YOU BECOME A CASH CUSTOMER AND USUALLY IN MOST INSTANCES GET VERY GOOD PRICING BECAUSE THEY CANNOT PLAY WITH YOUR INTEREST RATE SHOULD YOU FINANCE THROUGH THEM

 
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I am a AAA member and the have a car buying service via internet. The dealer I was looking at happened to be the AAA rep for south florida. They gave me $500 off even though they said they wernt discounting civics <especiall EX with navi since they only had one on the lot.)

 
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As daroga points out, the negotiability has a lot to do with demand. I felt so incredibly lucky that I ordered my LX Coupe 5-speed in February and waited two months for it to arrive. I got a great price. Now, I couldn't come close, due all to unbelievable demand.

In the past, I used to bring my wife with me. She could really negotiate. But I felt so guilty for the way she abused these dealers that I stopped doing that. She also cost me the chance to buy two vehicles that I really wanted.

Here are two great hints in any case:
1. Buy a car before you absolutely NEED it. When you must buy now, you lose a lot of latitude, both with the dealer and with your own control.
2. Know as much about the vehicle that you want as possible. If able, know more than the dealer. Start researching early - web sites such as CivicForums.com are an excellent resourse because people love to talk about their experiences, good or bad. Dealers and Manufacturers love to sell; you will rarely get the substance of their emotion. Furtermore, I believe even "independent" review boards have hard-core agendas! (For example, I believe Consumer Reports hates America with a passion.)

 
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Cool...you guys are on top of these stuff...I personally never try ot fall in love with the car before hand and I usually do a pretty good job, since I have a back ground as a technical buyer...but I wouldn't have thought to e-mail the dealerships...that was a good one...saves me driving around time.

..and yes, never buy when you "need" a car...once had to do that when mine fell apart...did not get in as much haggling as I normally would have had...

 
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Never bought a brand new car, but i have some great tactics when buying a 2nd hand car

Nice tips here though, I'll be noting these done for when I do buy a brand new car oneday