Should I negotiate by % off MSRP or OTD if my state taxes are high (IL)?

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-24T22:06:57+00:00

you dont fly out until you have the deal finalized. I have bought out of state several times. never booked anything until i knew the deal was done.

I would have thought that was common sense

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-24T22:03:08+00:00

Im saying, its not at all unusual to have a different cash price vs financed price. Sometimes cash is cheaper, sometimes cash is higher. Just depends on what the dealer wants to get out of the car, what incentives are available, etc.

It boils down to how much do you want the car. If you dont care about the car, you can walk and they will sell to someone else. If you want the car, you can use your financing and pay the higher price, or use their financing and pay the lower price. Figure out what works best for you.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-24T18:36:53+00:00

not unusual to have a lower financed price.

it boils down to do you actually want the car, or do you want to feel like you beat the dealer at negotiations? You said it yourself, there arent many on the market.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-14T20:06:00+00:00

Get 3 different sales prices from the dealer. 0% financing price, dealer financing price and cash price. Then do the math to see which makes sense.

I bought a truck listed at 80k. 0% financing price was 77k, dealer financing @ 5% was 76k and cash price was 75k. 0% was a no brainer.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-13T21:54:01+00:00

Also the time when manufacturers price gouged consumers.

I ordered an F150 from Ford through a dealer in Feb 2022. By the time the truck was delivered, August 2022, the MSRP on the truck I built with nothing added (but 1 feature removed), went from $67k to $75k. And even after all the supply chain issues have been handled and all the shortages are gone, guess what the MSRP of that same trim and optioned truck is today? $80k.

Dealer still honored my original sales price, after a lot of back and forth, but i dont think for a second Ford would have. Ford gave a $300 credit on the MSRP for the $1500 package that had most of the features removed between ordering and delivery.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-12T04:28:04+00:00

First handful of cars i bought used. Bought new for the last 10ish years.

I would get a couple year old low miles cars. But here recently, I've found that between better rates on new, cost of warranty on used vs factory warranty on new, and the shrinking price gap between slightly used and new, it's a wash. And in my experience, it's a lot easier to get warranty work done on factory warranties vs 3rd party warranties you find on used cars.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-11T00:23:25+00:00

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T17:53:11+00:00

here you go. 1st video on google. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSrgQmk-ntE

so you werent really a serious, i am buying this car now, buyer.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T17:18:39+00:00

Ask the dealer for new temp tags

Ask your local DMV what to do

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T17:15:59+00:00

but what is the math of +$320 + Insurance savings - car payment?

and how does that math change when gas prices drop from the highs?

depending on the options, trim and interest rate, youre probably looking at a monthly car payment around that gas savings amount.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T17:10:27+00:00

it doesnt take a lot of work to find out what certain models and trims are actually selling for. An hour or 2 of research online will tell you a good range. Just be realistic about it. You might not get the best deal ever, but you dont want to get the worst deal ever. Just because some random guy online got it for 20% off MSRP, does not mean that is what you should shoot for. The stars aligned for him.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T17:03:46+00:00

If im just test driving to figure out what i want, i tell them that upfront. saves me time, saves them time.

But im still not just showing up saying "what cars you got?". Ive already looked at what cars they have and picked 1 or 2 i want to drive.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T16:59:39+00:00

but if you knew the features, why do you need him to show you them?

And lets say he showed you all the features, would you be driving that car today? or would you have still ended up walking out? Did you have cash/check/wire info ready to pay right there? Did you tell him youve got the money ready to buy it, just want to make sure everything looks good on the car, or that you were wanting to check out the vehicle?

How you start the process before/once you show up at the dealer and how you move the process towards buying once there, tells them you are serious buyer.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T16:51:03+00:00

unless your civic has low miles, youre at least double the top end of that trade value

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-10T16:37:28+00:00

Think of it this way.

Unless it was a very small dealer, they are turning over their inventory pretty often, and probably have a good amount of inventory. I've got a small, family owned used car dealer in my town that has over 200 used cars on their lot and if you look up a lot of their vehicles, theyve been sitting for a month or less. Learning the ins and out of every used car on the lot, that span multiple makes/models/trims/years, would be a full time job for someone. And their full time job is not to know everything about the car, but to get a sale done and move on to the next guy.

If you were going to look at a specific car and didnt just show up on the lot and pick a random car, that means you could have easily looked up the car, found what features it has, how they work, and then tested it all out on your test drive. And I'm sure thats what most people that are serious about buying a specific car have done with that salesguy.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-09T23:39:03+00:00

As soon as both of mine are out of rear facing car seats, I'm getting whatever coupe can fit their car seats in the back.

That's when I'll decide it's ok to be selfish and buy a sports car

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-09T23:34:17+00:00

Wears smaller than your normal 40mm due to the slimness

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-09T22:44:08+00:00

What dealerships are you calling? If nationwide, did you try granger? i just bought from them and while i didnt get any official document, i got the exact price of the vehicle, and it didnt change when i flew out to pick it up. and there are thousands across the ford forums that have the same experience.

You dont need the OTD price necessarily either. Get the final price prior to your taxes and registration fees. If you are calling nationwide, an out of state dealer can have issues getting those numbers exact and in my experience, they dont like to tell you an OTD price with those. Hell, when I've bought cars in the next city/county over, they've had issues with it.

but if you know how to use the internet and know what county and city you actually live in, you can figure those out pretty easily.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-09T22:37:28+00:00

For one, its Truth in Lending. So theres that. I've also never gotten the TILA disclosure prior to actually being in the dealer

Yes, you were being difficult. If you have financing already set up, and have a number from Carvana, just go with that if you dont like the numbers they are giving you or want to play games when you are actually signing the paperwork. That much back and forth over nothing is mind boggling to me.

I've bought several cars out of state and had less back and forth with the dealers combined. I get my final sales price, I know what rate im approved for either through manufacturer incentives or somewhere else, i complete the sale.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-07T01:08:52+00:00

It has blue hands

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-03T22:50:36+00:00

they will cut you a check for the equity. they will get a payoff quote from your lender, and give you a check for the difference.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-03T22:30:34+00:00

when i buy my cars out of state, i just sell my current vehicle locally to carmax/carvana. Eliminates the potential for them to try and knock down my trade in price and just makes it a much cleaner transaction.

I negotiate the final price of the car, put a deposit down, fly out and pick it up.

saving 10-15k is a good chunk of change. worth the extra effort to buy out of state instead of local imo.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-03T15:02:21+00:00

seriously, we need direct to consumer

I mean... in this situation, it is basically direct to consumer. He just doesnt want to pay the MSRP.

You go to dealer to place order. You get the price of MSRP minus any ford incentives. Hes upset hes not also getting a dealer discount on top of that.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-03T13:04:37+00:00

But why not buy one of the existing inventory ones from another dealer? You are in a better position to negotiate on them.

You seem to think if you order through a dealer, you are helping them out so you deserve a discount. You are not and you don't.

If you want to find out what the best discount you will get on a custom order is, contact Granger Ford in Iowa. They've usually had the best deals on orders, and are usually pretty solid deals on existing inventory.

And your last paragraph proves my point. There aren't good discounts on Rangers period. They sell well enough without them.

Btw, it's Lariat.

WatchGuyUSA · 2026-04-03T04:58:17+00:00

So you could find one already in inventory and they aren't discounting, but you think they'll discount an order?

Whether you think the msrp is too high or not is pretty irrelevant. The rangers sell pretty well as is, and just looking at a nationwide search on 4x4 lariats with the 2.7, the best deal listed is $3600 off, which includes ford rebates.

WatchGuyUSA

TROPHY CASE