I ordered a 07 Caliber R/T and I'm wondering when the car arrives what should I be prepared for as far as price.

Should I go in stone faced with a sharp pencil and calculator in hand and plan on some serious haggling? or
Do you think they are gonna ask me to pay sticker or they will find another buyer if Im unwilling to pay sticker?

Im not new to haggling, but since I did ask the dealer to order this car for me, I wonder how its gonna play out.

Anybody have any advise or experiences that you could share?

 

From my experience your negotiate the price BEFORE the car is ordered. That is what I have always done. Did you have to put a deposit down or sign anything when he put in the order?

 

Thats kind of strange, you should of worked a deal out and have a final price before they can actually put an order in. Did you put a down payment on the order? I put a down payment and worked out what my payments will be right down to the very last cent before the dealer could put the order in. You see, when my car comes in, the window sticker will actually have my name on it.

 

Both the above posts are correct.
But I would guess since you didnt talk price, you havn't actually commited. For all the dealer knows a bank wouldn't even finance you...

Sometimes, we ask people to order a car in with no commitment - just because having a name on it boosts its build priority....and Calibers have been hard to get....maybe that is what they did here...????

But anyway, don't sweat it.
PM me when you know more... I will try to look out for you.

 

RedRocker,

You are kinda in a bad place if you don't negotiate the deal in advance. I would work it now, and if you have to, you can call another dealership to order it if they will not deal with you.

The first dealership I contacted said they would have to charge me a premium if they ordered a Caliber for me, so I told them no way. I then contacted another dealer that sells alot of Calibers, and they are making me a sweet deal. Only problem is that there is no pricing in the computer since the changeover from 2006.5 model to 2007 but we already have a deal based on invoice when it is available.

I would work it now since then you can go somewhere else if they are not willing to work with you. Otherwise, you might show up to pick up your car and have to pay sticker or more.

The other concern is to make sure your dealer has allocation on the Caliber and can order it right away. Seems like most dealers don't have allocation, and have to wait to order.

Later

Mike

 

This is where the "sold order" comes in handy, allocation takes a back seat to sold orders.

But seriously, as long as you didn't sign a purchase agreement don't sweat it.
If you did sign a purchase agreement without a price on it - or at least some sort of agreement....that was careless on your part.

 

Don't worry, I've signed a hand writeen agreement and put money down on a car before and backed out of the deal, getting all my money back. As long as you have not signed the real purchase agreement and not been cleared through a bank with you credit your fine. If I were you I'd back out and start all over agian. Sounds like you got a little jumpy for a new Caliber. Plan on never going back to that dealership though because depending on your relationship with them they might be pissed. At first they might tell you that you can't back out, but it sounds like you can from what you have told us.

 

We paid sticker price for ours, supposedly they have a pricing system that is kinda like Saturn, no haggling. I suppose we might've gotten a break at another dealer but we wanted to buy locally. From what I understand, there is not a lot of profit to be made from these little cars.

They had also just discontinued the rebate and 0% financing when we came in and saw the car. We were about three days too late on saving $500 and some money on interest. But what are ya gonna do? We love the car.

 

In '03 when 0% was such a hot trend, Gr. Caravans had the 0%, then the first of the next month there was no low finance rate available. Then 3 days later, they brought back the 0%....I figured there had to be some pissed off people after that.

 

Thanks everyone for your input.

I have an excellent relationship with this dealer/salesperson. Ive purchased 5 new vehicles from him since 2000 and have always received what I believed to be good/fair deals. I did not sign any committment, put any money down, or negotiate any price, the order was executed by simply a handshake and my word in seriously wanting the new car. If I end up paying sticker I will not be dissapointed, but I dont want to pass up any potential negotiating efforts that may reduce the price. Ive shopped around and the only R/T I have found resonably close was in TN and it wasnt equiped exactly like I wanted - so Im patiently waiting.