How to Make an Offer to the Car Salesman
| How to Make an Offer to the Car Salesman |
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The dealer will want to negotiate from their MSRP or “sticker price” and show a discount from this price. Customers must base their offer from the net dealer cost. For example, if the buyer has established the net dealer cost after hold back to be $23,000, a customer could offer a profit over that amount
It is very important to explain to the dealer how you calculated your offer. Do not make and offer without this justification, the dealer will see this as a jumping-off point rather than an actual calculation.  One of the biggest mistakes a customer can make is to adapt a “who blinks first” attitude. Do not say “I will walk out of the dealership if you don’t sell the car for my price.” This strategy is so widely used by the majority of customers that car dealers have become very skilled at handling this type of negotiation.
When a customer plays hardball and makes a low offer without any accurate cost justifications, the salesman's strategy will be to go back and forth and hopefully make the customer “feel” like they a receiving a good deal. Even if they don't make a deal it is a massive waste of time for the customer.
On the hand, when a customer makes an offer based on actual cost, the salesman and dealership must negotiate from an amount over the cost. For example, if a customer offers $100 over dealer cost. The dealer usually will “Pencil” a counter offer relative to the dealers cost. They might counter that they won’t sell it for “$100 over” however they will sell it for “$500 over”.
Since the buyer has completed the calculations before they arrived to close the deal, they know exactly what the dealers net cost is on the vehicle they intend to purchase.
Make your offer an amount "over" the dealer's net cost that you calculated using the "Cheat Sheet". 
Reminder: How to use the Cheat Sheet Car Price Calculator .
The best way to present your offer to the salesman is to work with in their system. When customers try to divert the salesman from what their sales-managers have instructed them to do, it could prolong the process and many times make the customers offer unclear. In other words, let them perform their "four square Write-Up", but give them the clear mathematical reasons for your pricing and payments.
If they used a “The Grant Cardone Method ” or they will start the negotiations by providing the customer with an offer from the “Desk”, the customer should wait until they receive the offer and then supply the salesman with their counter-offer.
However, nine times out of ten, the negotiations will begin with the “Four Square”.
In the "four square", there is Price, Trade-in, Down Payment and Payment. The customer should construct their offer with values already calculated from the Cheat Sheet and Payment Checker.
The First “square” in the “foursquare” is the price. Remember the salesman usually will complete this field by writing the full sticker price plus accessories and then ask how the customer would like to pay “cash or check”. They do this because they know most of time the customer will want to finance the vehicle. Then the salesman will move to the “Trade-in Square”. The customer should not interrupt the sales process and move to the trade-in "square" with the salesman.
Trade-in
One age-old negotiating technique is to negotiate the deal and then introduce the trade-in later. This is not advised with today’s dealers, because if a customer commits to a deal and then suddenly discloses a new contingency. The dealer will generally feel as though the word of the customer is not valid and either scuttle the deal or offer an extremely low trade value.
Since the customer has already had their vehicle appraised in the earlier dealer visit, this value should be obvious. Never-the-less, most salespeople will still try to get the customer to make an offer. Remember, they will provide you with several “hit-figures” and then ask you what you would like for your trade-in.
You should offer the ACV value that was applied to trade-in when it was appraised during the first dealer visit. Of course, if the dealer’s ACV was not similar to the KBB.com value, do not use the Dealer’s ACV. Instead use the KBB Trade-In Value.
In any event the salesman will generally be shocked that the customer is being so reasonable. The customer should not be tempted to ask for a higher retail amount for their trade-in, this will lead to a back and forth negotiation. This reason is simple, any amount they give you that is in excess of the ACV will be added to the price. It is better to receive your discount from the price and not as an inflated trade value.
If the dealer’s ACV and/or “KBB trade-in value” is far less than the customer is willing to get for their trade-in. The customer must sell their trade on their own.
In the next "square" the salesman will get the customer to commit to a cash down payment.
Remember the salesman may try to instruct you that the bank will require a minimum amount down and begin to ask for large sums. You should offer the amount that you used when you calculated the Cheat Sheet and Payment Checker.
The next step the in the “foursquare” write-Up is the “Payment Square”. This is when the customer has to make sure the salesman understands and communicates to the sales manager how they arrived at their offer.
You must submit your offer with all the terms and explanations of the calculations. In other words, you should not only say “I would like my payment to be $555”. You must have the salesman note that the payment is $555 per month on a 60 month Term at 6.5% interest. Then you must tell the salesperson that it based on a sales price of $29194 which is $300 over their net dealer cost. Most importantly, the customer or the salesman must note calculations for the sales manager to see.
Have them write your calculations on the "four square" for the sales-manager to see. 
Reminder: How to use the Car Payment Checker .
Remember, at this point the customer must justify that their offer is based on reality and it is not some ambiguous number.
Once the salesman has your offer, he will then take it to the “desk (sales-manger).
Keep in mind, if you are financing or leasing the salesman will usually complete a credit application before they will take your offer to the "desk". This is a necessary step that allows the dealer to verify that you are qualified to buy.
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