How to Ask a Car Dealer to Lower the Price and Succeed

With so many additional costs, car options and confusing jargon, understanding a car price quote can seem a little tough. To help car buyers see what is included in the price of their chosen car, Unhaggle provides a free Dealer Cost Report that lists all the applicable fees, options and incentives.

You can learn how to access the online version of the free dealer cost report by consulting this article.

If you have filled out your personal information and accessed the online version of the report, but have no idea what you are looking at, read this article to learn what to watch out for…

1. Top of the Page

At the top of the Dealer Cost Report, you will see your selected vehicle (e.g. 2015 Ford Edge SE FWD), its MSRP and dealer cost. The latter is the amount the dealer paid for the vehicle (also known as the invoice price):

Selected Vehicle

On the right-hand side, there is an option to download the report as a PDF file by clicking on the “Download” button:

Download PDF

Below all this information are four tabs: Unhaggle PremiumDealer Cost ReportMonthly Payment Estimator and Incentives:

Selection Ribbon

Each of these tabs designates a specific section of this page. You can click on any of them to skip to the section you would like to see.

2. Premium Concierge Service

Below the three tabs is a brief outline of Unhaggle’s “three-step” process of registering for the Unhaggle Premium Concierge Service. Unlike the free Dealer Cost Report, which is completely free, this service is priced at $99. Its purpose is to get the dealers in your geographic location to compete against each other to offer the best price. You can click on the “Find Out” button, if you want to use the service:

Find Out About Unhaggle Premium

Alternatively, you can click on the “Next” button within the image to the right:

Best Price Guarantee

If the service does not interest you, continue scrolling down.

3. Reading the Dealer Cost Report

Below the Unhaggle Premium section is the actual Dealer Cost Report, which is a detailed breakdown of your selected vehicle’s price. First part of the report is a brief explainer of what the report does, which is followed by our Monthly Payment Estimator and Invoice Price table.

a. Monthly Payment Estimator

The Monthly Payment Estimator is a table that shows all the costs involved in the price of your vehicle, including the base price, options, pre-tax incentives, mandatory fees, sales tax, after-tax incentives and total amount if paid in cash (Cash Purchase Price).

At the top of the table is your estimated Finance Monthly Payment, which is the monthly amount you would have to pay for the vehicle if you decide to finance it:

Finance Monthly Payment

You can regulate the amount by choosing the length of your payment term (in months) and entering the size of your down payment right above the table:

Monthly Payment Calculator

The table is broken up into three columns: MSRPAverage and Dealer Cost. The MSRP is the price you are expected to pay for the vehicle; the Average is what other people have paid for it; and the Dealer Cost is what the dealer has paid for it. The purpose of this division is to show the consumer how much room they have to negotiate, with the average price being a good indicator of what they should pay:

MSRP, Average, Dealer Cost

b. Invoice Price and Options

Next it is a table with four columns: SelectionDescriptionMSRP and Invoice. It lists all of your selected options and allows you to change them:

Invoice Price 1

Those who have configured their vehicle before accessing the report will notice that aside from the SelectionDescription and MSRP columns, there is also an Invoice column, which showcases the invoice price of each option:

Invoice Price 2

c. Vehicle Price as Configured

This section showcases the price of the vehicle with the cost of each selected option included. This is not the final selling price, however, since you still need to add the sales tax and other fees.

Vehicle Price as Configured

d. Mandatory Fees

This is a list of fees that you have to pay regardless of the options you may have selected. The fees include: freight, PDI, air tax, tire stewardship and so on. At the bottom of the table is the sum of all the listed mandatory fees.

Mandatory Fees

e. Incentives

Below the Finance Monthly Payment table is a list of incentives for the current month.

The Cash Rebate is listed in the form of a sentence, while the Finance and Lease rebates also have their own tables.

Each table is divided into two columns: Term (Months) and Rate. The Term column lists the amount of months a lease or finance term will last, while the Rate lists annual interest rates for each time period:

Incentives and Rebates

You may also see additional notes, which may or may not be there, depending on the deal.

What to Do Next

For more information on the attached PDF document, please click here. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at any time.