Here is a complete breakdown to help anyone negotiating with a salesman.
Purchase Date: March 2, 2016
Location: Mississippi
Car: 2016 Hyundai Sonata Sport - PREMIUM Package
Dealer Add ons: Carpeted Floor Mats, Cargo Net, Mud Guards, Rear Bumper Protector, and Wheel Locks
MSRP on the Window: $26,550
NOTE: I only Negotiate Out the Door. That means, after taxes, titles, doc fee, rebates... I don't care.. I only negotiate out the door.
Out the door final price: $23,500
Here is the breakdown on how the dealer got to that price.
Marked the Price down to: 23,068.81
Doc Fee: 255
Taxes: 1,166.19 (5% Mississippi Tax)
Title Fee: 10
TOTAL: 24,500
Dealer Incentive -1,000
Total: Out the Door: 23,500
Additional Notes: The dealer incentive of 1,000 that he applied appears to have come from a Hyundai rebate of 1,000 for financing. After a down payment I financed the remaining balance at 0%. There were NO financing fees. Hyundai financing was very straight forward and clear. It was a 0% loan with no fees.
Truecar analysis showed the car was selling, before tax and title at 24,299. However, my analysis showed truecar might have been a little off and I felt the truecar BEFORE tax and title was $23,800.
I knew a guy at the dealership and he gave me some inside information after it was all said and done. He told me the salesman made $100 dollars on the sale and the dealership lost $700 on the car based on what they paid for it. But he said, the owner likely had a holdback (or ladder) deal in place and was just trying to get to a certain number of cars sold so he could get a financial reward.
Now how did I get that price?
I had done some research and found three dealerships with the exact same car and color. I got the lowest price and made them bid against each other. It was easy. But the key is to do your homework and make sure each dealership has THE EXACT same car. On the day I bought the car, I was driving to one dealership for a out the door of 23,750. The other dealership called me and told me to turn around and they would beat that price at 23,500.
I am sharing all of this information because this forum helped me with my research. I would like to add some additional warnings for anyone using this forum as research. When looking at the price someone paid on this forum be aware of the following:
1) What state are they in? Some regions sell at lower prices
2) Did they have a trade in? People who trade a car in at the dealership are losing on average 500 to 1000 compared to a private sell. If you are trading in at the dealership the price you paid for the car could be lower because they are just playing the numbers game (Research 4 Square car sales)
3) If someone leased a vehicle the price might be different.
This forum helped me get a good price. I am happy.