CHARLOTTE — According to the Kelley Blue Book, the average driver buying a new car paid almost $50,000 in February, 3% higher than the same time last year.
Tomi Mikula is based in Charlotte. He founded Delivrd three years ago, back when car prices surged after the pandemic.
His first tip was that the use of competition could save you as much as 10%. However, that takes some effort.
“Get multiple dealerships against each other. The more the merrier. I say five to 10 dealerships, pin them against each other. You don’t want to just call them all and say, ‘I’m looking for the best deal.’ You actually want to get offers from one, give them to all... nine dealerships and keep doing that until nobody’s willing to beat the deal,” he said.
His second tip was to tell the dealer to remove any add-ons.
“The paint protection, the tint they say is mandatory, the theft protection, all of these things, they add onto the price of their car. People don’t even realize these are negotiable,” he said.
His final tip was to not step foot on a lot until a dealer agrees to a price you’re happy with (and get it in writing).
“You’ll be shocked once you have offers in hand, when a dealership starts to fold over and start to actually negotiate with you,” he said.
If you really want, Mikula will even do the negotiating for you. He charges $1,000, so it may be worth it if you think he’ll save you more than that.
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