Best & Final Price Quotes
Once you’ve got all your quotes totaled and tallied, it’s time to decide on a
winner. My advice is to do a “best and final” round of quotes. You don’t have to
do this, but it can easily save you another couple hundred dollars.
Objectives:
1. Get the lowest possible pricing on each line item from dealers
2. Convince the top dealers to lower final price by at least $200
Advantages:
1. Know that you’ve negotiated the best possible deal
2. Maximize your total new car savings with “best & final” pricing
Action item:
1. Do follow-up RFQ with top four bidders
Time required:
1. Doing follow-up bid - 10 minutes
Overview
Your objective here is to get the best possible price on each & every item from
the most competitive dealers.
Simply narrow the field to your top four. Prepare your fax cover sheet and
include a new blank price quote form.
Take their faxed quote form and circle the item or items where you know they can
do better. Base this on the items where other dealers bid lower for the same
items.
Fax the material to your dealer contacts with a cover sheet telling each one
that they came real close, but they weren’t the best overall.
But, and this is a big but, because they were so close to the winner, you’re
giving them one more shot at winning your business. On average, one dealer of
the four will say no. They’ve already given you their best price. However, the
other three will indicate a willingness to sharpen their pencil for one final
quote.
Next to any item where they weren’t the lowest bidder, write in a price that’s
$50-100 better than the best price you received. Circle that price and add a
handwritten note - “This is the price to beat.”
Do the same thing with the best total price. Lower it by $200 and add a
handwritten note - “This is the total to beat.”
Then sit back and wait for your best & final answers. You’ll find the extra
savings on your new car extremely gratifying.
Notify your price quote winner
Once you’ve selected your ultimate best price, contact the winning dealer. Make
an appointment with the fleet manager to go over the paperwork.
You’ll need to:
- Schedule a test drive of the car
- Allow adequate time to conduct a thorough inspection of the car
- Allow enough time to completely review all paperwork
Plan on this taking at least two hours. It may go more quickly, but you don’t want to rush through these final steps.
Related: Paperwork Related: Inspection Related: Insurance