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Chevrolet Equinox: Prices Paid & Buying Experience

490 messages,  Last post on Mar 09, 2012 at 4:45 PM

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What is this discussion about? Chevrolet Equinox, SUV

    

Messages Page 48 of 49

#471 of 490 Re: Owner Loyalty Cash [krisdriessen] by ray80

Jan 18, 2011 (2:59 pm)

Replying to: krisdriessen (Jan 18, 2011 2:44 pm)
Well 99 or newer Saturn does qualify for loyalty cash per the loyalty website. If its a salesperson saying that, go in in ask for a more knowledgeable salesperson.

#472 of 490 Re: Owner Loyalty Cash [krisdriessen] by wallyuwl

Jan 18, 2011 (3:19 pm)

Replying to: krisdriessen (Jan 18, 2011 2:44 pm)
Find another dealer. They are trying to squeeze you. And it isn't even them, it is GM, who takes the hit on incentives like that. But to ask for full MSRP is theft at this point in time considering the supply of Equinoxes has increased drastically. You should be able to get one for at least $1000 off MSRP, PLUS any incentives right now.

#473 of 490 Re: Owner Loyalty Cash [krisdriessen] by colt_hero

Jan 18, 2011 (3:50 pm)

Replying to: krisdriessen (Jan 18, 2011 2:44 pm)
It's a '99 or new GM vehicle that qualifies. Saturn is a GM vehicle, so it qualifies. But dealerships will do anything to squeeze money out of you. When I bought my 2011, I knew I qualified for the $1000 Loyalty Rebate. But I let the salesman play his game asking me if I owned a '99 or newer GM car, then looking excited like I was going to get a great deal. The "deal" was $1000 off MSRP!
 
Nice try.
 
When making your offer, all you can do is use those bogus Edmunds numbers. I say they're bogus because they come from GM (they HAVE to), and why would GM be honest about what it really costs them to build their cars? What they WANT is for you to THINK you're getting a great deal. But the reality is those numbers HAVE to be padded and even if you nail a deal at invoice, the dealerships are STILL laughing all the way to the bank!
 
So go to Edmunds and build your car and calculate the invoice price including destination charge. It'll probably be around $1300 below MSRP. Make an offer BELOW this number (a few hundred bucks) and work UP to it. THEN deduct the $1000 Loyalty rebate from that (plus any other discounts you might have like GM 'dollars'). If you qualify for multiple discounts, say the USAA rebate (if it's still on), call GM first to find out which rebates can be used together. You don't want to be caught flat-footed at the dealership with a salesman giving you bad information (always in their favor, by the way).
 
As for the dealer you're dealing with ... try another salesman. Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater just yet. And if you're a woman, I'd bring a man in with you. Just a guess, but I think women making deals by themselves end up with bad deals. You have to be nice with these people (a woman's strongpoint), but you can't let them run the show. And don't be afraid to walk out if you feel you're being pressured. The car you want is probably sitting at multiple dealerships. Get a price from all of 'em. It doesn't matter where you buy the vehicle, you can get it serviced at any dealership.
 
OH - forgot to mention .... make sure you ask UP FRONT what the dealership's stupid "doc fee" or "admin fee" is. This is a scam that dealerships started about 20 years ago. It's a way to tell you the vehicle costs $X, but then write you up for $X + fee. It's very common for these fees to be as much as $300 - $500 !!! And it's all legal. All the dealership has to do is charge everybody the same fee. But if you KNOW about it and factor it into the offer so you know what the ACTUAL cost of the vehicle is, it's no problem. If you can buy a $20,000 for $15,000, the "fee" can be $14,999 as long as the vehicle only costs $1.

#474 of 490 We bought an Equinox! by krisdriessen

Jan 19, 2011 (4:46 pm)

Well, at least we wrote up the paperwork for it. Now the dealer has to look for one already built to our specifications. We *did* qualify for the GM loyalty cash for the 99 Saturn, did not qualify for the special financing (ALLY) for people with credit scores under 580. We also bought the extra protection for both the exterior and interior as we expect to keep the car for at least 7 years and, here in the great Northeast, winter road salt is a real concern.
 
I'll let y'all know how it works out.

#475 of 490 Re: We bought an Equinox! [krisdriessen] by colt_hero

Jan 20, 2011 (11:10 am)

Replying to: krisdriessen (Jan 19, 2011 4:46 pm)
Why don't you look for the car yourself? Personally, I think it's a lousy website, but you can go to Chevrolet.com, build your car, and search for it right there. The problem with this poorly-designed search engine is you specify EXACTLY the vehicle you want, and then it shows you stuff you didn't ask for (and tells you it's EXACTLY what you want)! The list ends up being longer than it should be, but it's better than nothing I guess. The other way to go is to search the dealer websites themselves (which is what I do). You can search for dealers within X miles from where you live then build yourself a list of hyperlinks to these dealers' websites that you can continuously search waiting for the car you want. I like going to the dealership where the vehicle is and buying it myself. When the dealer locates the car for you and transfers it to your local dealership, there's a cost involved for that and your car gets taken on a "joyride" by a salesperson. I like odometers with less than 20 miles on them. "Transferred" vehicles with hundreds of miles on them make me cringe.
 
Also, I lived in New England until the age of 29. Winter road salt causing cars to rust up there is a thing of the past. I would say it's been a non-issue for at least 20 years now. And keeping a car for 7 years is nothing. Even at 20,000 miles per year, that's only 140,000 total miles. Any car today can do that with little or no trouble if it is maintained correctly (and honestly) ... the latter being the difficult one ...

#476 of 490 We didn't buy an Equinox... by krisdriessen

Jan 21, 2011 (11:33 am)

Well, the dealer just called and said they can't find one for our price. I did go on Chevy's site as you suggested and ran into the same problem you did. I didn't find one either, but it gave me a place to start. I will start going through individual dealer sites now.
 
Of course, I *could* take the upgrade for $1000 more, or wait for a new one to be built and delivered...

#477 of 490 Re: We didn't buy an Equinox... [krisdriessen] by colt_hero

Jan 21, 2011 (7:05 pm)

Replying to: krisdriessen (Jan 21, 2011 11:33 am)
Here's another thing you can do: Go to autotrader.com and search by make, model, etc. ... but enter a SPECIFIC PRICE RANGE (as narrow as you can get it). You can also put in the search radius (as far as you're willing to drive to go get the vehicle). For example, after studying all the trim levels and options I could get on an 1LT Equinox, I came to the conclusion that the MSRP HAD TO BE $26,800 or $26,815 to have the equipment I wanted. If you zero in on a specific MSRP like this, you can use AutoTrader to find your car. One minor problem you'll find, however, is sometimes the dealer will list a vehicle MARKED DOWN (instead of at the MSRP). I found this was rare, but when it happened, I ended up with LT2's or LTZ's in my search list (because their MSRPs were, say - $28,000, marked down to the $26,800 range.
 
You can try cars.com, too, but it's not as good as autotrader because you can't search by specific price range. You get a LOT more junk in your search list. Also, keep in mind that the autotrader (or cars.com) searches won't show ALL the vehicles in your search radius, just those listed by dealers on these sites. I don't know what the participation level is with dealers on these sites, but I would bet it's pretty high. More exposure probably means more sales.
 
What exactly are you looking for? Are you looking for a unit that simply isn't built? For example, I REALLY wanted a "stripped" V6 with only Cargo Management added. No such animal. No dealer will ever have one. And I don't think you could even order it! If you want the V6, you're going to get the Pioneer stereo and 18" machined wheels reamed down your throat, whether you want these options or not. You can add the Cargo Management package onto this, but you can't take away the other two options.
 
I'm guessing you want the 4-cylinder engine. That's what everybody wants because the fuel economy is (supposedly) good. There's PLENTY of 4-cylinder Equinoxes out there (2011's). If you're looking for a V6, well, that's another story. I betcha the ratio of "4"s to "6"s on dealer lots is something like 100:1 !!
 
Just re-read your post. You say the dealer can't find one "for our price". Sounds like they're playing games with you. The car is probably out there, but they just won't transfer it and sell it to you at your price.
 
Find the car yourself, make the offer directly to the dealership that has the car, then go pick it up. Don't let them talk you into something more expensive that you don't really want. The car you want is very likely out there sitting on MULTIPLE dealer lots (in various colors). You just need to find ONE of them. But make offers on ALL OF THEM because some dealers are really tight-fisted (smaller dealers with 100-150 new cars) and others are less so (larger dealers with 200+ new cars). Also, keep in mind that if you ORDER one, you'll only get whatever incentives are ON at the time the vehicle arrives at the dealership, so that's tricky. I think it takes AT LEAST 6 weeks to build an Equinox right now, so chances are the current incentives will expire before the car arrives. You're better off finding vehicle on a dealer lot when you KNOW what the incentives are. The current incentives expire next on February 28th. The bonus right now is if you own or lease a '99 or newer GM vehicle, you can get an extra $1000 Loyalty rebate. So between the dealer's discount and the Loyalty rebate, that's around $2300 off MSRP for a 1LT (a lousy deal by my standards, but if you want an Equinox, that's the best you're gonna do right now).
 
Go to the GM site, put in your ZIP code and find all the dealers within 50 miles (or more if the list is scant). Then click on the dealer website button for each one and save the link in the address bar to a Word file. This will be your quick hyperlink list to search the individual dealer websites. I hope you have a high-speed internet connection because dial-up will bog down so bad you'll get discouraged and quit.
 
Good Luck!

#478 of 490 Dealer Holdback by joeohio

Mar 13, 2011 (12:49 pm)

I am in the process of buying a 2011 Equinox. The best deal I have found is $500 over the dealer invoice after reduction of the holdback. For an 1LT this is a little more than $2000. So I can buy for about $1500 below MSRP, including doc fees. Not as good of a discount as we used to get (old days = 12%), but not bad. Also will get other factory incentives and my $4000 plus $500 bonus on the GM card. For everyone's benefit the dealer invoice less the holdback is as follows. All with $745 Destination fee:
AWD LS MSRP = $25,240 Invoice less holdback = $23,280
AWD 1LT MSRP = $26,405 Invoice less holdback = $24,352
AWD 2LT MSRP = $28,465 Invoice less holdback = $26,247
AWD LTZ MSRP = $30,815 Invoice less holdback = $28,410
I don't have data for the FWD version, but the percentages will be about the same (8% with no discount on the destination fee).
The markup on options is 12%.
Plenty of vehicles available in Ohio region.
Hope this helps.
Joe

#479 of 490 Factory Order? by roger1655

Mar 21, 2011 (4:20 pm)

I'm starting to look for a new Equinox and most FWD LTZ's seem to come with a sun roof. I don't want a sun roof so am thinking of ordering one. Has anyone ordered from the factory? Can you get a better deal if you order one?
 
Thanks

#480 of 490 Re: Factory Order? [roger1655] by pete6666

Mar 21, 2011 (5:05 pm)

Replying to: roger1655 (Mar 21, 2011 4:20 pm)
I ordered a cardinal red FWD LTZ with 6 cyl. and moonroof. My dealer did give me a better deal to order than take one out of stock. Unfortunately it was an 8 week wait. My wife loves the car and so do I.

Messages Page 48 of 49

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