Hope I can share my experiences with you on haggling (no other word works as well) for your new car. I assume you have set your sights on that beauty parked in the showroom, you cant stop thinking about her inspite of being jostled and trampled upon in the bus / train etc. etc. you get the drift.... now here is how you go about owning the car of your dreams.
step 1. check bank balance. If bank balance well greater than cost of car. problem solved. buy car. end of story. drive happily ever after. if bank balance needs help read further.
step 2. calculate how much of the down payment you can afford to make without getting into trouble with other finances. remember the more money you pay upfront the less interest you pay over time....so u save that much more. dont fall for 100% finance schemes. remember if u borrow 2.99 lakhs out of 3Lakhs think of the money you loose as interest boss!
step 3. Its best to borrow internally. I mean take a loan from a willing father / uncle etc. this way you will pay less interest ( none if you have been really good to them in the past) and also its much easier than trying to please the banks with income proof and hajaar other documents.
step 3. If you are still falling short then take the balance as a loan. scan the papers for finance companied offering deals. phone atleast 4-5 DSA’s ( sales agents). ask for quotes over the phone. shortlist the most promising ones and arrange for them to sent reps over. Almost all dsa’s will give you a rate and combine it with a cash discount and accessories for the car. tell them u r not interested in the cash discount or freebies, but that they shopuld give u the best rate poss. this will give u a rate lesser by say 1%. take this to the dealet ( forget about the dsa now - forever), tell him that u r getting that rate + cash discount ( increase this value by 15% as u will not as for accessiories). twist arms hard enough and u will get the same rate. In case offered teflon coating, free mud flaps etc worth value of cash discount say NO. those accessiories can be fitted later at half cost elsewhere. the main aim is to spend as little money on interest and other charges as poss. Also say no to any ’’finance charge’’, ’’processing charges’’, etc. when u feel the deal is a stalemate, let go of the 15% markup you had asked as cash discount and substitute it for an extended warranty or say 3 more comapny free services. follow this path and you stand to save. Hope this works for you. it worked for me.But remember that in case you feel its not working be prepared to walk away from the deal. there are other dealers in the city. go midweek. Also feb and march are the months with the max discounts as sales are slow. dont even think of getting discounts in jan, or before diwali. wait it out, time it right. I did exactly as above. cheers.