We love to hear about the great deals our members secure using the things they’ve learned from CarEdge. One of our regular viewers recently reached out to us to share that they got a great deal on a Toyota Venza. They were able to buy the car with a great interest rate and knock several thousand dollars off the asking price using some of the things they learned from us.

Today’s buying experience comes to us from CarEdge member, John Stubbe. If you have a success story you’d like to share, please share it with us here.

Background:  Preparation Always Pays

John tells us that he first found our YouTube channel in November 2020. From then on, he was hooked. This year, it came time to buy a new car. He started by checking his credit scores to see what kind of financing he would be working with.

Before he went to the dealership, he visited his credit union and got preapproved for a $36,000 loan at 3.49% APR. Not long after, he found the car that he wanted, a 2021 Toyota Venza XLE.  He used our member tools to determine that the car had been sitting on the lot for 54 days, well above the 23-day average. He knew from our videos that it was likely that since it had been sitting on the lot for so long, he could use that knowledge to secure a lower rate.

Our tool also gave the vehicle a negotiation rating of 39 out of 100, showing that there wasn’t going to be much room for negotiation. John likes a challenge, so he proceeded.

With his homework done, he made plans to visit the dealership the next day.

At the Dealership: A Tough Negotiator

John arrived at the dealership in the afternoon and spoke to the sales director, who then handed him off to an assistant. They went to look at the vehicle and did a test drive. Everything seemed to be in good working order with the Venza.

The car was picked out, so John moved on to the next step:  Negotiating the price. He used one of our tried-and-true techniques to ask for the out-the-door (OTD) price and negotiate based on that. While the price on the website was $37,623, the OTD price that they came back with was an alarming $42,562.

It turns out that the car had several add-ons, such as clear coat protection, a clear bra on the front bumper, and other add-ons that John didn’t ask for. John blatantly said, “We’re not paying that price” and kept negotiating.

A half-hour passed before they reached an agreement on the price. The sales manager agreed to drop $2,600 in fees to help make the price more agreeable. With the initial negotiations done, it was time to head back to the F&I office for the final step.

In the F&I Office: Landing a Better Interest Rate

We were extremely interested in what happened at the F&I office, but John didn’t tell us too much. He did tell us that he managed to finance the Venza at a better rate than the one offered by his credit union – 2.94%.

When everything was said and done, John purchased the Venza for $35,354. That’s approximately $2,000 lower than the price advertised on the dealership’s website. We love to see success stories like these!

A Thorough Negotiation

We love that John was able to use the knowledge that he gained through our website to buy his new car for a great price. It’s stories like these that keep our team motivated to provide amazing tools to customers just like John.

We’ll end this case study with a short story that John shared at the end of his email:

“I had to go back the next day because they didn’t fill the gas tank up. The salesman filled the tank up, and as he handed my keys back, he looked me in the eye and asked, ‘You ever sold cars?’ I said, ‘Nope,’ and he then said, ‘Well, you should. You sure know your stuff, buddy,’ We laughed and laughed. I turned and I just grinned from ear to ear and walked away.”

If you’ve had a great experience buying a car because of our tools, let us know! We’d love to hear from you!