skaven

Well the $34,200 quote was at month-end.

As for expending the energy, the final selling price is not the key deciding factor. I'm going to be including financing information in the requests for bids. So although yes, most dealerships would laugh about bidding against each other over $2,000, I don't think they'd be so quick to laugh about their dealership financing the loan. An 8% rate on a loan over 5 years for a $30,000 prinicipal comes out to over $6,000 that goes into the dealership's pockets for virtually zero work (all they have to do is order the car). I think they'll take the time to bid for that. If I can find a dealership willing to give me a really good rate, say 5%, that saves me $2,500 just on the financing. Combine that with possibly getting the actual car for at or under invoice, and maybe some extra options at reduced or no charge, and it looks more and more like a good idea to get dealerships to bid.

And to be a bit clearer, I'm not planning on taking all these quotes, combining them, then resubmitting them to the dealerships for revised bids. Basically they'll get one shot to be the best price, and then they win. Not that much work for me or for them.

Finally, I'm not sure what you are insinuating by "what baby wants, baby gets", but if you're implying that I'm going to all this trouble just so my dad can buy the car for me, you're wrong. I'm getting the downpayment as a graduation present, but everything else, from the payments to the insurance to the maintenance, are all coming out of my paycheck. I've been wanting to drive a TL since I first saw one two years ago, and now that I've got a good job and finished 13 years of education, I'm ready to drive a "real" car, as opposed to the piece of junk I've been driving since high school.