FutureAV:
Here are a couple of additional thoughts to consider:
1) How many AV's are on the dealers lot? If there are alot of them, they should be more willing to work with you. Down here in Maryland, my dealer says AV's have been selling in spurts, they sell for a couple of weeks then they may go upto 10 days before selling another. The get motivated the last week of the month.
2) Check out:
www.gmsupplierdiscount.com
and see if your company is on their list of GM suppliers. If your company is on their list, you can purchase an AV at the GM supplier price listed on the invoice. This price is 4% over the price a regualr GM employee would pay. On my AV's this amounted to around $800 BELOW invoice! This discount is in addition to any other discount or incentive which is out there. Becareful, some dealers will refuse to sell to you at this discounted rate. They are allowed to refuse the sale. Others will sell it but not spend alot of time with you since they aren't making anything on the deal.
3) Remember the dealers actual cost is below the invoice. They get other "hold backs" rebates and incentives. I've had salesmen claim this isn't true. But believe me, it's true (My Uncle owns and operates a dealership in PA and this is true.)
3) a) They recieve money for advertising, which is listed on the invoice.
3) b) They recieve money for "floor planning" which is on the invoice (dealers typically have to pay the interest on the vehicle while it is on the lot, upto the day of sale, this is called floor planning, the amount they recieve is static, so the sooner they sell it, the more they make because the don't incurr as much interest expense as compared to a vehicle which has sat for several months on the lot)
4) When a dealer gets a vehicle from another dealer (called dealer exchanging or DXing) they typically pay the other dealler invoice plus say $100 in your case. The dealer which originally ordered the vehicle KEEPS the AD money and the Floor Planning money. All other things being equal, you should be able to work a better deal on a fresh vehicle on the lot than a DX'd vehicle.
5) Most all dealerships get additonal money or incentives from the manufactures if they attain certain sales goals for the month. This causes them to put their salespeople into a program which give them incentives to sell certain levels of vehicles. These usually end at the end of the calendar month. I have dealt with the same salesman for several years and vehicles and he is always willing to cut a low margin deal at the end of the month just to get another tick by his name on the sales tracking chart.
Personally, my last purchase was at the GM Supplier Discount rate which was around $800 under invoice, then there was a Dealer cash back of $500 and 3.9% for 5 years financing. With Tax, Title, Tags, 100k Extended warranty, 0 deductible, everything was still more than $2500 less than MSRP before my down payment.
My buddy bought an 02 this summer with the GM Supplier discount and took the $2500 cash back incentive instead of 0% since he was paying with cash and he ended up almost $3500 under invoice - this was when they were seling well in our area and the dealers were less apt to deal.
I know this is alot to digest but I hope it helps you in you quest for the right AV.
Bear
