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Written by J.P. Wicklein
I drive a 2000 Toyota Celica with 130,000 miles on it. (Hey, it was a cool car when I was 22.) My goal is to keep it until at least 200,000 miles and defer car payments for as long as possible. Hopefully no major maintenance repairs pop up between now and then. If they do, however, I’ve learned a way to lessen the financial blow. After I get a quote for any maintenance work from the dealer I ask if they can take 10% off. They say, “Yes.” – every time.
Most car dealerships will offer service coupons periodically. If you’re lucky you will find a coupon that offers a discount off your service bill (the best one I’ve found is 10% off). The problem is that these coupons are infrequent and often valid at dealers that aren’t in convenient locations. I’ve discovered, however, that most dealers will honor their competitor’s coupons. After I got tired of searching the internet for the best service coupons, printing them out, and taking them to the dealer I decided to adopt a new approach…..I’d just ask them if they would take 10% off.
I’ve tried this on numerous occasions with a 100% success rate at three different Toyota dealers. I suspect, though, that asking for 10% off would work just as easily at a Honda, GM, Ford, or any other dealer. The dialogue usually goes something like this:
Guy behind the service counter: “So the total repairs come to $325.”
Me: “Okay. I normally find a 10% off coupon for you guys to match, however, I didn’t get a chance to do that today so could you just give me 10% off?”
Guy behind the service counter: “Sure. Your new total is $292.50.”
It’s that simple. I prefer taking my car to the dealer, however, I suspect asking for 10% off could work at Merlin, Midas, or an independent service shop. So, next time you take your car in for service try asking for 10% off!
Have you tried asking for a discount before? What type of business was it? Did it work? Post your comments below!
9 responses so far ↓
1 Randy // Nov 8, 2008 at 11:28 am
Well the obvious time when I’ve been able to barter over price is when I buy a car but, I have had some success with gym memberships. When they have you sign up you can ususally negotiate the “start-up fee”. The monthly rate is another story, though.
2 Roger // Nov 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm
My grandma used to find the dented cans at the grocery store and ask for a lower price. This wasn’t just a ma and pa type place, either. This was at Safeway.
3 Tracey // Nov 10, 2008 at 7:16 am
What do you mean, when you were 22? Our car is still cool.
4 John // Nov 10, 2008 at 9:07 am
Good call on the gym membership, Randy. I’ll have to give that a try
I still love my Celica, Tracey. Just feel like my age tells me that I should be in a sedan. : )
5 B. Estey // Nov 14, 2008 at 9:21 am
I have recently called billers to negotiate lower rates. Cell phone, land line, highspeed internet, gym memberships, etc. They typically will negotiate rather than lose the business all together.
Also, look at your mortgage bills and home equity lines. If you’re paying a significantly higher interest rate than current market rates, call your lender and ask for a rate modification.
And John, I had a 2001 Celica at 22 as well. I had it for 18 months and sold it outright. The man who bought it was purchasing it for his daughter’s 16th birthday. That should tell ya something.
6 Financial Fellow // Nov 15, 2008 at 11:12 am
B. Estey -
Great advice! I’m not familiar with a “rate modification” with respect to a mortage. Are essentially saying that they could lower your mortage rate without an actual refinance. Rather, they just drop it a bit?
7 R. Mulbery // Nov 16, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Funny thing, I just went in Saturday for a 100,000 mile check up for my 2004 Honda Civic. As I was checking out, I asked for a 10% discount and the guy paused and said “was it on the website?”, I responded with “I don’t know?”, he said…sure “sure, why not?” so I got my 10% discount for nothing. Good advice my friend.
8 John // Nov 16, 2008 at 4:04 pm
R. Mulbery -
Glad to here it worked! The 100% success rate is still intact! Thanks for the feedback. I’ll be posting a few more articles on ways to save money in the near future. In the meantime if you’ve come up with any other penny pinching methods please feel free to share. Thanks, again!
John
9 B. Estey // Nov 17, 2008 at 11:30 am
Yes, a rate modification is basically you saying, “I like you as a lender and don’t want to take the business elsewhere, but I will if you don’t give me a better rate.” Typically it works better if your mortgae is with a smaller institution and you know someone who can go to bat for you. I’ve had success with large institutions as well.
For those of you looking to save lots of money, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting to know a person at your financial institution. They can save you a lot of money where most banks will nickel and dime you, and you can often get free lunches to boot.
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