Although OfferMORE specializes in buying cars and not selling them, the pros here have been in the car sales business for over two decades. We’ve ran our own car lot, spent thousands of hours at auctions and even more time working to help people get financed and every aspect of the car sales industry. Today we’ll be divulging some of our acquired knowledge to help you determine when bringing a cash offer to the table can really help you get a better offer.

Note: We use the term “cash” in this article and should specify our meaning: Using “cash” for buying power really means having the money in the bank, and paying via a check or direct electronic transfer. We do not advise anyone to actually walk into a dealership with a bag full of hundred dollar bills. That’s a recipe for disaster.

When Cash Helps in Getting a Better Deal

Point blank, smaller ‘mom-and-pop’ lots are much more likely to give you a deal if you are negotiating with cash power. Larger lots, like a big Ford dealership for instance, are not nearly as easily persuaded by cash offers. At the end of the day, bigger lots are completely fine and may even prefer it when a customer finances their vehicle. They make a long term, often interest heavy return on the sale OR they have a finance company which purchases the note from them, hence they get paid in full regardless of whether you’re financing or not. Smaller lots are not as incentivized by the long-run return and instead focus on fast turn over. You can use this to your advantage by bringing cash buying power to the table.

How to use the power of cash to your advantage when buying a new car:

First off, you have be a negotiator and willing to be tough about it. If you can get up out of a chair when the salesman says “no, but..” you have the upper hand. If you sit there, listening to their counter offer, unless you think it’s close to your target purchase price, you are likely never going to get the deal you’re after. So, how low can you go? If a car is listed at 10k there is a good chance the dealership spent between four and seven grand on it. Thus you can likely get them down about 25% off the asking price, sometimes more. At a ‘mom-n-pop’ dealership, having cash in the bank will significantly increase your chances of getting this deal. However, be sure to take the time to fully inspect the vehicle and have a mechanic give it a once over.