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Buyers: in the driver seat
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January 17, 1997: 3:35 p.m. ET
Purchasing a sport utility vehicle may not be as expensive as you think
From Correspondent Jody Davis
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Convinced you'll have to pay top dollar for one of those fancy jeeps? Perhaps not. In fact, you may be able to purchase one of those sport utility vehicles for less than the factory invoice price - the dealer's cost. (1.74M QuickTime Movie)
"We've gotten bids where, for example, customers would be getting a Jeep Grand Cherokee for $450 below invoice," said Robert Krughoff, president of Washington D.C- based CarBargains, a non-profit service that helps consumers get better prices by negotiating with dealers nationwide.
He continued, "For the Isuzu Rodeo, we've gotten bids where the customer got the car for as much as $2,000 below invoice." (246K WAV) (246K AIF)
There are several reasons for this phenomenon. Dealers are able to allow costs to dip below original factory invoice prices because they routinely receive after-sale cash back from manufacturers, in amounts that reach hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of dollars.
In addition, supply has finally caught up with demand, and more manufacturers are producing a larger number of sport utility vehicles. That gives the dealer an incentive to get cars off his lot faster.
Jack Nerad, an automotive journalist, believes that knowledge is power, and that consumers should first determine the actual factory invoice price. "Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds both have on-line services that allow you to get dealer invoice pricing," he said. "There's a company in California called Automotive Consumer Services that also provides that kind of information, and Consumer Reports will provide you with some of the information."
Krughoff recommends that consumers contact at least five dealers during the negotiation process, requesting a single quote on a specific model.
"You can be absolutely gracious, but you should do it by phone because, if you do it in person, it can be very hard to extricate yourself from the dealer," Krughoff said, "and it will be very hard for them to believe that you're going to go on to somebody else." (191K WAV) (191K AIF)
Unfortunately, not every sport utility vehicle purchase will come in under the invoice price. Krughoff maintained that Toyota 4-Runners are currently fetching bids between $800 and $2,000 over invoice, and the luxury Range Rover Discovery is running about $1,500 over invoice. 
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