Congrats, Irv! Sounds like a sweet deal. I wish I had your bargaining skills. Maybe I should go shopping for a car now when I have zero desire for one...easy to walk away.
Theres a few tricks to buying cars.. DON'T fall in love... NEVER GO TO THE DEALERSHIP IN PERSON, it sounds like such a good deal you end up signing on the spot... Use the phone, check the dealerships inventory, go to Truecar.com and they will tell you a % below MSRP that car is selling for, so if it says people are buying the car for 13% under msrp you start at 15%... You call the dealership and ask to speak to a salesman, you tell them "I am interested in this car, stock # XXXXX, I want to pay $X amount, I am a very busy person and don't have time to come and dance around the dealership with you, I just need a yay or nay"
Now you will get a few different responses, some dealerships will say "no its impossible", some will say "come down and see us we can not go that low over the phone}, and then one will say," Yah, we can talk more, maybe not that low but in the neighborhood"... But they will all take your phone number and name, expect to be called until you buy the car...
So the one that says they may be able to get there.... You say "give me your best price, because I am going shopping, no offence but I want the car as for the best possible price, I have no loyalty to any of the dealerships in this area or brand so expect someone to give me a great deal to earn my current and future business"....
Now you are going to start getting prices in, for round numbers say they are 12% under msrp at $31500, and 30,555 is 15% where you want to be, but don't even know if it is possible yet, you stand your ground and keep your 30,555 offer on the table, you say stuff like "hey if your manager changes his mind give me a call" Now you wait 7 days, if no one calls you started too low... Call them back, say "hey I noticed you didn't sell that car yet, can you consider my 30,555 offer"? now he calls you back," no bud they can not go below 31250", so if you called 4 or 5 dealerships and you checked that number out {percent wise, not the actual number, they are all going to have different msrp's, even the same car} you know you have the cheapest price...
NOW don't forget there are better times to buy cars than others... When toyota had that recall bs going on in 2010, they were offering record breaking deals, like 0% $5500 cash back, and some dealerships had permission to call toyota themselves with offers, you could have stole anything on their lot, they just wanted cars selling and fast...
You have to treat it like a game, and once you get a history with a dealer you always shop around but expect them to beat every other price... That is what I do, I called another dealer with the price we bought this car for and he said he would buy it for that......
Anyway we just picked it up, my office manager drove it up to the house for me and my wife is going to see it tonight after her doctor leaves around 4:00, I am going to walk her out there and show it to her, hopefully she will feel up to going for a ride, its been rough around here, hopefully this will bring her spirits up, the daytime nurse dressed her in a fancy dress and shoes that I bought her so maybe when I take her outside she will want to go for a ride and maybe go get dinner out somewhere, since we are on day 3 of solid foods with no issues, she eatls like a rabbit anyway, but I am thinking a grilled mushroom greek salad sitting at a table and not lying in bed will make her feel better.... And I will drive her in her new car, that i now fit in..