how to haggle a car repair price

He will either say okay and give you the discount, or say no. If no, offer $1,800 (10% discount), again with tax out the door. He'll most likely agree to it.

If he does, what just happened is that you got more than a 10% discount since the taxes are included with the price. You did well.

Does this actually work?

Yes, it does.

In my experience, the new car dealership service garage usually does have the best prices if you know how to go for them.

If you make it as easy as possible for the dealership service garage to make a sale by combining large repairs and not financing, you can haggle a lower price.

Does this work all the time? No. From the above, you know that low-cost repair and maintenance prices can't be negotiated. For big-cost repairs that involve a lot of labor, you can't really negotiate those either. An example of that would be a head gasket replacement, which is a slow job that can be a real bear for the garage to complete.

It's the "medium effort" repairs and maintenance where you can find the biggest discounts on repair work. Struts, shocks, other suspension items, tires, exhaust, brakes, drive belts, and so on.

It is also helpful, whenever possible, when you can inform the garage of exactly what you want so they know exactly how to price it. If you say, "I need brake rotors and pads on all four wheels, four new tires, an oil change, new battery and transmission service", that makes the service guy's job a lot easier.

I've haggled successfully at getting a lower price several times. It doesn't happen every time, but it's always great when I get it.

Things that don't work for haggling and/or getting discounts

Some people believe certain things work when they actually don't.

"I'll bring the part"

Some believe if you buy the part yourself and bring it to the dealership garage, that will result in a lower overall service price.

It doesn't.

Yes, you saved money getting the part yourself. However, new car dealership garages hate it when you do this, because at that point the work cannot be guaranteed since you brought a "nonstandard" part, even if the part is 100% correct. If the dealership didn't order the part, it's considered nonstandard and can't be guaranteed to work. No way, no how.

No dealership will discount a quoted service price using nonstandard parts.

Bringing a printed quote from elsewhere

The service guy at the desk will instantly hate your guts the moment you take out that printed sheet showing a lower price than what he just quoted you. DO NOT do this. If you do, you just lost any chance of getting a lower price. It's not happening, because you ticked off the service department. They will remember you did that and always charge you the highest price from that point forward. Count on it.

A dealership service garage is not Walmart. They don't do price matching.

Presenting any sort of automatic discount after the work is performed

I mentioned AAA above, so let's use that as the example.

You can get AAA discounts at a lot of garages, including some dealerships. However, you present the AAA membership at the time you are quoted the price, meaning NOT when the time comes to pay. At the time you go to make the payment, the paperwork has already been done.

If you flip out that AAA card when going to pay, more often than not the garage will flat out refuse to accept it even if they're listed as an AAA-Approved garage. Why? They don't want to do the paperwork all over again, so they won't, and you get no discount at all.

Any discount you have you present BEFORE work is done, as in before the paperwork is started, and not after.

Making the service guy at the desk look at your phone for any reason

Put your damned phone in your pocket and leave it there while negotiating a price and don't use it to point anything out. The service guy is giving you his full attention, and you must return it in kind. If you shove a phone in his face (which is what it is interpreted as no matter how nice you are about it), you're being rude, and any discount you thought you were going to get will vanish right then and there.

No whining allowed. Ever.

Don't shove a printed sheet in anybody's face. Don't bring parts unless you're specifically instructed to do so. Don't try to sneak in a last-second discount when going to pay. Keep that stupid phone away. Be nice, be courteous, and don't get too greedy.

No, you don't have to kiss the dealership's ass to get that discount, but you do have to keep it professional. The service department at the dealership is totally different than sales, and the service people will work with you as long as you're nice and courteous.

Remember that the guy at the desk deals with people either getting mad, whining, and/or trying to get everything for free on their 100%-out-of-warranty car. Don't be one of those people. You can get the lower price as long as you know the right way to go about it. And now you do.

Published 2022 Apr 14