"Sticker" price is what the manufacturer sets as the vehicle's intended retail value... so named because the number is listed on a paper stuck to the inside of a vehicle's window glass when it leaves the factory. But sticker means little these days, thanks largely to the Internet. Invoice price – what the dealer pays the manufacturer – has become the real negotiating point. Allowing for the dealer's need to make a profit, the price you pay should be somewhere between sticker and invoice.
In case you're wondering how to get the invoice price, it's quite simple. Virtually all car buying sites on the Internet show invoice and in most cases their buying tools automatically add option/package invoice amounts as you work your way through the process.
So how much should you reasonably be expected to pay? The only way to be sure is to know what the market is paying for a similar car. Happily for the consumer, the Internet now allows a prospective buyer to uncover market conditions at any moment in various parts of the country. Edmunds.com, for example, reveals the True Market Value; CarsDirect.com, which sells cars online, has its own version called Guaranteed CarsDirect Price; Intellichoice sorts out the Best Deals of the Month. Obviously there are differences between the various techniques but quoted prices are usually within a few dollars of each other.
Destination charges and rebates are also included and therefore need to be added and subtracted to arrive at the total sales price, but that's something you can easily figure out on your own. The point I'm making here is that any car buyer, with very little effort, can get an accurate summation of a car's value, which immediately puts him or her in a stronger negotiating position.
