It's not totally a scam, True Car that is (kbb is a waste of time in every respect). I leased a car through True Car and the price was lower than any amount of negotiating the other dealers I was working with would go down to. I also went with a friend on another True car lease and had similar results. The amount of time it saved was monumental as well, as I used to have to travel out of state to find a good deal.

For my last tire purchase, Discount Tire beat Tire Rack's price, installed.

I worked in car sales a long time ago. Some quick facts. Most dealerships lose money on new car sales, they negotiate to not lose as much. This isn't to say they lose money on a car sale but new car sales will not pay their overhead. Owner want dealerships for the parts department that is where the money is. Service does OK but parts is where the big money is. Believe me if dealerships could just do parts and service they would not sell the cars. Selling the cars is part of doing business.

Negotiating is about doing your research. Find out invoice, which is pretty easy now a days. Find out what incentives and rebates are being offered. It is harder to find out the incentives to the dealer and they don't give the up easy when negotiating.

I wouldn't pay more than $300 over invoice and more likely a grand below invoice plus the incentive/ rebates. Know what you are willing to pay before you go there. There are two tricks to negotiating. One is patience! Time is on their side, they work there. They will go back and forth with the sales or finance manager and BS to make you wait and wear you down. The salesman knows what he can sell a car for, he really doesn't need any of the managers. Going in knowing it is a game can really help. The second big thing is be willing to walk and mean it. Get up and leave, they will call you back if they think your offer was reasonable.

Other tips. Negotiate price not payments. Payments and financing comes after. Negotiate like you are buying straight out and get the best price. Do not tell them you have a trade until after you negotiated price. This varies by state but in some states taxes are based off of sale price and the trade does not reduce it so get the best price you can. When you do negotiate your trade know you will not get as much for it if you negotiated the price down well. Usually, they like to negotiate trades off sticker or higher. They like to get trades cheap as there is more money in used cars than new ones.

Watch for all the extras they try to throw in. Know your states registration prices for getting a new car. They like to add paperwork fees to get a few extra dollars from you. They try to make it seem standard. It is a service if they do the registration but it shouldn't cost much more than personally what registration costs. You can decline this and do the registration yourself. Personally, I am willing to pay a little extra to avoid waiting in line at the DMV/RMV but not several hundred dollars more.

Have your financing before hand. They can probably beat it and it will be a win-win for you and them.

Leasing is based off of MSRP and can be negotiated. You can get leasing formulas and there are a lot of factors. You can find these if you want to but it is just easier to know that it can be negotiated. They will be less likely to negotiate lot on a lease.

Remember this is their game and they know it better than you. If you are happy with the deal than be happy and go back to your life.