Do you have any experience buying a new car in the DR?

[2020]

Were thinking about buying a new Suzuki Jimny.
Has anybody in this forum has had the experience of buying an actual new car from a franchised new car dealer? Please give me some tips and recommendations on what to do and not to do ....

 

[SKY]

SuperCarros - República Dominicana - compra de carros, venta de vehiculos

El portal lider para interesados en comprar y vender vehículos en República Dominicana, con el mayor tráfico especializado para el mercado automotriz. Más de 1,250,000 de visitas mensuales y más de 15,000+ anuncios.

www.supercarros.com

Go to this site and you will get the price for the new car you want. You won't get much or anything off these prices on new cars. Search and look for the best price here. Hard to bargain on new cars, as the dealers pretty much have the same numbers.

 

[windeguy]

Purchased from Magna Motors a new 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe in 2003. The price was the price. I paid it and drove it away.

Purchased a new 2015 Kia Sorento from the Kia Dealer in Santiago in 2015. The price was the price. I paid it and drove it away.

That is most likely what you will do if you purchase a new car in the DR. They had "simple pricing" even before my home country did.
The price is the price, Pay it and drive the car away. Simple.

 

[LindseyKaufman]

Bought 2 new cars here. Windy is correct. I could not be happier. The maintenance is good. They honor the US warranties.

Bought 2 used truck here. A little trickier. But I am happy with that purchase, too.

 

[william webster]

Seems you have all you need to know here from 2 reliable sources

Looking forward to hearing about & seeing the new vehicle

 

[windeguy]

Bought 2 new cars here. Windy is correct. I could not be happier. The maintenance is good. They honor the US warranties.

Bought 2 used truck here. A little trickier. But I am happy with that purchase, too.

The new car warranties for the Hyundai and Kia were both one year. Nowhere near as long as what they would have been in the USA.
Recently, are they honoring 10 year New Car warranties in the DR?

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

I had a friend that bought a Ford Escape used that had a recall issue.
The dealer refused to take care of the problem giving the excuse that he did not purchase the car from the dealer.
Ford is a worldwide company with a dealer network.
I told him to write an email to the regional manager that handled the dealer in 🇩🇴 .
He did.
He got a same day response from the regional office.
The dealer that refused to take care of the problem called him the next day asking when he could bring in his vehicle.
And yes, this was in the 🇩🇴.
Not obvious or intuitive but it worked.

 

[playacaribe2]

The new car warranties for the Hyundai and Kia were both one year. Nowhere near as long as what they would have been in the USA.
Recently, are they honoring 10 year New Car warranties in the DR?

10 year/100,000 miles powertrain warranty....5 year unlimited miles bumper to bumper (except for consummables i.e. tires etc.) Slight variations on electric battery EV's.

Were thinking about buying a new Suzuki Jimny.
Has anybody in this forum has had the experience of buying an actual new car from a franchised new car dealer? Please give me some tips and recommendations on what to do and not to do ....

Tip: Rethink the Jimny.................unless you have a love affair for its looks/style................there are better more reliable options from Hyundai/Kia/Toyota/Honda. That having been said, ask about dealer reputation. If you are buying new and are provided a warranty, a dealers reputation is of utmost importance to you.

Tip: While new car prices have limited wiggle room for negotiation, buying at the tail end of the month is a good strategy. They have monthly quotas to meet to their franchise agreements and you are more apt to get a slightly better price and/or a more upscale model at the same price. Always go when you have good lighting...........meaning not in the evening/night. You will have better light to pick up any new car flaws either interior/exterior.

Tip: Offering to pay cash is always a good negotiation strategy...............if possible.

These are but a few tips...............but know there are others.

Most people hate car buying and because of my representation of dealers over 40 years (including many in DR), I understand why. But things are changing......slowly.....but changing.

There is an old joke that the prerequisite to be a car dealer is that you must be a convicted felon.

Good luck with your search.

Respectfully,
playacaribe2

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

Most people hate car buying and because of my representation of dealers over 40 years (including many in DR), I understand why. But things are changing......slowly.....but changing.

That is because buying a car is WAR.
Over money ‼️
Whoop, there it is.
Straight no chase...

 

[USA DOC]

That is because buying a car is WAR.
Over money ‼️
Whoop, there it is.
Straight no chase...

You are right about it being war, and that from being the sales manager for years the customers start it every time, as their fear comes out sideways as aggression... I taught all sales people not to react to the customers fear....that was the way Toyota wanted it............

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

You are right about it being war, and that from being the sales manager for years the customers start it every time, as their fear comes out sideways as aggression... I taught all sales people not to react to the customers fear....that was the way Toyota wanted it............

This fear is expressed because for years in my country of origin the war was conducted using psychological warfare in the dealers office designed to extract or outright defraud the maximum money out of the customer.
I never knew if I won the WAR.
But by coming in armed with knowledge.
And letting them know I was not about their sales 💩.
I most certainly avoided that part.
After that it came down to the art of negotiation.
And hats off to Toyota.
Some of the best cars I have owned in my life after my E Class and my M Class.

 

[JD Jones]

I really like the looks of the new Jimmy too, but the Suzuki Van I bought a few years back was not very impressive. Build and quality were just OK.
Not anything specific, but it just seemed to deteriorate in front of my eyes. Almost as bad as Chinese vehicles.
It's still going, but I wouldn't't buy another.

 

[drstock]

A friend of mine who is very "particular" did some research before deciding NOT to buy a new car. It seems that many cars that arrive here are ones that have failed to sell elsewhere. Although they are new in the sense that they have not been owned by anyone else, they may have been sitting in a field somewhere for up to a year. According to him, in that year of standing the car can deteriorate al lot.
Personally, I wouldn't have done the research and would have driven the car happily home, none the wiser.

 

[JD Jones]

True.
The electric cars I was mentioning the other day turned out to be 2017 models.

 

[william webster]

I had a Suzuki XL-7 once

The door sticker of date of manufacture was 07/07...... clearly an early '08 model
It was sold here at St Dom Motors as a 2009..... marked on the matricula

That told me how long it had sitting around.....

JDJ may be right... whether it sat here or somewhere else --- it sat, nonetheless

 

[NanSanPedro]

A friend of mine who is very "particular" did some research before deciding NOT to buy a new car. It seems that many cars that arrive here are ones that have failed to sell elsewhere. Although they are new in the sense that they have not been owned by anyone else, they may have been sitting in a field somewhere for up to a year. According to him, in that year of standing the car can deteriorate al lot.
Personally, I wouldn't have done the research and would have driven the car happily home, none the wiser.

This is so true. Parts need to move and lube, not sit. It really decreases reliability, and not just in cars.

 

[USA DOC]

This fear is expressed because for years in my country of origin the war was conducted using psychological warfare in the dealers office designed to extract or outright defraud the maximum money out of the customer.
I never knew if I won the WAR.
But by coming in armed with knowledge.
And letting them know I was not about their sales 💩.
I most certainly avoided that part.
After that it came down to the art of negotiation.
And hats off to Toyota.
Some of the best cars I have owned in my life after my E Class and my M Class.

coming with know;edge is a good thing...I was the negotiator for the Toyota dealership...first thing I did was give the customer a copy of the invoice( real cost of the car they wanted} and then the question "how much would be fair for us to make on this $25k camry"?... that was most of the time when the was sold...; to bad I didnt wait on you for your car purchase....Toyota avoids the war thinking when selling cars, and wants only return customers, and smart buyers like you are easy to reason with and sell... Toyota knows that if you are happy with the purchase process, and you are happy with the car (which everybody is} they will tell people they know, and themselves will be a repeat customer.,,..........

 

[chrisgy]

I am 20 years in the car industry . I've been a salesman, Sales Manager , General Sales Manager, General Manager and Partner. First Toyota, then Jeep/Dodge/Chrysler, and ending up at BMW . And I can say without a doubt buying a NEW car here is basically a "no haggling environment"

All the dealers and all the brokers have a very narrow spectrum to move.

I bought a new 2020 CRV , a few months back from Espaillat in Santiago.

I negotiated with 7 dealers , and in the end drove to Punta Cana to pick up the CRV in the color and options that I wanted in order to get a better price.

That same CRV, the Punta Cana location budged 20,000 pesos. The Santiago location after 7 days of back and forth on that same CRV went down 60K.
I paid just around 2,000,000 pesos. Took the Santiago paperwork to Punta Cana and they issued me the plate there on behalf of the Santiago branch.

In the end I used the 40,000 pesos difference for a Punta Cana stay at Bavaro with my wife and daughter, other than that it wouldn't have been worth it.

Here the biggest thing is not the price, just use a reputable dealer.

 

[2020]

Many of the posts mentioned of cars sitting in a field .... I'm talking about a NEW vehicle that's not imported from the US since the car I had in mind is not available over there (new Suzuki Jimni). I thought new cars in the DR sell rather quickly when they are imported from Japan.

Doesn't the DR have a shortage of new cars? - thus little haggling?

 

[william webster]

My post #15 cites a new car that seemed to have been on the lot at SDMotors for over a year.

When inspecting your new car, you can check the manufacture date on the driver's door