Keep in mind that going through this strategy will take you hours and hours, and with Software Engineering salaries it's quite probable that you should instead rather be working on stuff that you're actually good at with this time.
Or then you outsource this whole process to someone else and pay them a slight premium, which is what I would do. My time isn't worth an email battle and spreadsheet acrobatics to save $3k.
Yeah, take that SE salary and buy a Costco membership and use their auto program.
All they really do is email a bunch of dealers for you but they got me a lower price then actually going in person to a handful of dealerships and getting the "employees discount" offer.
Are there any good email-negotiation LLM agents one could employ here? :) Admittedly underhanded but as echoed in this thread, the dealerships aren’t really playing fair either.
Perfectly legit and wise use of time on a buyer's down time after dinner. I wouldn't mind spending the time on this over the course of a week if, at the end of the week, I wound up with the car of my choice at a fair price. I think it's time well spent.
I think it’s ok to do it when you are not in a hurry, like if your current car is getting high on mileage and you know you will need a new car in a year or two.
Or then you outsource this whole process to someone else and pay them a slight premium, which is what I would do. My time isn't worth an email battle and spreadsheet acrobatics to save $3k.