What sites are we using to get new car prices nowadays?

I've been tasked with helping two different people shop for new cars.  Both are looking for daily driver stuff, not rare enthusiast cars.  What sites are there now that can give an idea of what a decent deal is on new cars?  Not trying to grind every penny out, just don't want to get totally ripped off.  Edmunds used to be good, but has gone way downhill since being bought by NADA years ago.  TrueCar seemed "okay" last time I used it a few years back, but not as good as it used to be.

So, are there better places to go now?  Neither person is a CostCo member (no store nearby to make it worthwhile), so their buying service is out.  One is a Sam's Club member, and I think they offer something similar, but I have no idea how good it is.

I used cars.com several times with good luck. 
 

if you know the make/model, the OEM's web site can be a great source of connecting you with a dealer (if it's a car in stock) and some even let dealers bid for you biz

when I bought my truck in '22 and there was no inventory, signing up on fords mailing list 2-3 times netted me a $2,000 off voucher. 

Auto Trader

The world is very MSRP these days. A deal means they didn't charge you more than MSRP. 

Where you can really help and save these friends is guiding these friends through the Finance and Insurance (F&I) office.  Otherwise, unprotected, this is where the real berkeleying happens!  

What's the dealer gonna try to charge for:

• Delivery fee
• Doc fee
• Prep fee
• "Mandatory" credit insurance 
• "Mandatory" prepaid service 
• How high of an interest rate
• On and on

Cincinnati area dealers of all mainstay makes are showing discounts from MSRP pretty much across the board on their webpage inventories.  Their main lots and overflow lots are bursting with inventory at this point, so I am guessing there is the normal 'end of the month' latitude for deeper discounts beyond what they are already advertising.  

I'm with senor Welsh on this one, I would consider anything below MSRP to be a good deal. 

How bad they need a new car will determine how tough they can be with negotiations. When I ordered my BRZ back in April '22. They tried to add a markup, I stood up and shook the salesmen hand and told him I wouldn't be paying a markup. When the manager realized he was about to lose a sale to someone who was ready to put down a non-refundable deposit on a car that hadn't even been built yet, that markup disappeared. And that was back when people were still paying big markups on basically every vehicle. 

Similar vein to "it's best to look for a job while you still have one" type of thing. 

Strong disagree with what everyone else has said.

Highly, highly, highly dependent on what brand you're buying. If you're buying a CDJR product, for example, you got screwed if you paid more than 75% of MSRP. Paying MSRP on a limited production Porsche is a sign of a savvy negotiator

Generally I use Carsdirect (which shows you MSRP minus most applicable incentives) to get a sense of what a "decent" deal is and then work from there

Here's a pretty good, quickly searched, review of games in the F&I office

https://caredge.com/guides/fi-menu-selling

Fortunately, I'm familiar with just saying no to everything at the F&I office, no matter how hard they push.

Kind of hoping to help one person sometime this week, but boy would it be nice to deal with both and get them over.  One person still has a wide range of vehicles they're interested in, but the other is almost certainly going for a Camry LE, with cold weather package, unless they don't like the test drive. 

calteg said:

Strong disagree with what everyone else has said.

Highly, highly, highly dependent on what brand you're buying. If you're buying a CDJR product, for example, you got screwed if you paid more than 75% of MSRP. Paying MSRP on a limited production Porsche is a sign of a savvy negotiator

Generally I use Carsdirect (which shows you MSRP minus most applicable incentives) to get a sense of what a "decent" deal is and then work from there

I thought Stellantis products were like Nissan, only people with E36 M3 credit and an 87 year loan purchased them. 

In reply to z31maniac :

You're not wrong. Both brands tend to do incredibly well when built near military bases as well...