Information is an edge, especially when you’re buying a new car. As you negotiate with car dealerships, it’ll help you get a better price if you do some research in advance. A good start is knowing the dealer invoice price. In this post, we will share with you how to find the invoice price by VIN.

Invoice price vs. MSRP, what’s the difference?

An invoice price is the amount of money a dealership pays the manufacturer to buy the vehicle, which is also called the dealer cost. And an MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) is the price at which the dealership is suggested to sell. Normally, the invoice price is generally 10-20% lower than the MSRP.

Sometimes dealerships can pay less than the invoice price to purchase cars. Because manufacturers offer sales incentives that allow dealerships to make money even if they sell the vehicle at the invoice price. It’s probably not the case with every car, but an invoice price is an important baseline as you negotiate with a seller. 

1. Run a VIN lookup on BeenVerified

BeenVerified is a strong vehicle search tool. With access to a wide range of public record databases, the tool can retrieve all the available information that is associated with the vehicle. For example, its invoice price, MSRP, ownership cost, and other basic specs. If you’re buying a used car, it’ll find you details like its title, theft, and accident records – all in one platform.

1. Go to BeenVerified.
2. Enter the VIN and click SEARCH.
   
3. Wait for BeenVerified to search through its data sources and generate a report.
4. On the report page, you’ll see a navigation bar on the left to help you easily access the section that you’re interested in. For example, the Sale Listings section. To view the invoice price, you can go to the Vehicle Specs section.
   
5. Note that BeenVerified is a subscription-based service and you’ll need to purchase a membership plan to view the report. During the subscription, you can access its other search services like phone number, email address, and address lookup.

2. Check the invoice price with Bumper

Bumper is an excellent alternative to BeenVerified. It is an NMVTIS-approved data provider that gathers vehicle records from government agencies, insurance providers, and car industry sources. Simply provide the VIN of the vehicle, and it can find you the invoice price, MSRP, theft record, title history, and more.

1. Go to Bumper.
2. Enter the VIN and click SEARCH.
   
3. Wait for Bumper to scour its data sources and provide you with all the available records associated with the VIN number. Note that Bumper is also a paid service.
   
   

3. Ask the dealers directly

As you shop around, you can ask the dealers directly for the invoice price. It makes no sense to hide it, since information like the invoice price and MSRP, as part of the basic specifications of a vehicle, is easy to find. Besides, an honest answer shows their confidence to offer you a good price.

If the model you’re looking for isn’t popular and is in stock, dealerships might even sell it at a price that’s lower than the invoice price to keep their inventory moving. That’s a pro tip to get better deals –  consider avoiding widely sought-after models.

4. Google the year and make

If you know exactly the year, make, and model of your dream car, you can do a Google search. Simply type in the make of the car and ‘invoice price’ into the search box. For example, 2013 LEXUS LS 460 invoice price. The search engine will find you numerous price-comparing and car sales websites that might contain related information.

Check through them and see if there’s anything helpful. Note that some specific models may be hard to find, but you can take the chances anyway. If you’d prefer a fast and accurate search, you can try a professional VIN search tool like BeenVerified.

You may also want to know…

1. Why is the dealer invoice price important when buying a car?

If you’re planning to buy a car, knowing the dealer invoice price gives you a benchmark for negotiations. And it allows you to have a general concept of the cost of the vehicle. Also, with the dealer invoice price, you can compare prices across different dealerships and make informed decisions.

2. Does the dealer invoice price include additional fees or charges?

The dealer invoice price typically includes the base price of the vehicle and the manufacturer’s standard equipment. However, it may not include certain additional fees or charges. For example, destination fees, local taxes, and options fees.

This is what we’d like to share about how to find the invoice price by VIN and some tips on how to save money. We hope you find them helpful!