[OldBlevins]

It's been awhile since I did my homework on this, but there's the MSRP, athe dealer invoice price, and the actual cost to the dealer of getting the car. I believe this is not the same as the dealer invoice price.

When I bought my last new car, I got the actual cost (including the options) that the dealer paid for it through Consumer Reports. You can do that on-line. I showed it to the salesman and asked him what he thought a reasonable profit would be for the dealership for a quick sale. My thinking is it's better to negotiate up from what they paid than down from what they're asking.

Finally, since the warranty clock started ticking in '06, you'll want to throw that into the mix. Obviously with that, the car is worth less now than when they originally bought it. My tactic would be to negotiate a price up from what they paid for a reasonable profit, then bring up the reduced warranty and ask them to compensate for that with CPO coverage on their own dime.

You're in a very good negotiating position here, especially with the end of the year coming up.