Looks like I am gonna buy a new truck though this isn't the first vehicle I have bought by myself I was rather igorant in buying my first truck so what I am wondering is if 15% is the standard in talking the price down with the dealer....the truck that I am looking at is new and has a sticker price of $25k but I am looking for something at $21k.  Am I going to be in the ball park?

What make and model truck are you looking for?
Have you though about a one year old truck, so you don't lose 5 grand driving it off the lot?
My buddy just got a 2002 Dodge Ram 4 door 4X4 pickup. 15,000 miles and warranteed until 70,000 for $17,000.00 and change. One sweet truck, and it's the 4.7L V8, not the Hemi.

HighStrung1's right. Try a 2002. And as far as the ball park is concerned, it depends on the dealer. Sometimes you might be able to get them down from 25 - 21, but some will just try to screw you in some round about way... Do you have any friends or know anybody at the dealership?

EDMUNDS.COM will get you in the ballpark....I have used their "FMV", now "TMV" as a starting point for my negotiations on the last 5 cars I have helped buy.

You can usually beat this price by a bit, but I have found them to be close to what dealers are doing on the cars/trucks at the time.

They were high by $1200 on the Acura MDX we just drove home tonight.  Which got me within 3% means they were +/- 3% on this car....and the results have been similar as long as I have used them.

Though I have always gotten better deals than they suggest......YMMV.....

Wholsale is usually 15-20% under retail for trucks.  So if you can get to 10-15% under Suggested retail you're in good shape.  Watch for dealer add ons they are usually almost pure profit for the dealer.

I always go to [url]www.carsdirect.com[/url] to see their price because they also show the invoice price.  If the vehicle is not in large demand you should be able to get it at invoice or 1-3% above.  But they are dealing on trucks like mad now, at least at our local dealers. Check tomorrows ads.

To save miles on my Tacoma (and gas $$$), we just bought a Toyota ECHO.  EDMUNDS has the prices for our car at MSRP $12,290; Invoice at $11,377; and TMV at $11,620.  The wife was at the dealer having some work done on her car and saw the ECHO decked out like we wanted. Our plan was to wait untill the end of the year closeouts. She offered them $11K.  They called three times whining about how they needed to make some money, but the last call was OK for $11K.