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I love buying cars.. I do my homework and always know way more about the car and cost that im buying then anyone at the dealership. Within 5 minutes they realize this and back off. I have always gotten the deal I wanted.. Im fact Im so good as this, I have done it for others at no cost. Love doing it..
I do the same thing. I know what I am going to pay, I get my own financing, know the vehicle I want, and tell them right up front, I dont have to purchase a vehicle. It take about 3 dealerships to get the price on the vehicle I want. I am never pressured. Its my money to buy or not. I dont see the pressure tactics I hear from others on buying a new vehicle.
I love buying cars.. I do my homework and always know way more about the car and cost that im buying then anyone at the dealership. Within 5 minutes they realize this and back off. I have always gotten the deal I wanted.. Im fact Im so good as this, I have done it for others at no cost. Love doing it..
Sort of reminds me of a couple of local dealers that always have crazy-high "asking" prices on their used cars...like $10,000 for a 10-year old basic GM sedan. I guess they figure if their prices turn off 95% of the car-buying public, it's all worth it when one sucker finally pays $10,000 for a car the dealer paid $4,000-$5,000 for. I've noticed many cars sitting on their lots for 6-12 months unsold...they're just waiting for that one sucker.
Meanwhile another local dealer who prices similar cars for $6,000-$7,000 turns them over in a month or less.
When an uncle retired from the oilfield, he took up a consulting position which paid much more. He then had the money to realize his dream of walking into a new car dealership and buying a car with cash and driving away with the car and the title. He wanted a loaded Mercury Grand Marquis. He showed up in his farm clothes. His family raised fighting roosters (was legal here at the time), chickens, pigs, rabbits, and occasional horses. He dressed the country bumpkin on purpose. They gave him that superior attitude and he got tired of their BS. He drove to the next parish (county) over to a different dealership. They treated him like a friend and were willing to bargain with him. He expected some give and take when negotiating a deal and was fine with their counter offers. Deal done, he drove off with the car he wanted, the options he wanted, and the title in his hand. His first stop on the way home was the first dealership so he could rub it in.
I love buying cars.. I do my homework and always know way more about the car and cost that im buying then anyone at the dealership. Within 5 minutes they realize this and back off. I have always gotten the deal I wanted.. Im fact Im so good as this, I have done it for others at no cost. Love doing it..
Agreed, it is always nice having the upper hand within a few minutes of setting foot in a dealership.
Not all dealerships are operated that way, but an awful lot of them are. I won't deal with any of them!
That said, I do have one small counterpoint. Although your offer on the vehicle was more than reasonable, they might have felt they could wait and sell it for more than you were willing to pay. So although they would be receiving profit, they wanted more. Which does happen.
I am glad you found what you wanted, and the price you wanted to pay!
What a bunch of sourpusses You guys all must be dealership employees
Sorry, your story just isn't that interesting. You went to a dealership, didn't like the salesman, weren't able to make the deal you wanted, so you went elsewhere. Big deal, it happens every day, probably thousands of times.
Big deal, it happens every day, probably thousands of times.
Which is kind of odd when you think about it-hence my post about the possibility of there being a different business model in the future. Take shopping for a flat screen TV for example. I will be in the market for one soon once my basement remodel is finished. Will I go to PC Richards, Best Buy, or some other brick and mortar retailer to buy one and deal with the commissioned salespeople there who know nothing about the product? Of course not! I'll consult Amazon, Google, and a few other internet price search engines, and purchase the exact model I want at the lowest cost. It begs the question, why do dealerships still exist, especially since, as you clearly stated, buying a car from one is a long, drawn out, annoying, and needless waste of time
When an uncle retired from the oilfield, he took up a consulting position which paid much more. He then had the money to realize his dream of walking into a new car dealership and buying a car with cash and driving away with the car and the title. He wanted a loaded Mercury Grand Marquis. He showed up in his farm clothes. His family raised fighting roosters (was legal here at the time), chickens, pigs, rabbits, and occasional horses. He dressed the country bumpkin on purpose. They gave him that superior attitude and he got tired of their BS. He drove to the next parish (county) over to a different dealership. They treated him like a friend and were willing to bargain with him. He expected some give and take when negotiating a deal and was fine with their counter offers. Deal done, he drove off with the car he wanted, the options he wanted, and the title in his hand. His first stop on the way home was the first dealership so he could rub it in.
Good story. I posted a similar one a while back relayed to me by a salesman at the local Cadillac dealer. He had been a salesman for a long time and was working with a new kid. The "kid" was next on the rotation for walk-ins when an older man pulls up in an old pickup and gets out with drab jeans and a flannel shirt. The kid wrinkles his nose and asks the older guy if he wanted this one. The older guy heads out to talk to the customer. A couple minutes later, a young guy in a late model sports car pulls up with his buddy and both are wearing suits. The kid grins and skips out to meet them, giving the older salesman a look like, "HA, I got this one".
Fast forward about 4 hours to closing time and the older salesman had concluded his all cash deal with the old gentleman in the flannel. He bought his wife a fully loaded DTS for their anniversary and had his bank wire the money over. The kid was still knee deep in financing hell trying to get the young guys upside down trade, no money down, subprime credit deal done. It never went through.
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To the OP, I enjoyed the telling of the story, especially the part about the manager, we've all seen dealers that run like this. However, there are plenty of good ones out there to help offset the bad ones.
Good dealers can generally be determined from their advertising. The more glaring and wild the promotion, the worse the dealer. The more subtle and business oriented the better.
When you get there, you can also tell a lot by the salesman. If you are immediately flocked by 20-somethings trying to extinguish their cigarettes, probably not a good dealer. If the salesman are older, dressed appropriately for the brand and offer you a cordial "hi, can I help you with anything", then it's probably a good dealer.
The last test is the level of manager involvement. All deals at a dealership need to be approved by a manager, but bad dealers will basically use their salesman as bait and the managers to land the deal. Better dealerships allow their salesman latitude to negotiate and close the deal personally only getting involved if requested or absolutely necessary. At most good dealers, the only time you will see the manager is when he comes out to shake your hand and thank you for your business.
On the topic of the car and it's price, it can vary a lot more then people think, especially on CPO cars. The dealer may buy the vehicle at auction or trade for around, say $16k, but the vehicle may then require work beyond that to get it sellable like tires, brakes, detailing, etc. If the vehicle is CPO, then there is the added cost of the CPO warranty as well, which is baked into the price. You said, the car you were looking at fetches around $16k at trade and was retailing for $20,500, that might not be as much "profit" as you are assuming depending on the particulars of that car. It's perfectly reasonable that the same car at Dealer A has a similar profit margin as the same car at Dealer B, despite a difference in sticker price.
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You guys all must be dealership employees 
