Car dealers are something else

[kokonutty]

Originally Posted by k374

well, to resurrect this thread... I checked that car and it still has not sold...LMFAO! Jackasses should've made the proper deal with me when they could have because this week the 2017s roll in and when that happens the 2016s will have to be discounted even further. For those of you in sales how do businesses survive such poor sales decisions?

You don't know a lot of things about this great deal they could have made with you. You don't know what factory incentives they were getting when you were there, today, or next month. You don't have any idea what they would have made from your deal initially and they may have written you off as a customer who would bring continuing business in parts and service. In short, if you were half as arrogant at the dealership as you are here they made a business decision to not do business with you. Well run businesses do just fine by not acceding to jackass demands from every know it all who walks through the door. You're in over your head.

[2sleepy]

Use Truecar, you can use it on your PC or download an app. Spec out the car you want and you will get a list of 3 local dealers with a price guarantee. Don't contact them, call other dealers via email or telephone and give them the specifications of the car and offer $500 less than the truecar price because dealers pay that much to be able to have their price quote offered to customers.

[djohnslaw]

Originally Posted by k374

I am actually for everyone involved making a fair profit, I would prefer it if a car was priced more like a carton of milk, everyone pays the same. But it's the dealers and sales guys themselves who don't want this because then they don't get to rip off some old lady or someone who isn't that financially savvy by charging them thousands over MSRP... then they complain and curse about the customers who haggle hard over price.

the reason everyone pays the same for milk in the same supermarket is bc it isn't worth anyone's time to negotiate over a 3 dollar product.

i hope cars are NEVER priced that everyone pays the same. I like lazy people and bad negotiators subsidizing
car costs.People will go to work for a couple of hundred pretax dollars but can't put in a little bit of time,effort and negotiating to save thousands.

[halberto9]

Originally Posted by djohnslaw

the reason everyone pays the same for milk in the same supermarket is bc it isn't worth anyone's time to negotiate over a 3 dollar product.

i hope cars are NEVER priced that everyone pays the same. I like lazy people and bad negotiators subsidizing
car costs.People will go to work for a couple of hundred pretax dollars but can't put in a little bit of time,effort and negotiating to save thousands.

Getting everyone to pay the same is what services like True Car, Edmunds, Costco, etc are promoting. They figure a lot of buyers will feel good knowing they paid the same as many others, even though in reality it isn't a rock bottom price.

Does True Car actually provide you with a price list up front, before contacting a dealer? I'm pretty sure the Costco service doesn't work that way. Providing pricing and/or referrals up-front, like Consumers Union used to do for subscribers was the reason many of these services failed, correct? People would get a price print-out and then go running around to several dealers to get the lowest price.

I believe CR now is just using True Car and I guess they believe they can earn more $$ that way than their old methods of either (1) providing online or printed price lists/dealer cost and holdbacks for a set $20 fee or (2) trying to sign up dealers they would refer subscribers to.

[djohnslaw]

Originally Posted by jertheber

It's a great source of humor to listen to the myriad stories of car dealer scams and the expectations of a terribly misinformed public that thinks the markup on cars is substantial enough to warrant huge reductions in price. When buying furniture, clothing, tools and equipment, we just look at the price and determine if that will work for us, but--on the car lot, the hunger for a deal kicks in and the BS of Arab market style haggling begins. Through the years I've heard tons of tales having to do with the agony of auto sales, from both those in sales and the "buyers" who are filled with notions of what constitutes a "good deal."

I sold cars throughout the sixties into the eighties on a part time basis with a partner, we were state licensed, bonded and insured, it was a real education in human relations. The average buyer wants to get the car at a "reasonable price," out comes the KBB or NADA guides and the misunderstandings of those guides become the basis for a lot of anger and accusations of highway robbery--on both sides. On guidelines: something to begin the conversation with, too far above, or below, and suspicions arise, used cars are not the same because of condition, something briefly addressed in the guides but seldom understood.

New cars are probably the worst kind of expenditure simply for the fact of a ton of tried and proven, equally good stock are out there on dealer lots and through private party sales. The only real rule is, never do a trade in of your present car if you want a fair price for it--and, never fall in love with any car to the extent that you can't walk away from a not so good deal. Next is the fact that looking, and then, looking some more, and more still if you can handle it, will inevitably bring a good summation of what is out there in the price range you were looking for.

Third is the fact that sticking to one very specific car works in the dealers favor and seldom, yours. Flexibility in choice makes it a tad bit more difficult for the sales guy to romanticize that one "special car." And last but never least--No one gets over on the dealer, ever, the best deal is the one you demand, or walk. But expecting the dealer to succumb to your notions of pressure is like wrestling with a Pig in the mud, after awhile-- you realize the Pig is enjoying it.....

Furniture is a huge racket. if you don't negotiate on furniture you're a fool.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by halberto9

Getting everyone to pay the same is what services like True Car, Edmunds, Costco, etc are promoting. They figure a lot of buyers will feel good knowing they paid the same as many others, even though in reality it isn't a rock bottom price.

Does True Car actually provide you with a price list up front, before contacting a dealer? I'm pretty sure the Costco service doesn't work that way. Providing pricing and/or referrals up-front, like Consumers Union used to do for subscribers was the reason many of these services failed, correct? People would get a price print-out and then go running around to several dealers to get the lowest price.

I believe CR now is just using True Car and I guess they believe they can earn more $$ that way than their old methods of either (1) providing online or printed price lists/dealer cost and holdbacks for a set $20 fee or (2) trying to sign up dealers they would refer subscribers to.

Yes, True Car gives you three instant dealer quotes, you print them out and take them to the dealer, the dealers have contracted with True Car to sell you the car at the quoted price, if they don't do so, they lose their dealer relationship with TC. But keep in mind that they pay True Car around $500 for that privilege, so get the True Car quotes, deduct $500 from it and make that your best offer when you shop for the car. I shop via email because I don't like the games dealers play. If I can get close to true car price minus $500 I make the deal on line and when they have the car ready at the dealership I go buy it. If you want to you can shop for financing and negotiate a trade in then, but don't ever let those two aspects of the transaction to take place while you negotiate price.

A number of online entities now use the True Car engine, but rebrand it, like American Express and USAA, it's the same data and if you put in identical numbers you will get the same quotes from each of them.