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That's BS about having to buy dealer add-ons. What I did was pick a car that had just been unloaded. I had my USAA discount quote in hand for another dealer and this dealer actually beat that price. And I avoided all those stupid add-ons that do nothing except jack up the price. When I bought my Jeep I just did a special order and again told the dealer no add-ons.
Sometimes that is hard for the dealer. I worked for Toyota and the Gulf States distributor was a pain in our asses. They wanted all the add-ons for their profit. We needed more cars with less add-ons to meet customer demands. We could stipulate we want x more cars with less or no add-ons but they would punish us. We wouldn't be allowed to get as many cars in general and be unable to compete. We were left holding the bag. We could only have so many w/o their profit-making add ons so I had to sell people on everything the vehicles came with. Or we had to have no profit to move the damn things.
Jesus buying a car is one of the most painful processes. If dealing with a delaership or some spawn off CL. It's another reason I just buy a car and hold it forever.
I recently bought a used vehicle where one dealer was jerking me around on the price so I walked. The salesman was doing fine, but the guy(s) in the back room weren't bending. The car I was looking at had been there since last August, the salesman even told me they have trouble moving cars with manual transmissions and he didn't know why they weren't letting me have it at the price.
I got a phone call a few days later from a "sales manager" there asking if I was still interested and where I needed to be to come back in a pull the trigger on the car. I told him that I went and bought elsewhere and he seemed surprised, as if they had a monopoly on the car I was looking at. He said the dealer I bought at never gives anyone a decent deal, but I got roughly the same vehicle, sans a few fancy options, for $4k less. I told him that they have too much competition in the area to be trying to rip people off. I see the OP is in Los Angeles, there are literally several dealerships for any given brand of car within a half hour drive (in good traffic), I would have walked.
One day managers are ranting about volume. Move these cars! The next month they are like omg we have no profit. NO BENDING. It's maddening for the salespeople. Your salesperson seems like they got caught in this. The prior month they would have gone much lower on that car for you. And then the dippy-do manager that didn't listen to his salesperson realized he messed up so they called you!
I also remember the 'we have a rare car here. No bending on it!' and sometimes they had made really bad, bad calls. I remember thinking it might be rare, but it's also unpopular! I can't believe you put so much into it! The longer you let it sit, the worse it will get. Just bend. Let's move it. Then they'd put it high in the air to get attention and still nothing. I shouldn't laugh but I hated my used car manager. He was not as awesome as he thought he was in his buying decisions, and I felt the heat of his mistakes. I was supposed to be super-woman and fix them by getting people to pay too much for those cars - argh!
Jesus buying a car is one of the most painful processes. If dealing with a delaership or some spawn off CL. It's another reason I just buy a car and hold it forever.
I know. It really is awful. I am glad I was in the biz. I can make a call, get an invoice, find out what leasing agents are paying, and walk in almost anywhere and simply offer that amount. I hated the first car I bought on my own. I mean I loved the car, I hated the process. We did the back and forth and I walked off the lot 3 times. And that guy did have me in a vice, in a way. There just were not a lot of the exact car I wanted out there. I was chewing my nails everyday not wanting to call, wanting them to call me.
But I ended up with the upper hand because whether there were a lot of those cars or not, this one was still there. And he needed to move it.
I have a car salesman who will negotiate price on the car and trade over email. It's SOOOO convenient. We negotiate, agree, and then just pick up the car. 20 minutes is all we spend at the dealer. We've bought our last 7 cars from him. The last one, we'd moved and were over 1500 miles away, but we still bought the car from him vs local, and we just had it transported. Why, because he negotiates over email.
It's why they are called "salespeople" and not receptionists. Granted, the title is not worthy of many.
I no longer sell cars and things have changed since I did but rarely would I negotiate over the phone. It makes it to easy for you to buy elsewhere.
The only time I would ever consider discussing price is if someone was a long ways off. Even then........most go to their local dealer and say "dealer A over in the other county offered it for X" and they end up buying it local.
Walk out the door in this instance every time. It's not a dealer you want to deal with.
I don't blame you. Yes, despite me saying everything I said in the first few replies I completely understood that things like this is why people HATE going into a dealership. Not all are like this but the ones that are make it bad for the rest.
You do so there really is little reason to drag dealer after dealer into the buying equation. Dealers are advertising most cars at low profit margins. (new cars are not a dealers main source of income.....used and service is).
Search online.....find the best price (make sure to read the fine print). Take the number into your local dealer and ask them to do a bit better. If they do, buy it and don't fret that maybe you could have saved another $100 by driving two hours away. You aren't really saving anything. Your local dealer is the one you will take it back for warranty service and they are more likely to make sure you are inconvenienced as little as possible if you bought the car from them.
There are always exceptions to everything but in general........this is my advice.
Great.....now you have a good starting place the next time you buy a car or to recommend to your friends.
Pretty much this...
Also, Car dealerships are largely feudal holdovers, meaning they are owned and ran and passed on within closed circles. Meaning, the MBA types, the tech types, etc, have not really penetrated the business with fresh eyes. Carmax has, and Autonation is trying, but they are the exception. They are owned and managed by families and employees that tend not to have much exposure outside the dealership world.
The thing is though, Carmax's success has in some ways secured the future for traditional dealership models: people are willing to go through the process if it means they'll save money.
Sure, they kvetch and moan about it, but when presented with the opportunity, they will fight for a lower price.
Always negotiate an out-the door price before you go to the dealership and be firm on your price. Never go up $300 or $200. If your max budget is 10k out-the-door, stick to that. At the same time buy a car which is on the lot and not somewhere else.
And never tell them whether you are going to pay cash or go through financing. Also in the start you can negotiate for a base-model price and then ask them to add options to it but at the same time stick to your out-the-door price.
Always be ready to walk if they don't hold up to what they emailed back and forth. This happened once and after waiting for 2-3 hours, we walked out as they tried to pull a fast one and say "Oh this price is not for 0% financing". So be ready to walk out and don't have any emotions towards a car. Personally I would buy a used car from an owner or through craigslist.
Interesting post. I bought a new car a few years back the old school way by walking into dealerships and talking price. I later read about many people using dealer internet sales dept to iron out a price beforehand as to avoid all the in-person BS games. I thought I was a dinosaur for not trying this approach but according to your post, it seems some places aren't receptive to talking numbers without a face-to-face.
In the end, I hate all the nonsense associated with buying a car.
I wouldn't bother with email or phone to get a price, it's not in the dealers best interest to make it that easy. But...
It's been many, many years since I bought a car without starting on the internet. It doesn't avoid "all the in-person BS", but it shortens the process. You can get the same price the old school way, but it will take longer and you'll have to visit more dealers IME.
The dealer offering the best internet deal knows you're serious about getting the best deal possible at the moment, and dealers who don't reply aren't. Narrows the field and starts you off (well) below MSRP on most makes/models. I start knowing the internet price, and go to one or two dealers asking for their best price. I tell them I have an internet price and what's their best price (without disclosing the price, until maybe we get down close)? It takes a little back and forth and you MUST be willing to walk. If a dealer wants to sell me a car, they have to beat, not just match, the best price I've gotten.
The chances of walking into one dealer and arriving at the best possible price are slim at best. If you fall in love with a car, "this is exactly what I want," you're going to pay top dollar. How much of a discount a buyer can get depends on demand vs supply for a given make/model, inventory, time of month/year, each dealers recent sales, factory incentives (some are known, some not to buyers), the buyers patience/savvy, etc.
I enjoy the car buying process, I've even gone with family members for their car buying. It's a simple negotiation if you know both sides. I have a right to get the lowest price I can for my family, and the dealer has a right to make a profit, there's always a number...
I do understand the point of view of the salesman now. Thank you for letting me know the reasons. Many of these places didn't advertise a price online at all and simply said contact us for price then would say come in for price when I contacted them. Then another advertised a price online. I called and said I was happy with the price and wanted to know the Out The Door price since I'd be driving far and wanted to have a number ready when I came in. They wouldn't provide the OTD price. They said it's against policy to provide OTD unless I'm sitting in their office. I did the OTD price myself adding tax, tax, title etc. but when I got to this place their OTD cost included nearly 2k in accessories and hidden dealer/documentation fees etc. Now I see why they wouldn't provide it over the phone. Because I'd hang up. In person they nearly physically blocked me from leaving their office.
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