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Old 06-03-2015, 06:59 AM
 
Location: Huntsville
6,013 posts, read 6,597,646 times
Reputation: 7036

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourian View Post
Some of you are giving advice on how to buy a car but the OP said she wasn't in the market yet. So if you aren't ready to buy don't engage them. You wont be "held hostage" or put in a "high pressure" situation unless you initiate it. Especially if you are 6, 9 or 12 months away. Sales people don't hear that. They are all about TODAY...NOW. In 6 mos they might not be there. None of the cars on the lot will be there except for that purple iQ that nobody wants. And in 6 mos your trade in wont be worth what it is today either so getting some figures to think about is just going to stress you out if you engage some one who is working to do it for you. Especially at a zoo like free for all like most Toyota dealers are. A computer is all you need to get an idea.

Whether or not I am ready to buy doesn't deter me from engaging them. I have no issue letting them go through their spiel and then walking out. The internet isn't going to give you final numbers, so while you can get the MSRP price of the vehicle, it leaves out a lot. I want the actual price, so that often times requires talking to someone. If we are interested in a vehicle, we also want to drive it to make sure it is what we want. You can't get that experience from a computer either. The main thing people need to be able to do is have enough resolve to stand their ground and walk when the time is right.
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Old 06-03-2015, 07:12 AM
 
Location: Birmingham
11,787 posts, read 17,647,614 times
Reputation: 10119
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert View Post
Whether or not I am ready to buy doesn't deter me from engaging them. I have no issue letting them go through their spiel and then walking out. The internet isn't going to give you final numbers, so while you can get the MSRP price of the vehicle, it leaves out a lot. I want the actual price, so that often times requires talking to someone. If we are interested in a vehicle, we also want to drive it to make sure it is what we want. You can't get that experience from a computer either. The main thing people need to be able to do is have enough resolve to stand their ground and walk when the time is right.
Whether or not you can deal with their spiel or their process or the crappy antics of a poor dealer is irrelevant. The numbers are going to change. That's the bottom line. If you arent quite in the market then an internet estimate is all you need. You can get more than just MSRP online. New car financing and incentives change and your trade is going to depreciate. If all you want is a test drive than just say that's all you want.
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Old 06-03-2015, 07:43 AM
 
626 posts, read 749,294 times
Reputation: 432
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourian View Post
Whether or not you can deal with their spiel or their process or the crappy antics of a poor dealer is irrelevant. The numbers are going to change. That's the bottom line. If you arent quite in the market then an internet estimate is all you need. You can get more than just MSRP online. New car financing and incentives change and your trade is going to depreciate. If all you want is a test drive than just say that's all you want.
Someone wants to do it their own way. How about let them enjoy what they like best?
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Old 06-03-2015, 08:10 AM
 
Location: Birmingham
11,787 posts, read 17,647,614 times
Reputation: 10119
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamar Bowman View Post
Someone wants to do it their own way. How about let them enjoy what they like best?
The OP did not have a good time. Do not confuse enjoying a good time with getting the best results. I'll "let" you **** on the legs of bad car salesmen all day since you are seeking my permission. But if the goal is to avoid situation like this, than don't invite the treatment and start the process if you aren't ready.
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Old 06-03-2015, 08:38 AM
 
614 posts, read 759,875 times
Reputation: 659
Car dealerships have really changed in the last few years. More and more of them are sticking to their price, or very close to it. They are also using every trick to get you to trade (basically give them) your car.

Back in the day, the big lots didn't go to the wholesale auctions, now they gobble up all the quality used cars for themselves. The buy here pay here lots also can pay a higher price at auction than traditional used car lots. So the wholesale lots of the past are hurting bad.

Add to this, many of the younger generation seem to want a fixed price and skip the "game" of car lots. I like to act mad and leave, then come back to negotiate another day. But many lots and customers don't want to play that game anymore.
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Old 06-03-2015, 08:46 AM
 
626 posts, read 749,294 times
Reputation: 432
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourian View Post
The OP did not have a good time. Do not confuse enjoying a good time with getting the best results. I'll "let" you **** on the legs of bad car salesmen all day since you are seeking my permission. But if the goal is to avoid situation like this, than don't invite the treatment and start the process if you aren't ready.
I didnt know Nlambert was the OP. My mistake.
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Old 06-03-2015, 08:50 AM
 
2,513 posts, read 2,767,306 times
Reputation: 1739
Personally,

I would rather have dealerships that pretty much put the lowest price on the car and leave it. The problem is, that means all dealerships need to do this, because there really isn't anyway to do any real comparison otherwise in terms of price. Just in the last 5 years the Mazda dealership has changed its policy and pricing. The salesman "say" they aren't working on commission. The sticker price is pretty much the price they have, at least thats what they say. When we got our CX-5, we pretty much told them what we would pay for it and what we wanted for our trade. The price we were willing to pay for the car was pretty much invoice. The trade they shorted us on. We called down to some Bham Mazda dealerships and it was pretty much the same. We ended up going back to the local dealership. The one thing they did give us a deal on was the extended warranty and gap insurance. I couldn't get either online or else where for as cheap as they sold us.

One thing I did learn with this last experience is that it doesn't appear that getting service done at the dealership on a car gives any loyalty, which did irritate us. The car we were trading in was a Mazda and all the service except for tires had been done there. We were really irritated when the used car manager noticed something that we kept telling the service department about for two years and they said nothing was wrong with the car (Idling low with AC turned on when stopped). That was enough for us to walk out the first time. Since we couldn't find a better deal within 500 miles, we ended up gong back.
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Old 06-03-2015, 09:11 AM
 
Location: Madison, AL
1,614 posts, read 2,283,715 times
Reputation: 1656
We also "shop around" online and we DID have a good idea of what the hubby's car is worth, which is why we knew they were screwing us. But there is no way one can decide which cars they want without DRIVING them. Internet is good for a lot of things, but it doesn't take the place of driving the vehicle! And I don't know how other people operate, but we don't decide to buy a car and go out the first day with intention to buy! We drive different cars, think about it, go back & drive some again, mull it over, etc. I think consumers should be able to do that without being cornered the way we were. Part of it was our naivete', I suppose. But I'm 45 years old and have bought numerous new cars from dealers in my lifetime and had never encountered this type of aggressiveness until this past Saturday. We told the guy repeatedly from the time he first walked up to us that we were JUST STARTING TO LOOK at different vehicles and the Highlander was one we wanted to check out. We told him WE DON'T HAVE ANY INTENTION TO BUY ANYTHING TODAY, we just want to look at the features of different trim levels, and drive it. We were very clear, and he ignored what we said.

On the other hand, we had the opposite experience at CarMax. We stopped there first b/c it's a good place to look at a variety of different makes/models in one place without driving all over town to different dealers. The salesman who helped us was very nice, no-pressure. We told him what we were looking for in terms of needs vs wants. He made some good suggestions, and showed us some vehicles that we hadn't even considered. When we were done, he gave us his card, told us to call if we had any questions and to ask for him if we come back. Very nice, and what we expected! Same happened at Nissan. So, we went from those 2 experiences to the vultures at "that" Toyota dealer. Left a bad taste in our mouths, indeed.
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Old 06-03-2015, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Madison, AL
1,614 posts, read 2,283,715 times
Reputation: 1656
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamar Bowman View Post
I didnt know Nlambert was the OP. My mistake.
Actually, I'm the OP but I don't think it matters at this point. LOL...
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Old 06-03-2015, 09:40 AM
 
Location: Birmingham
11,787 posts, read 17,647,614 times
Reputation: 10119
Quote:
Originally Posted by TN2HSV View Post
We also "shop around" online and we DID have a good idea of what the hubby's car is worth, which is why we knew they were screwing us. But there is no way one can decide which cars they want without DRIVING them. Internet is good for a lot of things, but it doesn't take the place of driving the vehicle!
I never said the internet took the place of driving the car. And I mentioned in a previous post if you aren't ready to buy but just want to try it out, just tell them that. You don't have to solicit numbers, trade value, have them work up payments, just to drive a car.

The bottom line, is it doesn't matter if they are a bad dealer or a good dealer, they'll never get a chance to give me the run around or irritate me with a bad sales spiel or process, because I won't initiate that process until I'm ready to buy.

A couple of years ago when we bought my wife's car, we went to a dealer with the worst reputation around here. They had what we wanted, so I figured we'd give them a try. And when I mean worst, they are on AL.com being sued and prosecuted for all sorts of things. Anyway, after they pulled all the lame tricks like packing payments into a four square and not telling what rate they were using (even though I could figure it out) we decided to go elsewhere. Then they tried the whole "key" thing, by stalling us with a turnover with their finance manager. But so what. I just said no two more times and five minutes later we were gone. It took an extra five minutes of my life to say no two more times, big deal - but the point is I only went down that road because I was ready - not because I was curious, or not because I was trying to leverage a better deal for a year down the road, not because its fun and certainly not because I just wanted a test drive.

Last edited by Tourian; 06-03-2015 at 09:49 AM..
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