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Payments is the way the majority of people buy their cars. Dollar down, and a dollar a month till they drop...and it still is only half paid for.
I do have to say, and i am one who generally despises car dealers, that the last car i bought (2017) they had the car in the wash bay, scrubbed it, clayed it, and waxed it properly. I was amazed, but appreciated having a car that was detailed on the way out the door. I know i am unique, and they know that i take care of my cars, so the extra touch was appreciated. But had i waited hours for a wash job by a min wage lackey...nope. I'm gone.
That's because car dealerships are not incentivized by lenders and not price. And we have to blame consumers too that can't afford cars but still wants to own more car than the can afford.
This goes for both new and used dealers. You don't negotiate on price anymore, it is always about monthly payments and they don't care about buyers that pay cash.
My grandfather was in the cars business for decades... sold cars to all my friends and a lot of my teachers...
He would sit my friends down and figure payments... he always said the same... pay off used car in 2 years and 3 years max for new... only charged simple interest and encouraged early payoff...
A few were ticked off they couldn't get the car wanted but years later appreciated it.
Too many young first time buyers would get upside down when life changes and they owe more than the car is worth...
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 12-21-2020 at 03:02 PM..
Usually when you get up and leave, they reverse course in a hurry.
My brother let me know about that $2,000 'error' on the way. Not my monkey, not my circus.
I'm an incredibly nice guy. But I don't suffer fools or liars.
I've used that ploy several times over the years, and it always works. Years ago I happen to see a red 5.0 Mustang manual transmission I liked and stopped by several Sundays when no one was there to have a look. I stopped in at the end of the month to talk and make an offer. I got the deal I wanted with the stipulation I had to sell my 4x4 Toyota, which I knew wouldnt take long because I had 2 different guys bidding against each other for it. It took about 2 weeks but I did sell it.
I returned to the dealership. I did sign something to hold the Mustang, and gave them a check for something like a hundred dollars I think, it wasnt much, that I said I wanted back when I returned to buy the car. I got there, the car was still there, but magically the deal / folder I made was lost and the salesman that I had, no longer worked there. I told them the deal I had, and they said we cant sell you that car for that price. I pitched a b*&$H. Yes I made a scene. I did play it up. Saying I sold my f%$@# truck I had paid off that I didnt have to sell, loud so everybody could hear it, even the people looking and buying vehicles. They just happen to find the folder with my deal in it. Even the sales manager came over to apologize. I trust no one at a dealer. I've also had the service department try and pull a few fast ones on me. They are going to make money. Its your job to see they dont steal it from you.
I think dealerships, the middlemen, should be cut out all-together.
Order online from the factory, where they might really have the colors and features you want instead of the cookie cutter inventory dealers offer (besides the horrible service).
Rarely have I ever seen a car dealership actually shut down, completely out of business. Just when I thought "oh! haha that snake pit just went out of business!" turns out they just built a BIGGER dealership and moved locations. Sucker born every minute, I guess.
Using the finance dept at the dealership is hands down the WORST idea for ANYONE, regardless of credit:
Good credit: they won't get you the lowest rate
Bad credit: they won't get you the lowest rate, and may even tell you none of the banks will finance you
Dealerships have NO legal obligation to disclose their markup on the interest rate the bank quoted them. It is completely opaque.
There's a reason dealerships use relatively few credit unions, if any, in their list of lenders they source offers from when they run your credit. Most credit unions are special-purpose and non-profit. Often there is a membership requirement and an application approval process that doesn't get completed in the same-day timeframe that they wish to sell you a car. Truliant is the only one big enough and open enough to be on speed dial.
Feel free to list any others you've heard. It would only help readers.
Retail banks are known to "view" any vehicle over 5 years old as an "unsecured loan" and offer double-digit interest on a 6 model-year-old car. Funny, there's still a paper stating the vehicle as collateral. Is there a GPS chip in there, too?
Credit unions lend on 10-11 model-years-old and most have very low requirements for credit. Middle-600's scores will usually get their best (the advertised) rate. This can be as low as 2.99% for a 1-3 year old car, or as high as 5-6% for a 10-11 y/o car.
I really don't care how much the dealer is making on the loan. If they can match or beat whatever financing source I bring in and it helps shave a bit off the purchase price, I have no problem financing in-house. My issue was with the squid who wanted me to finance in-house at a HIGHER rate and taunted me about not wanting to do that with his completely stupid "which are you shopping for, a car or an interest rate?" line. I'm shopping for both you moron, and if you can't compete on both, get lost.
The reason is basically because dealers make more money by playing games and are allowed to do this. Don't buy a car from a dealer if you don't want to deal with their nonsense or pay a broker a few hundred to buy it for you. It's not that hard to do that anymore with the internet.
I had a BIL who went to work for a dealership. He called me and said things were slow and they were going to let some of the sales people go so he needed to get his "numbers" up, so could I help. He said you need to come in when I am working. No mention of relationship. Drive your wifes car and when asked about a trade, say no trade. He said I will show you a car and we go on a test drive. We then sit down and work out a deal that I can take to the Sales Manager. I will propose a number they will not meet and we go from there. There will be a few go arounds and the sales manager will want to talk to you, but you say no f'in way to him and storm out. I did and he kept his job.
i wanted to buy my wife's car on rodo, they had a better price and offered better trade in price (but couldnt use it to offset sales tax) than any of the dealer's i was going back and forth with. unfortunately, they didnt have the car in the right color with the right features that my wife wanted. so ultimately i had to go through a dealer. its a shame since i want to support the rodo model to try to kill the dealer model (unless they stop with the haggling bs).
one big issue i see is test drives. you still need to have a physical location to test drive the cars.
I've work all positions... trades, sales, doc, dmv, detail, test drives, repair, service, payroll... started washing the line every Saturday age 12...
It was never a career but helping out when needed.
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