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Car dealerships just work along a really old school sales model and that incentivizes everyone there to do things a certain way. Old sales principles indicate that you always want to have face time with the customer and that you always want them physically close to the product. It's dime store psychology, but it works.
Except most prospective customers either know or instinctively feel that these sales techniques are designed to maximize the amount of money that is leaving your pockets and entering theirs. So customers prefer doing things clear cut, you see the price, you buy at that price, boom you're done. Younger customers especially expect an Amazon experience - quick and interaction-free. An environment where even a weak-willed, easily manipulated person can avoid getting ripped off.
The answer of car dealerships to that is to create an illusion of that experience online with massively discounted sales prices...which however are solely designed to get you physically onto their home court where they will act like they've never heard of that sales price before. They may eventually give it to you - or not. But be prepared to spend a few hours there. The reason this experience prevails even though no-one is getting any joy out of it..is that it works. If you got two car dealerships - say one posts an 'honest' full price online with fees etc. and it comes out at $35,000 and another one posts a discount price without fees etc. taken into account and it's $30,000..people will go to the latter dealership. And that latter dealership will trust its salespeople to make sure that eventually the vehicle will leave the lot for no less than the 35,000 the other dealer quoted.
Money talks always. I walked out of a dealership over the attempt to charge me for floor mats and a extra key. I got in my car drive home. 10 min later a phone call and $500 cheaper and mentioned items free.
At my house closing, the lender made a issue over a ID that they have seen and had a copy of. I stood up and said Fook this I don’t have patience for this crap. We will walk away and pay cash. It was not a bluff as I could Afford to pay cash. The people in the room. The bank, title agent, no one gets Paid accept my lawyer and sellers lawyer. Magically the problem was fixed. When your threaten the paycheck things change real fast.
Car dealers are doing there job. And that job is to extract the most $$ from you.
About 3 decades ago my uncle retired from the oil company and started a new job as a consultant. He was such a “tight-wad” that we joked his wallet creaked when it was opened. To celebrate he was finally going to spend his hard earned money on his first new car, a Mercury Grand Marquis fully loaded. He knew the color and features he wanted and he had money in the bank to buy it without financing. Oh, and his side job was a farmer raising farm animals. He arrived at the Lincoln-Mercury dealership in his farmer overalls and they gave him an attitude he didn’t like. He left in a huff and drove more than an hour away to the next Mercury dealership. They were more accommodating. He got the car he wanted. The next day he drove back to the first dealership dressed for his consultant work driving his new Mercury showing them the title and pointing out to the sales manager who had treated him unfairly.
This is why Tesla is winning sales because their buying experience is least pressure sales. You show up get offered a test drive. And even a free rental for one day if you qualify. You can also easily order your Tesla online and you simply sign papers when called and the car is ready for you. You actually don't need to see a car salesman if you don't want to. There is so upselling to you and nobody will tell you to buy a warranty or any extras.
some people dont feel like they got a good price unless they battled with the dealership for at least a couple of hours for it. i think that it will change but people used to doing it for decades are so used to it that they find it difficult to change the mentality.
a new car is just a standardized product, its absolutely ridiculous that we need to fight over the price when the same exact car can be had in hundreds of places.
I once posted in the retirement forum that I'm suspicious that some retired age people walk into a dealership and pay whatever the salesman says.
I really got a dressing down, many had bought numerous cars and were experts on getting a good deal.
I once posted in the retirement forum that I'm suspicious that some retired age people walk into a dealership and pay whatever the salesman says.
I really got a dressing down, many had bought numerous cars and were experts on getting a good deal.
the ones that paid what the dealer asked for didnt respond to you.
I had a friend that worked for a no haggle Ford Dealership in MI. He said the average buyer would get a lower price buying from them but there was still some negotiating room for a savvy buyer.
Yeah, I just don't deal with dealers that do that.
The Toyota was really easy. Negotiated the price over email, made a phone call and confirmed it, showed up, test drove the car, went straight to finance. They did some minimal upselling, which is their job, tried to interest me in a more expensive model or trim which I wasn't interested in, tried to sell me extended warranty which I wasn't interested in, and that was pretty much it. In and out about an hour, which isn't too shabby. The paperwork could have been prepared beforehand is the only thing that would have been nice. Overall though very good experience whereas more often it's akin to getting a root canal.
The Mazda I bought before that was a bit more of a mixed bag. I didn't have an agreed price beforehand so negotiations started off with the old we forgot to put the $4,000 market adjustment markup stricker on so we're going to do you a huge favor and not charge you that. I just laughed and said how about $4,000 off MSRP. They countered with MSRP so I got up to walk out the door at which point suddenly the salesman had to go talk to the manager. I went off to Togo's to get a sandwich. That's just the game, they leave you stewing while they go out chat about last night's basketball game. When I came back from Togo's it was $2,000 off and we ended up at $2,500 off. Probably could have worked it down but it was a left over 2.3 manual hatchback so those aren't a dime a dozen the way the automatics are. That was the only one within 50 miles which is why I was there and not at a closer dealer so I really did need to close on that car, not that I let them know that. Worked out, but that was a dealer that if you let them dick with you, they'd absolutely dick with you for hours.
What's funny is the look on their face when right off the bat I ask them what their doc fee is. They usually stumble for a second trying to think of a way to get around it, but realize there is no way. I guess they don't get asked that question very often.
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