It is definitely good for older cars or cars in the Northeast, but I would not recommend it being done from a dealer. The markup is way too high.
Sounds like the guy was trying to take advantage of the dealer’s mistake.
If you want to be be a cheat after getting away with something like this go ahead. But don’t expect to let it slide if your caught.
I once had a couple of my delivery guys take a big screen TV to the wrong house.
999 53rd Avenue instead of 999 53rd Street. The lady at the house played dumb and signed for the TV and said thanks.
Then the real customer called wondering where there TV was. After figuring out the mistake we went back to the house to get the TV back. The husband was home and said “No” you can’t have the TV back. Your guys mistake. Too bad.
I called the police who met me there, explained the situation, and they had to force the guy to give us the TV back. The guy the whole time yelling that he was going to sue us. We never heard from him again.
If I ask you a question, will you dissapear off to the sales manager’s office for 20 minutes tom put pressure on me to buy?
Seriously, what is the best way to get a salesperson to stop doing standard sales tricks like that one. If the salesperson really isn’t qualified to make an offer, how can I as a customer get to talk directly to the sales manager?
I generally know precisely what I want and how much I am willing to go up to in price. I will not go higher than my maximum, and I don’t need anyone to sell the car to me (I’d have done all my homework on the vehicle). So except for hageling and a test drive I have no real need of the salesperson’s help at all.
It might be worthwhile on an old car like that, but is of zero value when buying a new car. Just a way for the salespeeps to make a little more money on the deal.
I will only disappear if I don’t know the answer to the question and need to find out the answer, but I have never left for 20 minutes, that would be rude and inconsiderate.
The best way to get a sales consultant to stop playing the standard tricks, as you put it, is to be direct and tell them what you want. You can always ask to speak to the manager, but they are usually better than the salesperson at this type of stuff. As I have said MANY times, use the internet to see if you can get what you want. OR, call first and do everything on the phone with the sales manager.
I think we all expect that the price quoted on a car if we walk in a showroom will be substantially greater than the dealer’s bottom line, often to the tune of thousands of dollars. How do advertised Internet prices match up with the dealer’s bottom line? As a general rule, is an internet advertised price “THE” price, or how much room should a consumer think he may have to haggle?
According to the linked docs, the dealer returned the guy’s trade-in and didn’t cash the check. The dealer also offered the guy $500 to forget it. The article seems to have left all that out. So now the dealer has the truck, and the guy has his money and his car.
It depends on the internet price you are talking about. Generally if it is a dealer lease ad for a car, it is usually the bottom line, as they are trying to take business from other dealers. Some national lease ads have profit left in them, but not enough to worry about negotiating.
Used car ads sometimes have profit and sometimes don’t. It depends how long the car has been on the lot.
The Edmunds TMV for a car is usually not the best you can do, same as the KBB version.
When you use the internet to shop and get quotes from dealers how do you know what vehicle your getting quotes for?
One dealer may have the vehicle and it has a sunroof, sidecurtain airbags, and floor mats and will give you one price while another dealer may have the vehicle with a different set of accessories for a different price. How can you comparison shop if you can’t find truely identical vehicles?
And don’t dealers usually use the internet to get you to come in and then change up the price on you? “That price was for the vehicle only. I didn’t give you the prices for the accessories, destination charge, etc. And that price is only if you finance through us. Oh sorry, that vehicle sold, but this one is similar with different options, different price of course.”
Thanks, yopu sound like the sort of salesperson I like to deal with, and I bought my last car from that sort of salesperson because the price was good, and partially because of enfuriation with the ‘standard trick’ style salespeople at other dealerships.
Arround here in big car company sales lots (Nissan, VW, Mazda, SAAB all did this) there will always be a twenty minute delay whenever you make a price offer for the car you want. The salesperson will always play good-cop bad-cop with you, setting the salesperson as good cop and the sales manager as bad cop. I’m sure it can work on a good percentage of customers, but that sort of shit really gets tierd if you are a customer who recognises it for what it is. Unfortunately even if you point out to the salesperson that you know precisely what they are doing, they seem incapable (or not allowed due to company policy) to modify the way they do buisness.
These were simple offers, with no financing to calculate, but even in an empty dealership it would somehow take 20 mins for the salesmanager to make a new counter offer. Always my offer was a little below Edmunds price, always their counter offer was significantly over Edmunds price (ie not a good price).
Instead I bought from a Volvo/Raingerover dealership (I bought a second hand saadaru) which had a good price advertised on the internet (lower than KBB and Edmunds estimates by about $1000). The salesperson said that the price was the lowest they would offer, and as it was already good, I took a test drive and bought it the following day without any delaying going to sales managers or the like.
And a new question.
Is it possible for a car buyer to get better deals than a dealership can offer through going to car auctions? Or do buyers often get screwed at car auctions if they aren’t very knowlegeable about what they are doing?
Why do you guys always ask “What would it take for you to sign the deal today?” or some other version of the question. Can’t we take some time to decide? I have bought 4 cars in my lifetime; 1st used from a friend, 2nd new at a dealer, 3rd used at a dealer, and 4th used from a friend. My friends never pressured me into making a deal immediately, but the car salesmen did.
Are you that worried that I’ll walk and perhaps visit another dealer?
You comparison shop with a vehicle with the exact options you want. Granted, that exact car might not be available, so find out what the closest vehicle available is. From there, get the best price.
Dealers don’t really try to get you in over the internet. If you call in, that is usually the situation, but the people dealing with you on the internet are usually salespeople who tend to work on just the internet. If you want to be safe, ask what the out the door price is on the car you are interested in, after negotiating your best deal, and ask them to break it down for you how they got to that number.
Ask them if the car is in stock, and recall on your way in to confirm the car is still there. The internet salespeople tend to deal with a lot of people, and are 99% straight-forward.
Do you bug the rooms where husbands and wives talk “in private” while you present their offer to the manager?
Sometimes, but rarely. The dealers will usually go for where they can make the most money, but sometimes there is an exception. They make money many different ways, dealer fees, finance rates, so it could add up. Also, they might need that one extra unit to hit their budget/quota given to them by the owner/president/insert someone else.
If you are talking about a buyer going to an auction, I do not recommend it. First of all, the real auctions are for dealers only. The other ones by third party companies are jokes. Plus you have no idea what you are getting.
A good salesperson that you have good rapport with makes a huge difference. Someday they will all realize this.
No, that stupid Edmunds article says this happened (he was assuming). That would be borderline illegal, probably totally illegal. But I have had other salespeople tell me what the customers were talking about when I left (overhearing, eavesdropping, whatever you want to call it).
I tend not to need it though, usually you can tell what the customer wants, and if they make a realistic offer, take it. But sometimes we even try to go higher than the realistic offer, and it is done on purpose. If someone offers $22,000 OTD and you take it right away (even if it is realistic), they might think they are getting ripped off, because it has never happened that way with people.
That brings me to another point. This is why when a customer asks for a bottom line number, they NEVER receive it. And this is rightfully so. Because the few times I have actually given a ‘bottom-line’ number, the customer still wants to negotiate.
**Former…**what cars do you sell? Do you do internet sales?
If you had a Honda Accord (no major mech issues, I have paperwork to show all checkups, etc.), would you sell the car yourself, or bring it to the dealer, agree on a price, and then mention the trade-in? Is this just an ameteur move?
Also, from your earlier posts, I can see why there’s a move to have a person finance over purchase outright. Can you think of any instance where I should finance instead of buy outright (e.g. 0% and a cash-back?)?
Do you have to be up on the competition?
Lastly…personal question…do you havea preference between a v6 Accord and a v6 Camry?
-Cem
I sell Mercedes, but can cover any brand, and do my best to help out with any question. I do regular sales and internet sales, and do some manager stuff, too.
As far as the Honda, it depends on the year, miles, model, etc. to determine if it is worth selling on your own. If you give me the necessary information, I can tell you the true value (model, year, miles, condition, and area of country you are in).
But, it is not an amateur move to mention the trade after the new car is discussed. It is smart. If you have a CarMax around you, you can always find out what your trade is really worth anyway.
As far as the 0%, a LOT of the times it is not worth it. Sometimes you can get a nice sized rebate in lieu of the cash back. If you plan on trading your car in prior to it being paid off, take the rebate instead. If you plan on keeping it, always take the low APR. If you get the 0% no matter what, TAKE IT. You can do better on your money in the bank, common sense says.
A good salesperson is always up on the competition. I know room in the backseat for all compared cars, engine sizes, lease specials (including the fine print), everything. BUT, do not take what the salesperson says as fact.
Honda Accord V6 or Toyota Camry V6? Definitely an opinion, but I like the Honda better. They are both great cars with good resale values.
I just sold my 97’ Accord with 160K miles on it. You can always make more on a car selling it yourself vs. trading it in. Honda Accords and Civics are in very high demand as a used car. I suggest posting yours on craigslist.com (free).
Edmunds gave my used Accord three values. $1000 trade-in value. $2000 private seller value. And $3000 dealer price. I advertised mine for $3500, got 3 calls within the first day, and had it sold in 24 hours.
I actually sold it to a guy who bought it for his wife and actually worked at a used car dealer. He said the dealer he worked at never had any because no one ever, ever traded them in.