Thanks for your answers, FormerMarineGuy. I guess I will not really learn unless and unti I actually go in to buy a car myself.
I don’t consider this a hijack at all, as you can ask me anything.
The salespeople here read the Consumer Reports reports often, but it really means nothing. We have ways of backing it up (very technologically advanced product that tends to have opportunities for more problems, customers expect more so complain more when there is a problem, etc.).
Overall, I don’t think our customers really care about what Consumer Reports say. They tend to want the car, not need the car. To tell you the truth, I don’t see how Consumer Reports really gets their information. I worked at a Lincoln dealership before this and it seems to be equal in service problems, although CR would not have you believe that.
If I were not a salesperson at Mercedes, I would probably get (1) If money were not an issue-an Aston Martin, or (2) If money were an issue-a Lincoln LS or Japanese car. It is really a hard question to answer as there are a million cars out there.
Yes, I did work at Lincoln/Mercury prior to working here.
About the third car you buy it get’s pretty routine.
- Corvette - Swating palms, elevated heartrate, ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod
- PT cruser - 8 months of patient waiting. No way in hell I was paying a premium for a daily-driver-compact
- Avalanche - family hauler…end of year incentives, make a call, show up, 5 minute testdrive, 10 minute paperwork, leave.
Having done the “car-for-cash” thing a few times, this is my impression of what happens:
[ol]
[li]You go see the car you like, and test drive it.[/li][li]I bought in all the competitor quotes (I’m in a relatively urban area, so there were many Honda dealers), and my Edmunds.[/li][li]Prior to this, I had sold my old car by myself (Mercury Sable…old company car that the company offered to me at an unbelieveable deal).[/li][li]Haggled with the salesperson, reached a good price (I’m not afraid to tell them about a price at another delaership (they usually won’t put it in writing).[/li][li]Tell the guy I’m paying cash…show them my checkbook (what really surprised me the first time is that they’d accept a personal check…no certified, or a money order).[/li][li]The guy takes me back to the paperwork guy, who tries to get me to finance (high pressure), and then tries to sell me warranty after warranty. He smelled like Polo cologne, too.[/li][li]I finally convince the guy that I really DON’T want to finance at 2/3% interest as opposed to no-percent interest, and get the car, drive it home.[/li][li]Get irritated to find out he checked credit anyway…we have a pretty nice credit score and are paranoid about checks on it…it dings slightly, but why ding at all?[/li][/ol]
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
-Cem
My last car purchase was a slightly used Saturn wagon from a Saturn dealership. I really liked the no-haggle, no-hassle aspect, since I’m not so hot at negotiating.
The beast is now nine years old, has 110,000 miles on it and is currently in the garage for a new fuel pump. My regular mechanic says it’s probably good for another 50K at least. It’s cheap to keep and long since paid off. Still, I’ve been researching online and pretty much settled on a Scion or Toyota Matrix as what I’d want if I decide to replace it. Or if something major goes wrong. Or if some maniac hits me and wrecks my little blue wagon.
Now, given that you (and others I know in real life) have said Toyota salesmen are horrible to deal with, and that Scion appears to be following the Saturn no-negotiation model, my question is:
Just how bad a deal is it to buy through the no-haggle model? Aside from the difference in stress level of the process, would I as a less than stellar bargainer be better off going for the Scion experience?
I’d buy another Saturn if they still made wagons instead of that SUV, dammit.
Does Saturn still do the no-haggle thing? They are part of GM and actually do discount their cars now. I think Scion is doing the no-haggling thing, but beware of all of the options you can add on. They do NOTHING for resale value. You lose every penny you spent on the options.
Dunno about Saturn now, since it’s been seven or eight years since I bought my wagon.
As far as the Scion options, no problem. After researching the car I’d already decided I want a barebones, standard stuff only deal. The options are pretty much a buncha bells and whistles I don’t give a rat’s ass about anyway. The base model offers everything that matters to me.
Also, resale value isn’t that big a deal, since I would plan to drive the car till it dies or costs more than it’s worht to repair, as I’m doing with the Saturn now. So I guess the best deal would be a basic model with zero percent financing, huh?
I did not know they offered 0% financing. If they do, check to see what the rebates are in lieu of the zero interest. On such a low price car, you might be better off taking a rebate.
Playing off the “they usually don’t put it in writing” comment Cemetery Savior made, how do you feel about the customer coming in with a notebook and writing the numbers down as you negotiate? I did this a few months ago at an Acura dealership, and the salesman looked like he wanted to toss the notebook in the shredder. (At one point in the negotiations, I also saw the salesman walking around in the alley outside when he was supposed to be talking to his manager. 
)
Personally, I do not like when people come in taking notes. It usually means they are shopping you compared to other dealers. Although it is okay to do that, why take notes? Can’t you just ask for a pamphlet? And nothing is wrong with shopping for the best price, but come on!
Remember, another dealer will ALWAYS beat the previous dealers best price. There is no such thing as a bottom line. If I will sell you the car for 36k, another dealer will sell it for 35,900 just to beat me. It is the way it is.
If you want to take notes, shop on the internet.
If I’m looking to do a trade-in, should I spend the money to get a couple of dents out and a needed new paint job, or will the dealer subtract a fair amount? In other words, do you recommend getting the car spruced up before bringing it to the lot, or let the dealer handle it?
If your car is in the condition where it needs to be painted, perhaps you should sell it on your own? I tell my clients not to do any painting at all (excepts perhaps the bumpers), but the dent removal is sometimes a good investment. But if you need to get dents/dings removed, combined with painting, it is probably not worth it to take care of anything.
I can help you more if you give me the make/model/year/miles.
2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee, around 35k miles, with a couple small dents (from falling icicles) in the front. Hood and front left wheel well need to be fixed and then painted. Thanks for the help, and great thread!
2WD or 4WD? 6cyl or 8cyl? Limited or Laredo? What part of the country do you live in? (Northeast, SE, Central, NW, etc.)?
4WD, 6cyl, Laredo, Northern Virginia/D.C. area.
Could you clarify this a bit? What is it about the note-taking that bothers you so much? You know you’re being shopped, the customer knows you’re trying to get the best price you can out of them. Nobody is technically cheating anybody. Where is the problem?
A dealer should give you no less than 10,500 for your trade, according to Manheim auction reports, up to 11,000 if you really want to fight for it. (Sorry, Manheim does not allow me to link).
It looks like most dealers would attempt to sell it for around 19k in your area, probably fetching around 17k. I would say sell it on your own and you will get around 15-16k for the car. NOT worth trading it in. Fix the dents in the car (price it around the area), and leave the paint alone, explaining to people that you did not want to paint it so they would not think it was in an accident, but offer to paint if necessary during negotiating.
I just hate selling cars on my own.
Glad you like the thread!
Could someone please elaborate on this. Googling tells me all about the 4-way adjustable seats all the toyotas seem to have.
I think what was meant is they rip you off every which way. On the car, on the financing, on the trade, on the leasing, on the after-market products, everything.
Hit submit too soon. Like a four way stop sign. No matter where you are, no matter which way you go, you get ripped off.