Is it odd that I enjoy negotiating vehicle purchases for friends and family, even though the vast majority of people despise going through the process?
My grandfather co-owned the local Ford dealership with his brother and another partner for over 40 years. I spent every free moment with “Poppa” at the dealership starting as early as 1st grade! I rode the bus there each day and came home with him around 6pm each night. He was truly the kindest, most honest and ethical person I’ve ever known, and that stands true even 14 years after his death. It taught me that someone with those traits could be VERY successful in the car business!
He was also a legendary negotiator when purchasing a vehicle to sell on their used lot or a personal vehicle. He literally walked away from a deal for a ’68 Corvette for my cousin because they wouldn’t either replace the wiper blades or knock a $5 more off the price to compensate! My cousin was devastated, but he got his Corvette including new wipers two days later…and an extra $100 off the price.
He taught me everything he knew and I’ve picked up many new tricks through experience. I think I enjoy the psychological aspect of it most of all. When they try to pressure or manipulate in some way, I always find a way to turn it back around on them! That goes for salesmen, sales managers, F&I managers and anyone else who gets involved in the negotiation process, particularly if they are the ‘alpha-CLOSER’ who tries to push harder and harder, despite my negative or non-response.
Most of my friends and family (including cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) ask for me to go with them to buy a car. They will test drive, give me a YES or NO using a ‘code-word” we determine ahead of time. If NO, we don’t even go back inside, I just quickly thank the salesman for his time and we scoot. If YES, then I handle it 100% from there, no exceptions. To make sure they don’t fall prey to an overly persuasive sales person, I take possession of their wallet, checkbook and anything else pertinent such as a title for a trade-in, etc. I’ve been burned in the past by a few of the buyers I’m helping when they fall prey to the salesman’s tricks or show far too much interest in the car and undermine everything I do!
Most salesmen HATE me initially when I tell them they’re dealing with me not the buyer sitting next to me. But most of them warm up to me when I tell them that I know they’re in business to make money and I want them to make a decent profit, but I also intend on getting a very good deal!
But I have also been asked to leave while they speak privately with the potential buyer- AS IF! I’ve been told that it’s illegal for me to come into the F&I office due to privacy/legal reasons…fine, then you come on out here with me!!! I’ve even been told very loudly and using profanity to go somewhere else…I’m already out the door, but I’m leaving with a smile knowing you wasted half your work day and didn’t’ earn a cent!
I’ve also learned to make sure the buyer is fully prepared with the information I need or could use to their advantage! I have them pull a Credit Report with Score, apply for loans with at least two lenders with the lowest APR on Bankrate. I do all the legwork on researching prices, incentives and other pertinent info to determine a ‘goal’ price. I also research their trade-in value on KBB and NADA. On the way to the dealership, I also stop by Carmax and get a written purchase offer on their trade-in to use as leverage, if needed.
I also clarify how much they want to pay down, whether they want to lease or purchase and any balance owed on their trade. I also guesstimate their payment range using that info and the goal price to see if it’s realistic or not.
A few years ago, I actually ‘busted’ a sales guy who put his phone on speaker phone dialed into the sales manager’s office so they could listen in on what we said while he was allegedly in there trying to get us a great deal! We played it perfectly, my friend wanted to spend no more than $16k and her trade was worth about $4k and paid off, so $20k total budget. But I asked her “Are you SURE you can go as high as $18k if we can’t get them any lower”??? We still need to go check out that Hyundai with everything this car has for $17k…you really shouldn’t spend more than that, especially with your fragile health and surprise medical bills!
We were originally going to offer $18,500 and go as high as $19,500 max, but after listening in on us, he came back with $17,775 and I got it down to $17,275…$1225 less than our initial ‘opening’ offer! Score!
I’ve heard “I’m already losing money on the deal”…and I respond, “If that’s the case then you wouldn’t be working here or the place would be out of business” or “even if you are losing money, you’ve been sitting on the car for XX months and need the cash flow bad enough to take a loss”!
I also love the “look at my wife and four children, they’re gonna go hungry over this deal”…”Then I suppose you shouldn’t have had more children than you could afford to feed” or “They look like they could miss a meal or two, just like you!”
If the person I’m with isn’t sure or still wants to drive some other cars before making a decision, I make it CLEAR that there is NOTHING anyone could possibly do to get them to buy TODAY! OR “This deal is only good until closing tonight” to which I respond, “If you can offer it now, I feel confident you’ll offer it in a day or two if we return with a checkbook in hand ready to buy!” And if not, there are 47 identical vehicles in the Atlanta area; I’ll buy one of them for the price you won’t honor later on!”
One of my favorite stories happened about 6mos ago, over Thanksgiving weekend. I went with my mom to buy a new Mazda CX-9 Crossover ($40k vehicle). We nailed down a helluva deal on the purchase price, over $9k off sticker. The used car salesman was a total asshole and refused to offer the $7500 that Carmax offered for her trade-in and KBB showed as correct for “Average” condition trade-in. He wouldn’t budge any higher than $7250 and I told everyone involved that we weren’t leaving without buying the new car AND we were going to get $7500 trade-in! I finally snuck away and wandered around a maze of offices until I found the General Manager! I asked him if he was willing to lose the sale and over 10 hours of his employees’ time over $250??? He walked back to the sales are with me, everyone looked scared and/or pissed, but he simply wrote in ($250- Discount for having BALLS) and signed it!!!
But then the F&I Manager was a jerk to me from the instant we met. We were tired and hungry and wanted to go home with the new car, so I wanted to speed up the process and cut the bullshit! I told him that I understood that it was part of his job to offer services such a Extended Warranties, Service Contracts, GAP Insurance, etc. and that those products obviously appealed to some buyers and gave them peace of mind. However, we were NOT interested in any of those things, so please skip past that and get us out of her! She was writing a check to pay for it full, so there was no loan to process. He still tried to sell her GAP insurance, and I asked him what GAP exactly would exist on car with no loan??? He didn’t like that I called him on it. Then he tried to sell her an insurance package that covers the 20” wheels and tires that came on her CX-9. I told him they were already covered under her auto policy and he snapped back, “NO they’re not!” I told him her insurance agent would beg to differ and he said that her insurance agent is obviously an idiot then! So I pulled out my business card and the wallet-version of my Georgia Insurance License…”I said hi, I’m her idiot agent, asshole”!
We’ve always called my mom The Terminator because, once she loses her cool, all HELL breaks loose! She’s like a big ol’ shotgun, just aim her in the gerneral direction of a target and she’ll take out everything in her path! His rude comment about her idiot insurance agent made her get up, grab her big ‘ol Coach purse and let that jerk (65+, fat and very short, wobbly looking when he moved) have it with both barrels! I believe the phrase that she coined was something like “You’ve fucked with the wrong woman, you little ‘sawed-off’ son-of-a-bitch!” I’m DONE with you…and she stormed out and I went behind her. She charged off in the direction of the GM’s office where I had located him earlier…long story short, the New Car Sales Manager and GM finished the sales transaction in the GM’s office and did so very quickly! I think they were scared of her, perhaps storming into his office, plunking that big ol’ purse on his desk and saying, “Listen, I try to be nice but I’m over it. Now you’re going to deal with THE BITCH! You have 10 minutes to do whatever you need to do, I’ve got the keys to the new one and tha troll bastard has my money and trade-in title, so we are GONE in 10 minutes, whether you have your shit together of not!”
What a day that was, I’m sure they had never quite met a mother and son like us before! And she has mellowed out a lot now that she’s in her late 50’s…you should have seen her jacking up a teacher who wrongly accused me of doing something that another kid did, then slapped me across the face for it (hard) and refused to even apologize to me for doing it! Let’s just say that when mom and I walked out of the classroom that day, the teacher had a HUGE RED handprint on her face…a taste of her own medicine…and she was crying, I still get all tingly and fuzzy warm when I think back to that day…
