Wow, thank you…and you’re the most perceptive! 
Is that sarcasm I’m sensing?
Of the gentlest kind.
Ha, I love filling out paperwork. All the forms you get at the doctor’s office, or insurance applications, stuff like that. More fun than a barrel of monkeys, I am…
I wasn’t complimenting you.
Despite my desire to say something bitchy, insulting or even more sarcastic…the only genuine response I have for you right now is respect.
Please take note of the complete lack of exclamation points in this response.
BTW, I have severe Adult ADD (Inattentive) and take a psycho stimulant to combat the effects of untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea. So sometimes I’m just a bit more exciting than others. If I remember to chew up a Valium or three when I’m overly excited, it usually brings me in for a nice soft landing…
And yes, just in case you were wondering, the last mosquito that bit me had to be rushed immediately to the Betty Ford Clinic (an exclamation point ought to be here, but I’ll just leave it bare of all punctuation)
What exactly were you doing or attempting to do?
tell you your sneak-bragging wasn’t impressing anyone.
I’m with those who love negotiating for cars. I remember once when the salesman asked me “If I give you this price, how much profit do you think I am making?” and when I answered “about $300 which is more than enough” his jaw literally dropped. He countered with “My kids will have to live on peanut butter and jelly” and I answered “actually, that’s not too bad from a nutrition standpoint”. I actually can’t wait to buy my next car-I’m just waiting until I’m in a really really bad mood.
Um, what exactly are you calling sneak-bragging? And what part of that posting do you think was insteded to impress anyone?
It’s just stating the truth as I see it based on my own life experiences. Please help me understand what you are perceiving from my words that I didn’t intend when I wrote them? I am sincerely asking this, not trying to be argumentative and I don’t want to come across as rude, cocky or less than genuine.
Thank you.
You know, sometimes sheer hostility and rage aren’t the best way to open. “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!” That saying has always baffled me a bit. First of all, why would you want to catch flies in the first place? Secondly, what kind of idiot wold expect to catch flies or any other insect with something as acidic as vinegar?
I actually bought my 2006 Mazda3 new in December 2005 via the internet. Negotiating and starting the purchase process online was still pretty new back then. But I spent more than a month trying to find the color I wanted (Titanium Gray) with cloth seats and 5MT, and the 5-door version…and only turned up two, one in Tuscaloosa, AL and the otherin Knoxville, TN. I requested price quotes from both and quickly came to a mutually agreeable price for the one in Knoxville. They emailed me the Buyer’s Order and signed, scanned and emailed it back. I also provided a $500 credit card deposit at that time.
That was all on a Tuesday, a few days later on Friday afternoon I set out for a six hour round trip with an old friend. When I arrived at the dealership, they had my car detailed and waiting front-and-center. The paperwork was already 75% or ao complete except for my signature. I walked out with the keys in hand 27 minutees after I arrived…can’t beat that…
Almost the entire post consists of statements about how good you are at negotiating.
especially when he actually isn’t. See, if the dealership ended up selling him the car, then they made the money they wanted to on the sale. They just let him think he negotiated a good deal.
car dealers aren’t stupid. they’re generally not going to take a bath on a vehicle just because some Joe Sixpack walks in thinking he’s some hard-nosed wheel-and-dealer.
Do you volunteer building uptown at St. John ofthePine?
So you’re saying that the only way to be a good negotiator is to never actually buy a car? :dubious:
Depends, really. They won’t take a bath on it, but the profit margin may be less than they hoped for. But they make up for it on people who pay MSRP or who think that getting a few hundred (or even a couple thousand) off MSRP is a good deal. A large number of folks hate to negotiate or do it badly, and that’s where the dealer makes his money. The only time I was confused is when I was able to buy a 2008 Saturn Vue for less than dealer invoice. I’m assuming it was because Saturn was closing up shop, and GM was giving the dealers incentives to dump their inventory.
See, I’m full of love for all you people who like doing these unpleasant things, especially if you do them for your friends and family.
I like negotiating just about anything. It’s like a verbal dance to me.
A few months ago my son needed a desk. Being pretty broke we were looking for the cheapest we could find. Walmart’s was $59.99. What got me was that the thrift stores were asking the same. (They’ve gotten savvy and it’s sometimes hard to find a deal anymore.)
At the last thrift store (son wasn’t with me then) I spotted one very like what he wanted (it had black-painted wood with a bookshelf and chrome legs) but they were only asking $25.99 for it. That’s because (I think) whoever set it out on the floor didn’t recognise what it was (or could be.) It was over with the living room furniture and had a lot of knick-knacks on it. I reached down and felt a leg to make sure it was sturdy and not that thin kind that can bend like a matchstick.
I offered the salesperson $15 and she got the manager to see what he could do. He countered with $20. I pointed out where the wood was worn on the shelf, and that it would have to be refinished. We settled on $17 and back home (my son loved the desk) we saw that we could touch it up with Magic Marker.
This next isn’t sneak-bragging, it’s bragging-bragging but it sounds like a lie. It’s not. (Or maybe it wasn’t as good a deal as I thought. I don’t know.)
Years ago we were shopping for a used car for the same son. He found the one he wanted and it was marked $7,999. The only trouble was, I only had $5,000. So when we went inside with the dealer I put it down on the desk, in cash. His eyes widened, he went and talked to somebody, then came back and wrote it up. When we got home and I showed my husband the papers he said “Well, he backed into that one.”
My stepfather had pointed out to me how farmers purchase stuff. They go into a place wearing their overalls but pull out a wad of cash. It’s hard for people to turn down real money right in front of them, he said.
So I tried it and it worked.
When the parties involved are satisfied with the deal, that sounds like a successful negotiation, to me.
If the dealer sold the car, it’s likely that it was in their interest to move inventory, at that time. Sometimes it costs them more to hold onto a vehicle, as opposed to selling at a lower profit margin, since volume and other factors also matter.
My wife negotiates almost everything, new or old. I do cars, she does everything else, particularly furniture or other high cost items. She’s good at it, but with cars she’s too apt to set her sights on a price that no dealer will sell for and then refuse to budge. Not a bad tactic sometimes, but not when your starting price is below the profit line.