I will probably be buying my wife a new car soon, and while it is her decision I would like to try to ‘steer’ her towards what I think is a good car. So…
Is she more likly to fall in love with the first car we check out, the last one, the first test drive, the one we look at the longest, or what other factors may influnce her decision?
For the record she is very impulsive and fell in love with the first house we looked at when we where house shopping. (Yes, I bought it :rolleyes: )
I would do this: FInd out what features are important in a philosophical sense. Set price, tehn take her to see a car. Your wife is probably very susceptible to the “puppy dog effect”. Salesmen often use this. In essence, as soon as she pictures herself to be the owner, her decision is made.
Well first of all if you show a car salesperson you or your wife has fallen in love…all is lost, you lost. Never show that you have fallen in love with a car, this will give you the edge if you have to bargain. Also whilst bargaining they can always go at least two grand down on the price.
**AND MOST IMPORTANT!!!**Always be prepared to walk away. When the last figures come in…walk away. they will call you when you get home, they mayeven say whilst your there, “this is our final offer” its bullsh*t. TRUST ME! Figure out what you want, and go in with a Print out of what you want if possible, and DO NOT DEVIATE FROM WHAT YOU WANT
Just a little advice from someone who has a car salesman in the family whom I’ve got many buying tips from…
We own a Nissan Xterra for, in my opinion, no other reason than the fact my wife liked the rock music and extreme sports messaging that was going on in the commercials. I caved anyway because on the surface, I had no objections to us getting an SUV, and relative to all the others, the Xterra is pretty inexpensive.
That said, the salesmen screwed with us 10 ways from Sunday and actually turned my wife against me in the negotiations, making it sound like I ‘didn’t want her to have a better car than me’ at which point I told him he just lost our business, and forced my wife to leave with me. Fat good his calls back did to get us to go back there…
But it made me realize what a sucker my wife was. So we looked up the prices very carefully on kbb.com and edmunds.com to get ballparks for what we should pay, and I sat down with my wife to see how important different features were to her. As you might guess, practicality of the features had nothing to do with her choices. But, that said, some of it worked to our advantage in negotiations, and I was able to talk her out of the 4WD version, which there was no way in hell she would have ever used anyway.
The whole trick is to manage expectations. Tell you wife you are going to walk away no matter WHAT the salesman offers because you know he will then call you back later with an even better price. If she really does fall for any sucker ploy the salesman throws out, then make her aware of this, and tell her to leave the negotiating to you and sales guy and take a walk. It’s always better to have someone who has no emotional attachment to the item doing the negotiating regardless. I had my wife let myself and her father do the negotiating for the Xterra and I think we got a pretty good deal.
-Yarster
Even better: avoid the negotiation all together when buying a new car.
Find your perfect car. Test drive, look at brochures, kick the tires. DO NOT talk price with sales people at the dealership. Ever. Tell them you’re just looking.
Find the invoice price (not the MSRP - that’s the “sucker just walked onto the lot” price) of your car with the options you want on kbb.com.
Call the dealership and ask to speak with their internet or fleet sales associate. Ask for their internet price on the car you want. They will quote a price $100 to $600 above the invoice. If they mention MSRP, hang up the phone. Any financing or other incentives will be on top of this price (eg: $1000 cash back means your final price will be below list).
Do this with all the dealerships in your area, just to ensure you don’t get screwed by the first one. Internet sales people work on volume. They’re looking to make a modest profit on a quick, no hassle transaction. They are counting on a customer who knows exactly the car they want. They can find a car on another dealership’s lot. They can order one from the factory if your perfect car isn’t around.
You say your wife is impulsive? Show her your favorite car first.
I forgot to mention that the internet sales price is usually a no-negotiating price. You could probably get them to throw in some floor mats or an air freshener, but that’s about it.
I suspect that if the OP wanted to know, “what is the best way to buy a car,” he would have put this in IMHO.
I read the question as, “do studies or observations exist which track the psychology of car-buying behavior, and could I use these studies to influence my wife’s decision.”
Surely auto dealers know that if they can get someone to take a test drive that they increase the chance of making a sale, or “if they walk out, they ain’t coming back unless…”
Thanks for the tips, but manhattan nailed what I was looking for. For the record she fell in love with the first one we looked at, which was also what I thought would be the best choice. I think seeing it first did influence her decision somewhat.
I was shopping online and the internet service I used happened to work through the same dealer we test drove the car at. They gave me a price of $200 below invoice :D, and they were pretty nice to so I am glad I can give them my buisness.Since car buying tips belong in IMHO and I have already found my car at a good price, I think this thread can be allowed to sink into the archives unless someone can answer the OP for the record.
I can say in my case the first car we looked at had some advantage, but we also test drove it and spent some time with it. The dealership also treated us a lot nicer which seemed to influence how we felt about the car.
Thanks again…
So… what car did you buy?
Since this is at the top anyway…
We ended up getting the Subaru Forester, I was comparing it to the Toyota Rav4 and Ford Escape. I thought the Forester offered the best combination of features, safety and reliability for the money. To get a Rav4 with the same equipment (Particularly ABS) would have cost a lot more money.
Thanks for your interest, but unless anyone can answer the OP I don’t think this thread should clog up GQ with my personal life. If the Mods feel it’s necessary to lock this thread so be it…