There is one Car Salesman ‘scam’ that I’ve always scratched my head about:
It has happened often.
The salesman would show a picture of his children. He would mention that he has some ungodly number of kids. 12. 13. 14. One I remember as having 16. He looked 30.
The worst was a guy who said he had 12 kids. He looked about 30 so I called him on it. He then showed me a picture of his children. It was so obviously a co-ed baseball team. All the kids were about the same age. Some white and blonde. Some black. Some Asian. Chuckling inside I said my disbelief and asked him if his kids were the team he coached.
OH NO…they are his kids. Same mother, I asked? No…some of them were adopted.
No matter how much I pushed it, he kept insisting that he was raising those kids.
Once I can see. Twice even. However, everytime I go car shopping, I run into a couple of these.
I guess I can’t negotiate price, eh…or his ‘kids’ will starve.
Never deal with car salespeople. They’re lying scum and you can’t trust anything they say. I always feel like I have to go home and take a shower after talking to them.
Many groups/companies/organizations have buying services that will let you buy a car from the dealership for a fixed price (usually some small percentage or amount over invoice).
I’ve bought my last 3 cars using the Costco buying service. I think AAA has one also. Many credit unions have one. Belong to AARP? I think they have one. Your company may also have one, as well as many other organizations / associations.
How they usually work: You contact Costco (or whoever) and tell them the make of car you want to buy. Costco refers you to a specific person at a dealership close to you for that make of car (usually it’s the leasing manager at the dealership). You make an appt. with the guy, and tell him “I want car XYZ with options A, B, and C.” He will tell you the list price for all of those and the lower, fixed price that you will pay.
This way is no hassle, no haggling, no high pressure, no feeling like you’re getting ripped off, and a guaranteed good deal. I won’t ever buy a car using a salesperson again.
I’ve had the exact same experience with the incredulous look of the salesman. “What? We run ads in the NEWSPAPER?”
I only showed up with an ad once, though. Won’t do it again. Much better to call several dealerships on the phone or, better yet, negotiate with their Internet sales associates ahead of time, then show up when everything is ready to sign.
It sucked. Especially the hard sell for the rust proofing crap. “this car will be rusted out in 3 years tops if you don’t get this protection”. I’d reply that if the car was such a piece of shit like that I wasn’t buying it.
Any particular reason to think that this price is particularly great? If you don’t want to haggle, fine, but you are usually paying a price to avoid it, in that the set price isn’t as good as you could have done on your own.
I worked as a mechanic for a few dealerships thirty-forty years ago and I used to believe they hired convicted con artists exclusively. Back then buying a car was almost like armed robbery with all the tricks, cons, and cheats they had and it isn’t much better now. I especially hate the extended warranty scam and the “my manager says” BS; I’d rather be smacked in the face with a frozen cod than buy a damn car.
Correction: The set price isn’t as good as *some * people could do on their own, but better than *some other * people could do on their own. I once had a girlfriend who (before I knew her) walked into a dealership and paid sticker price because she didn’t know any better. Some people aren’t good at negotiating, or just hate doing it.
A blatant hijack but I have to add that the last two new cars I’ve bought they tried to sell me a paint coating to guard against acid rain (“That’s why they always put that white plastic on the car before it’s sold”). I always ask why the car I own now has done fine for several years with no signs of paint damage, and there’s never a good answer, but they always act shocked when I don’t take it.
Admittedly my experience of selling cars ended before the rise of the internet as a viable sales and information tool. My experience is also confined to Australia; not sure if i’d need to change my strategy for the US. But i think the following is a pretty good method for buying a car that will reduce stress and help get a good price:
[ol]
[li]First, before anything else, work out what car you want. If you’re still undecided between a Civic and a Corolla, or between a Suburban and an Explorer, go drive them and decide which one you want to buy. It’s always easier if you have already made your decision about the car itself, and are just shopping on price.[/li][li]Once you’ve decided on the car, sit down and make a list of the options you want. Make sure you’re very specific. If there’s a choice of engine types (V-6 or V-8), wheel types (steel or alloy, 15" or 17") etc., then make sure you are clear what you want. Also include stuff like color (if that’s important to you), manual or auto, sunroof, etc. And include even the smallest, most mundane stuff, like floor mats or headlamp protectors. You need to know exactly what you want from the beginning, so there are no surprises later.[/li][li]Organize your financing beforehand. I don’t know enough about car financing in America to know whether you can get a good deal through the dealer or not, but i know that, when i sold cars, most people who financed through our dealer paid more for their money than if they had gone to the bank. I guess if the dealer has some sort of 0% offer, it might be worth taking, but read the fine print.[/li][li]If you have a car to trade, take it with you. In my experience, you could always get more for your old car by selling it yourself, but some people don’t want the hassle.[/li][li]Find three dealers (or more; three is a minimum) close to where you live who sell the type of car you want. If it’s a Corolla, find the three nearest Toyota dealers. Go to each of those dealers, present them with a piece of paper listing exactly what you want in a car, and tell them that you would like a quote on this car and this car only. Tell them the quote should include all options and extras listed, as well as all dealer charges and taxes, and that you want to take delivery by [insert date here]. If you have a trade-in, ask them to look at it, and tell them that the quote should tell you the changeover price, i.e., how much money you will have to pay out of your own pocket to move from your old car into your new car.[/li][li]It’s important to let them know (a) that you won’t be buying today, (b) that they will be competing with other dealers for your business, and (c) that there will be no second chances. The dealer who offers the best price first time around gets the deal. Make absolutely clear that you are willing to turn and walk away if they don’t give you a price for the exact car you want. [/li][/ol]
A strategy like this has some important advantages, i think.
It makes things easier for people who aren’t very good at negotiating, because there is no negotiating. It even makes life easier for the salesperson, because he or she knows exactly what they need to do to get your business. While someone like you might force them to make a fairly low-profit sale, it will also be a low-stress, low-time-consumption sale.
Telling them that there will be no second chances heads off the nickel-and-dime price reductions that some salespeople try. Often, they will give you a number, you say it looks too high, so they go and knock another $100 off. And this just continues until you agree. If they know that they need to give you their best deal up front or lose your business, there’s a better chance that they will go “balls and all” (as my old sales manager called it) on the first go.
The key to all this is to be very clear up front that you will walk and not come back if they try any bullshit. If you ask for a quote on a blue V6 auto, they better not come back with a quote for a white 4-cylinder manual.
It’s also worth being clear that you are a serious person who is, in fact, going to buy a car. While a lot of customers get annoyed when the salesperson asks if they’re going to buy a car today, the fact is that the car business sees a lot of “tire kickers,” people who, for some unknown reason, love to spend hours in car yards getting prices and information without any intention of buying a car. It’s only reasonable that the salespeople are interested in working out whether you might actually buy a car, or whether you’re just wasting time, and therefore costing money.
And only do all this once you know you are ready to buy. You not only should be ready to walk away from the ones who play games, you should be willing to put your money down with the dealer who gives you the best deal.
That’s how i would buy a new car, anyway.
Unfortunately, if you’re buying a used car, this doesn’t really apply. The thing that makes buying a new car easier is that all new cars are (in theory at least) identical. A new blue V6 Camry with a sunroof and five-spoke wheels should be the same no matter which dealer you buy it from. Used cars, however, are all unique. They have different mileage, different levels of wear, different options, etc., etc. This makes them less amenable to the bidding-war strategy outlines above.
That’s why I like CarMax. You’re not dealing with a dealer…we went in, told them our price range, and we were shown several different makes and models.
For $1800, you’re paying for significantly reduced risk and hassle. It can be worth it when used car shopping, especially if you’re not extremely knowledgeable about cars and spotting potential mechanical problems, etc.
I suspect the profit margin is greater for used cars at all dealers than for new cars, but you can still drive for much lower cost per mile when buying used.
My parents once bought one of these advertised cars, a Nissan Stanza. It had ZERO extras. No power nothing. It didn’t even have a radio. I guess they figured no one would buy it. Too bad for them that my dad only wanted a radio (“power windows just means they can break”), and knew he could put that in himself.
That was long ago though. Now he just buys used off-lease cars.
My wife just bought a Scion Xa from a Toyota dealership; she’s had it for three months and I’ve been over the paperwork a dozen times. I STILL don’t know if she got ripped off or not. But, she is happy with the price she paid and she is happy with the car she bought; I suppose that is really what makes a good deal.
I think that’s a good attitude, actually. Some people get so obsessed by the idea that they might get ripped off that they never actually sit down and ask themselves whether they are happy with the price they paid for their car.
It’s like the whole storm in a teacup over the recent reduction in the price of the iPhone. When Apple dropped the price, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth by some people who complained that they felt cheated. Others just shrugged and said “I was willing to pay $600 for it when i bought it, so it must have been worth that much to me.”
I think the no-haggle thing is a bit of a scam. There are three factors in a car deal: selling price, financing, and trade-in. The dealership can make money on any of those and doesn’t really care which ones it is. The no-haggle fixes the selling price, but they can still play games with the financing and trade-in.
Personal experience: I bought my Mazda 3 on one of their employee plans, which is fixed-price, and they totally low-balled me on my trade-in, and tried really hard to get me in a bad loan.
You like what you like, so I’m not disrespecting your taste. But owning a Saturn would bore me to tears. I’ve driven quite a few as rentals. A friend of ours has a loaded to the gills Aura and I’m still not impressed. The Sky looks neat (IMHO) but that dinky engine it comes standard with is pure vanilla. For about the same money (maybe even less) a Mustang convertible comes with a much beefer power plant.
And the no haggle pricing sounds like B.S. to me, also.
