So, I am looking to buy a new(er) car. I live in a relatively rural location, so I’ve been batching visits to car dealerships. Last saturday I had an appointment with a dealer which is quite well known in the area for high-risk financing (hint to DC dopers: “your job is your credit”). I had spoken with someone on the phone and told them my very spcific needs which were:
Budget $6k, very firm
Paying cash
02 or 03 Hyundai Elantra preferred, but would consider other makes & models 00 and newer.
On the phone they told me they had between 5-10 cars that met my criteria. However, when I arrived here and sat down with a salesperson, the saleperson told me they did not “have anything” 02 or 03 (his exact words were “that old”). He did not try to sell me a car at all in fact. He told me he couldn’t help me. Annoyed, I yelled at him for wasting my time and went to my next dealership appointment.
It gets interesting when I got home. I looked up some more online listings and found 5 or so 02 and 03 Elantras listed at that dealership location and 3 or 4 others that would have met my criteria. In other words, the salesperson lied to my face. I found out that the exact same thing happened to another friend of mine (thus ruling out the “lone dimwit salesperson” theory).
My question is why?
My only working theory is that they make big $$ on high-interest financing and were not interested in dealing with a cash paying customer.
My husband is the best used-car buyer I’ve ever known. We had the same problem with people chasing after us trying to sell us vehicles we didn’t want.
We finally made little business cards with the following information:
Year: 92 - 96
Mileage: no more than 50K
Color: Any
Price: $8K out the door. Taxes included.
Other:
Must have extended cab
Must have AM/FM radio
Must have A/C
DO NOT CALL US UNLESS ALL CRITERIA HAVE BEEN MET.
Then when someone called, they would go down the list. If it sounded like we wanted to take a look, we’d ask them to hold on to that vehicle and we’d be in that evening.
It worked like a charm. We got two really great used vehicles this way. Both of them serviced us for many years with few problems (my husband knows a bit about cars, so he knows what trouble spots to look for).
Try this. And good on you for reamin’ the bastards out. I HATE THAT.
I’d say that’s a valid theory. Don’t tell them you’re paying cash till you’re ready to close the deal. Look for cars priced around a thousand more than you’re willing to spend, and haggle them down. Make a game out of it - you may not win the first couple times, but with a little practice, you’ll get the hang of it. In two weekends, you can get your strategy down and get the car you want at a reduced price.
Also remember: you usually won’t be negociating with the salesperson sitting in front of you, you’ll be negociating with the sales manager, whom you won’t meet till the end of the session. If you’re going to buy, he’ll come out to congratulate you, if you decide to walk, he might come out to try to coax you back in, or convince you to go higher (pay more). Most of the process is scripted, and the main goal is to get you to pay more. They are going to keep trying and trying. You have to be strong, control the conversation, and don’t be intimidated.
The dealership gets a kickback from the finance company, so they want those credit sales. Mr. Wanna has gone as far as to haggle them down to the lowest possible price, then offer to finance it so they get the kickback, and then he pays off the balance after the 3rd payment (any sooner, and the dealership loses the kickback).
I’d go with the ‘lone dimwit salesperson’ angle. Although without the ‘lone’ part.
I’ve found, for some reason, car salesmen to be some of the dimmest bulbs in the business world. I’ll bet whoever checked the inventory initially just screwed up. Or they do something insane like only update the inventory numbers monthly.
I had one guy calculate my potential payment on a Mazda mini van at $900/month. It had a big sign on the side that said ‘$299/month’. It didn’t seem to clue him in that perhaps he had miscalculated. Another guy had to go check with his boss when I asked him how much of a trade-in he had allowed for when he calculated the monthly payment. He tried to figure it out but just didn’t understand the formula well enough.
I believe there is a small percentage of car salesmen that actually know how to sell. (You see their picture in the paper all the time as salesman of the month. Always the same guy.) The rest are just hopeless.
Your mistake was the offer to pay cash. I worked for a car dealership many years ago and one of the more successful salesman gave me the secrets to buying used cars and saving money, it has helped many times. Generally to get the best price from a dealer all you will have is a cash down payment with no trade in and want them to do the financing. Work the best deal you can within these parameters. Even fill out the credit application. When it comes time to sign the sales agreement, note the price and pay the full amount at that time. I have done this a couple of times, it pisses off the salesman but there is very little they can do.
Hehe, very sly racer72. Thanks for the tip Lute but actually I have an appointment to see that car tomorrow.
Keep the chatter coming. I don’t mind a saleman trying to make a buck off me (not that I’m going to let them if I can help it) or tryng to upsell me (I am uniquely resistant to upselling) but telling me he had no car to sell me was a WTF!? moment.
Adding extras on the bill you don’t want- and worse; didn’t get.
Cheating you out of extra you did pay for.
gouging you on the credit rate.
On that last- DO NOT, REPEAT NOT- BUY THE CAR ON CREDIT WITH THE IDEA YOU’LL JUAT PAY IT ALL OFF. Not from any of those type dealers that our OP went to anyway- not from anything but a major credit company. Some of the “high risk” credit companies tag on a “rule of 78’s” clause- which means you pay interest first- thus, you think you have “paid down” your loan, and you haven’t. Or they will have a penalty clause for early pay-off.
Indeed, Hello Again- your final line is likely correct. However, do NOT buy from those type of dealers, no matter how good the deal seems. They get a lot of customers defaulting, and thus the “good” customers have to pay for the defaulters somehow, someway. Higher rates, higher prices, whatever.
But even if the dealer prefers to sell on finance because it makes more profit, surely it’s better to sell a car for cash for some profit than lose the customer altogether and get nothing?
I’ve never bought a car, but all the car-buying advice I’ve seen in the UK says that you can often get a better deal than usual by paying cash.
Yes, you would think so, but each salesman gets his pay based on (ok, this is putting it in the worst possible light) how badly he rips off the customer. Thus, without a chance to “rip you off” with financing fees- small commission. Also, the price on the cars are likely reflective of the fact that they think they are going to charge 28% interest or something like that.
I agree with this. On a new car, the situation is different. On a used car, they want to move these things with the least amount of overhead. Cash is better. Just let them know that you have your eye on EXACTLY what you told them. And tell them up front that you won’t take kindly to having your time wasted.
Actually, in this area it seems like there are two types of used car sellers:
flippers and financers. “Flipper” buy the cars at auction and like to “flip” them quickly. Inventory always moving in and out. They love cash-paying customers.
Financers are more interested in selling you financing than a car. They hate cash paying customers.
The good news is, I found a car being sold by a private party relatively close to me. 01 Hyundai Accent, 36k, $5,000, pending inspection. (The same car a dealer tried to sell me last week for $7,000 + a trade-in, yeah right)
We bought our most recent car at Carmax. Delightful experience. I told them what I wanted, I test drove three cars, and by bringing up my bank account on their computer I was able to prove the check I was going to write for the full amount would clear.
They even handle registering the car for you. I would definitely use them again. Plus, they have a HUGE selection. You go to a Ford dealership, you mainly see only Fords. Carmax has everything from convertibles to mini-vans, from Audis to Toyotas. I love my little Honda Civic LX. Plus, you can search on line to see what they have available.
Actually, don’t most of the buy here, pay here places thrive on repossesing the cars if the person is even a day late with the payment? Then, they get to finance the car again to someone else!
