anyone good at dealing with car sales guys?
- Thread starter wrybosome
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lulubelle
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Good advice here. I didn't read every post, so if I repeat anything, sorry!
I negotiate for a living, it's fun. But I had never bought a new car either. I test drove my car locally, a 2006 Acura MDX. Perfect. I don't remember which service I used, probably Edmunds, but I paid 12 dollars or so for a pricing disclosure which gave me dealer invoice, average sales price, etc. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS. I also learned that sometimes the dealer gets kickbacks off of that invoice price. So I was looking at a car which cost around 37K and had an average selling price of 41K. MSRP was higher, I don't remember what.
I told the car salesman that I had just accepted a job, gave up my company car with the one I just resigned, and needed to buy quickly. I also told him that I was in sales, had done a lot of research, and that I needed him to get to his best bottom line quickly. So he comes in at 41K and I leave. I then price it around at other dealers. I submitted a request via the internet and received a call back from a dealer 25 miles away. He started around 41K too. I think we were down to 37.5K and I got off of the phone and told him that I would be in touch. I contacted the guy who had done the test drive with me, I felt that he is the one who "sold" me the vehicle. I didn't hear back from him quickly. So I called the internet salesman back, offered him 37K even, and he took it. Two days later I hear back from the other salesman. He was ticked off that I bought the car elsewhere. I told him that I tried to give him the opportunity but that he had blown it twice. Once when I told him to get to his bottom line quickly and he didn't, and again when I left a message offering him a chance to meet the other dealerships price that he didn't return for 2 days.
This still probably netted the dealer 500-1000 dollars of profit. Like I said, they get incentives from the manufacturers.
Some tips...negotiate at the end of the month. Dealers are generally desperate to meet their numbers. Negotiate in the fall, new models are on the way in and old models need to be moved. Be flexible on color if you can, special ordering a vehicle will not get you as good of a deal. The extended warranties are not a very good deal in my book, especially for cars with good reliability.
I negotiate for a living, it's fun. But I had never bought a new car either. I test drove my car locally, a 2006 Acura MDX. Perfect. I don't remember which service I used, probably Edmunds, but I paid 12 dollars or so for a pricing disclosure which gave me dealer invoice, average sales price, etc. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS. I also learned that sometimes the dealer gets kickbacks off of that invoice price. So I was looking at a car which cost around 37K and had an average selling price of 41K. MSRP was higher, I don't remember what.
I told the car salesman that I had just accepted a job, gave up my company car with the one I just resigned, and needed to buy quickly. I also told him that I was in sales, had done a lot of research, and that I needed him to get to his best bottom line quickly. So he comes in at 41K and I leave. I then price it around at other dealers. I submitted a request via the internet and received a call back from a dealer 25 miles away. He started around 41K too. I think we were down to 37.5K and I got off of the phone and told him that I would be in touch. I contacted the guy who had done the test drive with me, I felt that he is the one who "sold" me the vehicle. I didn't hear back from him quickly. So I called the internet salesman back, offered him 37K even, and he took it. Two days later I hear back from the other salesman. He was ticked off that I bought the car elsewhere. I told him that I tried to give him the opportunity but that he had blown it twice. Once when I told him to get to his bottom line quickly and he didn't, and again when I left a message offering him a chance to meet the other dealerships price that he didn't return for 2 days.
This still probably netted the dealer 500-1000 dollars of profit. Like I said, they get incentives from the manufacturers.
Some tips...negotiate at the end of the month. Dealers are generally desperate to meet their numbers. Negotiate in the fall, new models are on the way in and old models need to be moved. Be flexible on color if you can, special ordering a vehicle will not get you as good of a deal. The extended warranties are not a very good deal in my book, especially for cars with good reliability.
Surface Interval
Contributor
OP
wrybosome
Contributor
*Now* we know what those boots are for...
I've only ever bought one car, and did a bunch of research online before we headed into town to go shopping. Same thing you're doing - I checked up on basic strategy (on both sides), read a bunch of forums, combed the hell out of Edmunds / KBB / NADA, etc. We also knew exactly what type of car we wanted, and roughly what year / mileage was acceptable. There were several in town, and I put the information for all of them on a spreadsheet, and brought it with me (along with KBB/NADA pricing information), when we went to the dealership.
Our rough strategy was to go to the dealer an hour or two before they closed, in the middle of the week, in the beginning of winter, figuring that no one would be out looking at cars. We were right - we were the only people I saw in both the new and used sales lots. We took the car (our first choice based on previous information), for a test drive and confirmed that it was exactly what we were looking for. We then told the salesman and his manager (who was on his way out the door) that we were prepared to buy the car this evening, we just needed to agree on final pricing. Negotiating wasn't painful, and we ended up paying a little bit less than we had intended to (based on our pre-research).
The initial price we offered was $17,500 (asking was $21,500), which was met with $19,500 + $2000 in dealer fees ($21,500). I countered with $18k, out the door, and laid out the reasons why I felt that was a fair offer. I gave the salesman printouts from KBB and NADA that I had prepared for the vehicle we were looking at, using information from the Dealer's site, and also reminded him that I still had $1500 in shipping costs to get the vehicle home (we live on an island.) I also told him that we were only in town for a few days and didn't have a lot of time to look around or haggle, but that we knew that Dealers X, Y and Z had similar vehicles on their lot and would be open for another hour.
A brief (maybe two minutes?) discussion with his manager, and they accepted our offer. We probably could have done even better, but were only after what we perceived to be a "fair" price. We ended up at a little below the KBB private party value, and a little above dealer wholesale, which was what we were after. With the fees included, I think it was even a little better than that.
As we were buying a three year old vehicle, we insisted that they take it to a mechanic of our choosing to be looked over. Wasn't an issue and I think the local well-respected import shop charged us something like $100 for the inspection. Confirmed that everything the dealer told us about the vehicle was accurate, and no issues were found. They also suggested a few preventative maintenance items that turned out to be very helpful down the line (serp belt due for replacement in 2000 miles, grab one before you leave town, your oil filter is going to be hard to find where you live, grab a couple of those too, etc.).
The next evening we went back to finalize things and when the Sales Manager presented the final invoice, I noticed it was $18,075, when we had all agreed on $18k, OTD. The other $75 was for DMV fees, which should have been included. I let him know very bluntly that I wasn't at all pleased, but also that I didn't have the time, nor the energy to argue with him over $75. It was late by then, and I wanted to get out of there with time to go grab a decent dinner. Suppose I was lucky that my impatience only cost $75.
We signed the paperwork, wrote a check, and left with the car. A week later I checked the mail and there was a check from the dealer for $75. I'm taking a guess that the sales process was reviewed by the sales manager's manager and they decided to make it right. They've been easy to work with since the sale too. We lost the key in a snowbank, and they sent us three replacements. When a warranty issue popped up we initially got some run-around from Toyota, but their service department manager went out of his way to iron things out.
Next time around I hope our situation is such that we're not trying to take care of all of the car-buying stuff in two days. That was a bit hectic and could have worked against us if the dealer hadn't wanted to sell a car that evening. Also, next time I'm not sitting around for 2-3 hours while they write up the sales paperwork. They can call me when its done.
Oh, and if you buy a used car - make sure to get more than one key =p
You're on the right track - lots of good advice in this thread.
-B
Our rough strategy was to go to the dealer an hour or two before they closed, in the middle of the week, in the beginning of winter, figuring that no one would be out looking at cars. We were right - we were the only people I saw in both the new and used sales lots. We took the car (our first choice based on previous information), for a test drive and confirmed that it was exactly what we were looking for. We then told the salesman and his manager (who was on his way out the door) that we were prepared to buy the car this evening, we just needed to agree on final pricing. Negotiating wasn't painful, and we ended up paying a little bit less than we had intended to (based on our pre-research).
The initial price we offered was $17,500 (asking was $21,500), which was met with $19,500 + $2000 in dealer fees ($21,500). I countered with $18k, out the door, and laid out the reasons why I felt that was a fair offer. I gave the salesman printouts from KBB and NADA that I had prepared for the vehicle we were looking at, using information from the Dealer's site, and also reminded him that I still had $1500 in shipping costs to get the vehicle home (we live on an island.) I also told him that we were only in town for a few days and didn't have a lot of time to look around or haggle, but that we knew that Dealers X, Y and Z had similar vehicles on their lot and would be open for another hour.
A brief (maybe two minutes?) discussion with his manager, and they accepted our offer. We probably could have done even better, but were only after what we perceived to be a "fair" price. We ended up at a little below the KBB private party value, and a little above dealer wholesale, which was what we were after. With the fees included, I think it was even a little better than that.
As we were buying a three year old vehicle, we insisted that they take it to a mechanic of our choosing to be looked over. Wasn't an issue and I think the local well-respected import shop charged us something like $100 for the inspection. Confirmed that everything the dealer told us about the vehicle was accurate, and no issues were found. They also suggested a few preventative maintenance items that turned out to be very helpful down the line (serp belt due for replacement in 2000 miles, grab one before you leave town, your oil filter is going to be hard to find where you live, grab a couple of those too, etc.).
The next evening we went back to finalize things and when the Sales Manager presented the final invoice, I noticed it was $18,075, when we had all agreed on $18k, OTD. The other $75 was for DMV fees, which should have been included. I let him know very bluntly that I wasn't at all pleased, but also that I didn't have the time, nor the energy to argue with him over $75. It was late by then, and I wanted to get out of there with time to go grab a decent dinner. Suppose I was lucky that my impatience only cost $75.
We signed the paperwork, wrote a check, and left with the car. A week later I checked the mail and there was a check from the dealer for $75. I'm taking a guess that the sales process was reviewed by the sales manager's manager and they decided to make it right. They've been easy to work with since the sale too. We lost the key in a snowbank, and they sent us three replacements. When a warranty issue popped up we initially got some run-around from Toyota, but their service department manager went out of his way to iron things out.
Next time around I hope our situation is such that we're not trying to take care of all of the car-buying stuff in two days. That was a bit hectic and could have worked against us if the dealer hadn't wanted to sell a car that evening. Also, next time I'm not sitting around for 2-3 hours while they write up the sales paperwork. They can call me when its done.
Oh, and if you buy a used car - make sure to get more than one key =p
You're on the right track - lots of good advice in this thread.
-B
Surface Interval
Contributor
Did you ever buy the car??
NEVER buy the extended warranty at closing at the dealer you buy from, you can EASILY get the same warranty by shopping on the internet for less than half of what you pay normally.
When you didn't buy the car from a dealer the dealers LOVE to sell factory warranties and make $100 they otherwise would not.
OP
wrybosome
Contributor
Monday. I'll post about it then! The advice has been helpful.
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