For instance, at my store, if we give you $10,000 for your trade in, we then have to add “pack” which is $750. Then we have an inspection fee of $150, and a detail fee of $100. That means that your trade-in that was worth $10,000 now must be worth $11,000. Guess who gets all of that money??? Not the sales person. The dealer.

When you bring your car in for service (under warranty or not), the service dept, the parts dept, and most of the time the detail department make money.

I tell you all this because I am a sales person, and I make around $70,000 a year selling about 17 cars a month. The primary source of my $70,000 is my unit bonus. That is, when I eclipse 15 cars, I am paid a bonus on top of my commissions. So, basiclly you can’t rattle me. If you want to pay invoice, fine. If you want to let me gross you for $4000, fine. In the end it all averages out.

I just don’t know why people want to play games. Why does it make customers so happy to “beat” the dealer? They should be negotiating service and parts bills, not car prices.

Anyway, that’s enough ranting. Just wanted to lend my perspective.

I understand some of you feel that you have been treated poorly at a dealership by a sales person. Same on them. However, what you really need to understand is that salespeople make pay their bills and feed their families based on your referals. It doesn’t do him a service to have you drive away having gotten treated poorly any more than it does you. Well trained and experienced sales people understand this.

Buying a car on the internet is an option. But you can’t test drive a car on the internet. What if you find yourself in a car that you really don’t like for whatever the reason be it the comfort or the features? You’re screwed for the next 60 months.

Go into the transaction informed, but do yourself a service and keep an open mind.

Lets take a look at a couple of myths about carsalesmen:
1. They are only there to get as much of your money as they can……True, that is my job. I dont assume you would take a cut in your pay at your job so your company could save money. Does that mean you a screwing your company? No matter what you do there is and enduser of your product or service that pays his/her hard earned money for it, what about them. Ben would you turn down a raise so that your neighbor could save a little money?
2. I got screwed by a car salesmen….If you buy a used car from a little used lot, possibly. If you buy from a new car dealership its imposible. The most you can pay is retail, just like you do on 90% of your other purchases. If you feel that you paid more than your neighbor maybe he was a better negotiatot than you. Single pricing wont work in the car business, just look at Saturn, they are not booming.

Unfortunately, the people that are treated badly when buying a car are usually dealing with someone who is not in the car business as their career. These are the ones that do not care what they say to get a deal. As for my self and most of my co-workers at my dealership, the customers I sell are a cherrished entity. I know that if I service them well after the sale, they will develop a trust in me and begin to send me their friends and family. Repeat business is the only way you can make a sucessful career in this game. I do not take that trust for granted.

Most people hate car shopping because they are to concerned with a price. The difference between $1000 is roughly $16-$18 if you have good credit. I think you should be more concerned with who you buy a car from. Paying a little bit more for a car from a salesman that you know wont hide from you when you go in to the dealership, will help you when you car needs service, and will be there the next time you need a car is worth it.

Next time you are in the market, dont go to all the web sites to get the “invoice price”, spend a little time asking people if they have a salesman they trust and go see him/her and have an enjoyable purchasing experiance.

Blake

I absolutely agree with you that if the system wasn’t set up like this, then you would definitely want to pay more attention to service-related issues.

I’ll speak for myself here. During the time that I was buying a car, I was treated poorly, lied to, swindled, and basically treated as if I was an ignorant shopper (which I was at the time) who wasn’t worth respect as a customer. I’m of the opinion that people should be treated fairly, even if they don’t know better, and that doing that will actually lead to a better business.

You know, when you go into a dealership and someone plays the “I’ll go ask my boss what we can do for you” game, and you eventually realize that it’s a theater trick, it starts to dawn on you that all prices are elastic, that the salesman is working on commission, and that it’s all about who will win the battle of chicken. Then you realize that you’re not beholden to them, that they want your business as much as you want a car, and you wonder…why don’t I feel like I’m in control here?

God Bless
Blake

- David

What really happens here is that all of the sales staff tricks to boost margin are taken away…like “well we don’t have that color in that exact trim line…but we have this model with more options you can have for a few bucks more”

Josh is right on this one. I would add one more thing to the overall strategy. Fax a copy of your letter to the financial vendors you are considering too, and get pre-approved for the price you really want to pay. You can shop the lenders this way and add a rhetorical punch to your letter to car dealers by including the notice from the lender.