A visit to the Car Dealer
To my esteemed colleagues in Galt’s Gulch I’m going to apologize first for what I’m about to enter. I just spent a long day shopping for a car for my wife. This is left me in such a foul mood that I must ventilate slightly and make a very generalized comment about the state of American business. If you will pardon my rant I think I might have some small amount of insight into why American business and in particular car dealers are having a difficult time.
I’m not sure all car dealers are having a difficult time but I know of to, whom because of libel and slander laws, I will not name. Dealer one advertise the type of car that my wife is looking for at a price we both thought was reasonable and within our cost window. We drove 20 minutes to get to the dealership. We were met by a very nice salesman. He showed us the car we wanted to see let us test drive it. In particular let my wife test drive it. She really loves the car and it was marked as a special with a price of $21,995. Once inside the dealer how room we saw another it was one year new were and only a $1000 more. We sat down with the salesman to discuss price that is due a little negotiation to get a better deal for ourselves. A very common occurrence as anyone who is shop for a car knows.
When we were initially looking at the car the salesman informed us that they were willing to really deal on the car in order to move it. We took this is a good sign. So we asked the gentleman to make us his absolute best offer. I mean if they were willing to deal I figured they would make an offer that was somewhat less than what was marked on the sticker. We talked for a few minutes he said he would go get the sales manager and he would come back with the deal for us. Okay so far the usual car buying experience he came back and ask do you have any lease cars by any chance that are not from company X (company X being the car manufacturer). We told him no and he said okay and he went back to the sales manager again in a little unusual but you know it’s part of the deal. Then he and the sales manager return. The moment of truth had arrived. We thought we were going to hear some offer that was at least reasonable. Recall the original sticker price was $21,995. Now we knew this did not include sales tax title and registration. And so we were expecting a car price a little less than this with the sales tax etc. added.
What we received was a all-inclusive sales price of $25,900. This included $1400 sales tax, registration fees, title fees. Now we did a quick add and discovered that the price he was offering us on the car was $24,000. Now that’s $2000 higher than his original value marked on the car. The price marked on the car did not have any caveats or disclaimers as to how they arrived at the $21,995. It turns out that there were all sorts of terms and conditions that we didn’t meet. The first being that we had a leased car from a different company. Second being that we had bought a car from them previously, and last but not least the price was the sum of all of the lease payments. Now nowhere were any of these conditions mentioned in looking at the price as it was posted on the automobile.
We told him as we had told the salesman we wanted to buy a car not lease. His reaction was this is the buying price and the price on the car was acumen to lease price/payments. We told him none of this was disclosed on anything on the car and his salesman mentioned that none of that when he clearly understood we were looking to buy a car. He indicated that he might be able to squeeze maybe $500 down but no more. We left!
Went to a second car dealer. Pretty much the same story. We left. We finally went to a third dealer. We told him what we were looking for we told in the price we had in mind and said can you/will you work with us to get a car. By this time we had already spent five hours looking at cars and getting nowhere and much more irritated and upset. The salesman said wait just one minute please. When he returned he escorted us to a desk. There he showed us, via computer, five different cars all matching the features, the cost and in the case of used cars the age and mileage restrictions we had. We looked at three of the cars. Selected and drove one. My wife and I are now in the process of purchasing this car.
What is the purpose of this long diatribe? It shows the current approach of some businesses to satisfying customer needs and wants. Two of the dealer’s apparently didn’t care whether they sold a car are not. The third dealer wanted to make a sale. He showed us items that met our needs and wants worked with us on the price that we had given him as a not to exceed. One of the cars presented was slightly over our limit but was acceptable because the Delta was less than $200. They also included a service package that covers normal maintenance for two years.
By paying attention to what the customer wanted both in product and price they were able to make a sale in less than 30 minutes. The others kept us sitting at desks for about 45 minutes on average. (I know we were foolish to sit there that long but we really wanted to get a car and thought the first two might actually work with us so that we could.)
I am afraid that the attitude displayed by the first two businesses is becoming the common approach to business and that the attitude displayed by the last dealer is growing to be the exception rather than the rule.
Thank you for putting up with my rant. I shall endeavor to not carry on so in the future but I had to get it off my chest.
I’m not sure all car dealers are having a difficult time but I know of to, whom because of libel and slander laws, I will not name. Dealer one advertise the type of car that my wife is looking for at a price we both thought was reasonable and within our cost window. We drove 20 minutes to get to the dealership. We were met by a very nice salesman. He showed us the car we wanted to see let us test drive it. In particular let my wife test drive it. She really loves the car and it was marked as a special with a price of $21,995. Once inside the dealer how room we saw another it was one year new were and only a $1000 more. We sat down with the salesman to discuss price that is due a little negotiation to get a better deal for ourselves. A very common occurrence as anyone who is shop for a car knows.
When we were initially looking at the car the salesman informed us that they were willing to really deal on the car in order to move it. We took this is a good sign. So we asked the gentleman to make us his absolute best offer. I mean if they were willing to deal I figured they would make an offer that was somewhat less than what was marked on the sticker. We talked for a few minutes he said he would go get the sales manager and he would come back with the deal for us. Okay so far the usual car buying experience he came back and ask do you have any lease cars by any chance that are not from company X (company X being the car manufacturer). We told him no and he said okay and he went back to the sales manager again in a little unusual but you know it’s part of the deal. Then he and the sales manager return. The moment of truth had arrived. We thought we were going to hear some offer that was at least reasonable. Recall the original sticker price was $21,995. Now we knew this did not include sales tax title and registration. And so we were expecting a car price a little less than this with the sales tax etc. added.
What we received was a all-inclusive sales price of $25,900. This included $1400 sales tax, registration fees, title fees. Now we did a quick add and discovered that the price he was offering us on the car was $24,000. Now that’s $2000 higher than his original value marked on the car. The price marked on the car did not have any caveats or disclaimers as to how they arrived at the $21,995. It turns out that there were all sorts of terms and conditions that we didn’t meet. The first being that we had a leased car from a different company. Second being that we had bought a car from them previously, and last but not least the price was the sum of all of the lease payments. Now nowhere were any of these conditions mentioned in looking at the price as it was posted on the automobile.
We told him as we had told the salesman we wanted to buy a car not lease. His reaction was this is the buying price and the price on the car was acumen to lease price/payments. We told him none of this was disclosed on anything on the car and his salesman mentioned that none of that when he clearly understood we were looking to buy a car. He indicated that he might be able to squeeze maybe $500 down but no more. We left!
Went to a second car dealer. Pretty much the same story. We left. We finally went to a third dealer. We told him what we were looking for we told in the price we had in mind and said can you/will you work with us to get a car. By this time we had already spent five hours looking at cars and getting nowhere and much more irritated and upset. The salesman said wait just one minute please. When he returned he escorted us to a desk. There he showed us, via computer, five different cars all matching the features, the cost and in the case of used cars the age and mileage restrictions we had. We looked at three of the cars. Selected and drove one. My wife and I are now in the process of purchasing this car.
What is the purpose of this long diatribe? It shows the current approach of some businesses to satisfying customer needs and wants. Two of the dealer’s apparently didn’t care whether they sold a car are not. The third dealer wanted to make a sale. He showed us items that met our needs and wants worked with us on the price that we had given him as a not to exceed. One of the cars presented was slightly over our limit but was acceptable because the Delta was less than $200. They also included a service package that covers normal maintenance for two years.
By paying attention to what the customer wanted both in product and price they were able to make a sale in less than 30 minutes. The others kept us sitting at desks for about 45 minutes on average. (I know we were foolish to sit there that long but we really wanted to get a car and thought the first two might actually work with us so that we could.)
I am afraid that the attitude displayed by the first two businesses is becoming the common approach to business and that the attitude displayed by the last dealer is growing to be the exception rather than the rule.
Thank you for putting up with my rant. I shall endeavor to not carry on so in the future but I had to get it off my chest.
I avoid car dealers. (1995 was my last purchase from a dealer and it was for a very specific car less than one year old -at a 30% discount from new- and in short supply so I was willing to pay for that. I drove that car for 15 years and it depreciated by about 75% in that time.)
Since then I have bought 6 used vehicles (4 overseas) from individuals with the additional mandatory step of having a mechanic give the proposed purchase a thorough examination (at my cost.)
If the seller has any problem with having a professional check out the vehicle I conclude there is likely a hidden problem and I have no further interest.
I think this requires more time than buying from a dealer, however. Your two hours is not a waste in comparison, but in your specific case I understand your frustration with the irrational, unethical process.
One thing I had good luck with was bringing stacks 10 $100 bills clipped together and illustrating what I would pay. It sounds like unsophisticated behavior that would have no bearing on a big company's decision, BUT I found a large dealer in my mid-size town really responded to it. He told me his manager had said one price, and when I plopped down the stacks of c-notes, he immediately accepted a lower price. I'm not sure why this works. Maybe it shows you're serious. Maybe it removes the chance financing won't go through. I had surprisingly good results with it. It seemed to cut through the negotiating baloney. Your mileage will vary of course.
It sounds like you're shooting par as car buying goes as it is.