re: Why do dealers make car buying so difficult

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Jim Taylor Chevrolet in Rayville

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This is the dealership where I bought my last truck….that was 15 years ago and it was that way then as well. When I am ready for another one, I’ll buy from them again, too.

I bought my current truck used. When I saw it online, I called the dealership, and spoke with one of their salesman.

The guy was a complete shite head. I knew what I wanted to pay, and what I expected for my trade in. He kept on trying to lowball me, and didn’t want to budge any on the price.

I told him “I’ll be there tomorrow morning to buy this truck, so have everything ready for me to sign for the price I want to pay.”

He gave me more shite.

The next morning I went to the dealership. As I walked in, a salesman approached me.

“Hi, I’m David. Can I help you?”

“Yeah, I was talking to Mark yesterday about this truck. Is he here?”

“Yes. Do you want me to get him for you?”

“No. He’s an a-hole. I want to pay this amount for this truck with my trade in. You make this happen, and I’ll deal with you and you get the sale.”

He made it happen and got the sale.

I find it’s easier if you don’t think of car salesman as human.

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sticker was $50k got out of there in an hour for $50k tax, title, license, and all the bs warranties they insisted I had to have. I feel like thats about the best you can do on any popular vehicle these days.

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Well, you could have said no to all the bs warranties and saved some money.

Last car purchase, the FFI guy would say, next we have the XYZ care package. I would immediately say we don’t want it. He legit got mad, “But I haven’t even told you what it includes or what it costs!” We don’t want it. It warmed my heart to piss him off.

I usually always have a deal in place before going to the dealer. I give them my out the door price and go from there. Never plan on buying a car within 4-7 days of first contact with them. This gives them the chance to come down on their original offer. It has worked often for me. Dealer says we are too far apart but then coming way down after a few days. I always tell the finance guy if he even mentions warranty, I'm getting up and walking out. Most realize I'm serious, but have had one try and lose the sell.

Yep, but if that warranty cost the dealer $800, and they want $3500 for it, I don't have to be a fool either. They want to sell the car for the highest price, I want to buy it for the lowest. Sometimes you find a middle ground and others you just walk away.

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In this type of scenario, the first person that voluntarily gives up their price loses leverage. This is why the dealership didn’t want to do it.

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Ironically, research shows that this is actually false.

When one party has more knowledge about the range of acceptable deals (meaning the minimum and maximum price that would result in a sale) than the other party, research shows that the party with more knowledge should make the first offer. The reason is that it allows them to “anchor” the negotiation in their favor if they are smart about the offer.

The dealer has much more knowledge than the car buyer in most cases. The internet has made buyers more knowledgeable but it’s still imbalanced.

I’m a little old fashioned in that I do like to negotiate and I want to see at least a version of what I’m buying. I called BMW woodlands and told the seemingly green salesman I had a car in btr that I liked everything about except for the color. Asked if he could work up his best deal on one they were pulling off of truck. He did. I think he took 5k
Off. Started making plans to fly out and he called and apologized profusely for someone selling it to a walk in but reported they had another one that was more loaded that he would pull for me and sell for the price he had quoted before. So I got a better car and they took about 7900 off. Interior was a shade of darker brown but that didn’t bother me. Turned out the green salesman was just young but was a complete bmw nerd. He knew about every spec and feature and was thrilled to show us when we drove around. Absolute pleasure to work with.
I was quite sick of asking questions 55 + year old salesman didn’t know the answer to for a brand they represented.

As far as paying cash vs financing, what i did was get the best price i could. Found out what my rate would be for financing. Then i put down a down payment that was most of the price of the car. I think they said their minimum finance amount was $6000, so i financed that. Payment is like $150 a month and i plan to pay it off soon. I have paid a little interest but not much. Maybe that’s dumb but i had cash on hand and also want to improve my credit score.

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If you're paying cash,I go up on price.

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I thought everyone knew you don’t tell them this until the last second.