Quote:
Originally Posted by TuxedoCartman
I cited my purchasing history to squash the first of those statements, not to boast. As for how do I feel so confident making such a statement? Average age of buyer + average number of years between new car purchases, compared to my own personal history.
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I've bought two Civics, one Accord, one Land Cruiser, a 4Runner, a Tahoe, a Denali, an Impreza, an FJ Cruiser, and a GMC pickup by myself, except the Subie which was with the wife--I've also bought used cars, but chose to omit those. For the fleet buys, I bought three GMC pickups, an HD Suburban, two Dakota pickups, and a Sprinter Van.
NONE of those were pleasant. The Japanese dealers were far more slimy, with Toyota by far the worst and Honda a close runner up. Toyota took my deposit for the FJ Crusier, back when it was still selling for a premium, then suddenly said that the way the car was configured wasn't available, I needed to buy a package for 3 grand more (all it seemed to be was floor mats, wheel cover, and overpriced Pirellis), and if I didn't like that they'd keep my deposit because I was backing out of the deal. The 4Runner came with a bunch of overpriced port installed options (roof rack and spoiler) that made the roof and liftgate rust because they were installed by idiots, that the dealer tried to get me to buy for 1500 dollars despite ordering the truck without them.
Subaru tried to sell me a wax application that costs an extra 20 bucks per car statement (over 60 months) that they will apply for me every 6 months and told me that if the car rusts, they won't cover the paint warranty. Then they told me that I need to finance with their bank, which was offering a crappy 8% when everyone else was offering 3. Honda mostly tried to peddle interior protection, undercoatings, wheel and tire warranties, and other crap that nickeled and dimed the price up substantially, but they managed to bury it in the price of the car AFTER we had negotiated a price and during the paperwork shuffle.
GM was hit and miss, but the two cars I bought from them I got during their employee pricing (Denali) and 0% APR (Tahoe). While it's easy to get a deal on a GM, when I got the Denali, a friend was telling me how he got a great deal on a truck from the same dealer at 3000 below MSRP. I told him that they were offering employee pricing, had screwed him, and he should have gotten it for 4.5 below.
Most dealers have a fleet truck sales guy. But he doesn't always understand that if you're going to buy 3 trucks for close to 80 grand you're really looking for a rock bottom price, don't care what brand they are or if they're last year's inventory, and will shop around and DRIVE three states away if necessary. I bought 3 cheap-o W/T's for 200 bucks over cost, each, from a fleet dealer in Texas and towed two of them on a trailer home with the third. The same guy thought I was his buddy and didn't want to give me a good price the second time, said that I "owe" him for giving the three trucks to me, so I bought two Dakotas for a similar deal from a dealer in Florida.