Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbowned
From my brief experience in sales, many people seem to care more about getting "a good deal" than they care about getting the best product that's priced right to begin with. I can't tell you how many people I lose because a nearby dealer is out knocking $5,000 off MSRP while I calmly explain to them that we only have 6% mark-up in our cars, and that our manufacturer doesn't offer "hold-back" money, so if we sell a car for cash at invoice, we make zero money. Or when I explain to them that a comparable vehicle with the same features costs $7,000 more than our product, and our product is superior. It's all about "what can you do for me", "what's the best price", blah blah bullshit. I even show people the invoice and they still make a point to offer me thousands of dollars below. They say consumers are more informed these days than ever before, and yet most people still just don't seem to get it.
Again, I still wish the manufacturer would set the price, and people would pay it, and dealers would be fair about trade-in values and not try to take advantage of people with useless products like undercoating. Or better still, dealers would sell cars at invoice for zero profit, and make up for it in the service department where your wallet is really getting hurt 
My viewpoint may be a little skewed as I work in highline sales and my sales staff is very friendly, helpful, and for the most part, honest. My finance manager is a crook, but most of our customers are smart enough to not buy into his B.S. When he's gone we'll be a much better place. And I know the dealership model is flawed. I just don't see any immediate solution that will get the old dogs to learn new tricks. |
I was responding to the assertion that "everyone" wants to haggle for a good deal, and beat up on the salesman to get it. Which, even allowing for hyperbole, I still don't think is true. My first priority in car-buying is getting the exact car that I want (but then again, I'm a well-researched enthusiast). But my second priority is a car-purchase that is as smooth, easy, and hassle-free as possible. As I stated earlier, I'm not a haggler; offering and counter-offering and all that is akin to a root canal for me.
I will readily admit that people like myself are in the minority, but I don't think that we're out-and-out rare. Most of the people I talked to back in the day who owned Saturns didn't buy those cars because they felt an emotional attachment to them, or because they felt they were in any way superior; without fail, every person I knew said they bought them because they liked how they were sold, with no haggling, price-on-the-window pricing. And ya gotta admit, Saturn did very well for a long time, before GM choked it to death with some seriously shitty cars.
Ultimately, I think there's three kinds of car-buyers: those who love to haggle, those like myself who hate haggling more than anything, and those who haggle because they feel it's just what you do, and it's expected. Of those three groups, I'd bet the ones who genuinely love haggling and always angling for a better deal are in the true minority. I may be quite wrong here, but my gut tells me that if somehow Congress were to announce that they were reforming the auto sales industry, top to bottom, and wanted the American public to vote on whether they'd prefer set-pricing across the board, or the traditional prices-may-vary approach... I think the majority would opt for a vending-machine type car purchasing system. I have no hard data to back this up, only a lot of anecdotal evidence. Car buying is not a joyous occasion for non-car people I know, but rather a stressful event.
I worry too about an escalation of hostilities, so to speak. By now, there've been so many expose's and word-of-mouth stories of shady dealer practices, that I wonder how many people go into a dealership intent on being hard negotiators, just to guard themselves against imagined (or real) unseen hooks and charges. For example, why should you believe a dealer's invoice on a car, when you've heard of them trying to sell you $500 coats of wax as a "polypixidustical paint protection shield"? Car dealer equals scum in the public's eyes anymore; and whether or not certain individuals are undeserving of that reputation, there's a reason it got there in the first place.
Just wondering out loud...