Posted on 07/04/2009 8:20:26 AM PDT by re_tail20
I had a dream the other night. Shopping for a new car, I logged on to a manufacturer's Web site. I found the model I wanted and clicked on my options. Days later, a deliveryman showed up with the car and the relevant paperwork.
But then I woke up, back in the real world, where the only way to get a new car is to go to a dealer and haggle with a salesman who keeps ducking out to "check with the manager." In the real world, my dream -- ordering straight from the factory -- is illegal. State laws forbid anyone but a licensed local dealer to sell new cars.
I had this dream because Congress is considering the Automobile Dealer Economic Rights Restoration Act. It would reinstate hundreds of dealers terminated by General Motors and Chrysler under the terms of their federally financed bankruptcies.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I used AutoByTel.com the last time a bought a car in New Jersey and it was a no-hassle buy. Just to make sure, I went to some other dealers and tried to get the same car for the AutoByTel price and was unsuccessful.
USAA has a good buying service. Prices seem good..no haggle.
Just buy a Ford or American-made Honda!
I like the Fords and want an F250 with a turbo diesel. The Hyundais are nice as well. The Koreans are ok.
I listened of course....and informed him I had looked up the value...and shoved it down his throat....
Being informed and finding my own financing, I figured I saved about 2 grand.
I bought my last new vehicle in 1985 and will not buy a new one again unless and until they change their way of business.
From the vulture salesmen eyeing you like fresh roadkill when you walk in the showroom to the financial games they play once they get you in the little room to the planned obsolescence of the parts to the outrageous service fees and on and on.
Throughout the recent economic crisis of the auto industry I didn't see one dealer truly lower their car prices to try to gain sales. Oh yeah, I saw ads for lower prices but there was always the asterisk and the fine print that when all was said and done the price was the same as it was.
Even today they're still playing the same old games. Used car guys and new dealers both.
Hard to feel sorry for this industry in light of all that.
Man that would be so nice, but of course it will never happen. State and local governments make a ton of money off the sales tax people pay on inflated car prices and they will never, ever, give that up.
Bingo. High school civics classes (do those still exist, or is "multicultural studies" now the requirement instead?) should teach this as the other side of the coin of Monopolies and Oligarchies.
I was laughing the entire way through because she's even cheaper than me. We ended up paying the car off after just one year so I am sure we're on a black list somewhere as a result.
The dealership experience is one reason my last four cars have been Saturns.
Twenty years ago, we used an auto broker (friend of my BIL) to buy our new Volvo. He came to our house, we picked out what we wanted, he got the fleet price, tacked on a relatively small service charge (his fee), and we signed the papers. He found the car at some other dealer in California and had the car delivered to our house.
No pain, no muss, no fuss - easy as could be. You just have to know how to shop.
We've done that the last two times we bought a car. The reaction they give is hilarious.
I am a salesman and I don't waste people's time and you better not waste mine. You have two hours to get me off this lot. The choice is will I leave with a car or will you piss me off because you think you are going to get one over me? I will deal fairly and believe you should make a living as well but I won't sit here for some 4, 6, or 8 hours playing games.
Let's be done with it and you can find your next sale faster. More deals means more money. So I am here to help you touch a few more people today.
He used his one “Manager Lifeline” and I told the manager my deal. It comes with a time constraint, as I have a life and don't consider buying a car a big deal. I do however have other things to do and we can come to deal that is reasonable while not making me late for whatever it is I was do later. I told him rest assured that if I did not drive off the in two hours I would leave.
Late is a four letter word and that is what people think of you when you are L-A-T-E. Don't be like the rest of the people and you are 80 percent of them.
I left in 1hr and 50 minutes. They insisted on detailing my car and I told them I didn't care “It's new right?” How dirty could it be? They gave me a voucher for my first service interval and a coupon for a free car wash.
I got a great American car, the Ford 500(now known as the Taurus) in a reasonably amount of time and paid a fair price. Salesman made money and we were all happy.
All those playing games things are for retards and people already know what the salesman is doing. Hell a friend I know just gets a cup of coffee and drinks it until he feels the need to return to his customer. Nice guy but not making the money he could because he is married to getting one over on people.
Stupid power trip.
He should just focus on making deals.
I hope I learned from him... both times I bought a car and the one time I sold it I was told by the other party that they "lost money" (yea right). Maybe that means I did the right thing.
It is a couple of hundred bucks on a $30,000 item but, whatever.
I have things to do and don’t enjoy spending my day proving how good a negotiator I am. Let the salesman have his victory. Besides he doesn’t make the money I make and I consider my time to be valuable.
Just decide on the car, about how much you are willing to spend and then how time you want to invest in getting something you already decided on.
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