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Smart Shopper Internet vs. Traditional Car Buying
3011 messages, Last post on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:23 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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| If you really and truly are giving "your best price" over the Internet (or even at the store, for that matter), why do you care if someone shops it around? If it's really "your best price", then nobody else should be able to beat it unless they really and truly are operating a more efficient operation than you. And if they are, well, you gave "your best price" so you did everything you could do to get the sale and you should congratulate the other guy and see what you can do to make your operation more efficient so you can beat him next time. | |
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you've been around here long enough to know that there's no such thing as a single "best price." Just about anyone will knock $100-200 off a deal to steal it from the competition, but when does the insanity end? Had a guy on a Highlander last week. Hard enough to find, but he wanted something that will have to be special ordered. No problem. The dealer down the street was offering to sell it to him for invoice and had a buy-down rate to 0% for 36 mos. I saved him a lot of time and effort. I told him to go buy it from my competitor. If they're dumb enough to throw away that much money, they have my blessing. I explain it like this. "Yes, Mr. customer, you can always save $100-200 shopping my number somewhere else, but you'll have to go through the typical "dealership experience" that you were trying to avoid in the first place by shopping on the internet. Now, I can deliver your new car to you and you can sign the papers on your kitchen table with no BS and you can have that day of your life back to do something worthwhile with your family. How much is your time worth to you?" I'm looking through a few of my last surveys here... "we paid more with Ed than our local dealer, but loved the process"..."wasn't the least expensive, but provided the best service"...It goes on and on. Ed |
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| I have a question for you. What happens when you tell a customer to buy it from the competition, goodbye and goodluck but they still stick around? Whenever I tell a customer the above they still want to know what my best price is. I will answer it is higher than what you say you can buy it for down the street. I was in the practice of warning them about certain tactics used by competition. I no longer do this because if I cannot turn the customer around by that point I figure I will look bad by badmouthing competition. | |
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that point is give them my standard pricing on something. I tell them that my numbers are always "real" and that I won't play any games with them. Many times, when people are shopping numbers, the sales people are pricing vehicles that aren't in stock anyway, and if I can come up with a competitive price on the vehicle, especially if I have it in stock, I'll get the deal, just to save the people the hassle of waiting. What cracks me up is when the customer is trying to buy one of my vehicles from another dealership. I had that happen with an Avalon a couple of months ago...the guy calls and tells me that his local dealer will sell him MY car cheaper than I will (again, not by much). I informed him that I didn't have to trade the car with that dealer, then I told him how easy I could make the whole process on him, and we delivered it that afternoon. One of the surveys I mentioned in the above post was from that guy. Ed |
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| Yes, I've had that happen too - the guy wanting to buy my "one of a kind" threatens to go and buy it from another store because he knows we can transfer between stores. LOL! | |
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The "insanity ends" when either you or the competitor who's undercutting your true "best price" goes out of business. You'll go out of business because you can't provide the same service as efficiently as somebody else - which is how a free market is supposed to work - or he'll go out of business because he's a moron who sells cars below his cost, and a free market doesn't tolerate morons gladly. You dealer guys are always telling us thick skulled customers that we should focus on the "out the door" price and if that's the price we're willing to pay, we should shut up and be happy with that and not worry about saving $100 for the dealer across town. So, I similarly advise your side that if you truly quoted your "best price", YOU should be happy because that's the lowest price at which you are willing to sell the vehicle, and not worry what the dealer across town is doing. Quote your best price - no more, no less. Problem solved. Please, tell me what am I missing. I want to hear this. |
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that nothing is cut and dry in the car business. As someone explained in the "buying cars for cost" discussion, the actual cost of the car can change daily because of many factors. There is no single "best price." In my emails and telephone conversations, I quote someone a very competitive price, which varies by the type of vehicle, market conditions, etc, but I also mention to them that if they have a lower price from another dealer, I'd certainly do everything I can to beat it. My compensation relies on me making the dealership money, so I don't always quote the lowest price (in the first conversation). Nobody does. There are also intangibles that add value to a transaction (my service) that I should be compensated for. I'm going to say this again, at the risk of seeming repetitive, THE LOWEST PRICE ISN'T ALWAYS THE BEST VALUE. I'm sorry that you don't like the color of the sky in reality. You haven't heard of anyone here posting a thread called "I got my car for free because two dealers have a promotion where they will beat anyone else's deal by $500!!" have you? Believe it or not, dealerships are in business to make money. If another dealership is going to beat my quote significantly, they can have the deal, because usually the "haggle to the last $50" customer is a perpetual problem on the surveys also. I'm not trying to be condescending, but what part of this aren't you understanding? Ed |
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There is a frequent radio ad in these parts for a dealer that "will beat any price", but in the mumbled 'fine print' at the end, they note that the competitor's vehicle must be an exact match - color, options, trimline, etc...and the kicker clause: They reserve the right to buy the competitor's vehicle. So the insanity has its' limits with those guys. |
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This is open to anyone that doesn't understand why there is no such thing as a "best price." Imagine your employer came up to you today and asked "What's the lowest salary you'll work for?" What number do you give? |
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Can't expect the dealer to cut to the bone on the first shake ... just because a customer walks in the door demanding his "best" price. If the customer can convince the dealer he is a serious buyer, has the cash, and is willing to take his business elsewhere .. ... can generally get the dealer's "best" price without too much effort. The act of doing this is called negotiating. To expect to get it without negotiating is sort of entrapping the dealer into a lie. |
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