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Smart Shopper Internet vs. Traditional Car Buying
3011 messages, Last post on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:23 AM
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Replying to: traindriver (Jan 12, 2009 2:53 pm) For the buyer: get the dealer to send detailed photos of the cars if they're not on their website already, plus fax an inspection report, carfax is possible. For the sellers: leave your full name, number, email and address. Inquiries that have minimal info usually get minimal responses. Yes, I may be losing out on business by ignoring the "childish emails" but if you're a mature adult who wants to conduct a business transaction, the least you can do is introduce yourself properly. How am I going to sell you a car if we can't even get past the stage of introducing each other and exchanging our phone numbers? I get tons of inquiries that go like this from start to finish: Interested in your best deal on a Jeep Wrangler 4 door, full load, trading in a 96 Cherokee. Send pix and price of what u got. EMAIL ONLY JT  That's gonna get a "come on in email" cause I'm not even going to waste my digital camera batteries on someone who is too lazy or stubborn to even leave a name.
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Replying to: golic (Jan 12, 2009 3:17 pm) See my response above. Minimal info gets minimal response. If I get an email from someone who actually does leave their info, they'll not only get a priority response but also I'll go out of my way to provide a competitive price to earn their business. |
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Replying to: boomchek (Jan 12, 2009 4:20 pm)
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Replying to: golic (Jan 12, 2009 4:38 pm) Not complaining, just answering an earlier post of why we just don't shoot prices into cyberspace hoping to catch a deal. 
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Replying to: boomchek (Jan 12, 2009 4:20 pm) JT That's gonna get a "come on in email" cause I'm not even going to waste my digital camera batteries on someone who is too lazy or stubborn to even leave a name If that is what the typical request amounts to then I don't blame you. I wouldn't waste 30 minutes, even on a slow day, to run around the lot snapping a bunch of photos and creating price lists if someone can't be more specific with the details and personal info. than that. As far as paid inspection services go, are the inspectors generally qualified and thorough enough to base a purchase on? What's the typical resume like? retired used car manager, body shop, mechanic, etc. Is the report worth the paper its printed on? I realize nothing is a 100% guarantee but would they be able to separate the gems from the turds? Thanks for your thoughts. |
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Replying to: traindriver (Jan 12, 2009 2:53 pm) You sound like a good guy just trying to get a great deal while being upfront and fair. I have no problem with that. Unless you have been in this business you really have no idea how downright cheap some people can be. Sometimes I'm embarrassed for them. I wouldn't have believed it either.
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Replying to: golic (Jan 12, 2009 3:17 pm) What kind of "surprises" if I may ask? If the understanding has been confirmed over and over, I wouldn't call it a surprise I'd call it a lie or a deliberate trick. If I could hold my temper I might play along by coming up with a few "surprises" of my own. The original agreed to price would start dropping like a rock. I might try to play their game until I got bored. Seriously, I doubt I could buy there if I was treated that way. I don't know if I would get greater satisfaction by walking out or by pushing back hard, letting them "win" and then trashing the survey. Revenge can be therapeutic.
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Replying to: isellhondas (Jan 12, 2009 6:56 pm) Hopefully that's what comes across in my posts. Live and let live. Play fair. Do what you say you are going to do. (dang, I'm naive.)   Unless you have been in this business you really have no idea how downright cheap some people can be. Sometimes I'm embarrassed for them. I can only imagine. My wife is a teacher and I know from her that dealing with the public is not for me! |
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Replying to: boomchek (Jan 12, 2009 12:33 pm) No, but we did drive about 3-4 hours round trip to save $700-1000, when local dealer would not lower their price. Another case was only 15 minutes further away for similar price difference. If it had been $200, I'd have gone with the closer one in both cases. |
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Replying to: traindriver (Jan 12, 2009 7:12 pm) So, I finally said - either take off the locks and flaps or I am leaving. He finally through them in for free. I had some guilt over getting this for free..until.. We get to the lease payment. Now, I did my research. And I had all the lease data from car_man, and another edmunds poster who worked at a Honda dealer on the east coast. In fact I even built a how to calculate a lease spreadsheet, which is a still another active edmunds thread. Honda had a lease special that was going on for a good month. They come back with the payment which is hundreds of dollars off. I start questioning the numbers and the money factor. They come back with some hideous money factor...I explain to them...what about Honda's lease plan - with this factor...of course the sales man "never heard about it" goes back the third time, comes back with the oh yeah....F&I guy just "found" it. So now the lease payment is STILL wrong. I pull out my laptop, I back into the number and eventually find out they are still hitting me with an extra $500 for a deposit, which should be waived for Honda Loyalty since I also was a current owner of an Odyssey. I did explain this early on..and 20 minutes later...oh we didn't know it was still in there. At this point, I am irritated, and said here is my lease payment, either its this number or get F&I in here and we can compare numbers. If there is something wrong with my calculation I will concede, otherwise I am leaving in 15 minutes. You are right, I had another dealer about 20 minutes away who called me with a I'll match his price, but since this guy gave me the price first I thought I would owe it to him to buy from him..but I should have left after the first hassle. I don't fault the sales guy for wanting a little extra or the F&I guy wanting to make more, but I thought this went beyond what the internet experience was supposed to be. This dealership was the closest to our house, and we did go there for service - but I finally cut the chord with them after the tranny went out on our Odyssey at 60K miles and the service guy told my wife that our Honda Care extended warranty of 7yrs/100k miles didn't cover the trans. I am more educated now and during this round of getting a new vehicle I am going to not only negotiate the price, but the lease payment over the phone and get something faxed to me before I step in to sign. |
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