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Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
47903 messages, Last post on Nov 25, 2009 at 9:51 PM
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 09, 2009 1:22 pm) Especially when there's trades involved and money can be shifted to whichever column to show a full MSRP sale etc. Look at it this way. Are you asking what porice we quote when you first step into the showroom, or when we're sitting down and negotiating on a car you want to buy? If you step in the showroom and ask what's the price of that one - I will quote MSRP. Why would I discount it right off the bat if it might not even be a car you want? Discounting something right away shows that: a: youi're a weak salesperson, you don't know how to build value in a product and the only way you attract customers is by discounting everything. b: you're doing yourself and your brand a disservice as you don't believe your product is worth the sticker price that's on the window. Now once you pick a car and we sit down, and we "build" a car with options you like, I will once again say the price with all the options is $XXXXX. Would you like me to work out payments for you, or a cash price? The rebates differ for either one. You would then ask me to do one or the other. I would go and do that. And then we'd probably start negotiations because you'd say the payments are too high or the price is this or that. But if I show you all the numbers, and work out payments based on MSRP, and you say ok let's do it, why then would I stop you and say ......waaaaaait a minute, not so fast Mr carbuyer, I need to give you a discount first before we sign the papers. It doesn't make sense in any business or industry or any transaction. You might see it as offensive if I don't offer a discount, but you are a very very very tiny minority. Most people will ask for something they want. You don't ask you don't get. For example, do you voluntarily give bums on the street money even if they're not begging for it because it's the nice thing to do?
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Replying to: houdini1 (Nov 08, 2009 12:42 pm)  Richard |
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 08, 2009 6:50 pm) from your point of view 80 cents is not worth worring about - yet from his point of view it was the world. If 5 Yuan would have still been profitable you have a huge margin. Looking at cars somebody (and this is NOT me!) who can buy $60K MSRP cars without thinking might view the $3 - $5K they could save the same way you viewed the 80 cents, right? I guess at the end of the day there is no one size fits all model for starting price BTW - replying before I have read the rest of the string here...
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 08, 2009 7:01 pm) I'm not so sure. My brother-in-law is a busy doctor. On his last three cars, he rode by the car dealer's place at night. He saw what he wanted. The next day he called from his office. He told the dealer to come and get his old Lexus and bring him the new one. He also told the dealer to work out the price, send him the paperwork, and that a check would be put in the mail. I always scream when he does this. He tells me that he doesn't have the time to argue over "a few hundred dollars" when he could have seen three more patients and earned the difference. It's hard to argue with that. We have a good friend who is in real estate. She buys her cars over the telephone. She gives them the make and the color. They deliver the paperwork along with the car. She writes the check for MSRP. When I tried to encourage her to negotiate a little, she simply said that the price of the car was the price of the car. It's hard to argue with that mindset as well. Now, if I know two people who pay MSRP, multiply that by thousands of people who also know two people who pay full price. All of that adds up to a large number of people who pay MSRP. Also, factor in the number of elderly, women, and young people who actually don't know any difference. They have never heard of negotiations or grinding. I think that you would be amazed at what you would find out there. Richard
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Replying to: deltheking (Nov 08, 2009 7:35 pm) |
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 09, 2009 1:22 pm) Come on, Driver. I realize that most people don't like smokers, but this is ridiculous. As a smoker, I can tell you from experience that it takes seven minutes to smoke a cigarette. It would take another salesman longer to drink a soda and eat a pack of crackers. I doubt that your salesman missed seeing any customers. My secretary used to time me. She said that I could drink half of a soda, smoke a cigarette, go to the toilet, and wash my hands in twelve minutes. I didn't believe in keeping clients waiting. Since 22% of the U.S. population smokes, cut us a little slack. Richard |
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Replying to: british_rover (Nov 07, 2009 12:40 pm) They slam doors let their kids jump on the seats and just beat the hell out of the cars. Then they complain because they can't adjust the seats. We have to unhook the batteries. Can you imagine kids blowing horns etc? They dent the cars up and manhandle them to death. Anything that isn't attached will get stolen. We have to remove shift knobs and anything else that is loose. Once someone stold the DIPSTICK out of an Odyssey! |
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Replying to: richard64 (Nov 09, 2009 2:51 pm) I know...easy for me to say.
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Replying to: driver100 (Nov 08, 2009 7:04 am) "Driver and GG's Grindless Car Delaership"....... where we value your time and stress levels. Makes buying a car, a hassle free experience!. Nice thought. If I can find a bank to loan me.....oh.....what?....about $15M on my signature, I'm all in. I know Saturn tried the approach. They actually succeeded at it for a good long while. Then, their products became uncompetitive, and GM started tanking. Result? No more Saturn. Fitzmall.com is pretty close to this. They state a price (a very good price) on their stock and incoming stock. They state their policies and fees up front. There's a Toyota dealer fairly close to me that does this, too. They put their prices up front on any vehicle once you walk into their showroom. If it's a model that's pretty plentiful, like a Camry, I think they price them at $400 over invoice. By all accounts, they're the largest Toyota dealer in this area. They're the ones who keep their stock under one roof. I'd expect that they lose some of the "I'll shop you for $50" type of buyers. But, I've always thought why would a dealership want those types of buyers anyway? Have a bunch of "product specialists" who take care of the feature/product presentation/test drives. Post good prices. Market the dealership as "in and out in an hour", and you've got yourself a business plan. Post a policy that every minute it takes to get you into the F&I office after you come to a deal, you rebate them a dollar per minute in cash. Meter starts running at 15 minutes. Still, with the wealth of information we've all posted here that's readily available, with several different sources, I don't know why more people just don't come to a number they're willing to pay, and offer it as a "yes or no" proposition. Both the customers and the dealerships are afraid of leaving an extra nickel on the table. That's an adversarial relationship from the get go. I think it's a great idea. Employ more F&I guys to move the transaction along quickly.
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Since we are talking about negotiations and grinding, I am once again reminded of the movie Psycho. Janet Leigh is on the run after stealing $40,000 from her employer. (Remember that this is 1960's money.) She figures that she had better trade cars in order to throw the police off track. She pulls into a used car lot driving her 1957 Ford Fairlane. She tells the salesman that she is in a big hurry. She quickly selects a 1958 Ford Fairlane in a lighter color. She then asked how much the car would cost her. The salesman thinks for a moment and then says her car plus $700. Janet Leigh hesitates for a second. The salesman then says, "I see it all of the time. You people come in here claiming that you are in a hurry, but then you have time to haggle." Actually, Janet Leigh didn't hesitate because of the price. She had just spotted a police car across the street. At any rate, she pays the full asking price and goes on her way. The lesson here is that many people have different reasons for paying full price. Here is another interesting point about the cars in this movie. I am beginning to wonder if Alfred Hitchcock had any knowledge about automobiles. You would at least think that he would have had some technical advisors for this movie. I had thought all along that Janet Leigh was driving a 1957 Ford, and that she traded for a 1958 Ford. I'm not so sure now. After watching the movie so many times, I believe that she traded in a 1958 Ford for a 1958 Ford. That wouldn't have seemed very smart. Surely, the salesman would have made a comment. You can see the rear ends of both cars clearly at different points in the movie. They both look the same to me. The front grills are a little harder to spot. Alfred Hitchcock was a stickler for details. That is part of what made his movies so great. It is difficult for me to believe that he would allow his character to trade for the exact same year and model car in a different color. If any of you see this movie again, check this out and let me know your thoughts. Richard
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