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Smart Shopper Buying a Car During the Credit Crunch
343 messages, Last post on Nov 14, 2008 at 5:59 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: grandtotal (Oct 29, 2008 5:58 am) 
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Replying to: euphonium (Oct 27, 2008 7:40 am) Pertains to finance customers who go thru the dealer. It is difficult to generate sympathy for the local dealer today when you remember how they took advantage of us in good times. No one is asking for your sympathy. Dealers do not "take advantage" of people. They aren't standing on street corners selling illicit substances. YOU the consumer go to them and pay for one of their vehicles. They are going to ask as much as they can, that's business.
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Replying to: joel0622 (Oct 29, 2008 5:19 am) Then there's CSI, another oft-ignored detail. Another not-well-known fact outside the industry is that the buyer that beats you up and finally wins when the store gives in to move a piece of inventory at no profit or even a loss is the buyer that will often kill you in the CSI survey. One for whom you went out of your way to help will give you top marks on the CSI survey.
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Replying to: volvomax (Oct 29, 2008 7:49 am) Dealers do not "take advantage" of people. They aren't standing on street corners selling illicit substances. YOU the consumer go to them and pay for one of their vehicles. They are going to ask as much as they can, that's business. And no sales person has ever lied to a customer attempting to make more money have they? I have no problem if it's just the asking price they try to make the most on, but when I'm surprised by their $699 dealer fee in the F&I office, "See it's pre-printed on the invoice", as well as the $2K extended warranty that accidentally got added in, "Oh, sorry, how'd that get in there?". It works both ways.
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Not to distract from the perennial question of whether Car Salemen are evil, but the credit crunch doesn't seem to be that visible -in the car business- anyhow, here in Dallas. I'm seeing lots of temporary tags on cars with expiration dates that show recent sales. Some fancy rigs, some plain janes, and some very very obviously used. Of course, I have no idea what the credit status of the buyers might be or how good a deal the buyer might or might not have gotten. The one thing that I do seem to notice but am not sure about yet, is that there don't seem to be as many screamer ads on the radio for cars lately. There are Toyota and Madza ad that I've noticed, both claiming to have plenty of money to finance cars with.... Anybody have an informed opinion as to whether or not car advertising has been curtailed, and if so, what impact on sales that might be having?
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Replying to: joel0622 (Oct 29, 2008 6:13 am) And that is true 100% of the time?  tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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Replying to: mikefm58 (Oct 29, 2008 8:12 am) Absolutely immaterial. The buyer can always walk away. If the buyer chooses not to, that's their own fault and no one elses.
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Replying to: lokki (Oct 29, 2008 8:29 am) As I was mentioning to a customer today, if you have A or A+ credit,banks will lend you money. If you are marginal, or want to borrow in excess of a cars value you are gonna have issues. Dallas is an affluent city, so I would imagine that the slowdown isn't affecting tham as much as it is other areas. Anybody have an informed opinion as to whether or not car advertising has been curtailed, and if so, what impact on sales that might be having? In talking to people that we advertise with, they all acknowledge that less money is being spent on advertising. What is interesting is that there is a lot of jumping around with the advertising that is being utilized. Dealers are canceling long standing accounts and moving to new advertisers with the goal of "trying something different" so, there is a lot of musical chairs being played in dealer advertising right now. |
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Replying to: kdhspyder (Oct 29, 2008 7:58 am)
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Replying to: volvomax (Oct 29, 2008 9:38 am) If the buyer chooses not to, that's their own fault and no one elses. A sales person lieing to a customer is immaterial? Hmmm, up until you made that statement I felt you were one of the more respectful folks in the biz here. Where I come from folks who tell lies to their customer just to get them in the show room or to simply make more on the deal aren't very well respected. |
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Smart Shopper Buying a Car During the Credit Crunch
