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Smart Shopper Cash for Clunkers - Does it Work for You?
2647 messages, Last post on Oct 01, 2009 at 6:33 PM
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I Traded My Clunker and Bought a....?
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Replying to: kernick (Jun 30, 2009 10:57 am) Our local Cadillac dealer sells an entry level vehicle, for the time being at least. It's called a "G3".  Also, a lot of people who buy BMW 1 and 3 series, Mercedes C-series, etc, are people who are really stretching to afford them. They only care about the perceived status that comes from the name. Now granted, chances are that these people are already driving around in a used BMW or Benz that they really can't afford, and want to get into another one they really can't afford, so I'd guess that not too many of them are driving vehicles that would qualify under this clunker bill.
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 01, 2009 5:53 am) |
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Replying to: ldisler (Jun 30, 2009 4:59 pm) I don't think we are. We do this for a living. We see far more people in this business than you do. As an individual, you may have a different reason for driving an older, cheaper car. But, please do not mistake your individual experience for the market at large. You ARE pretty much alone. |
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jun 30, 2009 7:02 pm) I think they are accurate. I've been doing this for 20 yrs. I do tend to agree but not from the point of view that people that drive "clunkers" somehow can't afford a new car. But from the POV that people that can afford a car payment and drive a clunker do so because they are cheap and don't think buying a new car is a good use of their money (myself included). There are SOME who do think that way yes. Mostly old Volvo drivers. However, it is the nature here in America to want as new a car as you can afford. Especially if it is the family car. Generally speaking(and that is all we can do here) there are financial reasons why people drive old cars. If the dealer sees a pattern of people not getting qualifiedy a person, why not discuss financing upfront like real estate agents do? I can see that being a royal pain dealing with people who you can't get financed. Lots of time wasted. Banks are getting harder and harder to deal with. Just the other day we had a customer who was trading in a car financed w/ Bank of America. Paid them perfectly. Was 60 days late on a dept store credit car with a high balance of $150! Dropped his score to 660. Best rate we could get him was in the 11's!. Needless to say, B of A turned him down flat. This was a person with good income and a pretty decent credit history. This guy, like a lot of people thought he had good credit. Imagine how tough it is right now for someone without good credit. BTW, I just replaced my Intrigue with a 2006 Camry. I buy used cars for myself, new for my family. I regularly drive my cars over 120k miles. Yep, most old car driving people buy used. This exercise in gov't cheese is useless for them.
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Replying to: volvomax (Jul 01, 2009 8:32 am) Which is why I like reading your advice as well as the other regular salesmen and finance managers that post here. I still think it's an over generalization but we still agree on the overall premise. We (kernick included) are just looking at "financial reasons" a bit differently. No biggie. Unfortunately, our obsession for shiny, new, good smelling things has controlled our society for the past several years. With the way the banks are acting (your example hits the nail on the head), we, the people, need to get our personal credit situations taken care of before buying big ticket items that require credit. I have a bad feeling that this is the new normal for banking/lending for the foreseeable future. Or until the housing market turns around. The big banks still have a lot of money invested in bad mortgages and aren't willing to take risks. Unfortunately, you all are the collateral damages of this housing crisis fiasco. |
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Replying to: joel0622 (Jun 30, 2009 5:12 am) Thanks Joel.... good info... I didn't have that yet. It seems to be all we are talking about here atthe store these days is this program. |
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Replying to: joel0622 (Jun 30, 2009 12:12 pm) EXACTLLLLYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone is acting like a expert, it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. GP
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Replying to: volvomax (Jun 30, 2009 3:15 pm) Remember, in order for this program to make sense you have to be driving a broken down,nasty, POS. Most older used cars are worth more than $3500. The people driving them aren't coming in the door as it is. I was just starting tothink about the same thing Volvo.... there is a reason these people drive these vehicles.... mainly they couldn't get approved for a new vehicle loan and were stuck with these vehicles... although the money down may help a little I am sure banks will be very wary of this also..... once again very interesting  stuff will be happening GP
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Replying to: joegiant (Jun 30, 2009 5:49 pm) Nope things should be business as usual  GP |
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Replying to: dtownfb (Jun 30, 2009 7:02 pm) I wish I could do that with everyone but that is just not the way to sell vehicles. You have to go through the sales process no matter what. If you don't and you start talking about numbers up front you are selling numbers and not being a sales person! You can't sell value by talking about numbers, which means you probably won't make profit and remember that is why dealerships exist I know it is a dirty word "profit" but everyone else makes it. Why not dealers? Ya know what I love...... I love it when consumers say "oh, I want you to make a profit!" ....."I am just going to shop every dealer in town so I can get the best price" That is like saying "Can I get a Big mac, Fries, and diet coke" GP
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