7 ms·

They get "up to 1.25%" commission from the dealers, no thanks. If I hire someone for advice I want that person to be paid only by me and by people like me.

joosters 11y ago
It's an odd pricing scheme. So my potential negotiator gets paid more if they negotiate a higher price? Don't we want the motivation to work the other way around?
- yitchelle 11y ago
  Would it matter if one of your requirements is price? I guess there is always the question of trust. ie Would you trust him to you the car you want if she is being paid by the dealership?
- analog31 11y ago
  It does seem odd. But it seems like there are at least a couple sources of discipline. The first is that you could call two brokers and take the one with the best offer, or use other kinds of pricing services for comparison. The other is that you could still negotiate directly with the dealer yourself. Also, while they're paid by the dealers, the dealers are still competing with one another for the chance to pay this commission. Hopefully this is just a small step towards buying cars directly from the manufacturer.
  - lsc 11y ago
    > It does seem odd. But it seems like there are at least a couple sources of discipline. The first is that you could call two brokers and take the one with the best offer, or use other kinds of pricing services for comparison. The other is that you could still negotiate directly with the dealer yourself. Yes, of course, that's what I do now. but then what value does this broker service provide? That's the problem with most brokers. Negotiation is unpleasant. I am fundamentally willing to pay money to get the benefits of negotiation without dealing with this unpleasantness. The problem is that in most areas where negotiation really matters, all the middlemen who have the information required to negotiate well for me all have more important relationships with my counterparties than with me. A big example is body shops; I mean, I spend probably about half my time contracted out through a body shop of one sort or another, The thing is, at the same job, negotiation quite often can mean a 30% difference in pay for me. And I'm bad at negotiation, so it would maybe make sense to outsource that. The problem is that the companies that normally handle that, the body shops, have strong relationships that matter with the companies that actually foot the bill. Their relationships with contractors like me matter a lot less, so they are my counterparty in the negotiation. Writers and actors have agents to handle that sort of thing; but the important bit there is that agents are paid by the person they are representing, and paid more the more the person they are representing gets.
    - analog31 11y ago
      Points well taken. Thanks.

joosters 11y ago

It's an odd pricing scheme. So my potential negotiator gets paid more if they negotiate a higher price? Don't we want the motivation to work the other way around?

yitchelle 11y ago
Would it matter if one of your requirements is price? I guess there is always the question of trust. ie Would you trust him to you the car you want if she is being paid by the dealership?
analog31 11y ago
It does seem odd. But it seems like there are at least a couple sources of discipline. The first is that you could call two brokers and take the one with the best offer, or use other kinds of pricing services for comparison. The other is that you could still negotiate directly with the dealer yourself. Also, while they're paid by the dealers, the dealers are still competing with one another for the chance to pay this commission. Hopefully this is just a small step towards buying cars directly from the manufacturer.
- lsc 11y ago
  > It does seem odd. But it seems like there are at least a couple sources of discipline. The first is that you could call two brokers and take the one with the best offer, or use other kinds of pricing services for comparison. The other is that you could still negotiate directly with the dealer yourself. Yes, of course, that's what I do now. but then what value does this broker service provide? That's the problem with most brokers. Negotiation is unpleasant. I am fundamentally willing to pay money to get the benefits of negotiation without dealing with this unpleasantness. The problem is that in most areas where negotiation really matters, all the middlemen who have the information required to negotiate well for me all have more important relationships with my counterparties than with me. A big example is body shops; I mean, I spend probably about half my time contracted out through a body shop of one sort or another, The thing is, at the same job, negotiation quite often can mean a 30% difference in pay for me. And I'm bad at negotiation, so it would maybe make sense to outsource that. The problem is that the companies that normally handle that, the body shops, have strong relationships that matter with the companies that actually foot the bill. Their relationships with contractors like me matter a lot less, so they are my counterparty in the negotiation. Writers and actors have agents to handle that sort of thing; but the important bit there is that agents are paid by the person they are representing, and paid more the more the person they are representing gets.
  - analog31 11y ago
    Points well taken. Thanks.