5 ms·

If you're willing to pay the dealer's quote, then car salesmen will love you and you'll have a great time at a dealership anyway. The entire bullshit process b

If you're willing to pay the dealer's quote, then car salesmen will love you and you'll have a great time at a dealership anyway. The entire bullshit process begins when you try to get a price that doesn't have thousands of extra dollars in for the dealership.

Jarbooski 8y ago
And how is that different than paying full pin at Tesla?
- throwaway98121 8y ago
  Tesla has a fixed price on all vehicles. With dealers, each dealer has their own price and will haggle the crap out of you, try to up sell you things you don’t want, and even be shady with the actual paperwork that you have to read and reread carefully to ensure there aren’t any surprises. Tesla doesn’t do that. It’s a fixed price. Although I wouldn’t drop 35-50k on a new vehicle for their base models, I respect Tesla for eliminating the hassle of working with dealers.
lflux 8y ago
Sure, if the quote is out the door, but it never seems to be from what I've seen. This was "Here's the price excluding title transfer including delivery"
- csa 8y ago
  Here is what I do, and it works well: 1. Call the dealer and ask for the internet sales manager. 2. Tell the manager exactly what you want (many people are not able to do this accurately and consistently). 3. Ask for the out-the-door price. 4. Repeat for any number of dealers that you are willing to drive to. 5. Buy from the dealer you choose. I usually get several quotes within $100 or so of each other. At that point, I just pick the place with a low price and in a location that I prefer to pick up my car.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    That's close to my procedure but last time I did car shopping two dealers made me come in and after an hour of paperwork it turned out that they didn't keep their end of the bargain but added 1000-2000 to the price. I walked out but still wasted a lot of time. Only the third dealer stuck to his promise afte a little amount of negotiating. Buying a car and medical billing are the sleaziest businesses I have ever dealt with.
  - vvanders 8y ago
    You need to be careful and make sure to select dealers that are outside of their conglomerates. When we were shopping our last Subaru no one would budge on us until we started talking with Oregon dealers, then all of a sudden they'd drop the price a ton. Turns out almost all Subaru dealerships in SW WA are owned by the same owner under different names so they just coordinate to not deal unless they know they're actually competing for a sale.
    - lsc 8y ago
      I had this problem buying a motorcycle; I don't know if or how the local dealers coordinated, but I got a dramatically better price half a state away. I took the quote to the local dealer and offered to add on half what shipping would cost me. - worked out somewhat lower than any of the local dealers were willing to pay and I got to buy from a local dealer (which ended up not being a big deal anyhow, but it was something I thought would be important)
  - ams6110 8y ago
    If you get an out the door quote that you're willing to accept, tell them that you're coming in with a check made out in exactly that amount and if it turns out that isn't enough, you'll leave.
endymi0n 8y ago
While I fully agree on hating the process, I've found the easiest working reply to these tactics by accident: Simply visit the dealer, get through exactly the model you want, be reasonably interested (but not too much in love), ask for a quote, leave some contact details and leave. Never answer and come back in about a month with a cheque when they've bidded themselves 20% down without you even saying a word.
- r00fus 8y ago
  This only works if your vehicle isn't niche or if demand is more than supply. I guess you could just multiply by X dealers and use the same "time is on my side" approach.
  - ntsplnkv2 8y ago
    Well, yes, that's kind of implied isn't it? If it was in demand then they won't have to negotiate with you as much. Some could even charge more if the demand is high enough.
- ams6110 8y ago
  9 times out of 10 when you ask for the quote, the answer will be "what will it take to put you in this car today" and the haggling starts. They will dance and do tricks to keep you in the showroom. You need to be determined to walk out, and probably get as far as opening the door, to get them to quote a number first.
pkaye 8y ago
Isn't this the same for Tesla? You have to accept tesla's quote with no negotiation?
- mikeash 8y ago
  It’s different because with Tesla you can’t negotiate. The price is the price, take it or leave it. With a traditional dealership, you can refrain from negotiating, but then you’re leaving money on the table, potentially thousands of dollars.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    There are "no haggle" dealers though and there have been brands over the years that were no haggle. But it has to pretty much be at the brand level at least or the process doesn't work in the consumer's favor. And that doesn't even account for financing and trade-ins. However, especially as you get to luxury brands and buyers aren't trying to get to minimal prices, I expect the "dealer experience" gets better.
  - jiaweihli 8y ago
    So they have better salespeople that will never negotiate? Seems like a win for them.
    - mikeash 8y ago
      It’s a win for everyone. That’s why roughly 99.9% of goods are sold this way.

Jarbooski 8y ago

And how is that different than paying full pin at Tesla?

throwaway98121 8y ago
Tesla has a fixed price on all vehicles. With dealers, each dealer has their own price and will haggle the crap out of you, try to up sell you things you don’t want, and even be shady with the actual paperwork that you have to read and reread carefully to ensure there aren’t any surprises. Tesla doesn’t do that. It’s a fixed price. Although I wouldn’t drop 35-50k on a new vehicle for their base models, I respect Tesla for eliminating the hassle of working with dealers.

lflux 8y ago

Sure, if the quote is out the door, but it never seems to be from what I've seen. This was "Here's the price excluding title transfer including delivery"

csa 8y ago
Here is what I do, and it works well: 1. Call the dealer and ask for the internet sales manager. 2. Tell the manager exactly what you want (many people are not able to do this accurately and consistently). 3. Ask for the out-the-door price. 4. Repeat for any number of dealers that you are willing to drive to. 5. Buy from the dealer you choose. I usually get several quotes within $100 or so of each other. At that point, I just pick the place with a low price and in a location that I prefer to pick up my car.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  That's close to my procedure but last time I did car shopping two dealers made me come in and after an hour of paperwork it turned out that they didn't keep their end of the bargain but added 1000-2000 to the price. I walked out but still wasted a lot of time. Only the third dealer stuck to his promise afte a little amount of negotiating. Buying a car and medical billing are the sleaziest businesses I have ever dealt with.
- vvanders 8y ago
  You need to be careful and make sure to select dealers that are outside of their conglomerates. When we were shopping our last Subaru no one would budge on us until we started talking with Oregon dealers, then all of a sudden they'd drop the price a ton. Turns out almost all Subaru dealerships in SW WA are owned by the same owner under different names so they just coordinate to not deal unless they know they're actually competing for a sale.
  - lsc 8y ago
    I had this problem buying a motorcycle; I don't know if or how the local dealers coordinated, but I got a dramatically better price half a state away. I took the quote to the local dealer and offered to add on half what shipping would cost me. - worked out somewhat lower than any of the local dealers were willing to pay and I got to buy from a local dealer (which ended up not being a big deal anyhow, but it was something I thought would be important)
- ams6110 8y ago
  If you get an out the door quote that you're willing to accept, tell them that you're coming in with a check made out in exactly that amount and if it turns out that isn't enough, you'll leave.

endymi0n 8y ago

While I fully agree on hating the process, I've found the easiest working reply to these tactics by accident: Simply visit the dealer, get through exactly the model you want, be reasonably interested (but not too much in love), ask for a quote, leave some contact details and leave. Never answer and come back in about a month with a cheque when they've bidded themselves 20% down without you even saying a word.

r00fus 8y ago
This only works if your vehicle isn't niche or if demand is more than supply. I guess you could just multiply by X dealers and use the same "time is on my side" approach.
- ntsplnkv2 8y ago
  Well, yes, that's kind of implied isn't it? If it was in demand then they won't have to negotiate with you as much. Some could even charge more if the demand is high enough.
ams6110 8y ago
9 times out of 10 when you ask for the quote, the answer will be "what will it take to put you in this car today" and the haggling starts. They will dance and do tricks to keep you in the showroom. You need to be determined to walk out, and probably get as far as opening the door, to get them to quote a number first.

pkaye 8y ago

Isn't this the same for Tesla? You have to accept tesla's quote with no negotiation?

mikeash 8y ago
It’s different because with Tesla you can’t negotiate. The price is the price, take it or leave it. With a traditional dealership, you can refrain from negotiating, but then you’re leaving money on the table, potentially thousands of dollars.
- ghaff 8y ago
  There are "no haggle" dealers though and there have been brands over the years that were no haggle. But it has to pretty much be at the brand level at least or the process doesn't work in the consumer's favor. And that doesn't even account for financing and trade-ins. However, especially as you get to luxury brands and buyers aren't trying to get to minimal prices, I expect the "dealer experience" gets better.
- jiaweihli 8y ago
  So they have better salespeople that will never negotiate? Seems like a win for them.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    It’s a win for everyone. That’s why roughly 99.9% of goods are sold this way.