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Also about how many options you have for yourself. You never want to put yourself in a situation where you might get an exploding offer without something else

Also about how many options you have for yourself. You never want to put yourself in a situation where you might get an exploding offer without something else in hand. Unfortunately I didn't follow this advice when recently buying a car.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
cynicalkane 12y ago
It's difficult to imagine a situation where it's rational to offer another rational actor an exploding offer to buy a car. Jobs sometimes need to be filled quickly. But when is selling a car today so much worse than selling one tomorrow? It sounds like the "exploding offer" another scumbag car dealer pressure tactic. Car dealers will do anything, including lying, to prevent you from negotiating efficiently.
- chrsstrm 12y ago
  You assume it was a dealership. A perfectly legit example of an exploding offer would be a used car with an attractive price where the deal goes to the first person to show up and claim it.
  - lrem 12y ago
    Anecdotally: last year I've tried to buy at least 5 cars that were sold before I got to the appointment. When I finally found one that was ok for its price, I bought it without asking any more questions.
- nostrademons 12y ago
  Car dealers have sales targets for each month. If they hit the target, they usually get a big bonus from the manufacturer. I've gotten a dealer to sell me a car under dealer price by e-mailing every car dealer in the area on the 29th of the month, saying I was looking to buy a (specific model of a) car immediately. All you have to do is find the one dealer who is 1-2 cars away from hitting their bonus target. It is rational for them to sell to you under cost because they will more than make it up in the bonus; it is rational for you because well, it's under cost.
  - 27182818284 12y ago
    For those curious, This American Life did a whole podcast on the end-of-month car sales thing. It was quite fascinating and really does exist. One of the more interesting points in the entire thing came in the first minute where they point out that things like the end-of-month sales impact the entire US economy because it has to do with auto sales, and GM and steel working and etc follow up the chain. Weird to think of it like that.
    - photojosh 12y ago
      Anyone know if this is true for other countries? Specifically Australia? I'm in the market for a new car... and not too fussy about what I get.
      - justinlloyd 12y ago
        It used to work wonderfully in the UK each year, around August or September, that the registration letter would change. Telephone a bunch of dealerships (in the days prior to email) and tell them you wanted to buy a very specific make and model and the current year which only has a week or two left before the registration letter increments. I don't know if it still works because I haven't owned a car in the UK in over 20 years. But every car dealership in ever country has sales quotas to meet. You just have to find out when they are.
      - gregpilling 12y ago
        It is for any corporation that has quarters to report to wall street. I used to sell capital equipment ($10-50K invoice amounts) for Snapon Tools. The specials that would come down the line two weeks before the end of the quarter would be ridiculous. I once sold a $30,000 machine for $16,000 because I could close it in June (not July) and the buyer was paying cash and would take a demo unit off my truck. I got the sale, buyer got a discount, everyone above me got some bonus, everybody was happy. Then the same thing happened 2 weeks before the end of the third quarter just thirteen weeks later - suddenly almost all the appliance sized machines were half priced to clear inventory and make numbers. I sold 33 A/C machines in 3 days. That should have taken 3 years to move that many units. So whenever you are buying something from a corporation, try to figure out if they are ahead or behind in sales. They can get really desperate to make the numbers. If the product is selling faster than they can make it, all bets are off. That popular stuff stays a full retail. Nobody will discount since production is limiting their sales, not demand. Also, understand flooring costs. Often a dealer of expensive stuff like cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs etc gets a line of credit from a large bank for "flooring". This is the roughly 1% per month fee the dealer pays to the bank for interest for the line of credit. If that unit has 12 months of flooring charge against it, people can get really good deals. They just want to clear stale inventory and will take a loss to do so.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

cynicalkane 12y ago

It's difficult to imagine a situation where it's rational to offer another rational actor an exploding offer to buy a car. Jobs sometimes need to be filled quickly. But when is selling a car today so much worse than selling one tomorrow? It sounds like the "exploding offer" another scumbag car dealer pressure tactic. Car dealers will do anything, including lying, to prevent you from negotiating efficiently.

chrsstrm 12y ago
You assume it was a dealership. A perfectly legit example of an exploding offer would be a used car with an attractive price where the deal goes to the first person to show up and claim it.
- lrem 12y ago
  Anecdotally: last year I've tried to buy at least 5 cars that were sold before I got to the appointment. When I finally found one that was ok for its price, I bought it without asking any more questions.
nostrademons 12y ago
Car dealers have sales targets for each month. If they hit the target, they usually get a big bonus from the manufacturer. I've gotten a dealer to sell me a car under dealer price by e-mailing every car dealer in the area on the 29th of the month, saying I was looking to buy a (specific model of a) car immediately. All you have to do is find the one dealer who is 1-2 cars away from hitting their bonus target. It is rational for them to sell to you under cost because they will more than make it up in the bonus; it is rational for you because well, it's under cost.
- 27182818284 12y ago
  For those curious, This American Life did a whole podcast on the end-of-month car sales thing. It was quite fascinating and really does exist. One of the more interesting points in the entire thing came in the first minute where they point out that things like the end-of-month sales impact the entire US economy because it has to do with auto sales, and GM and steel working and etc follow up the chain. Weird to think of it like that.
  - photojosh 12y ago
    Anyone know if this is true for other countries? Specifically Australia? I'm in the market for a new car... and not too fussy about what I get.
    - justinlloyd 12y ago
      It used to work wonderfully in the UK each year, around August or September, that the registration letter would change. Telephone a bunch of dealerships (in the days prior to email) and tell them you wanted to buy a very specific make and model and the current year which only has a week or two left before the registration letter increments. I don't know if it still works because I haven't owned a car in the UK in over 20 years. But every car dealership in ever country has sales quotas to meet. You just have to find out when they are.
    - gregpilling 12y ago
      It is for any corporation that has quarters to report to wall street. I used to sell capital equipment ($10-50K invoice amounts) for Snapon Tools. The specials that would come down the line two weeks before the end of the quarter would be ridiculous. I once sold a $30,000 machine for $16,000 because I could close it in June (not July) and the buyer was paying cash and would take a demo unit off my truck. I got the sale, buyer got a discount, everyone above me got some bonus, everybody was happy. Then the same thing happened 2 weeks before the end of the third quarter just thirteen weeks later - suddenly almost all the appliance sized machines were half priced to clear inventory and make numbers. I sold 33 A/C machines in 3 days. That should have taken 3 years to move that many units. So whenever you are buying something from a corporation, try to figure out if they are ahead or behind in sales. They can get really desperate to make the numbers. If the product is selling faster than they can make it, all bets are off. That popular stuff stays a full retail. Nobody will discount since production is limiting their sales, not demand. Also, understand flooring costs. Often a dealer of expensive stuff like cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs etc gets a line of credit from a large bank for "flooring". This is the roughly 1% per month fee the dealer pays to the bank for interest for the line of credit. If that unit has 12 months of flooring charge against it, people can get really good deals. They just want to clear stale inventory and will take a loss to do so.