buying a new vehicle from a dealer.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttt??????



I wha.... huh???

 

Walmart will haggle. When I was 14, one of my friends got a job there (he'd failed a couple grades). We were shopping and Dave was working out in lawn and garden. My stepdad is messing with him about this push mower. He's asking about the features, what kind of warranty it has, blah blah blah, and then he goes in for the kill. He tells poor Dave that it's a really nice mower but it's too expensive for a poor workin' man. The mower is like $200 and he says he can only afford to spend $150 on it. Dave doesn't know any better so he says "hold on", then goes and relays the offer to his manager, who accepts! We ended up buying a stupid lawn mower that we didn't need because my step dad was messing with the kid.

 

Fleet guys...I love that analogy. You can't buy fleet unless you have a fleet number from the OEM. Think Delta, DOT, Enterprise....All that happened was the fleet guy outsmarted you. Again, you can't win. Doesn't matter to me though.

Hell, at this point in my career, I just barter. Old school economics. Last deal I made, I lost $300 , and got 2 cases of double A batteries out of it. I was happy. Thanks Smokesignal!

 

And I got a sweet new ride

 

So much easier these days to buy a car. Test ride and select the make and model. Research pricing on-line. Then call the internet departments of local dealerships for the lowest price. No more driving all over the place.

 

For those in the know: what are your opinions regarding TrueCar purchase program? Decent deal or better off going in and negotiating directly?

 

TrueCar is a hack, but a great marketing scheme. You'll do better negotiating the deal yourself.

 

You forgot about Kelly Blue Book.

 

That's kind of what I figured but wanted to make sure. Any recommendations on Toyota dealers in the Austin area? I'm in the market for a 2016/17 Tundra Platinum model.

 

Ehhh. Agree to disagree. Your old way of dealing is going away with the younger generation. Carmax, Carvana and others have proven that the no haggle model is viable, and it does scale well when associated with a brand consumers trust. The issue for most of you franchise guys is that lack trust, so you can't demand a set price.

That may change with time, but for now only a select few have been able to make healthy margins in the industry without negotiation tactics.

 

The most recent data show that people want to haggle, including Millennials. Carmax has lost new car franchises across the US because of their set pricing structure. Carvana buyers pay more for their vehicles as well.

 

Carvana looks stupid as hell in that vending machine thing they have

 

There will be a time when the car business does change over from its current structure , but in my opinion , that will not be in my lifetime. My "old way " is currently driven by consumers, we'll sell you a car any way you want to buy one. The problem is what people SAY they want and then what they actually DO are two different things. I've watched a TON of millennials come into this business and try all sorts of interesting ways to sell cars ( some that I really did believe in and like) and they all failed. That's not to say that someone won't come up with something soon , but I wouldn't bet on it.



BTW , CarMax has largely become a secondary finance ( ie. buyers with bad credit ) company rather than a Car dealer as far as profits go . So using them as an example of why no haggle works is a bit misleading.

 

CarMax's no haggle thing "works" because they over charge so fucking much. When I was truck shopping in 2012, comparable trucks (mileage/package/etc), Car Max was always 5-7k higher than any dealership in the area. Every single time. Same when I was shopping for a STi.

Car Max is a fucking joke

 

I'm probably in the minority but I have stuck with the same dealer for my last 4 vehicles for one reason, they have a kickass service department, the service writers take care of me and my vehicle always goes to one of two techs that work on my stuff, they know not to even schedule me if one of them isn't available. They have gone out of their way to help me out of jams and get my truck turned around quickly.

The sales manager knows this is the only reason I stick with them and doesn't jerk me around. I just e-mail him what I want and he gives me a price, if I'm good with it we move forward otherwise a couple of e-mails later and we have a deal. I'm willing to give them a little more profit than another dealer might take just because of how the service department has treated me over the last 15 years.

 

I've gone through this many times, but I've found the "normal" type dealers, i.e. Honda/Toyota some Mazda, etc. want you to come down and negotiate. Any dealer that wanted to do that, I said no to. I've found TrueCar a good starting point and sometimes it was fine and fair. Just last week I helped my mom buy a Toyota Camry (Brand familiarity...I tried to get her in a Mazda, but she was just too comfortable in another Toyota). Dealers are just ridiculous, even when you do get there.

I've bought our recent BMW and Lexus over email or the phone with little to no negotiating needed. When I arrive, the paperwork is ready to be signed, and in case of the Lexus, in under 30 minutes I was out of the dealership driving the new car.

 

When we bought my wife's BMW we never stepped foot on the dealer lot. No negotiating, either. Only way to fly.

 

You can do that when you have Baller status

 

Well hell yeah, then.

 

The "old way" is ordering only the options the customer wants, not some pre-packaged bean counter's version of what should go together. Just sayin'.

I f*cking hate option packages.

I also hate chrome. Back in the '90s, wanted a Toyota pickup with the offroad components but not the chrome bumpers that came with the offroad package. I don't own a Toyota...bean counters lost that sale. It was possible that they could have swapped the bumpers for something on their lot, but noooo...

It's only gotten worse so, when I find a vehicle on the lot that has shit I don't want, I tell 'em flat out after a tentative deal is struck, "I'm not payin' for that shit I don't want."
Doesn't hurt me one bit that they can't/won't do anything about it.

I could go on and on...and on...and on...and...f*ck it.
Thanks, bean counters, you've ruined the car buying experience, resulting in no soup for you.
I'll never buy a new car again...unless it's a Porsche.