So when I arrived at the dealership the first time (after beginning negotiations via email) to test drive my two choices, the first question the sales guy asked while standing with four other sales guys was what color did I want? This is asked with the intention of making the car buying an emotional experience for the buyer. It is important for the dealer to make this happen so that the buyer will pay even more for the car they choose and makes it difficult for the buyer to negotiate because they have already expressed a color choice. I answered that it didn’t matter for me, I would take whatever deal I could get at the time. No chance of this becoming an emotional decision for me.
The second question he asked was what did I want my monthly payment to be? Too many car buyers answer this question and set themselves up for failure. When answering this question the only answer should be: my payment is decided upon the final price negotiated minus the down payment I have, divided by the number of months I select times the interest rate the bank gives me.
It is an important answer because giving a statement of I want to be under $400 means the sales guy is already calculating how to get you into a vehicle more expensive than you should pay and have you pay for a longer term. Longer term mean more paid in finance charges and all this is money in the bank for the finance company.
I gave my answer and all of the other sales guys who had been silent during this questioning walked away, one of them saying she knows what she is doing, you can have her.
A few weeks later, after more negotiations with the internet sales guy I came in to pick up the car (in my color of choice and with the option I wanted!). As we finalized the deal he asked about my trade in. I asked what they could give me for my car.
Now, on one day when I went to test drive cars I hit upon a nice sales guy in the internet deals office and he said he was leaving, only had a couple more days. We chatted a bit and I asked him then what to do with my car to get the best trade in offer. He said to take it to CarMax and they will match the offer as that was their policy.
When I returned to pick up my new car, the internet sales guy I had been working with had my car appraised and said “it is in really bad condition but I can give you $250.” I just handed him the CarMax paperwork and he got very upset. He said "I don’t think my head guy will go for this." I asked him to bring his head guy over. When he left to talk to him I followed. When they said they couldn’t match it I asked "why not? All you have to do is drive it to them and they give you a check AND it is your own policy to match it." The head guy asked how I knew that and I moved his stapler off his desk and showed him the special little sticker and that something about honoring CarMax offers. He agreed to take it. Knowing the policy of your dealership is very important!
The final piece of the deal came when they brought me the paperwork to sign. Now, the sales guy doesn’t have to go through the paperwork with you and often they just hand you the things to sign and point where to initial or sign, while the finance guy has to go through the paperwork with you. My sales guy handed me only three things to sign and I asked to see everything. As I was reading through it making sure all the information was correct I found an error in the interest rate. What should have been0 % for three years was listed as 3.99% for three years. I pointed it out and he said, oops, sorry that is the default. I just said, umhmm and asked for the paperwork to be printed. He tried to have me cross it out and initial next to it with a 0% notation and I said nope, please give me a new copy.
My last entry will be the financing/warranty/maintenance discussion and a very interesting experience with the general manager that just happened by happenstance.
Part 2: Buying a new car...
June 12th, 2013 at 03:53 am
June 12th, 2013 at 01:37 pm 1371044236
The salesman you get makes all the difference. My general experience is salesmen having very low tolerance for our focus on "total price" versus monthly payment and our "could care less" feelings about most features of the car. I'd say my own number one car buying advantage is just being open to whatever is most on sale whenever car shopping. (This doesn't mean budging on anything important, but it means not getting so wrapped up in name brand and car color and less functional type add-ons). Surprisingly, I am not a big research car buyer. More of a "If I see something rock bottom" I will take it. In the internet age I at least made sure to do some consumer reports type research, but I feel it is pretty hit and miss when buying newer cars. We've come to take that risk because prefer to only replace our cars once every 15-20 years. It is such a painful process...
But going back to the salesmen, we have ended up buying from a few very laid back salesmen. Usually brand types new or "last day on the job" types. I've had more than one experience with getting a woman salesmen (they Seem to generally be less intense). I've commented a few times around the blogs that we bought our last cars in 2002 and 2006, so kind of the peak of the credit bubble? The salesmen would get so pissed at us - some would yell at us and tell us to leave because they could not talk us into payments. Very weird times. Very frustrating, and I just hope it is better the next time we car shop. We bought my dh's car from a very green salesman (it was supposed to be the kind of car they advertise on sale to lure you into look at other cars - well he just gave us the car when we asked for it! & told us it was like his first week on the job...), and I picked up my car from a fleet they were trying to dump, so they just seemed happy I was taking the car off their hands. I even got to pick the color that time (never before came across a pile of cars of same year/make/model they were trying to dump at such a low price). I ended up picking the best deal as far as price and low miles. I couldn't bear to make the final decision on color. Maybe if they had some really pretty color that stood out, but they were like various shades of blue and green so wasn't that exciting.
June 12th, 2013 at 01:40 pm 1371044407
June 12th, 2013 at 02:16 pm 1371046586