In my business, I'd go to jail on a Federal rap for doing that.

- Eric

 

I would have pressed them for a new tire. They sold you the truck with a bad tire and they should have fixed it BEFORE you left with it.

 

Without going into much detail, dealers make money on whats called a finance reserve. Since most dealers don't actually finance your vehicle, they go through factory financing, or though primary, and secondary lenders. The dealer can add, in most cases, 2-3% to a discounted rate and still remain somewhat competitive with what you can get through your personal lender. Car financing is very interesting as it also can make or break a car deal.

I can never understand why people put up such a fight with car dealerships, yet fall right over when they buy other big ticket items. The percentage of mark up on other things you buy is tremendously higher than the percentage of what a car dealer makes. Look at clothes, furniture, jewelry, electronics, homes, real estate agents, etc... Yet people will haggle for hours and walk on a car deal for less than $100. Every where else they just hand over their money and smile. Go figure.

 

I think it's because of two reasons. First reason, while it is percentage, it is also percentage of a large amount, so it is actually more money per percent. The only thing bigger is homes, and you haggle on those two. Second reason, car dealers are dirtbags, for the most part, and they bring it upon themselves.

 

Here they get into bidding wars on homes and usually pay OVER asking by at least a few thousand, and most likely more.

 

In 1999, Mercedes-Benz lowered the markup to 7% on their vehicles. We very seldom sold a new vehicle and retained any of that markup.All the profits in new car sales came from secondary sales sources, such as F&I and accessories.

 

Are there bad dealerships out there, sure. However most contribute a lot to local economies, they donate to local charities and causes, and provide employment opportunities that otherwise would not exist, factories, suppliers, surrounding businesses, etc. They are a necessary evil. Most of the problems that car dealerships have are generated by corporate with confusing pricing strategies, unnecessary rebates, etc... These are not things dreamed up by dealers.

 

My wife sold cars, used and new, for a while, years ago, and was highly ranked in her district.

The stories she tells would make your hair stand up.

Even little things, like selling "fabric protection" for leather seats ("It makes the thread stronger."). The business was dirty to the core.

If you want to buy a car from a dealer, that's none of my business, but anyone who does so and doesn't assume that every single word of of the salesman's mouth is a lie is making a mistake.

Are there honest care salesmen and honest dealerships?
Are there honest politicians?
Are there honest real estate agents?
If you tell me you've been involved with them, I'll believe you. Eric, you were in car sales, and I'm sure you were honest in your dealings. But, the vast majority of the rest of them are not, and give the few good guys a very bad name.

- Eric

 

When salespeople work on straight commission, they are by the nature of the job inclined to do or say whatever it takes to make a sale. Simple fix I used when I supervised over 30 commissioned sales people during my career....... if a problem that YOU caused ever gets brought to MY attention, you loose the whole commission. If it happens twice, you will be looking for another job. I never had to terminate anyone for a 2nd offense. After one of them looses a commission that they worked hard for, the whole crew hears about it and they become pretty good citizens (for a while). It all starts at the top.........

 

 

I agree with this.

 

Financing has really screwed up buying a new car. First... nobody discusses the actual price anymore, it's all about what you can afford monthly. "If you add the infotainment system, it only costs an extra $15/month!"

On top of that, all the idiots that just buy new cars every 3 years with no money down and keep rolling payments over are stacked in lines at the dealership to buy a new one. So when somebody competent shows up to negotiate, they have no motivation to work with you. They even use online tools against you now while blowing smoke like "autotrader actually has a person on the other end reviewing our trade-in value request for the latest up to the minute pricing".

If you want to buy a car with cash, tell them you are gonna finance it (now they negotiate b/c they think they are going to make a killing on interest), print out the cheapest comparables you can find online, go get your used car appraised at carmax (they quoted the highest) and bring the quote in writing, negotiate with those numbers, and once you get to the finance managers office, change your mind and write a check. The days of being able to steal a car are gone, but you can find a nice, used car for a fair price that way. We may have done that last year and walked away with a very fair deal.

 

I use my father in laws method. Research the car/truck you want, figure out what you want to pay. Go to the dealership and make them an offer at your price if they don't agree walk away. I have done this very successfully for many years. I also arrange my own financing before hand and write a check on the spot. Of course I don't tell them this up front.

 

In most cases the only thing that keeps the dealer from making a car deal is losing money. When I was selling cars, if I let you leave its because I could not (not would not) meet your expectations. I did not have to go back and forth to the manager, however I would give him the last shot at making a customer happy. Its business, and I was very successful. Did I **** a few people off? Of course I did, when you talk to as many people as I would, there would be a few. You can't make everyone happy. Have I run into a situation in which the op started this thread with? Absolutely, some understood, some did not when the situation was explained. Everyone makes mistakes. A mistake is not a measure of a man, its how he deals with it.

When you go through life expecting everyone to take advantage of you, they will.

 

I think in my case, this was not a honest mistake, instead, I think this was intentional. I really think that this manager thought that I would cough up the extra coin to get the truck, with those wheels and tires.
The next morning the managers boss called, asking if there was any way he could get us back, my reply, absolutely not.

 

If a mistake is not the measure of a man, and how he deals with it is (which I agree with), then the mistake was not including the wheels in the price, and how they should have dealt with it is noted it, mentioned it as a goodwill gesture, then eaten the price. Instead they tried to stick him with it.

 

Sorry Koda we're not talking about a mistake over a small amount of money here. The goodwill gesture would have been to sell the vehicle at net, net, possibly a small loss. However if they were already at that price scenario, they had no where else to go. It's business, there is no easy fix here. I agree, its a frustrating situation to be in for both parties.

 

You may be right. I just build them, I don't sell them.

 

Agreed, but Ive seen the same thing in real estate over and over and over. 500K home, people will haggle over 2K! AND walk away! Whats 2K on a 30 year...like $2/month

Citcapp...Good info on how to leverage the stealerships.

 

What I haven't gleaned from this thread (and I'm too lazy to go back and study it all again) is if you KNEW the truck had the fancy wheels when you agreed on the price. If so, then it would sure be nice if the dealer honored the agreement. But he has every right to back out -- recognizing that he will **** you off in the process. That's a trade-off he can make.

If you didn't know it had the fancy wheels, then YOU should be willing to pay the extra for them. If you don't want them, then that's the perfect compromise: the dealer swaps them out for standard wheels and honors your original agreement. And he gets to sell the fancy wheels to another customer.

 

Not if he just signed a written agreement to sell that car, as-is, at that price.

I have never bought a new car, and if my luck holds out, I never will, but it seems to me that a modern dealership will have the agreement form printed out by their computer, specifying all of the options that come on the car.
In that case, the wheels would be plainly listed as part of the agreement, if they came on the car or were known to be on it.
If the wheels had gotten "lost in the shuffle" and nobody realized they were on there, then they wouldn't be listed on the form either, so the dealer could show the buyer that they had not been part of the deal. (Of course, if they were listed, and the sales manager just didn't notice them, that's his problem, and not the customer's).

It would be interesting to know the specifics, but we've already spent far more time on this than is healthy.

- Eric