Internet vs. Traditional Car Buying on Edmunds.com

Edmunds.com

Internet vs. Traditional Car Buying on Edmunds.com

Negotiating and buying a car through the dealership's Internet department can save you time, money and stress.

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kylepre25

I do internet sales as well as handling walk in customers at a local car dealership. Just for background, we sell between 175-200 cars a month out of our dealership and I average about 17 cars/month. maybe 3-4 sales are generated from the internet. I agree that it is easier to go online and price for a vehicle. There are some benefits of going into the dealership as I will discuss. First, you have to put your hands on a vehicle, you have to drive it, to get a real feel for the car. Also, a salesperson spends hours training on products that he/she sells and may be able to tell you something about the car that you may have overlooked. Also, the MSRP is a suggested retail price of the car. Most good salesman can build value in a vehicle, and are able to justify why the manufacturer is just on how much they charge for a vehicle. People pay for the show. The saleswoman who says she will never go to a dealership to buy a car is a coward and affraid of being sold on a car and doesn't know how to negotiate. Also, I can tell you first hand, that shopping online can be stressful also. In my brand, there are a handful of competitors within 50 miles. These other dealers have been known to quote with all available incentives, even though you may not even qualify for most of them. Here with my company, we strive to be the first to get you the quote, and with the best price. We shoot for 20% closing ratio for our company as a whole. (18 dealerships). Also, nothing against the writer of this article, but if you go and drive a car with a salesperson and spend 2 hours with them and go home and shop online for a price at that dealership. He will automatically have to split a commission with the internet salesman. So basically he is getting half of a minimum commision, which at most dealerships is anywhere from 75-150. A "mini" is the lowest a salesman can make from a sale, even if the company loses money to make the sale, which most of the internet sales are. So remember if you like your salesperson, please buy it from him.