I tried. I was actually working a deal in FL right before I placed my order because they had LE's advertised $1500 below my local market. They would not do the same deal on an XLE. That is why they said the incentive was only on the LE. What is strange is that FL is in the same toyota region as my state, so seems wierd that they would have an incentive, or be passing it on when my local dealers were not.
yes....in some cases. It's all about supply and demand. I subscribe to the theory that there is no such thing as overpaid...If somebody is willing to overpay somebody, good for them.
When submitting a request for a price quote via the internet PLEASE ensure your return e-mail is correct if you are not going to leave a phone number where you can be reached. It's very frustrating to get an e-mail on a unit that is in stock with the options and color you want, walking the entire inventory to put your hands on it and make sure it's here, then e-mailing the customer back only to get a "undeliverable, user-unknown, etc, etc, " e-mail "Aaarrrrghhh!" makes me want to turn green!! Now I have a customer thinking "These internet people are no good, they don't answer my e-mails, blah, blah." when in reality if he would have put a contact phone in the e-mail he would be driving a brand new Tundra right now! Mackabee
I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time to talk about your VA mortgage? Do you know what your rate is? I see, well we here at ABC telephonic annoyance inc think you could do much better by refinancing with our megasuperdupersummersalebration rate reduction offer.....
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This is kind of thing that has trained most americans to not give out their phone number to anyone. Ever. Many who use the internet to shop for a car want to avoid the phone calls. Email is much less personal and easier for them to control as much as it may annoy the salesguy who "knows" everything would be so much easier and faster if they gave a number or "just came on down" to the showroom.
a while back refuse to even give me his email address "because if all the junk email out there." Some people will use any justification to avoid personal contact.
The thing that I'm saying is I believe this guy was a buyer. He requested a price quote on a specific vehicle, stock number, etc, one of those Tundra stepside bed which we don't get very many of in my area. I did get his name and from the looks of his "incorrect" e-mail address he works for the Navy, maybe a civilian or active duty. Just one slip of the keyboard and it ruins everybody's day! Well, not quite. Oh well, just another day at the office. ; ) Mackabee
that I get all kinds of incorrect email into my us.army.mil account. I've been congratulated on selection to brigade command, my imminent assumption of command of a battalion, promotion to Sergeant First Class and welcomed to a Long Range Surveillance Detachment. All of these came because someone subsituted a dash for a dot, left off a 1,2 or 3 or left off the j. at the beginning of the address.
Still, I think customers are more wary these days. Telemarketers are more intrusive than ever and now every store from Lowe's to Toys R Us asks for a zip code or phone number at the register. Most stores now have a member card that tracks everything you buy in return for a nice discount. We may be cheap but we don't want to give it away for nothing.
Wacky idea. On your webpage, make an offer of a $25 to 50 discount off the quoted price you will give in return for a phone number. If it works for the supermarkets it could work for cars too. Say something like "This field is optional. Filling it in entitles you to an additional $25 off the already low internet price."
After many months of looking, kicking tires and making up my mind to replace my tired 91 Accord with a new Accord I pulled the trigger on an internet based buy of an 03 Accord.
Act 1 Emailed internet sales person at dealer in local area. Prompt reply, great price which was lower by $500 than any of the Saturday screamer adds in the LA times.
Act 2 Made an appointment to look at, drive and inspect the car. Minor issues with the paint on the car, detailing was poor and some of the goop was still there.
Act 3 Loan papers and usual dealership stuff, total time 30 minutes.
Act 4 Car is delivered to my home tomorrow evening after work, sign the paper, give them a check and the deal is done.
No trip to the F&I guy, no pitch for etching, or mop and glow. Minor pitch for extended warranty, but dealer has already included a 5/100 mile extension of the power train so no sale.
All my future car buys will be internet based ones.
I hadn't planned on entering the market so soon, but my hand was forced.
On the way home from a business trip in my 12 year-old Buick, the brakes failed, more or less. Since the car needs a new radiator as well, at 225,000 miles it is time to put it down.
So, one of the cars I am interested in is a Toyota Matrix XRS. None are available in my area, so I am shopping online. I fired off two requests for quotes at dealerships whose online inventory indicates acceptable vehicles in stock.
The first one responded with an offer of invoice pricing and quoted an out the door price. The rep explained the option of cash back vs lower rate financing. But he didn't have the car I asked about. It was sold. The remaining one is in an unacceptable color.
The second dealership has responded with 3 emails. One is apparently from the internet manager letting me know that a internet rep will be contacting me. The second email was a "virtual test drive." The third is actually from the rep. He is wordy. He talks about "the process" and "configuring the car..blah blah blah. I guess he didn't get the part of the request in which I listed the 3 vehicles he has in stock that I am interested in.
If dealer A had the right car, I would be ready to do a deal. Dealer B is going to call me to help me get along in the "process." Joy.
My thought, too, Raybear. Though dealer A may have to go to dealer C or D. From what I've read here, it's possible that dealer B has marked his Matri "no trade" in light of Capitano's inquiry.
Dunno whether the "no trade" hold would be SOP in servicing Capitano or be overlooked in the rush and complexity of servicing him.
Dealer A did offer to find the right car. I demurred, thinking it would be better to deal with the people who had the car and still intent on test driving a few other models. That was before I got the email series from Dealer B.
Now I am interested in letting Dealer A do a swap for the right car. But as already pointed out, the car(s) might be marked as do not trade.
I responded to Dealer B that I thought their process was drawn out. The rep apologized that it seemed that way, but assured me that this works very well for them. They get hundreds of requests a day. That is believable. Maybe their system is designed to weed out the flakes. He also responded with an offer to sell any Matrix at invoice +$289 + TTL. Which is about what Dealer A was saying.
There's gotta be a cost involved in dealer A's getting the car you want. Even if it's a straight trade 'tween dealer A and dealer X, somebody's got to drive the cars back and forth.
Giving dealer A shot at the deal makes sense to me in light of the better service.
Probably mine, but I am thinking $50 or $100 is not a deal breaker. The dealers are only 15 miles or so apart. If it will be more, I might ask them to split the difference.
Got the car today. Everything went smoothly. The internet salesperson handed me off to a regular sales guy which is too bad because she was awfully cute.
They did try to pitch the mop and glo and extended warranty stuff. It was done a little differently than I expected. They came out to see me at the desk, I didn't go to F&I until the end. They called their F&I shop the business office.
I went in with peoplefirst financing @4.5% , but I told the F&I guy that if he could beat it I'd finance through them. He got me 4.45%. I thought that was funny. All in all it was a nice experience. The dealership looked well run, and the service department looked good.
I found myself wondering how the experience would have been if I had just been an up. When we pulled in the lot, there were a couple of sales guys standing around, smoking, and looking for ups.
that $100 is actually more like $60 since dealer B's processing fee is $289 and dealer A's was $249. I don't know what bennies dealer B would have thrown in, but dealer A gave me coupons for 3 free services. So I figure I came out more than even on the $100 trade increase and avoided getting processed by the volume guys. The salesguy at dealer A laughed when I pointed at the dealer B decal on the hatch and said "now, that has to go."
I flirted briefly with the idea of getting an SI. It was the kind of car I was originally looking for as a daily commuter and run about. But since my beautiful pathfinder died (RIP) I need more flexibility than the little SI could provide. Besides I've been jonesin for a 6 speed transmission for a few years now.
The perks completely aside, I figure the $100 was cheap.
I chuckle about our body style. Not to everybody's taste, but it does come in three sizes - small (Si) medium (Matrix) large (Oddy van) Until yours came out, I called mine a mini-minivan.
It is difficult to find a good deal of Honda Pilot in local dealer. I want to quota the price from all hinda dealer in texas. Does you guys know how to do it by email?
You've come to the right place, zhenliu. It's not very difficult to get e-mail quotes for the vehicle that you are interested in. In fact, there is a link right on the front page of Honda's Web site, www.hondacars.com , called "REQUEST A QUOTE" that allows you to send out a request for a quote on the model that you are interested in. There is also a "LOCATE DEALERS" option on the front page of this site as well. Just enter your zip code into the box on this page and hit go. Once you have done this it will provide you with a list of all of the Honda dealers in your area, the names of their Internet Managers, and even links to their Web sites. If you would feel more comfortable e-mailing these dealers directly, rather than using the "Request a Quote Link" dealers usually have their e-mail addresses listed on their Web sites. When requesting a quote, make sure to be very specific about the Pilot that you are interested in. Include information on the exact trim level, color, and options that you want. It is difficult for dealers to respond to requests for quotes that do not contain enough information.
Rather than requesting price quotes, you can always e-mail these dealers offering to purchase the model that you are interested in for a specific price that you have calculated. If you decide to go this route, you need to figure out what a fair offer for this vehicle is. Look up it's True Market Value here at Edmunds.com by visiting the New Car Pricing section of this site. You may also want to stop by the "Honda Pilot: Prices Paid & Buying Experience" discussion that appears in the "What Did You Pay?" section of the Smart Shoppers Message Board to see what other community members have paid for similar Pilots lately.
This basically sums up how to shop for a new vehicle via e-mail, but if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask.
I just bought a new vehicle form a dealer that I contacted over the internet. The process had its good and bad points.
BAD: I used an internet service that sends your request for a quote to two or three dealers. I used this service twice and was referred to 4 different dealers. They all sent me an e-mail requesting information like when was I going to buy. After telling each of them that I would be buying in about 45 to 60 days, and that I was waiting for one of two escrows to close, only one bothered to contact me. The one got my business.
GOOD: The dealer that did take the time to contact me spent the time to find a vehicle (knowing that I was waiting for a check). He said he did not think I was going to turn out to be a buyer, but he went ahead and looked for a vehicle that would work for me. After find the vehicle he quoted me a price over the phone. I set up an appointment went to the dealership finalized the paperwork and he did a dealer trade to get the vehicle. Now, here it is the next day. The salesman is driving to the dealer this morning who has the vehicle (around 75 miles away). After he has the vehicle he is coming by my house picking me up, and we will drive to his dealership where I will take possession of my vehicle. All this and he gave me a better deal then I have gotten in the past on any other vehicle I have purchased.
I bought a 2003 Altima back in April by driving to a dealer and negotiating. I did not get a deal that I considered good. They did not move much off their price (which had a 2,000.00 dealer mark-up). Unfortunately, I was not in a position that I could spend the time to shop. I need a car now (but the dealer did not know this). The dealer did give me more for my trade-in then I thought it was worth (but not enough to off set the price I paid).
I was thinking about using an amended Rizzo method for my next car purchase. Instead of sending out faxes, I was going to send e-mails. However, if I send out e-mails with 10 offers, what happens if 2 or more dealers accept my offers?
Bobst -- agree wholeheartedly with you. That's why I want to be careful and not mess anyone up. Maybe I'll send one e-mail out at a time and give the dealer a reasonable timeframe to respond. If they don't accept the offer or don't respond, then I'll e-mail the next. Definitely more time consuming but no one gets messed up then....
Odds are you won't get two identical offers. Make an email template and send your offer or request to the locals first, the guys who may have to handle a warranty claim for you, and see what comes back.
I had a LOL (Little Old Lady) customer recently who asked me at delivery if I had given her a fair deal...I was surprised and asked what the other dealers had offered...she said I was the only one who she sent an email to! Of course, I had no way of knowing that and told her so. The same will hold true for other dealers, we always assume there's plenty of competition.
Just be careful or you may end up getting confused. I had this lady recently wanting to buy a Sienna. I sent her a price quote and didn't hear back from her for a couple of days. I sent a follow-up e-mail and she responded: "I didn't get a price quote from you. Also do you include the "appearance package" at no extra cost?" I replied, "Look at the bottom of your last e-mail, the price quote is there. I have no idea what an "appearance package" is. It's not something that is offered from the factory. How many dealerships have you sent this to?" Another two days went by. Next e-mail. "That should teach me to read the complete text" she says. Well duh! Anyways I doubt if she has even bought one yet. Too busy trying to figure out which e-mail belongs to what dealer. ; ) Mackabee
p.s. just remember the lowest price is not always the best deal!
Comments
A $10 million investment? $350,000 a month in overhead? Yes.. on a $20,000 sale $2-300 is very fair (rolls eyes).
If that's what the market dictates, so be it, but I hardly think the dealer was making money at that number..
Mackabee
I would suggest maybe a backup email address like a hotmail account for those that absolutely do not want to give a phone number.
Where a real person just might CALL them?
Oh, the horror!
I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time to talk about your VA mortgage? Do you know what your rate is? I see, well we here at ABC telephonic annoyance inc think you could do much better by refinancing with our megasuperdupersummersalebration rate reduction offer.....
---------
This is kind of thing that has trained most americans to not give out their phone number to anyone. Ever. Many who use the internet to shop for a car want to avoid the phone calls. Email is much less personal and easier for them to control as much as it may annoy the salesguy who "knows" everything would be so much easier and faster if they gave a number or "just came on down" to the showroom.
; )
Mackabee
Still, I think customers are more wary these days. Telemarketers are more intrusive than ever and now every store from Lowe's to Toys R Us asks for a zip code or phone number at the register. Most stores now have a member card that tracks everything you buy in return for a nice discount. We may be cheap but we don't want to give it away for nothing.
Wacky idea. On your webpage, make an offer of a $25 to 50 discount off the quoted price you will give in return for a phone number. If it works for the supermarkets it could work for cars too. Say something like "This field is optional. Filling it in entitles you to an additional $25 off the already low internet price."
Act 1 Emailed internet sales person at dealer in local area.
Prompt reply, great price which was lower by $500 than any of the Saturday screamer adds in the LA times.
Act 2 Made an appointment to look at, drive and inspect the car.
Minor issues with the paint on the car, detailing was poor and some of the goop was still there.
Act 3 Loan papers and usual dealership stuff, total time 30 minutes.
Act 4 Car is delivered to my home tomorrow evening after work, sign the paper, give them a check and the deal is done.
No trip to the F&I guy, no pitch for etching, or mop and glow. Minor pitch for extended warranty, but dealer has already included a 5/100 mile extension of the power train so no sale.
All my future car buys will be internet based ones.
On the way home from a business trip in my 12 year-old Buick, the brakes failed, more or less. Since the car needs a new radiator as well, at 225,000 miles it is time to put it down.
So, one of the cars I am interested in is a Toyota Matrix XRS. None are available in my area, so I am shopping online. I fired off two requests for quotes at dealerships whose online inventory indicates acceptable vehicles in stock.
The first one responded with an offer of invoice pricing and quoted an out the door price. The rep explained the option of cash back vs lower rate financing. But he didn't have the car I asked about. It was sold. The remaining one is in an unacceptable color.
The second dealership has responded with 3 emails. One is apparently from the internet manager letting me know that a internet rep will be contacting me. The second email was a "virtual test drive." The third is actually from the rep. He is wordy. He talks about "the process" and "configuring the car..blah blah blah. I guess he didn't get the part of the request in which I listed the 3 vehicles he has in stock that I am interested in.
If dealer A had the right car, I would be ready to do a deal. Dealer B is going to call me to help me get along in the "process." Joy.
I wonder if dealer A would/could work a trade for the car you want - with dealer B or dealer C or dealer D?
Dunno whether the "no trade" hold would be SOP in servicing Capitano or be overlooked in the rush and complexity of servicing him.
Now I am interested in letting Dealer A do a swap for the right car. But as already pointed out, the car(s) might be marked as do not trade.
I responded to Dealer B that I thought their process was drawn out. The rep apologized that it seemed that way, but assured me that this works very well for them. They get hundreds of requests a day. That is believable. Maybe their system is designed to weed out the flakes. He also responded with an offer to sell any Matrix at invoice +$289 + TTL. Which is about what Dealer A was saying.
Decisions decisions.
No need to make things complicated.
But, I would rather give Dealer A my business simply based on their initial response.
Giving dealer A shot at the deal makes sense to me in light of the better service.
So, who's pocket does the cost come out of?
(I like the looks of the Matrix a lot and hope you enjoy your new one.)
They did try to pitch the mop and glo and extended warranty stuff. It was done a little differently than I expected. They came out to see me at the desk, I didn't go to F&I until the end. They called their F&I shop the business office.
I went in with peoplefirst financing @4.5% , but I told the F&I guy that if he could beat it I'd finance through them. He got me 4.45%. I thought that was funny. All in all it was a nice experience. The dealership looked well run, and the service department looked good.
I found myself wondering how the experience would have been if I had just been an up. When we pulled in the lot, there were a couple of sales guys standing around, smoking, and looking for ups.
Worth that $100 to skip the 'processing'!
P.S. Your Matrix looks like my Si's big brother.
I flirted briefly with the idea of getting an SI. It was the kind of car I was originally looking for as a daily commuter and run about. But since my beautiful pathfinder died (RIP) I need more flexibility than the little SI could provide. Besides I've been jonesin for a 6 speed transmission for a few years now.
I chuckle about our body style. Not to everybody's taste, but
it does come in three sizes -
small (Si)
medium (Matrix)
large (Oddy van)
Until yours came out, I called mine a mini-minivan.
Thanks,
Rather than requesting price quotes, you can always e-mail these dealers offering to purchase the model that you are interested in for a specific price that you have calculated. If you decide to go this route, you need to figure out what a fair offer for this vehicle is. Look up it's True Market Value here at Edmunds.com by visiting the New Car Pricing section of this site. You may also want to stop by the "Honda Pilot: Prices Paid & Buying Experience" discussion that appears in the "What Did You Pay?" section of the Smart Shoppers Message Board to see what other community members have paid for similar Pilots lately.
This basically sums up how to shop for a new vehicle via e-mail, but if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Car_man
Host
Smart Shoppers/ FWI Message Boards
BAD: I used an internet service that sends your request for a quote to two or three dealers. I used this service twice and was referred to 4 different dealers. They all sent me an e-mail requesting information like when was I going to buy. After telling each of them that I would be buying in about 45 to 60 days, and that I was waiting for one of two escrows to close, only one bothered to contact me. The one got my business.
GOOD: The dealer that did take the time to contact me spent the time to find a vehicle (knowing that I was waiting for a check). He said he did not think I was going to turn out to be a buyer, but he went ahead and looked for a vehicle that would work for me. After find the vehicle he quoted me a price over the phone. I set up an appointment went to the dealership finalized the paperwork and he did a dealer trade to get the vehicle. Now, here it is the next day. The salesman is driving to the dealer this morning who has the vehicle (around 75 miles away). After he has the vehicle he is coming by my house picking me up, and we will drive to his dealership where I will take possession of my vehicle. All this and he gave me a better deal then I have gotten in the past on any other vehicle I have purchased.
I bought a 2003 Altima back in April by driving to a dealer and negotiating. I did not get a deal that I considered good. They did not move much off their price (which had a 2,000.00 dealer mark-up). Unfortunately, I was not in a position that I could spend the time to shop. I need a car now (but the dealer did not know this). The dealer did give me more for my trade-in then I thought it was worth (but not enough to off set the price I paid).
Terry
Thanks for keeping things on an even keel, Edmunds!
If three dealers accept your offer, then the honorable course of action is to buy a car from each of them.
No, I am not kidding. Making an offer to buy a product is serious business. Your word should mean something.
I had a LOL (Little Old Lady) customer recently who asked me at delivery if I had given her a fair deal...I was surprised and asked what the other dealers had offered...she said I was the only one who she sent an email to! Of course, I had no way of knowing that and told her so. The same will hold true for other dealers, we always assume there's plenty of competition.
; )
Mackabee
p.s. just remember the lowest price is not always the best deal!
Is it surprising that the ones I get at work usually end up in the same place?
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think my reaction is that unusual.