Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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Truer words, and all that.
I've bought cars from several dealerships in town, and each one has been an extremely pleasant experience.
I think some people look at a relationship with your salesperson as adversarial. There's just no reason for it. There was a bit of this in "old school" car sales, but I honestly wonder how long it's been since some Edmunds' posters have bought a car. I bought my last car 3 years ago, and the negotiation went something like this:
Me: "Hey man, I'm interested in an '03 Maxima. Do you have one available for test drive?"
Him: "Sure, my name is XXX (I don't remember), let me make a copy of your license. OK, here are the keys, have fun."
Me: WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Him: "How did you like it?"
Me: "Great car. Let's go inside and write it up."
Now, the exact verbiage of everything else here is lost in the sands of time, but I intentionally stated "write it up" as opposed to asking specifically about price. I used those words, because I'm hoping that the green pea standing in front of me is now thinking he has a sale. I look really young for my age, so I always get the green peas.
Him: "Let me see what I can do for you on this car. I'll go to my manager's office."
Me: "Sure, no problem."
Some people may get annoyed when this happens, but there is no conceivable way an 18 year old kid can offer me a "real" price on a car. Plus, it gives my wife and I a chance to talk, just to make sure she liked the car as well.
He came back with "we can do it for $xxx a month", at which point I said I want to talk total price, not payments. That's really the only point in the conversation where I have to be firm with him, because car salespeople for whatever reason LOVE to talk car price in terms of payments. That much is still a mystery to me.
Him: "You can take it home for $25k."
Me: "Actually, I think that $22k is a fair price for this car. That's what I want to pay." (really, the figure is $23k)
Him: OK, let me go see my manager.
Now, I'm getting excited, because in past deals the salesperson would scoff at my offer and immediately raise it.
Him: "23.5k is the best we can do on this car. It's the end of the model year, so we really dropped our pants on this one." (those were his exact words, btw)
Me: "If you can get it down to $23k + TTL, I'll sign right now."
Him: "OK, hang on."
This was fine, so loan app filled out and approved, we had spent around an hour total at the dealership. We left, they detailed it, then we picked it up the next day.
Why some people turn this into a head-bashing experience, I have no idea.
The sole piece of car-buying advice I tell people, though (I have a rep as the family/work car nut), is when you're buying a car, take the day off and go in during a business day. Saturdays and weeknights only make things take forever, and nobody is going to be in a particularly good mood. I made the mistake of buying an Oldsmobile on a Saturday, and I swear we were in the dealership for 5 hours. I was close to going postal.
Salesman: "HI, welcome to XYZ Ford. My name is Frank. How can I help you today?"
Me: "Good afternoon, my name is nyccarguy. I don't want to take up anymore of your valuable time than I have to, but I reveived this coupon in the mail from FORD. I have absolutley no intention of buying a new car today or anytime soon. Besides, there's nothing out there that can remotely replace my Prelude (I pointed to my shiny red 2001 Honda Prelude Type SH in front of the showroom) Can you sign it and say I test drove a Fusion."
Salesman: "(jokingly) that'll be $25 bucks for my signature. Thank-you for being so forthright and honest. You wouldn't believe how many people come in, waste my time by acting like they're interested in a car, test drive the car, and then whip out the coupon from FORD. Let me just check with my manager."
He goes over to the manager, the guy looks up at me and then signs the coupon.
Me: "Thank-you very much. Have a great weekend."
The whole transaction took about 3 minutes. It was the quickest $50 I've ever made.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
This is when I get to practice my time-share closing techniques. I make them sweat more than the value of the prize..LOL
I've never had to take the test drive. :shades:
They may have waited two hours for an up, only to find you on the lot. After determining you are just killing time, they would go to the end of the line and start the waiting game again.
Our store doesn't operate like that but a lot do.
If you are allowed and willing to disclose, I'd be interested in hearing more about some of the components of the "Land Rover Way." It sounds like Land Rover places a lot of quality controls on their dealerships.
I never thought about the dealers having protected territories until you mentioned it, but it makes sense.
To the person that asked about their being four Land Rover dealers in CT that is technicaly true but Darien is not actually under the same region as the rest of the CT. All of New England is in Market 1 and we have a single Marketing Manager who is our first point of contact with Land Rover on the sales side. She actually just got a promotion and is now the Marketing Manager of a much larger market.
Darien is part of Market 2 which is pretty much all of New York state. As I understand it that means that most of Darien's territory is in the state of New York and not CT. We almost never run up against Darien.
I would think ADM dealers make the negotiation process even longer and stickier by including ADM stickers. Everyone wants a quick and easy transaction....the buyer and the dealer. While I understand the dealership's desire to maximize profits, how many people actually walk onto the lot and agree to ADM as part of a deal? Again, it just adds complexity and time to a deal, IMHO. It's just another stumbling block as part of getting a transaction completed.
Just kidding, if it tells me more than I've been able to dig up on the web, and it's not too much trouble to scan it, go for it.
All I've been able to find is that it includes knowledgable sales guides, and open and fair transaction processes.
Not true. The dealer wants a transaction to generate as much profit as possible, given a reasonable (but not excessive) time investment. If the dealership placed its priorities on a rapid close, the process wouldn't involve three seperate groups of salespeople (salesperson, sales manager, F&I), and would not be structured to layer in costs for those buyers who can't negotiate.
Again, it (ADM) just adds complexity and time to a deal
It doesn't add complexity if you don't negotiate by using it. The buyer who focuses on it creates his own problems, but there's no requirement that you pay any mind at all to either the Monroney window sticker or any additional markup.
A smart buyer will simply ignore the window sticker, and begin his negotiations based upon invoice, as it is much easier to get to a lower price if one begins toward the bottom, rather than the top. The ADM is a tactic, but you are not required to pay attention to it.
I don't know why this would be true. First off there are plenty of people who are willing to pay whatever it takes to get their dream car. And if that means they've gotta pay a few thou over sticker, that's what they're gonna do.
Dealers add ADM because some buyers are willing to pay it, simple as that. What could be simpler than the dealer saying, "Our price is $30,000 for this car (which includes a $5000 ADM), and the buyer saying, "I'll take it!"?
Complexity enters the deal when a buyer sees the $30,000 car but only wants to pay $22,000 which they've determined is the price they should pay. You can't blame the dealer for this.
Here's a private-party sales story: A couple of years ago, an elderly family member stopped driving and endeavored to sell her 1986 Buick Century, which had something like 36,000 miles on it, and was in great condition considering it was nearly 20 years old at the time. Tires were in good shape but probably starting to dry-rot. It had a lot of new brake components (due to corrosion, not wear), and the transmission was recently serviced. We told her to ask $2000 and take anything over $1000. She asked $2500 and got $2500. Everyone was shocked, to say the least!
She passed away this past summer, and in going through her posessions, we found the original window sticker for the car, which was around $16,000 if memory serves.
i dunno, isell, sometimes i think that way, but then you see newer folks around, too. So some come and some go and some have been around for quite some time. I mean, for example, something happens like losing brentwood, but then you get a british_rover to join the discussion. I think it all works out in the end.
Then, of course, you have those who are around for a day or 2, ruffle some feathers, and bail. Those are my favs.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I have been posting on various types of online boards for close to a decade now and dynamic between the various types of posters has always interested me.
You got the long time regulars that never really leave but may drop out form time to time.
The normal regulars have just make a steady couple of posts a day.
The dablers who flit from topic to topic but never really stay on any one thing. On the negative end they may contribute what is commonly called fluff.
The high energy types who make a whole bunch of posts in a few days then burn out. These can be both positive and negative.
The trouble makers and ________ Stirers who just want attention and live to create trouble.
The trolls who many times are just a seperate identity of another regular poster.
Then you have the professional trolls who will post under a couple of different identies and may just post normal things for a long time. Just long enough to make people forget who they really are then the cause more trouble then all the other negative groups combined.
I hate to say this, but a lot of stores (most)aren't a lot of fun to work at. MAKE SURE you check out the reputation of the store before you go to work.
Ask about turnover. How many (if any)veterans they have there. You can wind up in a snakepit if you aren't careful.
Which brand will you be at on Capital Blvd? Contact me offline, and I can give you some feedback from trying to buy 3 different cars over the course of the last 10 years.
We met online here and are still married with have two awesome kids now.
Last thing I'll say about ADM, I suppose you can dismiss it out of hand. To me, I guess it's about perception. I view them as a hinderance to a deal, or at the very least, an uneeded/unwanted step. In most scenarios, at least for me, I won't shop at those stores who sport ADMs on their vehicles. Maybe there are a lot of you who will. Don't know.
lol. ummm... hmmmm... wouldn't that then be YOUR father??
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
They said a person could earn between 60-200K a year with full medical and dental benefits. All are welcome to apply and bilingual is a plus. They mentioned anyone who would like to make a career change like, mortgage loan employees, Real Estate agents, etc. :surprise:
When a company has a mass hiring such as this, it makes me wonder why they need so many people all of a sudden.................talking about a huge delivery of green peas! :P
-mark156
You are making this harder than it has to be. Just ignore what's on the window, and get the dealer to work from invoice. Both the "official" window sticker and the ADM are tactics -- they only work if you insist on allowing them to work.
"
Yeah we met on the Toyota Echo group. I've mentioned this to the Edmunds folks before. It certainly has been a good thing for us.
Re ADM, socal, you're right that it's a tactic, but it's a tactic that turns off a lot of us right at the start. I agree with graphicguy that I view it as a hindrance. It's annoying.
In my area, Nissan, Honda, Toyota shops are all pretty thick on the ground. There's no reason to do business with an ADM-sticker-using dealer when there are plenty of others. Whether or not you might get to the same price eventually is irrelevant. It's the tactic itself that's a turn-off. I won't take my car even to be serviced to an ADM place, as I figure it just shows the mentality of the owner to take advantage of the gullible.
I just bought my new car from the place where I had my old car serviced for the last six years, and I started using them because another dealer, where I had bought my first Nissan way back when I was young and stupid - er, innocent - was an ADM kind of place.
Personal preference, that's what makes this country great!
I drive it to work every day...amid the cackling howls of my co-workers. We live about 2 miles form the dealership, so it's pretty economical. We are giving this car to my elder daughter (she's 20 and goes to WVU) and hopefully I'll be able to get a pick-up truck...that is unbless my wife still has the joneses for a Pilot...in which case I'll sell the CR-V and buy a beater trade-in and drive that back and forth.
Good to hear that things worked out so well for you, your wife and family.
--=family, go figure!
Bill
Are the salesmen here seeing people looking to get out of SUV's?
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Velvet Red over Wicker Beige
2024 Audi Q5 Premium Plus Daytona Gray over Beige
2017 BMW X1 Jet Black over Mocha
What are the rumors saying will make it go up this time, by the way? oh, wait, maybe this isn't the place to discuss it ...(?) I suppose I could pick up a paper if I'm really curious. It just gets tiring reading that the sky is falling. But I guess they figure if they keep reporting something, it will eventually happen, and they will eventually be right.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
You don't want to get me started on the reasons why! :mad:
So I RAN out of gas.....
So I RAN to work.....
Wait till we have the first hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. That will probably be enough to do it. Won't matter if it is close to landfall near any refineries or oil rigs.
2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Limited Velvet Red over Wicker Beige
2024 Audi Q5 Premium Plus Daytona Gray over Beige
2017 BMW X1 Jet Black over Mocha
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D