Funny Story from When I Went to Business School..........

[justin]

"We're lawyers. We get paid to disagree."

Oh, I'm not a real lawyer!

[MasterBlaster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 There was an article a few years ago about a guy who worked for Edmunds and was going undercover into dealers. He was going to sell cars and report back all the dirty things the dealers did. Well it didn't take him long to figure out that it was hell and the article change to sympathy for the dealers and salespeople. You may be able to find it at the Edmunds site.

Here's the link to the Edmunds undercover car salesman writeup...

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html

it's a pretty long story but very interesting.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin Oh, I'm not a real lawyer!

That would make you an unreal one?

[HFWR]

Thank Allah I only buy a car every 8-10 years...

[justin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo! That would make you an unreal one?

Just a non-lawyer. Although the CEO of the company I work for keeps refering to me as an attorney or "his corporate attorney" (I graduated from law school, but never took the bar exam). I know just enough about the law to be dangerous...

[FinanceDude]

I'll agree with a lot of the stuff he founs out. However, the part abou changing the numbers AFTER the customer initialed the paperwork never happened in the dealerships I worked in.

But I admit I overpaid for trades and went deep into holdback to move cars, particularly at the end of the month, or on bad weather days.......

The 4-square was our method also, we called it "payment-downpayment"...........

If I find an old list of "closes" we used, I'll post it on here. Here's a few:

Puppy Dog Close: Let the customer take the vehicle home, and then they have to have it.

Takeaway Close: I'm sorry, it sounds like we're too far apart, I don't want to waste your time or mine...........

This or That Close: Would you like THIS car at the payment you want, or THAT car with the options you WANT at $75 a month more

Another manager had his own version of the "up-to" close, and I'll share it:

Manager: So what monthly payment are you budgeting?
Customer: $250 a month.......
Manager: Up to
Customer: uhhh.......$275 a month
Manager: Not to exceed?
Customer: $300 a month...........
Manager: And if you find you love this car more than life itself the most you are prepared to pay is??...........(said quickly)
Customer: $325........that's ALL I can pay!!

So the salesman just "bumped" the customer $75 a month in about 1 minute............I didn't believe this would work, but saw a few good salesman work it like a charm.......

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 For many people buying a car is a game.

Yep. It can be a bit of a pita researching and deciding what brand, model, options, etc., fill your needs in the MSRP range you're interested in. But once you know exactly what you want, negotiating does turn into an interesting game. I'd probably feel differently if I had to purchase my car from a small list of dealerships or in a short time frame. But I live in a major metropolitan area and have never had to rush a purchase. If I keep the right mental outlook on the process, it actually has some entertainment value!

Never having time constraints to finalize the purchase really is the key to not having the process seem like self-imposed purgatory. It keeps you free to laugh and walk at any stage of the deal for any reason. And we haven't purchased a car with time payments since our 1970 VW Beetle right after finishing undergrad school.

I used the internet as a supplemental tool for the past two cars and found that method to be very beneficial.

Still, doing this every few years is often enough!

[FinanceDude]

I find it funny people think that Carmax is going to pay "top dollar" for your trade........ I used to buy cars at auctions, and appraise them for the dealerships I worked at, and I NEVER overpaid for a car that some guy just wanted me to buy, who bought a car ELSEWHERE..............

MOD EDIT Removed incorrect quote (and fixed a typo ).

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude I find it funny people think that Carmax is going to pa "top dollar" for your trade........ I used to buy cars at auctions, and appraise them for the dealerships I worked at, and I NEVER overpaid for a car that some guy just wanted me to buy, who bought a car ELSEWHERE..............

FD, I think you placed your comments below the wrong quote. I mentioned nothing about Carmax or trade-ins. Perhaps you meant to click on "reply" but inadvertantly chose "quote" instead?

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet FD, I think you placed your comments below the wrong quote. I mentioned nothing about Carmax or trade-ins. Perhaps you meant to click on "reply" but inadvertantly chose "quote" instead?

OOPPPPSSSSSSSSS......my bad...........