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Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

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Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#51

Post by maxxxxx »

csa wrote: post #48
lflux wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if the quote is out the door, but it never seems to be from what I've seen. This was "Here's the price excluding title transfer including delivery"

Here is what I do, and it works well: 1. Call the dealer and ask for the internet sales manager. 2. Tell the manager exactly what you want (many people are not able to do this accurately and consistently). 3. Ask for the out-the-door price. 4. Repeat for any number of dealers that you are willing to drive to. 5. Buy from the dealer you choose. I usually get several quotes within $100 or so of each other. At that poin…

That's close to my procedure but last time I did car shopping two dealers made me come in and after an hour of paperwork it turned out that they didn't keep their end of the bargain but added 1000-2000 to the price. I walked out but still wasted a lot of time. Only the third dealer stuck to his promise afte a little amount of negotiating.

Buying a car and medical billing are the sleaziest businesses I have ever dealt with.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#52

Post by AndrewKemendo »

joshfraser wrote: post #18
throwaway98121 wrote: post #3

We sold our vehicle because the monthly payment, insurance, gasoline, and parking costs were adding up to about $1000 a month. I planned on downgrading from an Infiniti to a 3 year old Honda Civic or Fit. I visited three dealerships in my area. The experience was horrible at all three. I consider myself a decent person, but I now judge people who work in car sales or car sales management and not in a good way. Anyway…

I worked for a month in college at a car dealership and it was every bit as shady as you think. My boss asked me to help him pass the drug test by loaning him some urine (I declined). One time after closing the sale of a car, the shop swapped out some damaged parts and claimed the new owner was responsible. It was at night so he hadn't noticed the damage before driving off the lot. There was also a nonstop flood of w…

Every salesman had a kid the same age as the customers or a cousin who worked at the same company

I had a sales manager at a used car dealership tell me he went to the Air Force Academy (my alma mater) after he asked about my college. Little did he know we have a "secret handshake" of sorts, which he was completely clueless about. Ended up calling him on it and he backed off of his high pressure sales bullshit.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#53

Post by maxxxxx »

joshfraser wrote: post #28
throwaway98121 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you get a decent price? My employer offers a similar service as part of the benefits program. You print out a piece of paper, take it to the dealer, and get a prenegotiated price. Sounds amazing in theory until you do more research and realize you’re still paying $1000s more.

The only way I know to get a good deal is to walk into a dealership, know exactly which car & options you want & say you're paying cash & are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice. They'll cut the nonsense and take the deal. 90% of the games begin when you finance the vehicle at the dealership. Don't want to put $2000 down? Let's just add another year to the term. Or how about we add $50 / month to the…

"are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice. "

With the two new cars I have bought so far I paid substantially under invoice both times. Seems a made up number to me.

I also paid cash each time and they begged me to finance for three months so they would get more incentives from the manufacturer.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#54

Post by maxxxxx »

lflux wrote: post #10
throwaway98121 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you get a decent price? My employer offers a similar service as part of the benefits program. You print out a piece of paper, take it to the dealer, and get a prenegotiated price. Sounds amazing in theory until you do more research and realize you’re still paying $1000s more.

I emailed a bunch of dealers before my CU told me this service existed and got quotes, and they were competitive. It differed like, $500-1000 from what area dealers were offering and i was willing to take it. So, some legwork with a throwaway email address, but still very sofa compatibile.

I did that successfully in 2001 but in 2014 nobody would give me quotes over E-mail.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#55

Post by joshfraser »

gnicholas wrote: post #42
joshfraser wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way I know to get a good deal is to walk into a dealership, know exactly which car & options you want & say you're paying cash & are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice. They'll cut the nonsense and take the deal. 90% of the games begin when you finance the vehicle at the dealership. Don't want to put $2000 down? Let's just add another year to the term. Or how about we add $50 / month to the…

> say you're paying cash & are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice It's good to research what the invoice price is, but this isn't their actual cost. Manufacturers offer incentives to dealerships based on all sorts of things, including hitting certain sales goals. These rebates aren't factored into the invoice price, so even buying at invoice isn't always an amazing deal. My understanding is that the…

That's true. You're probably still getting screwed, but quite a bit less than everyone else. If you don't want to get screwed at all, don't buy a new car from a dealership.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#57

Post by vvanders »

Jarbooski wrote: post #47
Zanni wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those that haven't had the Tesla experience, it's a refreshing change of pace. They don't have dealerships, only showrooms and service centers. You can schedule a test drive at a showroom (or online), and your rep will be happy to help you configure your car right there if you decide to buy, but you can also go home and leisurely plan your configuration over the internet. You can see the price of every option bef…

So how come I read people on Twitter asking Elon why they were forced to sign papers before being able to see the car they bought? Or having to follow a delivery damage checklist to make sure they don't buy damaged goods? That's unheard of in my life of buying cars from anyone else.

Why is a damage checklist a Tesla specific problem? Bought plenty of cars(and trucks and tractors) where I went over them at delivery. Found more than a few things of which were sorted out by the dealer at the time.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#58

Post by endymi0n »

hueving wrote: post #11
lflux wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had my credit union's car purchasing department handle my car purchase. Did everything over email - I told them what I wanted and in what color, they did the legwork to find a dealer that had what I wanted. Emailed me a quote, then the dealer delivered it to my door. No haggling, no visiting dealers, just email and signing some papers.

If you're willing to pay the dealer's quote, then car salesmen will love you and you'll have a great time at a dealership anyway. The entire bullshit process begins when you try to get a price that doesn't have thousands of extra dollars in for the dealership.

While I fully agree on hating the process, I've found the easiest working reply to these tactics by accident:

Simply visit the dealer, get through exactly the model you want, be reasonably interested (but not too much in love), ask for a quote, leave some contact details and leave.

Never answer and come back in about a month with a cheque when they've bidded themselves 20% down without you even saying a word.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#59

Post by vvanders »

csa wrote: post #48
lflux wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if the quote is out the door, but it never seems to be from what I've seen. This was "Here's the price excluding title transfer including delivery"

Here is what I do, and it works well: 1. Call the dealer and ask for the internet sales manager. 2. Tell the manager exactly what you want (many people are not able to do this accurately and consistently). 3. Ask for the out-the-door price. 4. Repeat for any number of dealers that you are willing to drive to. 5. Buy from the dealer you choose. I usually get several quotes within $100 or so of each other. At that poin…

You need to be careful and make sure to select dealers that are outside of their conglomerates. When we were shopping our last Subaru no one would budge on us until we started talking with Oregon dealers, then all of a sudden they'd drop the price a ton.

Turns out almost all Subaru dealerships in SW WA are owned by the same owner under different names so they just coordinate to not deal unless they know they're actually competing for a sale.

Re: Detroit News Vehicle of the Year is a Tesla

#60

Post by EdJiang »

gnicholas wrote: post #42
joshfraser wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way I know to get a good deal is to walk into a dealership, know exactly which car & options you want & say you're paying cash & are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice. They'll cut the nonsense and take the deal. 90% of the games begin when you finance the vehicle at the dealership. Don't want to put $2000 down? Let's just add another year to the term. Or how about we add $50 / month to the…

> say you're paying cash & are willing to pay $100 over the manufacturer's invoice It's good to research what the invoice price is, but this isn't their actual cost. Manufacturers offer incentives to dealerships based on all sorts of things, including hitting certain sales goals. These rebates aren't factored into the invoice price, so even buying at invoice isn't always an amazing deal. My understanding is that the…

Here's a decent article about how auto pricing has evolved beyond manufacturer's invoice due to the internet:

https://clark.com/cars/eye-opening-truth-about-dealer-invoic...

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