Edmunds.com Article on Buying Cars (Excerpt on Internet Negotiating)

I wish some similar site for Canada as well.

Even for buying used cars, almost all of canadians use autotrader.ca and it sucks...

The vast majority of the salespeople I have encountered by just walking onto a car lot are inexperienced and uniformed. My favorite question is "how long have you been working here?" The answer is typically beween six days and six months. Most of these wanna-be professional salespeople don't know their product and are clueless about really serving people.

There are those rare high quality sales people who know their stuff and know how to be helpfull, but they are few and far between.

Personally I think that the haggle model of car sales should have gone away fifty years ago. Very few retail purchases require hand-to-hand combat to get the best price. Don't be surprised that the Internet is empowering customers to play the game.

John

Simple, because at the mall the price is the price, period. No slimy sales managers trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of every mark, er customer.

John

not totally off topic, but the last 2 motorcycles i bought new i bought online. LAyamaha gives quotes that are the "out the door" price, all-inclusive. you call to confirm, and go there with a personal check.

they already had the info i gave them over the phone, so i was in and out of there in literally less than 10 minutes. didnt even ask if i wanted an extended warranty.

too bad cars arent sold like that. even if you go through AAA, costco, sams, etc, you still have to sit in the "closing room" with the finance person making a last ditch attempt to add paint sealants, scotchgard, and extended warranties.

Yep, it stinks big time. Unfortunately electronics retailers are playing similar games. I walked out of Circuit City without buying a computer in December because they would not stop hard selling me on the need to buy an extended warranty. After I said no thank you three times I gave up and walked out the door and left my ~$700 purchase-to-be sitting at the check-out counter. I then went home and ordered a new computer online. If a dealer/retailer isn't making it enjoyable to do business with them, why bother giving 'em one's hard earned money?

I don't mind being asked once if I would like to purchase accessories, extended warranties, etc. However, once I have firmly said no then that should be the end of it. No means no, right?

John

I'm not a fan of the haggle model either but there is a sort of logic to it. Cars are big ticket items. The only other purchase that most people make on that scale or higher is a home. Home purchases are, surprise, surprise, also sold via the haggle model. Starting salaries, where most people are sellers, are haggled as well.

When the stakes are high, both buyer and seller tend to be more aggressive. Both for getting a good deal and at making sure the deal is made. That is a recipe for haggling.

Didn't Saturn use that model at first? Do they still use it? I got the impression it had been abandoned.

How does CarMax price their used cars?

Elliot Richmond Freelance Science Writer and Editor

On 2/15/2006 2:42 PM Elliot Richmond spake these words of knowledge:

I always got a laugh out of this; Saturn actually marketed this 'no haggle' approach as a benefit to the customer. I pointed out to more than one Saturn owner that anyone -- *anyone* -- could go in to any dealer's showroom and buy a car for the amount listed on the sticker, anywhere. Refusing to deal with the customer may have been a good thing for Saturn, but it certainly was not a customer benefit.

RFT!!! Dave Kelsen

well, *Supposedly* they were priced "more fairly".

toyota's scion brand uses the same philosophy, called "pure pricing". what you pay is whats on the sticker, and theyre all basically the same price. no "trim levels", no packages. all have the same standard equipment, including A/C, pioneer MP3/CD, power windows/locks. the big price diff is between the standard and automatic. a scion xA costs less now than my civic CX hatch did new, in 1998. so id say you get a decent deal for the price.

last time i checked, the difference between MSRP and "invoice" was $600. that doesnt include holdback, which may not be applicable. not a lot of "dickering" room when youre dealing with $600. they apparently arent hurting for sales, since they arent included in the "costco auto buyers program" near me.

GM is supposed to follow the same type of model, in lieu of its "employee pricing" deal, which led to record sales while it ran.

sounds interesting- a midrange extended cab sierra pickup for less than a tacoma, ram, or f150. theyll likely do well.

Which ultimately proves the fact that so many people are suckers for promotions and advertising.

or a good price. which just goes to show how overpriced thed been all along.

as a side note...

how much more does it cost to build a $57,000 cadillac escalade vs a $34,000 tahoe?

zip. and it's not like the tahoe doesn't have a 100% NET manufacturer margin either!

The manufacturing cost premium is probably under $1000 I would bet.

John