Re: Will the car dealerships ever evolve?
Date: June 17, 2009 12:54PM
I have bought three cars so far, two from local Toyota and Honda dealerships respectively, and one from Carmax. In each case I drove away feeling like a sex crime victim. And now-a-days, with the way the economy is, they're bound to pressure prospective buyers EVEN MORE because there's so much on the lot that they need to sell because, well, most folks aren't out there buying new cars...
However, there is a good tactic to employ, when buying a new car. I did this at Fairfax Honda, and it worked like a charm.
I went shopping for a new car in mid-February. When I got to the dealership I was greeted by a salesman. He said "Can I help you?" and I happened to be looking at a new Accord, from the last model year. I said "Yes you can. I have shitty credit, I only have two grand for the down-payment, my trade-in is non-operable, sitting by the curb at home, and I want to buy this car for three grand below the sticker price. What can you do for me?"
He gave me a pretty non-spectacular offer, and I handed him my number and walked away. The next day he called me up, and told me the following:
"I can give you 2 thousand for your trade-in, sight unseen, just tow it up here, and with two grand down I can sell you a comparably equipped, new Accord from last model year and I can take 5 grand off the sticker price because it has been test driven a few times." It only had like, 80 miles on it...
I said "Cool." and drove off the lot in the new Accord later that day. And even with my shitty credit, I was afforded some pretty good financing. I still got a generous dose of pressure, and inconvenience, but in the end, I got a relatively good deal on a car. Not a great deal, but for me, a pretty good deal.
They're all out to sell you something and make commissions. I like to wait and buy in the winter time when the dealers want to get rid of the left-over models from last year to make way for the new model year. Works great if you don't mind driving a car that's forest green rather than the color you'd picked out ;-)