A couple of months ago I decided I was going to buy a new car, but there is almost nothing I like less than negotiating with car salespeople. The first thing they do is try to get your name and phone number. They will then begin calling you a day or two after you leave to ask how your search is going, and try to get you back to the dealership. If you do go back to the dealership, the second trip is when the hard selling starts. The guy you already know is the “nice guy,” who’s going to “work with his boss to get you a really good deal.” The boss is a guy who tries to belittle you and make you feel cheap for negotiating and passing on the upgrades. It’s basic psychological warfare, and they do it multiple times per day, so nothing throws them off. But for the buyer it just adds to the overall cost of buying a car.
So for the third time I’ve skipped the dealer hassle and bought a new car through CarsDirect. I’ve researched other services, including autobytel and a very good program offered by Costco, but CarsDirect was better than anyone else on pricing. I’ve put my notes on the entire experience below, including research and test driving vehicles.
My car buying experience was a three day process and involved almost no stress and a minimum amount of dealer direct contact.
The TechCrunch Recommended Car Buying Process:
1. Figure out the basic type of car and price range using online tools (Kelley Blue Book is what I used)
2. Double check on the car’s rating with Consumer Reports. My parents have a subscription and I called them a bunch of times to compare different models
3. Test drive the car. This is tricky, because you have to go to a dealer and interact with them. They are going to photocopy your drivers license before you test drive the car. If it has your correct address, tell them its dated and give them a different address. This is to avoid the junk mail they’ll be sending you. They are also going to ask for your phone number. Don’t say no, because that will make them act weird. Just give them a fake number. If you do give them your real phone number, make sure you tell them you’ve already bought a different brand car from somewhere else and are no longer in the market. Do not invite further conversation. Be firm with these people. Remember - all you want to accomplish is a test drive of the car, so don’t deal with their guilt trips and other tricks. Never, under any circumstances, sit down at a desk.
4. Once you know which car you want, all the hard work is done. You can go home and order your car online, while other poor souls try to negotiate with the dealer. They’re hopeful that they’ll get a good deal because they’ve printed out the Dealer Invoice and MSRP for the car, but trust me, after hours of negotiating they are still not going to get as good a deal as you are.
5. Go to CarsDirect and order your car. The price you will pay is stated clearly on the final page. A CarsDirect customer care person will call you in an hour or two to discuss your order and make sure you know all of the options. CarsDirect will then work with a local dealer to find your car at their price, and call you back when they’ve found it. They will also discuss leasing, financing and trade in options if you want to do that. I’ve found their leasing and financing terms to be very attractive (better than what my bank offered), but trade in values are terrible. Sell your own car.
6. Choose to have your car delivered to your home or office. They will do this for free or for a small fee, depending on where you live.
7. When the car is delivered, test drive it, sign the agreements (make sure you opt out of receiving marketing deals from unaffiliated third parties), write a check. The delivery people then leave, and you have your car. If there is an issue, you deal directly with the dealer.
Here’s how the process worked for me:
Last Sunday I test drove the Honda Pilot, Chevy Tahoe, Ford Explorer and the Acura MDX. I liked the Tahoe the best, but it gets the worst gas mileage and was the most expensive car. The Pilot was almost $20,000 cheaper than the Tahoe and gets 5 miles more per gallon on average. Quick call to mom and dad confirmed it was also the most highly rated. Choice made. Total time spent: 3 hours, including lunch.
On Monday I placed an online order with CarsDirect for a Honda Pilot. Dealer Invoice was $32,507 (that’s what the dealer pays), and MSRP was $36,040 (the recommended price). Anything above the invoice price is profit for the dealer. The CarsDirect price was $33,306. That leaves $800 in profit for the dealer and CarsDirect to split. Seems fair to me. An hour after I placed the order I had a ten minute conversation with a CarsDirect rep named John. I confirmed I wanted the car, discussed the pros and cons of buying a black vehicle with him, and he promised to call back when he found the car. Twenty minutes later he called back and said he found the car with the options and colors I wanted. He asked when I wanted it and if I wanted it delivered. I said “tomorrow, and yes please deliver it to my house”. Total time spent: about 30 minutes.
On Monday evening I called two local Honda dealers, told them I was going to buy through CarsDirect but would get it from them instead if they would match the price. Both said no. One laughed at me before saying no.
On Tuesday afternoon the car was delivered to my house by two very nice retired men. I test drove the car, took a picture, signed the paperwork and wrote a check. They left. Total time spent: 30 minutes.
Total time spent researching and buying a car: Four hours over a three day period. Total time spent negotiating: none. And I believe I got a better price than if I had tried negotiating with the dealers directly.
And I love my new car.
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Dang Mike, all along I was picturing you in a sleek BMW M5 or 911 Turbo lol. Cool post though.
Their site says they have 500,000 listings for used cars. Do you know where they get the listings - scraping dealer sites, feeds from dealers, private sellers advertising on their site? The search results seem to all be from dealers.
Anything above the invoice price is profit for the dealer.
Actually, depending on the dealer holdback, the dealership can still make a profit on a car even if they sell it below the invoice price.
I believe the dealer holdback for Honda models is 3%. Knowing that info can be very handy.
I had a great experience using online buying directly through a volume Jeep dealership in my neighborhood a few years ago. There was minimal interaction with sales staff, and they wound up quoting me a price that was a couple hundred dollars above the invoice minus dealer holdback (yes, final price below dealer invoice). Hard to beat that.
Michael, there’s one bit about your post that bears thinking about. It’s Step 3. The reason you can get such a good deal from Cars Direct is that you are taking a service from the dealer (the test drive) that neither you nor Cars Direct has to pay the cost of. If you think long term, you realize that if everyone did what you recommend, the dealers would go out of business, and your process would no longer work.
I wrote a piece about this in the context of online book buying a few years ago, entitled Buy Where You Shop. I agree that auto dealers have an absolutely awful sales process, and ought to be punished by the marketplace for it by people buying from people with better process (and some dealers really aren’t bad), but I would suggest that instead of using a dealer to test drive your car, you find a friend who has one, so that you aren’t using a costly service (dealer showroom, sales people, and cars available for test drive) that you have no intention of paying for.
This is also the subject of my recent Radar post Getting the Market to Tell the Truth.
It must be nice to write a check for $33K like it’s nothing!
Mike Arrington says :
Once you know which car you want, all the hard work is done. You can go home and order your car online, while other poor souls try to negotiate with the dealer.
Jason Fried says :
If you go to a store to test out a product then buy the product from that store.
http://www.37signals.com/svn/p.....ate-advice
I am confused
I think that you left out one step that can save you even more. Take that price that Cars Direct was offering and email the dealerships directly. Make sure to only buy your car at the end of the month, and that the dealer responds with their price in an email. You can then forward it to other dealerships. Keep going until a couple of the dealers say “damn, that’s a good deal”, or they start selling you on their service department.
I saved about $2000 off the Cars Direct price at the time when I purchased my new Jeep.
I MUST comment on this, Mike, because you describe perfectly the trepidation most of us feel when going to a dealership hunting for a car. My mom was ready to get out of her Concorde, which had expensive sensor malfunctions. Since she has to brave a daily L.A. traffic commute I recommended she get a Toyota for better dependability. One Saturday I took time out to help her find a car - by the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised we had it. My mom said she liked Avalons. First I grabbed the local phone book and made some calls (after putting on my battle armor) - not much luck. Then I jumped online and stumbled across a dealership I recommend to everyone in Southern CA. When we arrived to check out the color and test drive I was still on guard, but I got shocked. The experience felt more like going to Disneyland. With a relaxed NO pressure personality, our salesperson, Mitch, put us on a golf cart to drive into their massive holding structure - turns out they are the largest Toyota dealership in the world with over 5,000 cars on hand. Mitch was more like a consultant than a salesperson. It turns out they constantly break records in CUSTOMER SERVICE and sales, with a “customers for life” philosophy. This year they were on pace for over 30,000 cars. No haggling on price at all. We were already happy with the car, and Mitch said it was about 1K over dealer cost. Carsdirect may work well, but if you want a Toyota and a SURPRISING dealer experience in the LA area here is the info:
http://www.longotoyota.com/en_US/
3534 N. Peck Rd.
El Monte, CA 91731
1-800-619-8695
You are missing a big point here. Buying a car is one thing, but owning is a different.
Although I really don’t hope that you will have any problem with your car, I would smile a bit, if you will bring your car for service or repair to the exact same dealer where you made the test drive and he will tell you: you bought online, so please make your service or repair also online!
I agree with you that some dealers are a pain, because they make a bad job. But if they do their job right, and there are many good dealers out there, it’s much more than just buying a car, it’s establishing a relationship which you will appreciate.
But with your behavior, you just take the best of both worlds, and this will not work out in long-time. It’s like buying your Windows CD in the streets of Hong Kong and then complain about a virus on that CD.
A good job needs to be paid. And I guess you also appreciate your regular pay check. And so does the car sales guy.
It’s called capitalism, dude. A dealer is not going to turn you away for service because you bought a car on line any more than he would turn you away if you bought it at a different dealership.
If on the outside chance a dealer di turn you away for service, I am sure there is an independant auto shop across the street who would be happy to service your car, if you have warranty issues the the maker (ie Chevy, Mazda , whatever) requires dealers to provide service.
The dealer has a coice to meet the price, or not it’s that simple
kevin whited head is correct. you didn’t get a great deal on that car.
Indeed, there are several things included in the dealer invoice that are paid back to the dealer when they sell the car.
You should *always* start from dealer COST, not dealer invoice. The invoice price already has plenty of fees that amount to profit included in the price. These include:
* Factory hold back ( all dealers get this ), between 2%-5% of the price that is pure profit.
* Factory rebates (you can find details of available rebates on several sites, again, pure profit, the factory pays the dealer this money when the car is sold).
As well as others, remember these fees are already included in the “dealer invoice”. The deal will get these back.
This site documents it well.
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/car4.htm
After using the above tips/site, I purchase a new Toyota Matrix for $16k, off the lot, new. Which at the time, was below the dealer invoice price. Sales person was really not happy, I sure was.
And one more tip, do NOT buy any prepaid maintenence programs when you buy a new car (they usually last for 50k miles). It’s a rip-off. Most don’t actually cover the cost of the parts (like brakes), what you are basically paying for is an expensive oil change. Most dealers know that the bigger service requirements happen after 50k miles.
I think that comparison shopping between retail and online stores is inevitable and the best retailers will find a good balance between the two. For all the Apple fans, Apple stores are a great place to touch and feel their products and I bet they don’t mind at all if people buy online.
For Apple, Dell and other streamlined retailers - their pricing is pretty transparent and a future without commisioned sales people is an inevitable and probably happier world.
The trick for businesses will be to give a customer a sense of satisfaction without having to negotiate on price. I say have open pricing and let the market reward or punish you based on pricing. If your only value proposition is price, your service or product quickly devolves into junk and , for first world countries, there is little demand for junk these days - all the basics are already at that level.
So for Jason Fried and others who are annoyed that people are browsing retail stores and buying online, don’t worry the retail stores that sell anything other than essentials like food will be little more than glorified billboards in a few years.
Yeah, that’s not a great price. I don’t say this to get in a dig at you, I say it for others who are looking to buy a new car.
Find out the dealer holdback, which is often substantial. I usually pay maybe $500 over dealers COST (which is not dealer’s invoice).
Dealing with salespeople at dealerships is not hard. Do your research beforehand, tell them how much you are willing to pay, and then leave. This has not failed to get me the car I want.
The internet salesman at most dealerships will even interact with you via email, so you don’t even have to get face to face with anyone till you’re ready to sign.
Good luck with the new car Mike. I’m glad that’ve taken your time to explain the process in detail. I’m sure CarsDirect will get some traffic and eventual sale after reading your experience.
I agree with you that the car dealers are horrible to deal with. They always wanted to trick you and they definitely play the psychological warfare. That’s absolutely true.
Good luck again.
It’s been a while, but I bought my last car through Costco - a Volvo XC 70. I bought the car in late Sept. and the dealers were trying to sell all of the current year cars in anticipation of the arrival of next years cars. The Costco buying experience was great as they had pre-negotiated the price with local dealers and it was several thousand dollars (>$3k) below dealer invoice.
It feels a bit off to use a dealership just for the test drive. Of course using carsdirect just for information is probably a different sort of trespass.
This recommendation assumes you have alternate financing and don’t need to leverage a trade-in for a new car too.
Really, the problem is that there isn’t a single best way. For a mass-produced mid-priced new car where the buyer is willing to handle financing on their own, you have a good plan. For the luxury buyer, this seems like a bad plan. For the used car buyer, this seems like a bad plan. For the good negotiator, this is a bad plan.
In regards to #3: One thing I was reading recently (on one personal finance blog or another) was…one way to potentially avoid the hassle (and annoyance) of test driving a car at a dealership is to get a weekend (or day) rental through any of the myriad rental places (Hertz, Budget, etc). It might cost a bit more, but daily rates seem reasonable enough to warrant not having some salesman from 1963 sitting next to you chatting you up….and you can take your time with the vehicle.
Of course, it’s probably more difficult to get the model you’re looking for, but it seemed like a decent idea.
Kudos to Mike for standing up and trying to help people even though a lot of them are going to try shoot him down.
I bought a Jeep from Carmax and can recomend the experience. I did online research for an hour then went to Carmax. In 3 hours at Carmax, I did a test drive on 2 cars, completed all the paperwork included a good price on a loan, unloaded my old car into the new one and drove away. They don’t send you junk mail, their sales people get same commission no matter which car they sell you and they are not allowed to pressure you at all. They won’t ask you to sit at a desk until you are ready to do paperwork. Their prices are fixed and very competitive, no negotiating and you can ifnd out price online or by phone before you go. Even the price for the old car was good, I don’t want to buy anywhere else now.
Is this site unusable by anyone else? All my searches timeout or hang.
There is definitely a moral issue in using the dealer to test drive knowing that you are not going to do business with them. You are wasting a salesman’s and dealer’s time and resources; it is a form of stealing. That most dealers and car salesmen are sketchy doesn’t justify it. If you choose to forgo the dealers for an online experience (which I totally support - working with dealers usually sucks) the onus is on you to find a way to drive the cars without using the dealer. Look for someplace that rents the car you want, or better find friends that have the car who can also be source of information. I think this is important not just for cars, but any online transaction. Maybe it is more clear with this example: You walk into the mom and pop fishing store - you talk to the owner for an hour about what he likes best, what’s the best value. You get stuff in your hands to see how it feels. Then at the end you say thanks for your time, now I know what I want. I’m driving over to wal-mart to buy it because it is cheaper there.
I’m not sure I agree with your point about going to try it out before by “using” a car salesman. I can’t dispute the fact that most of the tactics that these salesman use are somewhat, deceiving, but they still have to make a living.
By trying out the car, and time wasting their time (you’re not going to close the sale with them) - they could actually be making a sale. And earn a living.
Awesome, nice ride.
And now that you have a car with a picture, you can find out why FuelEmpire rocks so much.
http://www.fuelempire.com
Here’s how I bought my new ‘03 350Z in Dec. ‘02, a couple of months after it was released when demand was incredible and markups over sticker were common:
1. Found car on eBay at local dealer w/ no-reserve auction below sticker.
2. Examined the car in the dealer’s showroom w/o talking to anyone. Test drove a different car at a different dealer that allowed test drives in the new Z…it was hard just to get a dealer to give test drives back then.
3. Won the auction below sticker.
4. Wrote dealer a check and declined all options/warranties/etc.
Drove out of the dealer in the new car in less than 30 minutes…just the time to sign papers and decline all the extra BS. This was my best car buying experience ever…no haggling and no frustration at all, while getting a high-demand car below sticker.
I suppose the dealer placed the new car on eBay due to X-mas…holidays are a slow time for car sales.
Why an SUV?
Regarding #5 and the argument Jason Fried made:
I think what Jason was talking about was when you go to say Best Buy and check out a camera, then go buy it on say Amazon. Best Buy spent time and money showing the camera and answering all the questions. Then you give your money to Amazon. However, this service sounds like the purchase is actually made from the dealership, but you are using Cars Direct to avoid the negotiations. So the dealership is still getting some money.
My problem with the online experience is that I want to have a person to deal with when I have a car. I’m investing in a 5-10 year experience, and if there is a problem, I want to have a person to hold accountable.
Dealerships can offer you loaners when your car goes in for service, and it will need service at some time or other. Dealerships will keep you up on recalls, etc. Dealerships offer personal service that, on an investment this significant, is worth some extra dollars.
Does the experience stink? Absolutely! I just bought a Prius and hated the entire shopping experience. But I’ve already been in for service, and so far I’m pleased.
I have also been the guy who shows up with a car bought elsewhere and had the dealer tell me “you have to have it serviced THERE.” It’s just not worth it.
$2000 is probably my limit on ’stuff I’ll buy without seeing the guy.’
I would have waiting until next year as the Pilot will be all new for 2008. You will take a huge hit in deprecation.
from what I see, I still think eBay.com/Motors has far better prices than CarsDirect. Compare it yourself
Having gone the similiar route for my last two car purchases, I can say that I will never buy from a dealer again. While I have not had direct experience with cars direct, I can say that an equally hassle free experience can be found at a place called http://www.cartelligent.com. Compare and see.
1) Anything “over invoice” is a good deal for the dealer, so the carsdirect deal wasn’t that good a deal. Invest more time, visit more dealers, and you’ll get a better deal — or, you can pay more like Our Hero because you’re too wimpy to negotiate. Our Hero thought he had a good deal, because he picked up the phone and proposed a price to a dealer. No dealer is going to give you a great price over the phone. You have to show some commitment, and show up at the dealership. That’s the game they play, and you have to play by their rules.
2) Dealers don’t care where you bought your car, unless you bought a gray-market Mercedes, in which case Mercedes dealers have been known to refuse to service it. Dealers make most of their money on service, and it would be quite foolish for them to refuse your service business. So all this nonsense about “oh, the dealer won’t help you” is exactly that: nonsense.
3) Morals? Is it moral for the dealer to propose a sticker price that’s ridiculously higher than what he’s prepared to accept? Why are we talking about morals? If your conscience bothers you, offer the lowest deal you got to the dealer from whom you originally grabbed the test drive. If he says “No deal,” you can sit in the front pew on Sunday morning without guilt.
I don’t see much of a problem with using the dealership at all; the dealer has a chance on pitching them during that time, calibrating for this particular type of “swooping” buyer. It is simply one more (last) chance for them to make a sale, as long as they are willing to write a few new pages in their sales manuals: it is clear that the prospect acting this way does so to avoid the kind of techniques that the salespeople already know. The customer may end up with a better deal than anticipated.
As for time being wasted: I have never seen a line-up at a car salesperson’s desk; at best you are using dead time, at worst you are waiting a bit for current clients to be done before using up dead time.
I will keep CarsDirect in mind the next time I purchase a car. I made my first new car purchase in August of 2005. I purchased a Chevy Aveo LT Sedan from a local auto sales place called Stockburger Chevrolet.
Before going to the dealers I spent some time reading websites on how to buy a car and visiting sites such as Edmunds.Com to discover what sort of car I wanted. The Chevy Aveo had high safety ratings, a low price, and good gas mileage - so I decided it would do. I visited several car sales locations, but ended up at Stockburger. I actually found that I was too defensive. They didn’t try to rip me off and I got the car for right around invoice - including $800 trade-in for a dying Suzuki Samurai I had.
I’ve used CarsDirect and similar sites to get quotes that I ask my local dealer to match. If he comes close, which he usually does, I buy from him. Am I therefore stealing from carsdirect’s bandwidth? The logic of the folks who say that test driving a vehicle at a dealer and buying online is stealing say that it is. Please. Many people test drive at one dealer and buy from another dealer who offers a cheaper price. That must evidently be stealing, too.
I think buying a car from the dealer is fun. I am usually a very nice guy, but when dealing with car salesman the gloves come off. No remorse. No regrets. It can take many hours to beat them down, but I think it is fun!
So Michael Arrington condones flagrant lying and misrepresentation? Makes me look at TechCrunch in a different light.
Michael, you need to put some rims on that bad boy. I look forward to a post on your hunt and gather for wheels online!
Wow, lots of car (or other) salesmen complaining about how evil this guy is. You guys just can’t turn it off can you?
I’ll add some more to my past comments (all the while applauding Greg Spira): having an open market economy with buyer freedom means being able to look at all options: that it takes time from retailers (online or off) is just part of the cost of doing business. Car companies (and other manufacturers) know that there is value ins imply showcasing inventory in the most central and flashy way possible; this is part of their advertising; trying it is the first level of engagement towards an acquisition. People work behind and are paid for facilitating this process, either directly or through flamboyant markups. The guilt stuff is really out of place here. I applaud Michael for his lucidity.
Yuo all have missed the key point:
The amount of time that Michael saved by not wasting time negotitating with dealers (i.e. email, phone, whatever) is more valuable to him than the marginal $1000 to $1500 he would’ve saved by doing so.
$1000 additional savings on the price that he paid is roughly 3%. Yawn. Perhaps big bucks to the trolls that visit this board. Not to a hustla like M. Arrington.
Meanwhile, visit a few of the ad links on his page and give our guy some support, eh? He’s enjoying his Saturday at the park while some other folk are in a dingy sales office at the local dealer “breaking down” a salesman.
Mike, you are now obliged to frequent http://www.hondapilot.org, excellent community & resource for the Pilot owners.
As far as warranty servicing: there is absolutely no issue with buying online. Manufacturer warrranty work is gladly handled by any dealer; the manufacturer pays the dealers for this work and it is a big profit center for dealers (the service departments typically are more profitable than new car sales).
Mike, good work. Althought i have to brag that my recent buying experience only took about 2.5hrs including test drive (but not lunch ;-).
I also got a quote through Cars direct and immed emailed the Internet sales reps around the Bay Area. Fortunately for me, many of them are used to corresponding/doing deals viam email.. Within a day i received several responses, went in to take a test drive, do paperwork and drove away with a new Lexus IS350. It was the most hassle-free car buying experience i ever had.
More and more dealers are realizing that the buyers today are much more savvy and have little patience for the sales bs. If they can provide a great car-buying experience, they will more than make up for inflated commissions through maint/svc and customer loyalty.
I tried using CarsDirect but got a lower price when I contacted a few dealers directly. I wanted to give CarsDirect my business, but they couldn’t match the price. From my experience, some savvy car dealers do a lot of Internet business and understand that a lot of people want a no-hassle experience and the lowest price up front. I drove to the dealer that quoted a great price, the car checked out, and I was out of there in less then an hour.
Others have commented on this, but dealer invoice IS NOT what the car costs to the dealer. The last car I bought (a Subaru WRX) I paid essentially invoice (after refusing to discuss any price higher.) I still don’t know if I truly got a good deal, as I don’t know what the dealer holdback was. They could easily have make $1,500 off of me.
I wish I had done this when I bought my car. Next time I will give it a try. Thanks for the article!
This post really begs the question, “Is negotiating with a car salesperson for a new/used car always a painful process?” As a result, we get into .
The situation Michael describes is a distributive negotiation scenario. Basically, the car dealer and the car buyer are trying to slice the pie at the expense of each other. Essentially, this is a pie-slicing negotiation process. I agree that these situations are painful for both parties, but I don’t think that all car negotiations are like this.
Rather, I believe that some car negotiations can be integrative. Basically, the car dealer and the car buyer are trying to enlarge the pie. Essentially, this is a pie-enlarging negotiation process. For example, if the car sales person throws in a service agreement, then the buyer will agree to a later delivery, etc. These types of negotiations are usually just not about price.
I don’t think that there is one right way to buy a car. I definitely think that you can get good deals from dealerships. The main thing any car buyer should remember is that alternatives are always good. In Michael’s case, his alternative was the quote through Cars Direct. However, this quote may not have considered things like maintenance.
In the end, your negotiation power comes from increasing your BATNA and doing your homework before entering into any negotiation process. (i.e. what is the reputation of the other party, what is my alternative to negotiating with this party, do i want an extended service agreement, etc.)
This post really begs the question, “Is negotiating with a car salesperson for a new/used car always a painful process?” As a result, we get into negotiation theory.
The situation Michael describes is a distributive negotiation scenario. Basically, the car dealer and the car buyer are trying to slice the pie at the expense of each other. Essentially, this is a pie-slicing negotiation process. I agree that these situations are painful for both parties, but I don’t think that all car negotiations are like this.
Rather, I believe that some car negotiations can be integrative. Basically, the car dealer and the car buyer are trying to enlarge the pie. Essentially, this is a pie-enlarging negotiation process. For example, if the car sales person throws in a service agreement, then the buyer will agree to a later delivery, etc. These types of negotiations are usually just not about price.
I don’t think that there is one right way to buy a car. I definitely think that you can get good deals from dealerships. The main thing any car buyer should remember is that alternatives are always good. In Michael’s case, his alternative was the quote through Cars Direct. However, this quote may not have considered things like maintenance.
In the end, your negotiation power comes from increasing your BATNA and doing your homework before entering into any negotiation process. (i.e. what is the reputation of the other party, what is my alternative to negotiating with this party, do i want an extended service agreement, etc.)
Votes for Bush twice and now buys an SUV……please Mike stop!!!!
I am so sick of high-pressure sales in general. I recently tried to find out if it would be adventageous for my Grandmother to switch to high-speed and the Verizon representative has been calling her house harassing her for days. It’s all a big game to them, and we’re the prey.
To those commenting on the appropriateness of going to a dealer to test drive the car (including Tim O’Reilly), and then buying online: I do not feel any guilt about doing this, because I called the dealer and asked if they’d match the price. They wouldn’t. I mentioned this in the post
I don’t think you can build an arguement that says that once I’ve test driven a car at a particular dealer, I am obligated to buy from that dealer at any price.
The market will sort this out anyway. If the trend continues, dealers will either move to a set price per car (they should anyway) that competes with the online services, start charging for a test drive, or the manufacturers will need to subsidize dealers in order to make them profitable and keep them around.