Originally Posted By: JHZR2
No I didnt go in knowing that. I went in thinking it was like Saturn or Scion with posted prices, yet still an invoice and some room to play if you desire.
I always figured it was an advertising line to make people feel good. Just another way to dupe people. Now I see its worse than that.
I don't see anything wrong with their model, works for them and they're a national chain. In general I think their prices are a little higher than average which is why you tried to get 1-2k off. I wouldn't have bothered. They're not going to risk their whole business model just to make a sale. Once word gets out that they actually do discount, the rest of their clientele will want it. They beat the sleezy high pressure overpriced used car lots as they seem to have a decent rep, but you pay for it. Basically goes to show you that you can make money at the top end, middle and bottom end, they're just in the middle and you're looking for the bottom end.
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
One reason for the one-price deal is that the salespeople don't have to be trained in the fine art of negotiating. There's no need for salespeople to know what's in the car for sale and what the profit will be. All they have to do is greet the potential buyer, point at a car for sale and call the closer. This keeps the control at the top where the talent resides and turnover among salespeople becomes a non issue.
Control has always been at the top, the salespeople never have any control over the price, it's always up to the manager to determine what the price is, the job of the salesperson is to figure out if the buyer is qualified and if there's something that they want to buy.
Originally Posted By: 3for3
In my experiences a used car comes with a higher interest rate on the loan.
Often car companies will offer 0% - 0.9% interest deals on their new cars. So, unless a used car is significantly lower in price than a new car, the higher interest rate on the used car could jack the payment up closer to a new car payment.
Penfed usually has the lowest interest rates for financing, between 2-3.5% depending on the amount and the term.
Originally Posted By: mtndew_dad
At least if you walk in with cash you can't spend more than you bring! How many people do you know go in with a payment budget in mind and walk out paying "a little bit more" to get what they want.
Do people literally walk in with cash these days? I paid "cash" for the last couple of cars, but the last one was a bank check, dealer wrote up the paperwork and the amount of money the cashier's check had to be made out to. The prior one was a small dealer and he didn't care so he just took my personal check.
Originally Posted By: supton
I would probably do better if I walked in with a stack of Benjamins instead of financing what I want. That is the real thing, people would argue on price if they walked in with a stack of cash. Of their own. Dealers would not like that, as less people (like me) would make emotionally driven decisions.
When paying cash for the previous car, the dealer didn't really care if I paid cash or financed it. I just paid cash so it'd be a quicker transaction, I didn't really care either. Left that day and came back later with the check.
