My latest dealership sales experience

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 22, 2018
Messages
3,430
Location
MA
I've been thinking about a 2020 Tundra Platinum for a few month. My Lexus was in for service and I had a loaner and didn't want to shlep all the way home and back so I drove to one of my many local Toyota dealerships were I was greeted by a nice if not barely pubescent-appearing young man. I explained I wanted to test drive a Tundra. He took some information, a copy of my license and fetched the one Platinum they had on the lot. Test drive went well. I explained that I was only test driving that day because while I've been thinking about this for some time I have not had time to think numbers. We returned to the dealership and knowing it was end-of-month and this Platinum has been sitting for months I expected the hard press. The sales manager comes over and states if we make a deal right now he'll take $5K off. I kindly explained (knowing if he's willing to give me $5K now he'll give me $5K tomorrow) that I was not prepared to make a deal at that moment but if he could please send me some numbers via email I will be in touch shortly. I went home and sent emails off to a couple of other dealerships and within mins got responses including really good numbers BUT none them had exactly what I want for color. I looked through the forums to see what others are paying and within 2 hours of getting home I'm ready to make a deal. The entire day goes by and I hear nothing from the dealership I visited so I send the salesman an email. Two hours later I get an email from the sales manager with good but not great numbers. I kindly reply what the best offer so far had been and if he can get close to it I'm ready to make a deal.

The next day I don't get a response until 2:30PM AND HE MATCHED the other offer! I had explained clearly that I'd likely take the 1.9% financing over the $2K rebate and of course all the numbers include the $2k rebate. I had a few more questions and by 4PM I had had enough - no response (It's the next day and still NO RESPONSE)! I contacted another dealership and within 30 mins we had a price on the new truck, by 5:30PM they appraised my Honda Pilot trade and gave me MORE than I was going to accept and by 6PM the deal is done.

I sent an email off to the first dealership sales manager and salesman just saying this deal was a home run. In my mind it should've been agree on price by 9am, financing in place by noon and take truck afterwork. They would've moved a truck that was not moving, hopefully meet some end-of-month quotas, make some money on a trade and sign one more financing contract.

JUST GIVE ME A WAY TO GIVE YOU MY $50K....PLEASE!!! In 2020 if they are not negotiating via email they are dead in the water. I know they want to force a face-to-face because it's easier to manipulate the situation on their turf but I have negotiated my past 6 vehicle purchases via email over the past TEN years with absolutely no issues and everyone willing to play. Some of these guys can't get out of their own way. It was very frustrating but in the end what do I care....got a great deal anyway.
 
Last edited:
As someone who has sold cars try selling cars it's not that easy. Usually if you give a ptice by email the customer sends it to other dealerships as leverage. I understand not wanting to deal with a high pressure dealership yeah it's terrible. i had customers who just couldn't decide even when shown a great deal.
 
Last edited:
By the way - Congratulations on your new truck.

You're going to love it, I promise!

Edit: if you got $5K off the price of a new Platinum Tundra, you got a great deal. I spent quite a bit of time negotiating the price of my Tundra in 2016. You did quite well.
 
Last edited:
I agree with your observation. Some dealers work with you via email and some do not. Given the amount of vehicle pricing information available online, and how easy it is communicating via email, the dealers that are not receptive to this approach will loose out.
 
A friend of mine got the best deal by going through Sam's club and they found a Honda CRV for him a couple hundred miles away. His local dealer matched the price for the same vehicle and through in some weather tech mats. He tried to get a better price before going to Sams and couldn't do it. I agree, the emails and internet keep out a lot of emotions and it's easy to say NO when you are not face to face. Too many people get caught in instant gratification and impulse buying in the stearlership showrooms.
 
My "favorite" sales experience was years ago. I was interested in a Ford on a dealer's lot so I called the dealership (this was in 1978 or so) and asked to speak to the sales manager as I was interested in a vehicle on their lot. The answer: He can't speak to you know as he is in an important sales meeting with his sales men! I told the lady that when his "important" meeting was over to tell him he had lost a sale.
 
Some dealers thrive on e-commerce and some not so much. As 97prizm said, the digital customer can easily whipsaw numerous dealers to get the best deal.
Many dealers still go for the easy kill rather than spending time negotiating. A lot of customers would have settled for the first dealer's $5K offer since they despise the sales/negotiation process.
Sounds like you are a pretty sophisticated buyer and it all worked out. Enjoy the truck!
 
Yea dealers who will not talk by e-mail get deleted and blocked. Only reason I set foot on a dealers lot is to pick up the vehicle that is already agreed on.
 
Dealerships and buyers come in all shapes and sizes.
Sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense.
For example, I live in the biggest Lexus and Mercedes Benz market in the country.
The #1 Lexus dealership, Lexus of Stevens Creek (this place is HUGE), will discount, but not that much in comparison.
Their prices are pretty easy to beat, yet they are the biggest by a bunch.
I guess some buyers just don't care.
 
The lost sale is 100% the fault of the first dealer's management team and not the fault of the young salesman. But.....

Didn't you tell them you were just there for a test drive/not a serious buyer? You shouldn't be flustered by the fact that they treated you accordingly. They replied to your email within 2 hours matching the deal another dealer offered. That is more than fair in terms of timeframe for a buyer who told them the day before he wasn't there to purchase a truck.

Having been on the sales side of things, albeit many years ago but still, we got more dreamers than serious buyers for top of the line models. I sold Chevy's and we got more requests to test drive LTZ Burbans and Tahoes than I can count, and yet we sold about one per month. LTs and LSs, sure, plenty of sales. You told them you weren't ready to buy and they listened. Too bad for them that they lost the sale and probably 6-7k in gross on your trade (2018 Pilot will fly off their lot, that's not going to auction) but they couldn't have known you were serious. The vast majority of people who say they're not serious are in fact, not serious.
 
I was primarily a product specialist at my dealer, but I also sold cars when the rest of the staff was busy. I enjoyed it; 90% of the customers were easy to deal with. I could not work at a mass market high pressure dealer; too many goofballs on either side of the desk.
 
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I sent an email off to the first dealership sales manager and salesman just saying this deal was a home run. In my mind it should've been agree on price by 9am, financing in place by noon and take truck afterwork. They would've moved a truck that was not moving, hopefully meet some end-of-month quotas, make some money on a trade and sign one more financing contract.

Not sure what you expected by doing this. Know what happened with that email ? They deleted it and moved on.... Remember, "I was only test driving that day" and "I was not prepared to make a deal at that moment".

At the end of the day though, you got a deal that you're happy with. Leave it at that. Why give that first dealer another second of your time ?
 
It can be tough for the salesman. All purchasers send and receive emails. But not all purchasers want to have it all completed via email and just stop by to pick up the vehicle. Some consumers need their hands to be held through the process and need to be sitting at a desk during the process so they can run back and forth to the car to check on something or the other. Not all purchasers know exactly what they really do want without gazing at the vehicle during the sales process.

If all purchasers were BITOG posters, knowing exactly what they want, understanding completely the different trim levels and options, and understanding exactly what the going price for the car is the sales process would be quite different. Email would dominate and many purchasers would only need to stop by to pick up their car. But that isn't the case, and the sales folks need to navigate between the different types of buyers. I suspect it isn't all that easy.
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
It can be tough for the salesman. All purchasers send and receive emails. But not all purchasers want to have it all completed via email and just stop by to pick up the vehicle. Some consumers need their hands to be held through the process and need to be sitting at a desk during the process so they can run back and forth to the car to check on something or the other. Not all purchasers know exactly what they really do want without gazing at the vehicle during the sales process.

If all purchasers were BITOG posters, knowing exactly what they want, understanding completely the different trim levels and options, and understanding exactly what the going price for the car is the sales process would be quite different. Email would dominate and many purchasers would only need to stop by to pick up their car. But that isn't the case, and the sales folks need to navigate between the different types of buyers. I suspect it isn't all that easy.


I get it...but when I send you an email two hours later saying let's make a deal...well I couldn't have been any clearer.
 
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I sent an email off to the first dealership sales manager and salesman just saying this deal was a home run. In my mind it should've been agree on price by 9am, financing in place by noon and take truck afterwork. They would've moved a truck that was not moving, hopefully meet some end-of-month quotas, make some money on a trade and sign one more financing contract.

Not sure what you expected by doing this. Know what happened with that email ? They deleted it and moved on.... Remember, "I was only test driving that day" and "I was not prepared to make a deal at that moment".

At the end of the day though, you got a deal that you're happy with. Leave it at that. Why give that first dealer another second of your time ?


A small FU for wasting my time. Not expecting it to make any difference other than it felt good for a moment after sending it. Poor salesman just emailed that he was off yesterday and he's soooo sorry about what happened. Honestly, all the sales manager needed to do was tell me he's off or assign someone who was in and I would've accepted either.
 
Last edited:
Not all buyers are savvy, and not all dealers are savvy. It finds an equilibrium and it dictates the size and success of their businesses....
 
Congrats on the new truck!

The only time I got the deal done by email in the last few years is by dealing directly with the sales manager for that dealership.

Years ago it was a bit easier. My first online purchase including trade in numbers was back in 2001 with a new Nissan Sentra.
 
With a dozen or so new car dealership attempts over the years, I've never had a satisfactory experience. A couple of ok ones at smaller used car dealerships.

My most notable: offered one of the largest dealers in the state $3K for a used Crown Vic they had on the lot....listed for $3400. They absolutely could not budge in price was the word the salesman gave me. He even checked with his sales manager. OK. The next morning I open up the Saturday paper and see the same car listed for sale at $2800. I laughed so hard. I called up the saleman and told them their dealership lacked any common sense or intelligence....and no way would I even buy that car from them at $2800. And this was my 2nd time trying to buy from them. The first one didn't work out very well, but I was willing to give them a 2nd chance.
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay

If all purchasers were BITOG posters, knowing exactly what they want, understanding completely the different trim levels and options, and understanding exactly what the going price for the car is the sales process would be quite different.



The WORLD would be quite different......it would be a good place.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top