Sales Manager PO'ed

Sepultura · Jul 5, 2006

My mom bought a new mustang last week, an 06 with the v6 and manual trans.

the ad they had in the paper said "3 at this price" and had them listed for $14k, so she says ok ill take the red one...

all good right?

well he keeps looking over the paperwork and starts calling other people asking why they are selling the car for $3000 less than what they paid for it, i guess he never heard of a loss leader

so he wants to throw in all this other junk, alarm, etc and racks it up to $25k

she says no, i want to pay $14k, i just want the car.

so the guy gets upset and says "ok, ok, fine"

whats the deal?

2Fast4U · Jul 5, 2006

Sounds like the classic bait and switch.

GROUCHO MARX · Jul 5, 2006

Good for mom.

Gary Allan · Jul 5, 2006

The guy is a common person who's in automobile sales. You're cattle. They're raised on the notion that you're not going to be back for a few years ..and to grab all that they can from you while you're there.

(visions of that Steven King movie Sleepwalkers)

"Just consider yourself lunch"

Tosh · Jul 5, 2006

Way to go, Mom!
Time to name names (stealership's, not mom's).
Specifically what was she going to get for the extra $11k?

bretfraz · Jul 5, 2006

Sounds like an act to me. I find it hard to believe that a dealership's sales manager is totally surprised at the price his own store used in an ad. All the sales staff know what's being advertised not only by their store but other competitors.

Depending on the dealership, either the General Manager or the New Car Sales Manager sat down with the newspaper's advertising people and decided what cars and what prices would be in the ad.

Brett Miller · Jul 5, 2006

That's great that she held thier feet to the fire and made them honor the ad.

Pablo · Jul 5, 2006

Is this thread some kind of ruse? Play on words?

I guess I don't get it. Sales idiot sells car. Makes money or not. Acts upset as if he isn't. So what?

You mean when you went to buy the car you didn't know to the penny what the true invoice is? And what the dealer "kick backs" (incentives, etc) are?

Your mom seems to know the silly haggling game.

JAYCEE · Jul 5, 2006

California should have stiff punishments for this kind of crime.

Quattro Pete · Jul 5, 2006

I'm no car sales expert, but it's quite possible that the sales people get higher commission on the "add on" stuff, hence they try to push it. Nothing unusual, really. You just need to know what you really want and be firm about it (like your mom). Her additional advantage was that she had the actual ad in her hand. Although the dealer could have been slimy and said "Sorry, those 3 were sold already."

BTW, that's a great price for that car. I didn't realize you could get them for so little.

Schmoe · Jul 5, 2006

They just want to get you in there and then they pad their wallets with all the extras. In most cases, it works. But in some cases, like your obviously intelligent and well informed mother, it didn't work. It's the luck of the draw for them and plus, you KNOW THEY DID NOT LOSE MONEY. They never have, and never will. They get manufacturer hold backs, insurance rebates from the car not on the lot and sell bonuses from Ford. Don't think they are crying in their beers.

[ July 06, 2006, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Schmoe ]

Gary Allan · Jul 5, 2006

There's all kinds of dealer "hold back". The end sales clown (below the sales manager) is probably playing with a couple of grand (depending on price) charged against his draw on comission ..which I'm sure is a complicated formula that he can't even figure out. They're screwing him too ..so he's just passing it on. When my BIL was into fleet purchasing for the foundation that my wife works for the net price on something like a taxi/limo package for a E250 (rubber floor, AM-FM, AC, barn doors) was about $13k in 1985-86 ..which was about 65-67% of the $19.Xk list. Something like 20% ..less 15% ...less 10%.

Quattro Pete · Jul 5, 2006

I'm not sure how it works with American makes, but in case of a lot of foreign ones, the dealership doesn't make much (if anything at all)on the actual sales of new cars. It's the afersales service and part departments that are the huge profit centers.

Sepultura · Jul 5, 2006

dealership was pearson ford in san diego, off fairmount and el cajon blvd

the invoice is $17k, thats what the dealer pays right? or what? the paper stuck to the inside of the drivers window said just under $21k, maybe they lost money on those 3 cars just to draw a bunch of people in and make a larger profit off other cars, i dont know but $14k does seem pretty cheap for a car with 19 miles on it.

he was upset that she didnt buy all the extra stuff, alarm system, lo-jack, extra warranty (she can do this later anyhow, its a factory warranty) and some other stuff im not sure about but it ended up being around $25k with everything added, which is absurd cause you can just buy another mustang with the difference.

could also be that the 07's are out, or coming real soon so they wanted to move them

i drove it around a bit, but was rather unimpressed with the power, or lack therof... i'm wondering if the V8 would have made much of a difference... i wanted wiplash when i hit the pedal lol. Other than that it's a lot of car for the money, cruise, power windows/locks, cd player etc....

Quattro Pete · Jul 5, 2006

The $17K invoice price is what the dealer wants you to think that it costs them so that you don't try to haggle with them below that. In reality, there are various other kickbacks and incentives that a dealership gets from the factory, so they pay less.

kanling · Jul 5, 2006

The dealer pays the invoice, but then gets a few kickbacks later on, so the dealer cost is always lower than invoice.

I'm sure 14K was a good deal on the car, the dealer may have lost some money... but probably not a whole lot considering to the extra traffic the ad brought in.

Sepultura · Jul 6, 2006

quote:

The $17K invoice price is what the dealer wants you to think that it costs them so that you don't try to haggle with them below that.

so walking into a dealership and saying "i'm going to pay invoice" isn't gonna be an issue?

i think it was on yahoo autos that i found the invoice price on a 2006 C6 to be $43k, then it had a link to request quotes for that same model from local dealers.... the dealers (8 of them) all quoted anywhere from $51k to $56k for the car, when i told one of them that they wanted me to pay $13k over sticker they said "that was the sticker" LOL. Guess they don't like that.

Quattro Pete · Jul 6, 2006

quote:

so walking into a dealership and saying "i'm going to pay invoice" isn't gonna be an issue?

It depends on a particular car. Some cars are in such high demand that there is no way you're going to get them for invoice price. Some even go for more than MSRP. It's just plain market supply and demand in action. But for most of the run-of-the-mill mass-produced GM vehicles, with all the various incentives going on, I'd expect to buy them for around invoice price.

kanling · Jul 6, 2006

It depends on the amount of the kickbacks, too. For popular cars, the kickbacks may be less than $300 compared to invoice.

Schmoe · Jul 6, 2006

Check out the consumer reports car pricing service. Think it cost like 15 bucks or so and they tell you what the dealer paid. I did that with my 06 Accord and told him "look, I know what you paid for the car, I know you have one here that I want. I know you have to make a living too so I'm willing to pay this price plus 100 dollars. I have my own financing. I'll come in, right you a check for that amount without anytype of "fees," sign the check over to you and walk out with the keys. You don't have to do anything." He said, that sounded fair and the deal was done. That's the way I approach it so I don't get any baloney and the standard dealer boo-hoo on how they are losing money.

Sales Manager PO'ed

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