Went to go purchase a Lexus Certified Pre-Owned but had to walk away because they claimed "it was priced to sell," and that is their way of doing business.

I left, the lady sales agent then proceeded to call me back twice explaining how good of a deal it was already but still didn't budge on the price so I politely told her to stop calling me.

This was at a Sewell dealersip btw if that matters.

I will not be going back there, just wondering if this is how the process has changed to.

 

I just helped friend pick up a 2012 IS250 with 11,xxx miles on it. The price on the sticker was 29,988.

The salesperson also said its as priced to sell. This was a Hendrick's dealership. He said across the country, all the Hendrick dealerships was doing this and that people actually preferred this method since there is less back and forth. He also said some people don't like it and walk away because they expect to get something off the sticker. We were shocked at first but they still budged a bit on the price. In fact, it was 500 off the sticker, but with the sales tax savings, it was more like 750.

She ended up buying it. When I got home, I began to think whether this was all a tactic because 500 off the listed price is very little and we felt good, almost even gracious, to get even the 500 discount. I think this allows them to get more money in the end.

 

Was it a certified pre-owned?

I was expecting after the second call they would budge a little. I'm in the boat same boat as you, I think its just a tactic to make more money.

 

OP, what irks you about the situation? The fact that they wouldn't haggle, or that you thought they were singling you out as a person they wouldn't allow to haggle?

Personally, I've heard of a lot of dealerships moving in this direction.

 

Sounds like they may be doing what my Lexus Pre-Owned department does and that's Market Based Pricing, looking at what the lowest is ala Autotrader etc.. and undercutting it. A one-price store.

 

So you went through this when you purchased your 2is?

 

Toyota tried the price fixing strategy on new cars a few years back for a couple years in Canada until they realized that EVERYTHING is always negotiable and scrapped it.

 

I could see this working in the future but most of society is so adapted to the negotiating method, it will take some time for this to be more accepted.

 

Just for reference, these were the prices.

We looked at (2) both for my wife.

2012 Certified is350- 48,200k for $29,200 (9.5/10 Condition)
2011 Certified is350- 46,900k for $27,000 (9/10 Condition. Dealer explained that rear bumper was resprayed, had some spots touch up paint)

 

I would tell them my price, and "good luck selling it".

If prices are not negotiable, why the f do they need salesmen?

Just take me straight to the damn cashier and I'll ring the car up like groceries. F the salesman.

 

Yes, it was a CPO model. As someone else said, everything is negotiable. The salesman who IMO was very honest, said that we shouldn't expect discounts in the thousands. he said he still sees discounts in the few hundreds and thats exactly what we got

 

The local dealership has a "no haggle" pricing policy. They will give you the final price up-front and if you walk, you walk. I much prefer this arrangement over the phony high price then a big discount. If the original price is fair, why would they discount it further? The sales people are not salaried, so they have no part in setting price. I won't work with a dealership that quotes a high price then works thousands of dollars discount to get to the final price. It might make some people feel good to negotiate a $50,000 dollar price down to $45,000. I would much rather be quoted $45.000 from the start
Steve

 

No, I bought my Car new before I worked for this Lexus franchise. My point was our Pre-Owned departement uses Market Based Pricing for a no-haggle policy.

 

But you won't get that $45K number from start.
When shopping for a used car or new,I never will pay a list price.

 

Thats the question, is the price fair? People get wrapped up in the American mentality of "don't pay the sticker price", but if you've shopped around and these are well priced...then they're well priced if they are well priced...sticker or not.

I love how people feel they are "owed" some sort of discount. If they let you leave and didn't make any sort of follow up offer, then they aren't interested in selling you the car beneath that price...whether its no-haggle or not. Business is business.

Don't turn down a good deal and a good car just because you feel "wronged" because they wouldn't haggle with you. Thats an emotional response, emotional responses have no place in business.

In general I agree with this. I typically don't see no-haggle prices at dealers that I could not get another dealer that will negotiate with me down lower. BUT...I know my stuff and I'm a tough negotiator. A lot of people don't, and aren't, and they may not be capable of negotiating the price as low as I can. Or the whole thing is so stressful for them they just want to bypass that stress, and a no haggle dealer may be a good compromise. They typically have "good" prices...just not "great".

On a used car though to me its more about the car itself than it is a couple thousand bucks. If one car is in great shape, has records, I'll pay a little more. A new car is the same regardless of the dealer.