I worked at a dealership 22 years. The salesmen were trained to keep the customer there as long as possible till they agreed to buy. They would linger around and go for a smoke leaving the customer wait after telling them they were going to talk to the manager about a better deal, even when they knew there was no better deal. A consulting company taught them the longer the customer spends in the dealership the greater the chance of a sale. Usually there is only one or two finance employees and then the waiting game started. Sometimes backing up a large amount of customers. They were trained to say you are next in line knowing it was hrs away. Then in the closing booth that is where the real thievery takes place.

 

thank you for this.

no one should believe ANYTHING in a dealer other than what's in writing that they have to sign.

 

I totally understand that, oftentimes its not easy at all. But it is what it is.

 

Of course. All of that is true.

 

Also watch out for inverted numbers. They would quote you a sales price of $26,800 after negotiations. You would agree and get into the finance office an hour later. All the paperwork would be done but it would read sale price $28,600. This worked on a lot of people and if you caught them they would just say it was a mistake and apologize. The finance office is the most profitable department in the dealership. These guys make the most dollars because they are masters of persuasion and slight of hand. This happened to me once and I told him I know this trick just redo the numbers right.

 

Under current market conditions, sure. But they don't work that much quicker when it's a buyer's market.

 

That will get you nowhere. Every dealership you try that with will probably laugh.

 

Unless the market is really depressed, there will always be another buyer.

 

I like that idea. Some people spend a crazy amount of time at the dealership. Time is money.

That is true, especially now. There always somebody else who will buy the car if you don’t these days.

The online/phone deals are nice. It really speeds up the process. Have you done any of your recent car purchases that way? I ask since you have a lot of experience buying cars over the past few years.

 

Oh yeah, I predominantly buy cars online and negotiate over email. It’s the way to go IMO

 

fine, then i'll just buy a tesla and they'll lose a sale.

i think most people would rather go to the dentist than a car dealer.
kennyr44 nicely pointed out some of highly unethical things car dealers routinely do to stiff customers.

 

yes it is, although unless they deliver the car to you, you still go in, and deal with the sharks who can pull tricks of STILL keep you waiting.

 

Yep, I always go in and take delivery in person, except for the Pacifica where they did deliver it but that was in the middle of COVID.

How "shark-y" they are depends on the type of car. Usually I find they don't press too hard with a luxury car. The one thing with the Mercedes they hammered on was the pre-paid maintenance and since paying for a $700 oil change, he really was trying to sell me something that he felt was worthwhile and if I went back in time I would have bought it. $2,000 for all the lease's maintenance and the first service was $700...so that was a good deal.

The Chrysler dealer I bought the 2017 Pacifica was REALLY bad, and I know the dealer GM there and they were still bad. I actually had to tell the woman if she didn't quit, we were going to leave and she did.

 

I still get a laugh when I think of the Ram 1500 review I did there in Chantilly, at Josh's (Army of One) request......and how they just dumped all of the new-vehicle-key-fobs out of a cardboard box, onto the floor, to find the stock-number for the truck. The salesman was down on his hands and knees, going through the pile LOL.

 

LOL, I remember that story!