Good to get a price that you can take to a dealer. Prefer to deal direct with the dealer as the broker is not into customer service.

 

The broker won't give you a real price until you've signed an engagement contract for that very reason.

 

Depends on circumstance. I have seen friends spend months to achieve a number a broker bested in mere minutes due to their dealer network. It all depends on the inherent value you hope to attain and are satisfied by introducing a third party into the mix.

Again find out whats your purpose for a broker, and what you hope to gain as its really not a one size fits all deal

 

I signed nothing with our broker before getting a price.

What are the details of an engagement contract? Does it mean you're signing a contract saying you're buying a car before you even have a price?

 

And your broker tried to rob you and did rob others lol. Hardly a “good broker”

A good broker will have you sign a engagement contract. Just means that if you do buy a car he earns a fee whether you buy it through him or not. Similar to what we use in the real estate world (buyer agency agreement)

 

That would definitely make me never use a broker if one asked me to sign that before even giving me a price.

Either way, that must vary state to state. I didn't sign an engagement contract with the broker nor have I ever signed one with a real estate agent to buy a house. In CA there are different contracts for real estate. I would have to sign a contract that says somebody is my broker exclusively in order for them to get a commission even if I buy a house through another broker. I've never signed one of those though Some random agents do want people to sign one, but they're all different.

 

FYI, I am a real estate broker.

It varies broker to broker, good ones wont help you without an agreement in place because essentially they are working for free. In MD, DC & VA a buyer broker agreement is required by law before you can write a contract on a house, or before an agent shows you a house that is listed by their brokerage firm. The only other option is to be unrepresented. Do some disregard the law? Yes. Do good ones? No. You want a good one. The same is true of auto brokers (other than there are no laws governing their behavior as they are with RE brokers). Why would they provide you with a price, which is their whole service, without an agreement that you pay them for their service? No good one would ever do that. They should provide you with testimonials and prior track record so that you will be confident they can get you a good price, then hire them to go get that price.

With the attitude "I wont sign anything until you do all the work" you will never work with great quality people, so no wonder you got screwed.

 

I'm not in the business, but it seems to me that, without an agreement, there is little to prevent a potential buyer from engaging with a broker, having the broker do all of the research and work, and then, having the potential buyer use the information that he/she learned from the broker and subsequently going out and making a deal on his/her own while denying the broker any payment for work done.

 

That’s exactly right.

 

That is not required by law in CA. FYI, my family owns a residential/commercial real estate company. A "good" broker is subjective, as are most things. It is obvious business is done differently in our respective areas, so we will have to agree to disagree about how it should be done.

 

If the broker is good at their job this won't happen.

We got a price from the broker by e-mail. All he did was contact the dealership that would work with him (our local ones won't work with brokers) and then forwarded on his pricing to us. It wasn't even the right options on the car, it's just what he had available. Very little time invested on his part. I then shopped a local dealership. Broker's price was better so we bought from him. Easy as that. If the broker's price isn't better then they don't deserve a commission. Just like a car salesman wouldn't deserve a commission if their price wasn't better than somewhere else.

 

Right, we’ve established the broker you used was terrible. Since he was a crook you should stop using examples of your experience as examples of how this is supposed to work lol

A broker is someone who works for you and negotiates for you. A car salesman doesn’t work for you, in fact he is your adversary in a negotiation. The relationship is totally different.

No successful broker is going to work for you without an agreement. Why would they? Just move on to the next client.