Motor Trend - Car Dealer Confidential
Motor Trend has been running a short series on how car dealers do business in the internet age. If you haven't been to a new or used car dealer in 20+ years, things have changed and it hasn't gotten any easier to keep from being taken. As always, it's an asymmetric relationship--they deal with people all the time, you visit car dealers relatively infrequently. This installment is about discounts and very low advertized prices, https://www.motortrend.com/features/dealer-discounts-add-ons-fees-car-buying
In the first installment of the How to Buy a Car series, I talked about the changes that have taken place in car sales over the past three decades or so due to the internet. To recap, in the old days, everyone started high and negotiated down to the lowest price. Both buyers and sellers understood this. But thanks to the internet, that rule has fallen by the wayside. Because everyone shops on the internet first before ever leaving their house, the dealership that gets the business is the one with the lowest prices. The new rule is, "Lead with the Lowest Price and They'll Come."
[...]
When you get to the dealership, the salesperson sits you down and asks you a series of questions."Are you a member of Cheapco or similar big-box wholesaler?"
When you answer no, the salesperson draws a line through that discount.
"Are you a recent college graduate, or will you be graduating in the next year?"
You're 35 years old. You answer no. The salesperson draws a line through that discount.
...
Instead of paying $49,000, the crazy price that brought you there, your price just jumped four grand. (You probably won't see every one of these discounts used at the same time, but you get the idea.)
More details and some suggestions on how to prepare before you visit the dealer at the link.
[I'm curious if the experience dealing with automobile dealerships and sales people is similar around the world --Ed.]
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