Most liked posts in thread: TrueCar, not good deal in the long run

There is more money to be made in the maintenance end of the car deal rather then the selling price. Sure not everybody goes back to the dealer BUT the more cars you sell the more people that buy that will keep going to the dealer.. Sell the car at close to cost once you factor in getting it to the dealer, make it as fun a transaction as you can and they may keep coming back for service and another car down the road.. Granted you can't be like my local MINI dealer and need my car for half a day just to change the oil..

 

It's strange to me how the quality of MINI dealers varies so much.....or maybe it's just the perception?

My dealer (Baron MINI in KC) has always been top notch, yet I read so many stories on here of dealers who seem just terrible.

 

Mine was great for as long as I used them. They went above and beyond, including giving me a loaner when they had the car for a week, and drove it back down--about an hour's drive--to exchange the cars when it was done.

 

Ours would do that on the loaners, even for oil changes if they had one around.. but no lie when I was getting a free oil changes I had to either leave the car or be there by lunch time to get the oil changed and would be there for 2-3 hours.. On other stuff they go above and beyond just not oil changes atleast.. Maybe they have changed now been a long time since I have had them do any service work. Do need to take it in for a recall though..

 

I got a loaner, even on free oil changes. I've got to figure out how to handle the passenger air bag sensor recall, since the seats are out, wonder if they'll do the seat out of the car.

 

True, but they did make some mistakes initially...I remember the ads touting the plastics fenders. That lasted about 15 minutes until they switched to metal...

 

Yup, yup.

Don't insult the salesman/be d-bag with too low price, and be ready to walk out if you can't come to terms within 30 min. And REALLY walk out. Been there, done that several times.

 

Everything we buy is priced at "cost plus" one way or the other it's just a matter of how much plus! is added to it.. For the car salesman does your dealership make more money on selling cars or from the service/parts department? I'm betting the service/parts dept. IF it has a good service techs... Sooooo for the owner he needs to sell as many cars even if he doesn't make much profit on the sell to get more service work coming in right? Which in turn will get him better/more kick backs from the manufacture and in turn may get him better pricing on the car to start..
Went thru this when a friend of mine and I were buying motorcycles awhile back. 3 Local dealers wouldn't budge on sticker even though we were buying 2 bikes and spending over $10,000 each. Dealer a town over discounted them $1200 each and got the sale along with helmets, jackets, service work etc..

 

We'll entertain just about any reasonable offer on a new car.

On pre-owned, sometimes there are cars that are already priced below what we own them for, and the price is the price. Don't like it? Go pound sand.

 

At some point, you have to cut your losses.

I had a pair of... let's say, lowballers... walk in at 7:30 the other night asking about the $5k R56 S we had. Keep in mind, we close at 8.

We own the car for $5800. Priced at $5000. Been on the lot for 70 days, give or take.

Went over the whole nine - work we put into the car, work previous owner did to the car, service records, etc. They tried to argue that KBB said the car was worth $3500.

Ok, so let's do KBB together. With options and mileage, KBB comes out to $5032.

And still, they insisted on offering $3500. Wouldn't even consider us extending an offer of $4600. So, pound sand they shall.

Some people are just *******s and like to make ridiculous offers because haggling is their way of life, even if something is actually priced fairly.

 

I just read an article where a combined Honda/Toyota dealer in Seattle opened a new location. Fixed pricing, no commission sales people, all high tech, in and out in about 2 hours.

The claim is that it's aimed at tech savvy millennials. To make it like the Apple store. The problem is most millennials don't have any money, a job and live in their parents basement. Sure there are some exceptions. But they usually want "style" cars.

 

Yes some folks are low ballers & some are beyond jerks. I get this I just don't get the pound sand part. If you don't like working with the public you should find another line of work you'll be happier in.

 

I enjoy working with 98.5% of people.

It's the 2.5% that come in and are just so incredibly unreasonable with their offers and attitude, those are the customers that I don't enjoy working with.

Telling me to find another job because I don't enjoy dealing with attempting to accommodate the unreasonable offers of the few miserly *******s that come into my dealership - seriously?

Sure, I put on a smile, I'm not a dick about it - I don't literally tell them to, "go pound sand," but there comes a point in the negotiation process where you have to tell a customer that this isn't working out. We're a business, not a charity - we can't bend to every goddamn whim and take huge losses on every deal.

Surely you have some aspect of your job that bothers you as well. Maybe you should find a new job, too.