Buying A Car Is Like Going To The Dentist

I’ve been thinking about trading my car for a new model. Since yesterday marked the end of the month and the fact that auto sales are in the toilet, I figure it might be a good time to take a couple of test drives. 

But to me, buying a car can be like going to the dentist…it can be a painful experience.  While this blog post has nothing to do with motorcycles, it does deal with cars, so I hope you find it useful and interesting. And remember, this is just my point of view…just an opinion.

I really don’t like the car shopping process. In these days of having so much information at our fingertips, just taking a few hours or so online reading about the specs, features and reviews of the desired models, in many situations this type of research allows the buyer to know more about the car than the salesperson. To me, this is frustrating as all I want is honest information and it seems that these days the salespeople receive little if any training on the vehicles they are selling.

A few years back when I purchased a Toyota Avalon, when I was asking some specifics about the electronics in the vehicle, the salesperson told me that she has so many cars in the Toyota lineup, there was no way to know every specific item. I found this to be a rookie mistake and definitely showed me a lack of proper training by either the dealership or the factory. After all, many years ago I worked for Panasonic and while the dealership had maybe a dozen vehicles in its line, we had more than 1,000 items in our catalog and we were expected to know the features and functions of every model. To me, this lack of training is frustrating and makes me question the way cars are sold today, so I’ve come up with a method to separate the knowledgeable salespeople from the slackers.

First, I start the process through the Internet sales department. Every car dealership has expanded their Internet departments and they are typically staffed by a seasoned employee who knows his/her way around the dealership. I’m to understand that the dealership views its Internet customer as a bit more knowledgeable than the typical, tire-kicking walk-in customer and treats them with a bit more respect. Depending on the dealership, your mileage may vary on this concept. This also allows you to work by appointment and not get stuck with a salesperson hanging out by the front door ready to latch onto you and claim you like you’re a piece of meat.

Second, I try to respect their time. After all, like many folks in the sales business, car salespeople work on commission and their time is valuable. Instead of wasting it, I try to maximize it by asking most of my questions via email or on the phone prior to walking through the doors.  This way, they have time to get the answers to the ones they may not know and when I arrive at the dealership, I can focus on the car during the test drive, not on separating fact from fiction.

Third, I negotiate seriously. Instead of jerking the salesperson around, I don’t even begin talking prices until I’m sure I want to purchase the vehicle. As soon as I hear that age-old question, “What will it take to put you in this vehicle TODAY?” I’m turned off as to me, that’s a very “old-school” way of dealing with today’s tech savvy customer. If I’m ever asked that question, my response is, “as little as possible!”

Fourth, I don’t play the Manager game. When in the negotiation process, as soon as the salesperson stands up from the desk and states they have to talk to their manager about the price, I simply state that step is not necessary as if the Manager has any questions about my offer, just have him/her come to the table and let’s talk face to face. As you can guess, they don’t like this response as it changes their sales process. Personally, I feel the salesperson already knows the minimum acceptable price and is wasting my time by disappearing to a back room and most likely having a cup of coffee. I’m thinking this is their method of playing “Good Cop/Bad Cop.”  They try to make the Manager seem like the Bad Cop and the salesperson as the Good Cop. Sorry, I don’t play that game.  I also am not afraid to walk out of the dealership. On many occasions, if they have determined that I am a serious customer, the manager or “closer” will stop me in the parking lot to try to salvage the deal.

Fifth, I attempt to work on net, out the door prices. These days it seems like so many dealers tack on so many fees, that just the fees alone have become a cottage industry for the dealerships. When I purchased a T-Bird a few years ago, when I saw a line item of $750 for Dealer Fees, I simply asked the salesperson what is included in that charge. I was told that’s the cost of prepping the car from the state it arrives to the dealership. I asked him to go into more detail and quickly learned that they have to peel off the plastic from the exterior and the seats, wash it up, check the air in the tires and top off the gas tank. In my book that’s an exorbitant fee for a few tasks that take less than an hour. My response to him was that I’d pay the fee with one condition: I wanted that job! I figured in an eight hour day that I could “prep” at least eight cars per day. You should have seen the look on his face! At that point he changed his tune and told me that it was additional profit for the dealership and the fees went towards his benefits package. Isn’t that what the profit margin of the car is supposed to cover? I’m waiting for the day when motorcycle dealerships start tacking on these silly fees.
Now, some dealers are attempting to add on Advertising Fees. Sorry, this is just ridiculous! When this is item rears its ugly head, I simply tell the salesperson that I didn’t select their dealership based on their TV or newspaper advertising and found the car through numerous online reviews. Again, they don’t like my answers.

Sixth, I don’t pay too much attention to the sticker or the invoice price. Over the past few years the dealerships have over used the term “Invoice” and attempt to lead us to believe that Invoice is what they paid for the car and they are doing us a favor by selling us the car at that price.  As we know, there are typically factory incentives, holdbacks and additional bonuses paid to dealerships and that their Invoice Price could be deceiving. I use the prices I find on Edmunds.com as a benchmark of what I should be paying for the car.

Seventh, I never drive the car I’m trading to the dealership until after I decide I truly want the new vehicle. I know this sounds strange, but there's a method to my madness. The reason I do this is that it seems one of the newer tactics some dealerships use is to attempt to get the buyer to focus more on the trade-in than the price of the new car. This seems like a diversion tactic in my book…trying to get me to negotiate the price of my trade before we've agreed to the price for the new car. My game plan is to tell them that once we agree on the price of the new car, that I’ll bring the trade-in vehicle by the dealership, allow them to check it out and accept the trade-in value of either Edmunds or Kelly Blue Book (based on the condition of the car)…whichever is lower (that seems to make them feel a bit more comfortable) and to make the trade-in a no hassle process. While I could sell the car outright or through stores such as CarMax, sometimes when you factor in the lower tax you’ll be paying, and include the “hassle” factors, a fair trade price can sometimes be a better deal. 

However, typically when I use this approach, the salesperson usually gets a bit frantic and states something like, “Edmunds doesn’t sell cars and those prices are artificial in the real world.” My answer is something like, “You’re correct, Edmunds and Kelly don’t sell cars, but they accumulate actual prices based on the recorded transaction price on a zip code basis.” If they pull out their coveted “black book,” that’s my trigger to stand-up and tell them that if they want to quote me a wholesale price for the trade, then give me a wholesale price for the new car. Needless to say, they don’t like that response. If they continue, I simply point to their used car lot and ask them if they are truly taking my trade to the auction house or are they going to slap a price sticker on it and retail it on their lot. Since I trade cars every few years and take good care of my cars, my trades are not usually destined to go to the wholesaler.

Eighth, I take a photocopy of my driver’s license to the dealership. Sometimes, prior to taking a test drive, the salesperson will ask to make a copy of my driver’s license. While in some cases this is not a bad practice as if something happens, they will know who they are dealing with, on occasion I’ve experienced that while you’re on a test drive they are using this information to run a credit check on you. If you’re test driving a number of cars over a period, these constant credit checks can knock down your credit score a few points and could affect the interest rate they offer you. Allow me to add that although I’m to understand that they are not supposed to conduct a credit check until you authorize them to do so, not all dealerships stick to this practice. So, to combat this, I simply present them a copy of the license and write on the copy something like, “No Credit Check Is Authorized.” Since I subscribe to a credit reporting service, I will soon see if they requested a credit report.

Ninth, I never buy a car on a deadline.  While I’ve never leased a car, as soon as they check out your trade and punch your VIN in the computer, they will know if the car is leased and the date when the lease expires. If they know you only have a few days to negotiate a price, they will be a bit more pushy as they know you’re on a deadline.

Finally, I try to plan my purchases to the end of a month and when possible, the end of the quarter. Many dealerships place so much pressure on its managers to reach their quotas and typically give them bonuses for reaching and exceeding their goals, they are more motivated to remove some of those add-on fees at the end of the month and even more so at the end of the quarter.

Yesterday I drove two cars, the Lincoln MKS and the Hyundai Genesis and the dealer experiences were like day and night. Since I do a lot of highway driving, I’m looking for a car that’s smooth and comfortable on the road. And, I like a lot of the new tech features such as the SYNC system found on numerous Ford products. Since I prefer to buy American whenever possible, in my mind, if all things were equal, the Lincoln had the edge.

The dealer experiences between the two dealerships were truly different. You already know that I’m a tech geek and it’s a safe guess that I’m one of those who perform my initial research on the features and functions prior to contacting the dealerships. Since both of these cars are new for 2009 models and it seems that these days, many salespeople don’t receive a strong level of initial training, I like to start with some fairly obscure questions about some of the tech features that I’ve already researched and found the answers. This allows me to see if the salesperson truly knows all the ins and outs of the car or if they are making up answers while we’re standing there. I’ll take an honest “I don’t know” over a B.S. answer any day of the week.

The Lincoln salesman made it clear upfront that since this was a new model and it’s so packed with features, he didn’t know about some of the particulars. To me, this was an honest answer and I immediately felt a good level of credibility from this guy.

The Hyundai dealership experience was totally different. It was the last day of the month and from some basic research on the Internet and the answers I was receiving at the dealership, I quickly learned they would have said anything to separate me from my money to put me in this car TODAY!

While the Lincoln salesperson let the car speak for itself and didn’t trash other brands in his approach, the Hyundai salesperson kept trying to convince me that in side by side comparisons, the Genesis was a better car than the Mercedes E Class. Granted, on paper, when you look at the specs, this is a fair conclusion, after driving this first generation Genesis, it was not in the same quality class as a Mercedes. Multiple salespeople seemed to gang up on me and told me about their factory ride, drive and compare session and they drove the Genesis and the Mercedes E Class back to back and that the Mercedes was a piece of junk.

Sorry guys, but I don’t buy into that tactic. Sell me a car based on what I’m looking for, not by trashing other brands. That’s like comparing Victory to Harley-Davidson. Let’s face it, they both make good bikes, but if I heard a salesperson trashing the other brand, it would be a turn-off and most likely force me to check out the competition.

The bottom line is simple: While I may not be the typical car buyer as I do my homework and never buy in a rush, I would like to think of myself as being immune to hard-sales tactics. When joking with the Lincoln salesperson, I told him that other than in my younger, greener years, no salesperson has ever sold me a car…that I’m an independent kind of buyer and can make my own decisions. This is similar to the method in which I purchased the Vision…the dealer didn’t sell me the bike, I purchased it based on the features and the riding experience. It was the type of ride I was looking for at this stage of my life.

There have been instances where the salesperson un-sold me a car that I wanted to buy due to some of the dealership B.S. and literally made me run, not walk out of the dealership.

Keywords: Car Hyundai Genesis Lincoln Mks Dealer

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