I have a group text with some friends at other dealerships. We use it to verify customer lies to keep from chasing our tails. I am not sure if that is considered whining or not?
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Fact checking.
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Yes - we know we can’t use it to collude against a customer however it has saved me a lot of time. I think customers who don’t want to work with lying dealerships can understand and appreciate dealerships don’t want to work with dishonest customers.
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Not at all, I don’t blame you. Big difference between making sure you’re not getting screwed and whining that someone else is taking too much off.
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I won’t pretend to know what you have to go through as a broker, so your situation is not at all what I’m referring to and definitely feel for you guys grinding this stuff out for a living. But when it comes to me personally talking to dealers, I just don’t get the need to see someone else’s written offer. It shouldn’t matter. Does seeing it in writing mean that, all of a sudden, money falls from the sky so the dealer can sweeten their own deal? “Can you get me in that Stupendousmobile for $200/mo with $200 at signing like the dealer 200 miles away? No? Ok, bye. Huh? What’s that? Oh, yes, here is the written offer from them. Oh, now you CAN do it?” That’s simply more BS. Sorry, no, I’m not playing that game.
On my last Hyundai, I had an offer from a broker (I should point out the broker reached out to me, I did not reach out to him/her AND I even found a friend to take that deal from that broker), but the wife didn’t like the only color they had, so I found one at our local dealer in a preferred color. Emailed the salesperson we spoke with and simply said “I have a broker offer for $xx with $xx at signing, but you are local and have a preferred color. If you can match the deal, we’ll take it.” He wrote back within the hour and said “Done.” That’s the kind of place I like to work with. Before that, when I leased my loaner 330, I presented the salesperson with what I wanted. SM came to talk to me and asked where I got my number, if I had a quote elsewhere, etc. Rather than play any games and talk about what I saw online, etc, I simply said “I pulled it out of my butt. It is what I’m comfortable with. If you can’t do it, no hard feelings, thanks for your time, I understand.” After much hemming and hawing, he agreed he could do it. I’m honestly over the games at this point in my life. I totally get that dealers can’t know I’m being straight, but I don’t need to prove myself to anyone. “Yes or no?” That’s as far as I go anymore.
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Really depends on the way the dealer does business, but the majority have adjusted to the modern times of online sales and the need to be transparent. Most of the best (unicorn) deals on here are a result of LHs emailing dealers with the exact numbers including incentives, RV, MF, discount, etc., maybe going through a little negotiation, and getting the Toyota/Volvo/BMW/… deals. Then, people think they can just PM @Jrouleau426 or @Bostoncarconcierge to match and beat 
.
Or @IAC
Having written offers helps but there’s often more at play than just a specific model or trim.
Didn’t mean do exclude you guys. Sorry about that!
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That’s what I did with the wife’s X2 and my Stelvio. Emailed every dealer with my offer on a particular stock number and asked them to respond yes/no. For my 330, I went in person to the same salesperson we got the X2 from just 2 weeks prior.
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Nobody can’t possibly remember all the brokers with one handle to mention, let alone three.
Luckily everyone is active enough that if they have something to say, they pop into the thread and say it.
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Isn’t that exactly what somebody tried to set up on this site and some trusted hackrs were calling that foul? 
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Everyone who sells talks and bad prospects get shared with our friends. Not so much blackballing but as an advisory.
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I.e. sellers have review threads so why shouldn’t buyers get the same treatment(ebay does that), double standards are so annoying…
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Any car buyer who doesn’t get at least 2-3 firm quotes on similar vehicles is not a smart buyer. I assume a lot of dealers hate sites like edmunds or leasehackr but if you’re like me you don’t need any sites to get a great deal. Most of us are hunting leftovers, loaner cars, mfg incentives, etc. The sales people who help us find those deals within the context of making deals that still work for the dealer are the ones who deserve our business.
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Would be interesting to see a transaction log/review link added to profiles of brokers, dealers, members; etc.
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Many enthusiast forums have this for the marketplace in their respective forum… it includes buying/ trading/selling and has negative and positive experiences as a tracking number along with reviews attached to negative/positive experiences. This would be something that could include private lease transfers too.
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I do this regularly as well. I’d never formally call another dealer and formally complain about someone shopping lol. It’s part of the business.
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Having it in writing helps me confirm that it is the same vehicle, trim, year, in the same area, and offered within the same time-frame of current incentives. Sometimes I find there are incentives baked in the customer doesn’t qualify for. Sometimes it is the previous year’s model. Sometimes it is a quote from three months ago. Sometimes the tax % used is where the dealership is located. OC dealerships are notorious for doing this competing with trying to draw out LA customers.
Sometimes it is legit - then I can put it in front of my GSM’s face for a quick yes or no.
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Again, though, it doesn’t matter. You can or you can’t. The only reason to see a written quote is to argue with the customer. You see it is a different trim or different incentives or whatever, you are then arguing with the customer why the quote is wrong. Why? Either they are intentionally trying to be deceptive, in which case it doesn’t matter what you say/do, or they are wrong and they’ll find out soon enough. Give your best quote and move on. If yours is best and you treated them well, they’ll be back.
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You asked for a dealership perspective and I provided the answer.
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