What has been your experience with dealerships claiming they are not able to provide you with a quote or a detailed breakdown via email due to their “dealership policy?”
It seems like a tactic to get you in the door more than anything else to me. The dealerships I’ve been in communications with are not budging on this either. It is inconvenient to go to a dealership just to see how you were quoted especially when some of the dealership locations are more than an hour away!
Another item that I think is worth mentioning here is the few dealerships that do provide an initial quote, but only after they initiate a phone call. Is this to make certain that you are a serious buyer?
They seem to be fascinated in talking with you over the phone before all else.
A lot of times its to make sure the lead is properly assigned so there isn’t any “he said, she said” about who got the commitment or who screwed the pooch.
Talking to your client is also a good way to gauge their interest and intent.
Yes. I never send quotes in writing because usually those who are adamant about it are just going to shop it at other dealerships. Otherwise, there is no reason that I can’t go over it verbally.
You have to remember that our conversion ratios are tracked for clients that are pushed into our DMS (desking tool). I’m not going to run numbers unless I’ve spoken to the client and feel confident there’s at least a chance they’ll buy from me.
By doing that, don’t you think you’re limiting business? There’s a few replies here already from people that would simply stop trying to work with dealerships that do this.
That serves as a mean to stop competition from an industry that is competitively driven.
Most of times from my limited experience, it’s because they are not competitive. Like those used car lots with “call today for pricing”.
For the good deals I’ve come across, those dealers were never shy sending me the actual quote because they know it’s hard to be beaten by anyone in town, or it’s their rock bottom they don’t care if I go with someone else with lower prices, cuz that’s not the business they want anyways.
Every dealership does business how they’d like and every customer should definitely shop how they’d like. I was responsible for every internet lead and phone call for 7 weeks during the start of Covid-19 so I usually just sent out quotes. If the customer was a jerk or wanted 3-4 quotes I just closed it out.
Not BMW, but the last two written quotes I received inside the dealership one was chicken scratch writing on a post it note. Sales person said that’s the best he could do. And second, seemed to be a contract, but the sales person wouldn’t let me take picture of it with my cell phone. He finally picked it up and I walked out. Pretty interesting interaction. No negativity. It was what it was.
For those that don’t give any quotes online, as a buyer, we need something to begin the process with. Just mentally we’d like a number.
I recently submitted the following EMAIL offer on a 5 series demo at a local dealer:
Based on my math, a net cap cost offer of $xx,xxx less incentives (Loyalty and Lease Credit) at the May buy rate on a 36/10k lease, with $0 cap cost reduction and max MSDs comes out to a monthly of just under $xxx including tax. DAS would include MSDs, acquisition fee, 1st month, RMV, documentation, misc taxes, etc.
Received an email the next day. Simply ‘$xxx per month with $x,xxx down’ It was over $130/mo more than my calculated payment provided in my offer - and required a cap cost reduction! Didn’t bother responding. That was a month ago and the car is still on the lot.
One I closed out yesterday. Nice guy but I’d rather watch paint dry for 20 minutes. Doesn’t give me a zip code for taxes, wants a lease mileage that isn’t available in this area, and I have to send quotes low enough to make the playoffs where he comes to my store and two others to nickle-and-dime further. Yikes.
Hello,; I’m inquiring about a lease on a 2020 Civic LX, 2020 Civic EX or 2020 Accord LX.; I’d like to know:; - Residuals on all three; - Any current offers; - Ultimately what a $0 drive-off monthly payment would look like, given a 10,000 miles/yr & 36 month lease for each vehicle; I’ll be fielding a number of competitive offers from Honda dealerships across the county, so looking forward to what you can offer here. We’ll use the information we get back to filter down to the 2 or 3 dealerships we’ll be visiting this Saturday or Sunday, when we’ll ultimately make our decision and sign a lease (it’s time sensitive, so we’re 100% signing a lease this weekend). Please reply by EOD Thursday so we have time to review the offers. Please reply via e-mail.; Thank you!
That’s the great thing about it - you can literally put whatever you want! Customers can shop however they want and dealerships can sell however they want.
That’s the thing I want to avoid as well. It would be frustrating to make the drive only to have them give you a wonky quote that may or may not have the detail and not be able to take it with you, copy it in some sort of manner, or take a picture of it. It would be a complete waste of time.
