Dealer not wanting to give quote over email

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(If you don’t want the details, you can skip to the last paragraph for the question)

I’m currently looking for a Q50 lease. Last weekend I went into dealership A to test drive a car and get an initial quote (I understand now that I should’ve negotiated something before I went in, but that was before I found this forum). He quoted me $600 per month on a base Q50 with $1,000 due to signing, and even without any prior knowledge, I knew this was out of line so I just walked out. I asked if I could get a copy of the quote on my way out, but the salesman said no, claiming that there are “proprietary information” on the document. So I said fine.

Fast forward to today, I’ve been emailing back and forth a sales manager that I was introduced to (thank you @wildebeest!), also a local dealer which I will call dealer B. He is very transparent, and has offered me several quotes on a several different cars through email. The best one so far is on a Q50 3.0 Luxe with Essential package for $340 a month, $1,000 due at signing, 39/12 (no VPP).

The sales manager of dealership A kept emailing me, so I responded by giving him the general numbers of the offer I have from dealership B, asking him if he can beat it. I found a couple cars on his lot that are near identical to the quote from dealership A, and asked for a quote.

Here is my question: the sales manager keeps ignoring my request for a quote over email and continues to tell me to come in saying he can beat those numbers from dealership B. After about 10 emails back and forth, he finally says in his last email that he can’t give me a quote in writing because he doesn’t want me to take it to another dealer. Is this common practice? From my experience last weekend to his emails, I feel he’s not being very transparent, and he’s just trying to get me to come in so I’ll cave and just sign something. It’s my first lease so I don’t have much experience, am I out of line to keep insisting for a quote over email?

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Nah, not out of line. He wants to get you in to wear you down. Run away from that dealer as fast as you can.

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Move on, they are just playing games. I had a dealer only willing to quote me on the phone and would only tell me the deal if I was willing to decide on the spot. I told him to have a nice day.

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Like others were saying. I just ignore dealers that aren’t willing to give me a quote online. I used to let the dealers play games with me for a day+ but I’m done with those days.

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Just go with dealer B.

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Agreed, why take your business to the other dealer to possibly save a couple bucks if they haven’t done anything to earn it. If you want a better price ask Dealer B for additional discount.

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cmacfar is right. This is a classic example of feeding the beast. Per your own account, dealer A has been nothing but difficult or playing typical dealer games but here you are considering buying a car from them because it may save you a few bucks (probably only 5 bucks a month, which is why they won’t give you a quote). Do your best to give your business to the guy who has been nothing but straight up. If you want to still continue to shop, find another dealer (not the crappy dealer) and see if they can offer you a better quote. If they can (for the same exact car and terms), go back to the good dealer and see if they will match.

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Just their game. I got these two beauties recently when asking for quotes:
-Thank you for the opportunity at earning your business. Unfortunately we don’t practice bidding on customer’s business with this template so we wish you the best of luck pursuing this transaction. Our philosophy is to earn you business, not win it by being the lowest bidder. This template doesn’t provide you with the ultimate experience and/or service and to most that has value.
-We advertise our prices on our web site and will honor them for the lease or purchase of an in stock vehicle. We all pay the same for equally equipped vehicles. We can match any realistic quote from any dealer as long as we can verify the quote and lease or purchase criteria.f you choose an in stock vehicle we would be more inclined to offer a more aggressive discount. If you wish to discuss anything further I invite you to call and engage in a conversation

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Thank you guys for your input. This forum is great! So much good information.
I agree with the general consensus, even if dealer A matches or gives me a slightly better deal, dealer B did all the work and was transparent with me from the beginning, they deserve my business. I’ll reach out to him and try to get a bit more of a discount if possible. Thanks again for all your input!

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Has dealer B given you a breakdown of the numbers or no ? If they have share them here and if they haven;t compare to other topics and use them to get your final number as close to the other one.
Many might not agree, but I like to do all my deals $0 due at signing. I usually go back n forth with numbers with the least due upfront for ex. 1st payment only due at signing. After getting the best number, I tell them to just roll over the 1st due as well and then round it up to lo lowest number I cen get them to. That far in the deal, they wont say NO.

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Yes he gave me a breakdown of the numbers, I was debating whether to open a new thread for this, but I’ll just post it here:

image001
image001255×425 3.74 KB

How do the numbers look? He is applying tax credit, which is huge here in Texas, and since the quote I’ve gotten him to reduce the “Dealer Adds” to $695. Since then I have come to a dead end. I don’t have VPP so I’m not sure how to proceed from here. Ideally I’d like to bring monthly down to $299, if not close to it while keeping due at signing at $1,000.

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I have experienced similar BS (I am calling it BS) from some dealers and my response is “if you cannot give me a clear deal before I come to the dealership, there is no way you will give me one when I am there” To test this out, I have still gone and only confirmed my theory.

Now, I also state that I am sorry I will not come to the dealership unless we have clarity on all numbers. Just about yesterday, here’s a conversation I had in response to typical ‘we want you’ marketing emails

ME: You still haven’t sent me a quote for Pacifica Touring L that I can come, sign and drive and leave.
Agent: That vehicle is a special order item, that you will need to come into the dealership for.
ME: Okay thank you. Please count me out for the future follow up. Thank you

Another similar conversation
ME: Also, if you cannot give me the right deal over the email I’m highly skeptical that you’ll have a better deal in person. And I just don’t have the time for a stroll unfortunately.

If you’d have an aggressive offer, why not work it out over emails and save everyone time. No going back and forth with holding the same ear from different directions.

You’ve everything I need and that is not changing once I’m there so I don’t see a reason to not agree on numbers electronically if you have real good offers.

AGENT: Okay, then I will need the following:

  • A completed credit application, click here to complete it.
  • A Privacy notice signed and dated. Please see attached file.
  • A copy of the front and back of your driver’s license.
  • You to select a vehicle from our inventory, please visit here to do this.

You can scan and email the privacy notice back to me, or fax it to me if you would prefer (my fax number is below)

ME: I’m sorry, you’re asking for too much for us to make an upfront deal.

I just want a deal in place before I visit the dealership. At that point, we will of course run the credit app and do the necessary paper work.

If my numbers are too less for you to give me the deal, I guess we aren’t the right fit unfortunately.

Sorry for the long post, but it has taken me a while to be affirmative of NOT COMING TO the dealership without settling in aprior over emails. If they are afraid of another dealer beating their number then that is a good indication, they are not giving you a good deal to begin and they know it will be beaten easily.

Lastly, when I got my deal on the recent equinox lease, a few dealers with whom I was also working told me sorry they cannot match it, I should go ahead with the one I got already.

Hope this helps. Don’t become foot traffic statistics for the dealership.

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Have you searched? These folks are also in TX

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The dealer I’m working with played the same game… “come on by, I can definitely beat those numbers!”. All I said was… “Email works best for me and I will only come in once I’ve reached a deal I’m comfortable with”. I did have to be persistent about at first but they will get it if they really want your business…

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As long as the sun rises in the east, dealers will avoid giving quotes in email/text/snapchat/kik or whatever communication device that does not require your physical presence. They want to size their mark…

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Yes thanks for pointing that out, I’ve been following that thread closely because it seems like we’re in very similar situations. I tried calling Infiniti a couple times for VPP (we currently own two Nissans), but both times they flat out said no, it’s not possible. It seems like the current going rate for a Q50 is $340 a month with first month’s payment at signing. It seems like it’s a good deal, but not a great one.

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I’m not a dealer but the dealer is just playing against your game. Cause he know what ever price he is going to tell you and you like it you’re going to email another dealer and asked if they can beat it. So your game against theirs

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Ask them to roll over the 1000 due at signing in to the lease true sign n drive. If they come back with lets say $366, tell them you will do $340 and will come right now. or $350 if its no payment due at signing

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Yea, you’re right, from a dealer’s perspective, they’re just giving me a bargaining chip to use against another dealer. They’d be helping me for nothing in return, especially if they know they can only make an offer that can be easily beaten. At least by knowing which dealers won’t offer a quote over email, I can cross them off from my list of dealers to pursue.

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Yes, that’s something I can try. I will try to lower their “Dealer Adds” fee a bit more, and when I feel like they’re not going to budge any more, I’ll use that at the very end before I sign.

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