Just wondering what works for people when looking for a deal that you are trying to achieve.
What do you mention during your first chat, whether it’s by email, text, phone, etc. Do you lay out the full deal you are trying to achieve or just start with ‘x’ % off MSRP pre-incentive for example. Do you reference other deals you may have seen in the area (without mentioning leasehackr)?
How do you try to make sure you aren’t wasting their time or your own time without coming off as a jerk? I’ve sort of just used the same cookie cutter intro along the lines of “Hi my name is ____, I’m looking for vehicle xyz and I noticed you have one in stock for $xxxxx. I was wondering if you would be able to get to x% off MSRP before incentives”.
Also lets say you are trying to get to 5% off, do you start with saying you are looking for 5%? Or do you say I’m looking for 8% with the assumption that they wont just say ‘sure, here’s your discount you’re asking for’?
Is there anything in particular you say in terms of small talk to start off on a more personable level, or do you just get straight to asking about a quote?
If you can pick out a specific stock #, give me your zip code, miles per year, money down, what incentives you are aware of that you qualify for, and what payment you’re looking for to make a deal it makes my job easy. I will likely have one or two follow-up questions to cover something you weren’t aware of but I can create an easy yes, hell no, or not quite but here is what I can do.
The customers who tend to get ignored or closed out are the ones asking for best price without giving lease structure, any relevant information, and making sure I know that you’re shopping for best price between 10 dealerships.
I give a specific stock number, tell them exactly what deal I’m looking for, what incentives I qualify for, what my tax rate is, etc, and give a specific time period of when I will be there to sign if they accept my offer (usually something like “I can be there in 3 hours to take delivery of you agree to my offer”).
If I’m asking for a very aggressive discount, my only value to the dealership is to be the quickest, easiest route to increasing their volume numbers. I better not be asking them to spend 1 more calorie than absolutely necessary to get things done. My past couple vehicles have gone from cold open to on my way in about 3 emails back and forth.
I don’t subscribe to the “offer high and meet in the middle” philosophy. In my experience, if you walk up to the edge of what is reasonable, shooting any higher means your offer goes straight into the trash. It also means you’re expecting a back and forth, which goes against the idea of “quickest, easiest sale possible” logic.
Awesome, appreciate it. From your perspective, do you care if the person is more personable or not? Do you try to do more for the customer if you really like their attitude they seem like a good person? Or does it not matter as long as they aren’t an asshole haha.
People are people. If you’re friend and polite I will put more effort in. If you’re telling me I am a commodity and can get the car from anywhere (happened last week) I will change my name every time you call back and have a lot of fun.
At the end of the month my responsibility is to ensure everyone on my internet team has made enough sales to hit bonuses so that they can pay their bills and support their family. If you’re going to be cheap then be friendly and efficient.
Thanks. It seems like you do all communication over email. I’m thinking this is the better way as it’s easy to lay out exactly what you are looking for.
I personally prefer to have my business dealings in writing. Makes sure there is no miscommunication. I have had to, on more than one occasion, point back at the email chain .
This is really a good question. Just remember no one is your friend in the car buying or selling business. Everyone is there to make/take your money. I envision the boiler room movie as an example of a car dealership.
The efforts of a salesmen usually start out amazing like a first date. After a few emails you see how little they actually do to help get a deal done.
For me the best money ever spent was on a broker. I don’t like wasting my time going back and forth with dealerships. You are better off contacting some local brokers and see what they have to offer. Good luck!
If I may add to what has already been said - Be informed. What do I mean by that? Do your research about recent deals on the car you are looking at. Know what the Residual Value (RV), Money Factor (MF) and incentives are for the vehicle. If after doing all your research you feel confident about the offer you are about to put together, request an online quote or email the internet manager with the stock # of the vehicle.
As someone stated, telling a dealer you will SIGN TODAY if they agree to your terms makes it an “easy” process for the dealership.
Being an a$$hole only takes you so far. Be courteous, honest and straight to the point.
And this is the type of dealer you want to look for, one that actually responds to what you want.(given you provide what you want and all the details) Too many of these bones heads don’t even read what you request and you get an auto response. Or my favorite, “when can you come in so we can review all the different options…(and beat you down/waste your time”. This is why I send out requests to 4 or 5 different, you’ll know really quick who wants to make a deal or who wants to play games.
Yep, I understand that profit needs to be made but I think that it’s clear from this forum that some dealerships are willing to be transparent and upfront. I guess what I’m trying to do is increase the rate at which this occurs in any way I can haha.
This is why I do everything via text. You have no clue how many people try to weasel in a lower payment or added mileage. I always just screen shot it and send it to them as proof.
I generally prefer to counterpunch. After gathering incentive data, lease programs and getting a feel for what kind of discounts are possible I will ask for a detailed quote on a particular stock unit. What I get back from them will tell me a lot about how the rest of the process is going to go. If (and that’s a BIG if) I receive some type of coherent quote back from a dealership I will point out where I feel it leaves things to be desired and send them a detailed breakdown of my proposal, showing all the important figures, estimating certain inceptions if I need to (or going off their exact figures if provided) and laying out approximately where it payment should be with tax, tags and first month at signing and also as a true sign and drive option.
Right now I’m all over the place haha. My current lease (C300) ends this month and unfortunately the dealership won’t be able to repeat the deal due to lower residuals this time around. Mainly just trying to find a good deal on something that I can make payments on for the next few years without regrets of rushing to something during these crazy COVID times. Don’t necessarily need a car when my lease expires, but figured end of year is as good a time as any to try to get something done.
I’ve considered a second Bolt EV, the Camaro deal that is very elusive, taco deals (hard to get on the west coast), etc.
I ship about 3-5 to Cali every month. If you want pricing lmk! Even with shipping people are saying they’re savings thousands and a lot of times getting 4x4 which isn’t always standard in Cali with their Tacoma’s.
