I’m in CT and reached out to AutoNinja, Real Drive, and a local lease broker I found on Google to try to beat an existing lease offer I already have. I contacted them by text, email, and Instagram.
AutoNinja asked three basic questions and then stopped responding. I followed up and my message was seen but ignored. Real Drive never responded to my text or email, and their messaging system does not allow messages longer than one sentence. The local broker never replied as well.
I shared my budget, terms, and any incentives upfront. I also have a clear idea of the vehicle and structure I want to make it easier for everybody. I’ve also test driven the cars and got pretty good idea what I want.
Is this typical broker behavior, or am I approaching this incorrectly?
If you told them you were looking to have an offer beat, that would do it in terms of non-response. Strong possibility you would just take their better offer and take it back to the dealer to match/beat.
This! But to be clear though one should absolutely explain why they will not entertain such a proposition and let the chips fall where they may.
When you operate on a volume model, You offer your best pricing upfront to save both your prospective clients and yourself time.
As a client, that means you take the deal or you don’t and as a broker/salesperson “beating a local offer” when pricing is clearly posted or otherwise known more often than not results in chasing your own tail.
Fair point on volume pricing and not chasing deals. My issue isn’t even the price, it’s the communication.
If someone reaches out as a potential customer, ignoring them or shutting it down usually isn’t the best approach. Even a simple response like “our best pricing is posted on our site, Here is the link, take a look and let me know if you want to customize or have questions” would go a long way.
That keeps things efficient without burning a future customer who may come back when the timing or vehicle is right.
To clarify, this was not meant to excuse ghosting. Which was amended in my reply.
This is a process we follow when someone requests we beat a written offer on hand:
If it’s within our pricing guidelines we will gladly make our first, best and final offer and If it’s better than we can offer then we will advise to proceed.
Lots of them are unprofessional, one toyota broker refused to set up a call to close up on a vehicle. I’m not going to waste my time with a bunch of text messages with what could be resolved in a 10 or 15 minute call. It’s better and more efficient for both sides lol One of the ones you mentioned also was extremely slow to get back to basic requests they had to check on when I was ready to buy and frequently forgot to get all the answers. So yes, prefer to just work my own deals and saves me the fee. Usually can get cheaper, too. Have probably done at least a dozen by now. None with brokers, one with a dealer on here who could have been slightly better but overall was fine.
Facts. Brokers like easy deals, no questions asked. If you’re going to push them for better offers than what they’re already offering, you will be ghosted.
I think many people throw brokers in with the average car salesman/dealer…whereas there is often room for some sort of negotiation. They overlook the fact that the broker has already done the legwork lol.
That said, some brokers frequently mention “will beat any written offers.” not sure if it’s any of the ones mentioned but have definitely seen it from a few.
When the brokers don’t respond to your offer its a clear sign either the ask is unrealistic or they can’t beat your offer you already have. Either way you know you have an offer on hand and they are not interested in that deal so you should just have other dealers compete for your business if you want to use your time that way.
Brokers generally have their best offer upfront with very very little room if any to go back to the dealer and ask for more discounts after the dealer agreed to sell a car at what the broker has originally asked for.
Being a customer you might feel being ignored but you won’t believe how many times brokers get exactly what customers ask for in terms of build, price, terms and when the customer see this is possible they ghost the broker and use that to pitch those numbers to the dealers.
Well, some people on this site are salespeople. Brokers prefer easy, hassle-free deals, and I would be the same way. If you have a better deal than what I posted, why even message me?
Because some people, esp if they are new to the entire process, might not know that the broker’s listing is the “final” deal (if the broker even has such listings).
I agree. I think brokers should put that in their listings right off the bat. Most new members probably think brokers are car salesman in the actual dealership so they can fight over the best deal. Brokers get paid more than car salesman per deal. I think it is a great way to make easy money if you have the right tools and connections
The word “broker” also implies that a negotiation will go on as in you hire a real estate broker, make an offer, etc…so I think catches new people off guard when it’s more of a restaurant menu analogy experience than a negotiation.
As to the brokers that put the best price forward I have always appreciated that. The 26th of the month rolls around, partner dealer needs to move a few more units then the best price somehow gets a little better. If I grabbed a car at the best price on the 25th, I’d be mildly annoyed if it got better on the 26th.
