It’s getting frustrating that more and more brokers here throw stuff around like $5% of MSRP, and then give you no other information besides a link to a form that wants all your personal information in order to maybe hear back in a week with a “deal” that would have a LH score of 4 years.
I think it should be required for brokers to have at least a certain percentage of their “deals” on a calculator. It’s a few minutes of work. I feel like I am getting my data farmed and sold off as leads moreso than engaging in a good faith conversation to lead to a transaction. I get the market isn’t what it used to be, but everyone used to have calculators or at least monthlys and fees listed, not “contact us for the best deals” and then ask for my full name, email, adress and cell phone.
If you have the deals all written out in front of you on paper which is what should be happening when you say “best deals on x vehicle, fill out this contact form for information”, how does it take hours to fill in 10 blank lines on the calculator?
I know this is going to get controversial commetns and brokers will be mad too, but I’ve picked up several cars through members here and its been smooth sailing until recently. Now it seems like its data farming to sell off as leads.
Read the above: “at least a certain percentage”. If you have 100 deals, no one expectes 100 calculator links although that would be extremely diligent and professional. You can put one “example” per category, brand, etc.
To not put one single calculator together for a single deal but just asking everyone for their full name, full adress, email and phone number is normal?
Multiply every vehicle, trim, brand, mileage, RV, MF, captive bank, incentive, incentive by zip code, tax/ttl by unique address. The millions of possible computations are now required. Repeat every month and for every car brand.
You could have read where I said a certain percentage of deals, but its easier to just argue and be sarcastic.
We all have the right to our opinion, we don’t have to all agree. Would love to hear suggestions for the issues of selling off our personal data as leads. Could make this a thread that actually is a melting pot of ideas and suggestions rather than argumentative.
No one needs sales tax, so that’s not an issue here. Brokers leave it blank as is. They also list incentives since most are dealer based. TTL is also set in their deals.
BTW, since so many are getting aggressive here and claiming its impossible to ask for a calculator:
I just want to shout out @nyclife who posts dozens of calculators and updates his threads. There are others I missed as well, but it seems like some of you make the impossible happen, while others just ask for all our personal information with not even a lick of information offered back.
The broker(s) that are asking for inquiries to be filled out before they answer anything are doing so because customers will take their calculators and try to go around them direct to the dealership, so in order to prevent this, they need customers name and info so that their dealer partners will know if someone is trying to cut the broker out of the process.
Many brokers are becoming jaded to providing calculators at all, because some people are getting brokers to price builds and otherwise with zero intention of actually buying from them, but will use their numbers to shop their own deal.
Using a brokers numbers to shop your own deal is fine, it’s a competitive marketplace, but at some point brokers can choose to do things like requiring inquiries or not sharing calcs.
As for me, I still share the calcs, but I can see why others are over it.
I also maintain a spreadsheet with updated calculators for every single model BMW makes, monthly, it takes a ton of time, it’s been viewed thousands and thousands of times, and is more of a resource for the community than anything else.
Thanks for a logical response. At the same time, can you see why its frustrating to get all our information farmed just to maybe get a response back in a week for something that is probably a terrible deal by LH standards, even in todays market. It seems like were just being data farmed. How do you address these concerns?
I’ve done multiple deals on LH, and always with transparent brokers such as yourself. Deals are done within minutes because all the data is readily available. It just seems like more and more only want our information and nothing more, with 0 transparency in their posts bedsides links to their forms for our personal information.
You’re welcome. I don’t do that, so I can’t really address it.
I will say this, as someone who does this full time, the volume is insane, but not everyone is serious, obviously, and not everyone is even in a position to buy, but those people will take up the same if not more time than people who really are ready to purchase something. Now, without being a mindreader, I don’t know who is which, but I can tell you that I recently gave someone 2 hours of time on the phone, several weeks of back and fourth with texts and emails, 3 revisions on a 330i build, only for it to all in that person telling me the car was too much and they’re not going forward. Let that happen to you X amount of times per month and you’ll want to figure out a way to ensure your leads are higher quality too.
I actually tend to agree with you.
The whole fill out a form and we will get back to you is annoying in that it leaves you at the mercy of the broker who may or may not get back to you. Versus the broker who has the information laid out so you can make the decision right then and there. I also appreciate the brokers who provide their e-mail addresses and cell phones to contact them that way. Too much reinventing the wheel going on with the need to fill out inquiry forms.
Saves me quite a bit of time versus going back and forth so I post calcs.
I will not give out my phone number though, not sure why, but the majority of cold calls I get are an absolute waste of time. Granted, this is not 100% the case, but what I’ve noticed. The people who email or message me are usually far more knowledgeable about the deal and what they are after.
Also to your point, I would think that posting your calc in advance gives you the ability to identify the tire kickers off the bat. If they are asking you what the disc is in spite of the calc being right there for them, it’s a pretty good indication that this person may be a waste of time.
I send people calcs totally complete who will still ask me what the price is for a different mileage…
Some people just don’t care/don’t use it. Remember, a lot of people here are just people who found the site and are looking for a deal, they don’t understand the mechanics of it and frankly don’t want to.
The biggest indicator of a waste of time is someone who copy/pastes the same comment in all the brokers threads.
With calcs I can make the decision if it’s too much without wasting a brokers time, but I don’t expect a customized Calc for every single car available. I use the brokers Google sheets all the time when shopping for myself, family, and friends when trying to figure out what’s possible.
I think a bigger argument could be made for requiring all advertised deals here to be 1st payment das, 0 tax, 10k miles, no loyalty, no msd. Yes we can all make the calc adjustments but the advertised price is always way less and click-baity compared to the real price when these things are adjusted. I can’t imagine anyone ever gets the advertised price.
Yeah I mean i’m of the mindset of “trust but verify” so I’ll source the info on my own and plug it into my own calculator. But I do think it is helpful from the broker standpoint as well as the customer standpoint to provide the calc. Saves a lot of time for those of us who are serious and ready to pull the trigger as long as the #'s are confirmed.
