Pressure tactics never worked on me. I am by nature very soft person and I always treat those I buy a product or service from with kindness. I don’t like people who go to a restaurant and treat waiter like a cr@p. Dealer is a human, a worker, and is there to make a living. So, rather than being aggressive and go on power trip (I am the one paying you here, be my slave!), my natural inclination is to treat them with empathy. This being said, I have my red lines and when those are crossed I can become very nasty person. I will treat dealer (anyone) very aggressively if they misread my good faith and empathy and take it for weakness. I will not hesitate to walk out if dealer exercises even a bit of pressure tactics, I can do so without even saying that I am leaving (simply stand up and go), or if I notice sleazy, stupid game playing on their part (sitting you at the desk, watching you for an hour while there is no traffic, no customers to serve other than you, and I have seen this at “hot car” Mercedes dealership recently, where there was no single soul other than myself sitting at the desk and waiting for the ‘pencil’ offer).
Having tried all the different ways to work with dealerships over a span of 20+ years, I came to conclusion that going from dealer to dealer is a great waste of the time. It’s ego trip for most of them who ‘feel in control’ of situation when you are there, and I have no intention to give them a satisfaction of experience (we brought him in, wasted half his day and sent him to pound the dust, haha). I no longer do that, except in a very rare instance where I go with deliberate intention to just meet the salesrep and nothing else. I would never walk into dealership with set mind to drive off with their car, unless I closed the deal and had final numbers worked over the phone.
I think if someone has plenty of time and doesn’t mind spending the weekend visiting different dealerships that will play their usual ‘mind games’ , then going in person to shop around might be an option. But be prepared to deal with morons who will think they are PhD’s in psychology and attempt to play those notorious, futile mind games with you while there.
I almost always close my deals over the phone, apply for cred as a last step and only then go to dealership to sign papers and drive the car off their lot.
My 2 cents.
1 Like