Even before COVID, I’ve never had a ton of luck asking for quotes online (and actually getting sensible numbers). Getting a hold of sales managers via email is difficult and most of the time regular sales people can’t get you a deal worth your time online. I’ve relied on finding cars that I know will result in a good deal based on incentives and MF. I prep myself at home for numbers to look for and expect. Then I go in and just drive em down on sale price. I’ve gotta really thank this community for introducing me to demo’s and loaners, it’s hard for a dealer to walk back on there “used” car price posted online.
Happy I got my E300 right before COVID hit, last January. I’d be crying if I waited till March when my Kia lease was up.
2020 kona ev limited loaner with 3200 miles. I lubed up, walked in and took it like a man. Horrible deal. Worked out at about 6% off msrp. But the buyout in 2 weeks will be around 24k and carvana is offering 30780. So I’ll drive it for 2 weeks and pocket 6-7k.
Even those of us with movers and shakers on speed dial are getting put on back burner from time to time to make way for the folks on the floor paying full pop and buying products in business office.
And yes this does lead to delays in responses and solid quotes, trade appraisals, etc.
I noticed even walking into the dealerships you need to lube up. I finally gave in and went to a few dealerships The last few weeks, getting no where. It’s the dumb consumers who don’t know price perspectives that really make it uneasy for the ones who know exactly what the price point they are willing to pay make it nearly impossible to get such a number. The only thing we have is equity in our leases and I will tell you that’s not going to last much longer. I went to autonation and they literally didn’t even give me an offer, saying the dealership offer was going to be better than theirs, I think they are staying away from paying high buyouts on leases, if anything carmax might be really setting up for a significant situation if all those tens of thousands of used cars they bought for extreme equity starts to reverse.
Well done. $6Kish in 2 weeks is quite the tidy profit! Under “normal” circumstances you’d have likely gotten a lot more than 6% off the MSRP of a Hyundai loaner, but then would be stuck with the car for the duration of the lease. You make your money when you buy, not when you sell:)
This was closer to my experience, too. Was shopping for a car in late 2018, and I would say that close to 50% of the dealers just never responded to an internet inquiry (let alone w/ pricing or “come in.” One dealership didn’t even respond to VMs.
Having a sales person you know and trust as your guy is a way to get honest, transparent, and hassle-free expereice. 90% of my business if repeats/referals/generated from my own marketing, and they never have to deal w/ typcial dealer BS. It is crazy to me there are so many bad places and lack of pros in our business continuing to give us a bad name! I mean I do everything I can to make sure I am helping eradicate that negative stigma in the business!
I feel your pain, but I was getting prices via email and phone. The bigger problem was/is no one is able to give any kind of pre-incentive discount, meaning you’re just paying MSRP. Any “deal” you can get is just down to what incentives you qualify for. Although unprofessional, I feel many sales peeps are overloaded with emails and probably not inclined to reply to price requests if they aren’t able to do anything. Also, many dealers are price-gauging up the hole right now. Prices listed on the website may not be the actual price if you go to see the car in-person.
Honestly, a lot of times it’s the desk management that make it hard for some sales people. Some will complain about doing numbers, especially leases for people their are not at the dealership. This makes it hard for them to get good lease figures for someone not there. I used to work at an archaic place like this. Not saying this is 100% the case.
Since I started my post in the marketplace I’ve received multiple inquiries. I know it’s a sin to answer “what’s the payment you’re looking for” here but in reality it makes it a lot faster for both the consumer and dealer to do business or not. I have ghosted a couple people just because they’re not realistic with what they’re looking for and I don’t want to waste their time and my time, but also because when I present it to my manager who does the number he always asks what’s the payment the consumer is looking for. After multiple inquiries and still no “payment” sometimes the deal gets shrugged off or not prioritized and gets forgotten.
Can you be a little more specific? I can’t imagine you mean someone says “$299/mo” and you just never answer, right? You at least respond with “not realistic” or some answer akin to that, yes? I can see ghosting them if they CONTINUE to do it, but after the initial inquiry?
Weird times. Even one of the brokers responding to this thread promised a reply, then didn’t…oh well worked a deal myself.
A little of topic, but related to fact that dealers seem to be in “drivers seat…” Recently trying to replace the wife’s lease, I agreed to a somewhat higher price than I shouldn’t have (their price) as long as he didn’t mark up the manufacturers MF, his reply “Thanks for the offer. If the only way we can do business with you is to not make money on the finance, then you can always pay cash for the XT5”
Can someone (Id love to hear from a dealer) tell me how this makes sense?
