"Think car dealers are a pain? Try working with car buyers. If buyers see the stereotypical dealer as a hustler who's partial to false promises and esoteric pricing, the dealer sees the typical customer as a grouchy opportunist who will dicker for an entire afternoon, then take a quote down the street to see if a rival dealer can beat it. "

-- business2.com

ok, I'll bite.. in what context was that quote made..... I have walked away from dealerships because the salesman kept pushing "extras" on me or kept promising a great deal.. I've always done research before setting foot on the lot, I know what I want and what I don't what. I let the sales person (cringing at being P.C.) know what I want.. I politley remind them of what I want when they push extras. The second time they do it, I thank them for there time and walk away. When dealing with thousands of dollars and years of payments... darn straight I'm going to look for the best deal. And this from a salesman.

Dwight

I don't know about the context. I found it on the newsfeed.

When ever I am involved in a deal, I simply ask to see their invoice for the car. I also say that I will not pay anything over INVOICE + $500. That assures their overhead costs and commissions are paid. If you also mention something about the fact that the salesman only makes around $100 per deal, they are usually willing to make it a fast easy process. Just mention that you want to make the deal as painless as possible so you can just leave with a car.

If the car is from the previous model-year... you can usually get the car for the invoice price.

Never never never never pay MSRP.

Ahh, the old Supply / Demand interface problems.

Whilst I agree with what you've posted, I would like to interject a saying I've heard amongst other Sales types:

The Value of an item IS that Value that it brings when sold.

Although it sounds as though it's repeating itself it isn't. The value of an item is determined at the time of the sale and if you aren't willing to pay that value, then that item doesn't have THAT amount of value to you.

But put something up to which you attach a lot of value and suddenly all bets are off.

The discussion on zcar.com regarding whether the Nissan dealers should or should not, whether they will or won't and is it legal or not regarding selling the new 350Z at / above / below MSRP; is nothing but an exercise in creative bitching.

The bottom line is always going to be this, if you don't want to pay a dollar over invoice for an item, as long as there isn't someone who IS willing to pay that, then you can buy the item for the invoice price. But if there are people who ARE willing to pay OVER the invoice price, then you will have to wait until the price comes back to what you want, or do without, or pay the going rate.

Good old Supply and Demand.

Well put!

Ask any Harley-Davidson dealer...

2002 V-Rod: MSRP $16,900, actual selling price in California $20,000-$22,000 (& up).

L8-R

'Fink

Or anyone who bought a new Beetle the first year, or a Miata, or S2000, the list goes on and on.......

I've paid window sticker for all of my new Rams. But my dealer gives me a lot more for my trades, so in the end I pay the same difference. A lot of it is in how the dealer wants to show his profits when it comes down to it the bottom line.