If you were buying a new car tomorrow...

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Some people just don't feel comfortable haggling..when I customer wants to haggle with me..I reduce the price if I know they're going to shop around because I'd be a hypocrit if I didn't. My favorite thing to haggle on is the nightly rate of a hotel room during the off-season..wow..it's like taking candy from a baby..

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Interesting. That's one of the reasons I wouldn't shop for a Saturn. I feel that, from the beginning, I'm being cut of of potential savings.

Well, the way I look at it is that the "savings" you're talking about are built into the price from the get-go, so some people succeed in knocking down the dealer-inflated prices better than others. I may or may not get the best price, but I don't want to have to worry about it when dropping twenty grand. With Saturn, the price is there for you to read with your two eyes, and if you don't like it, go try to "out-bargain" the dealers, who's JOB it is to negotiate with customers to make them feel like they're getting good deals/out-negotiating the dealer.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Well, the way I look at it is that the "savings" you're talking about are built into the price from the get-go, so some people succeed in knocking down the dealer-inflated prices better than others. I may or may not get the best price, but I don't want to have to worry about it when dropping twenty grand. With Saturn, the price is there for you to read with your two eyes, and if you don't like it, go try to "out-bargain" the dealers, who's JOB it is to negotiate with customers to make them feel like they're getting good deals/out-negotiating the dealer.

To each, his own...I guess.

 

[drjeff]

To each, his own...I guess.

I will admit to enjoying the negotiation phase and getting up atleast once or twice and walking out of the dealership before I sign the purchase agreement

 

[riverc0il]

I will admit to enjoying the negotiation phase and getting up atleast once or twice and walking out of the dealership before I sign the purchase agreement

I have always wanted to do that but have never been in a position to. My current car they already knocked down the stick 20% to move the car (that was a second knock down from 15% down to 20% when I was unsure on things) and our most recent combined car, S's car was shot, they had inspected it, and knew we were in a bit of a desperate situation (the car barely even made it to the dealership for inspection for trade in value).

No haggle is really cool if you don't want to worry about haggling. If you are good at haggling and do your research, you may save a few extra hundred bucks by haggling. If you don't enjoy and are not good at haggling and not good at doing research, you may pay a few extra bucks with a non-haggle dealership like Saturn but you may save a few hundred bucks by not being taken for sticker price at a regular dealership.

In reference to Saturn in particular, no one should avoid Saturn's specifically because of the no haggle. You just have to avoid new Saturn's. I have found they haggle quite a bit on their used models, especially if you catch them at the end of the month with a car that has been sitting on the lot for way too long.

All that said, having owned two Saturn's... they have been excellent but if I were buying a new car tomorrow, it would not be a Saturn. IMO, Saturn has really gone downhill. GMC took an interesting car company doing something different and redesigned it to look like everybody else. A big "whatever" to that. Saturn coupes and sedans have been getting 35 MPG since the company's inception. I don't think they have a car in their current line up that gets more than 30, including their hybrid. Not to mention the entire lineup looks fugly.

 

[campgottagopee]

I will admit to enjoying the negotiation phase and getting up atleast once or twice and walking out of the dealership before I sign the purchase agreement

I enjoy guys like you

 

[drjeff]

I enjoy guys like you

Notice how I didn't say that it has actually done me anygood

Actually the guy that owns the dealership where I buy my cars from (my wife's a different story) is a good friend(and patient) of mine, so he knows that if he screws me over, I'll hurt him the next time he's in my office Actually the last time I bought a new car, it was at year end, and even though I was ready to take delivery on December 30th, the wouldn't let me buy the car until January 2nd, since he knew that the financing rates that GMAC were offering at the time would have been 3.9% if I bought on December 30th, but were going to drop to 0% after January 1st! Saved me a bit of $$ by doing that. Basically he told me that he wouldn't sell me the car before the 1st of the year and that when I found out the reason why that I'd be thanking him, and he was right.

 

[campgottagopee]

Notice how I didn't say that it has actually done me anygood

Actually the guy that owns the dealership where I buy my cars from (my wife's a different story) is a good friend(and patient) of mine, so he knows that if he screws me over, I'll hurt him the next time he's in my office Actually the last time I bought a new car, it was at year end, and even though I was ready to take delivery on December 30th, the wouldn't let me buy the car until January 2nd, since he knew that the financing rates that GMAC were offering at the time would have been 3.9% if I bought on December 30th, but were going to drop to 0% after January 1st! Saved me a bit of $$ by doing that. Basically he told me that he wouldn't sell me the car before the 1st of the year and that when I found out the reason why that I'd be thanking him, and he was right.

Funny you say that because my dentist is a customer of ours too. I always know when he's ready for a new car, because the "pain" threats always come out. You know what, they work!!!!

Sounds like you've got a good dealer there.....actually, most are in todays market. Each customer is too important not to take the ALL serious.

 

[wa-loaf]

Funny you say that because my dentist is a customer of ours too. I always know when he's ready for a new car, because the "pain" threats always come out. You know what, they work!!!!

Sounds like you've got a good dealer there.....actually, most are in todays market. Each customer is too important not to take the ALL serious.

What do you think of the edmunds quotes. do you usually give your best offer through those?

When I bought my Outback, there were 4 subi dealers nearby, I got decent offers from all of them. But the best was about 2k below (listed) dealer invoice. I gave all the others a chance to beat it, but all I got was lame "we'll match it and throw in free tires for life". I went with the first best offer and was very happy with the dealer and their service. Anchor Subaru for anyone in the RI, SE Mass area. I'm sorry I've moved a little too far away to go there for service.

 

[drjeff]

Funny you say that because my dentist is a customer of ours too. I always know when he's ready for a new car, because the "pain" threats always come out. You know what, they work!!!!

Sounds like you've got a good dealer there.....actually, most are in todays market. Each customer is too important not to take the ALL serious.

Aren't we all just trying to fight sterotypical images

 

[campgottagopee]

What do you think of the edmunds quotes. do you usually give your best offer through those?

When I bought my Outback, there were 4 subi dealers nearby, I got decent offers from all of them. But the best was about 2k below (listed) dealer invoice. I gave all the others a chance to beat it, but all I got was lame "we'll match it and throw in free tires for life". I went with the first best offer and was very happy with the dealer and their service. Anchor Subaru for anyone in the RI, SE Mass area. I'm sorry I've moved a little too far away to go there for service.

Actually, Edmunds, KBB, Cars.com or any other 3rd psrt site have made (I feel) my job easier. When people know our cost, incentives etc. all that's left to negotiate is what is a fair proffit for us to make. Our internet dept pricing is $200.00 over invoice less all incentives. That pricing is aggressive in todays market and and excellent price for the service we provide our customers. If people ask for a better price we'll sell our dealership's services and kindly let them know there will be no hard feelings if they chose to purchase elsewhere. Very few people will "sell us down the road" for $100.00 bucks. There's an old saying that sales sells the first car and service sells the rest.

 

[campgottagopee]

Aren't we all just trying to fight sterotypical images

How true is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[wa-loaf]

Actually, Edmunds, KBB, Cars.com or any other 3rd psrt site have made (I feel) my job easier. When people know our cost, incentives etc. all that's left to negotiate is what is a fair proffit for us to make. Our internet dept pricing is $200.00 over invoice less all incentives. That pricing is aggressive in todays market and and excellent price for the service we provide our customers. If people ask for a better price we'll sell our dealership's services and kindly let them know there will be no hard feelings if they chose to purchase elsewhere. Very few people will "sell us down the road" for $100.00 bucks. There's an old saying that sales sells the first car and service sells the rest.

Amazing what a little information will do. I'm sure buyers in most cases walk away much happier these days.

 

[campgottagopee]

Amazing what a little information will do. I'm sure buyers in most cases walk away much happier these days.

Absolutely!!!! There's nothing wrong with making a profit, and people want us to, but it just needs to be fair for everyone involved. Just wish more retail industry would put it out there for the public to see. Could you imagine if ski manufacturers had their pricing available???? You talk about profit, I'd love to make 200% or something crazy like that.

 

[wa-loaf]

Absolutely!!!! There's nothing wrong with making a profit, and people want us to, but it just needs to be fair for everyone involved. Just wish more retail industry would put it out there for the public to see. Could you imagine if ski manufacturers had their pricing available???? You talk about profit, I'd love to make 200% or something crazy like that.

lol . . . Ski Market probably make more off of a $800 pair of skis than you do on $25,000 car. Maybe you should open up a ski shop on the side to boost the bottom line.

 

[campgottagopee]

lol . . . Ski Market probably make more off of a $800 pair of skis than you do on $25,000 car. Maybe you should open up a ski shop on the side to boost the bottom line.

Percentage wise they most certainly do!!!! I'll look into that ski shop idea though:lol:

 

[dmc]

There's an old saying that sales sells the first car and service sells the rest.

Yup.. A good service dept is paramount to the deal..
I asked to check out the one at the VW dealer I bought from...Met the manager... Checked it out.. Nice operation.. I think...

 

[campgottagopee]

Yup.. A good service dept is paramount to the deal..
I asked to check out the one at the VW dealer I bought from...Met the manager... Checked it out.. Nice operation.. I think...

actually intro to service has become part of our sales process here. People need to know we have service loaners, that there's wireless in our waiting room, that we wash their car after every service. We get premium dollar/hr in our service dept., so people should get premium treatment.

I'm sure you have a good place where you're at---you can tell right away just on how a place looks and feels.

 

[dmc]

actually intro to service has become part of our sales process here. People need to know we have service loaners, that there's wireless in our waiting room, that we wash their car after every service. We get premium dollar/hr in our service dept., so people should get premium treatment.

I'm sure you have a good place where you're at---you can tell right away just on how a place looks and feels.

It's smaller then the Subaru dealer... But it seemed clean..

they introduced me to some service guy - but i asked to go into the shop..

 

[drjeff]

actually intro to service has become part of our sales process here. People need to know we have service loaners, that there's wireless in our waiting room, that we wash their car after every service. We get premium dollar/hr in our service dept., so people should get premium treatment.

I'm sure you have a good place where you're at---you can tell right away just on how a place looks and feels.

I hope the wireless in your service area lounge (atleast that's what they call it at the dealership where I get the service done on my car) is less website restricted than where I go I was in there about 3 weeks ago having some routine stuff done, and when I went to fire up the laptop, practically the only websites that weren't moderator blocked were chevy.com and the dealership's own website That was actually the only negative comment I had when the company that does followup consumer satisfaction monitoring called and asked me about my visit for service. Here I was expecting to be able to do a little AZ surfing as my car was being taken care of, and because I was the third person in the customer lounge that AM, I had lost control of the TV remote was stuck with The View on the tube for an hour uke: