Car salesman?

[robin]

Any car salesman on here?

[f6john]

I tried it once, didn’t last 90 days. A really low point in my life, I usually don’t ever tell anyone.

[Rugerbear]

I was for a while. Then opened a business managing and ordering new vehicles for multiple dealerships.

[Jess from VA]

Anyone ever fart in Church?   

Sold a lot of my old cars and a couple bikes, long ago.  My dad told me to be completely honest about it, so I was. 

[Psychotic Bovine]

Ever been in a Turkish prison?

[..]

No one has asked why?

Nor was there a reason given for asking!

[cookiedough]

I tried it once, didn’t last 90 days. A really low point in my life, I usually don’t ever tell anyone.

got you beat,  30 days ONLY, I quit.

[henry 008]

Never was a car salesman, but I did sell Kirby Vacuum cleaners door to door in Davenport, Iowa 1979-1980.  

[robin]

No one has asked why?

Nor was there a reason given for asking!

Just looking for tips on buying a new car what to look for in the price they pay not the msrp.

[..]

No one has asked why?

Nor was there a reason given for asking!

Just looking for tips on buying a new car what to look for in the price they pay not the msrp.

I was just reading this.

https://thehill.com/business/3934301-new-cars-have-become-luxury-items/

Good luck.

[G-Man]

No one has asked why?

Nor was there a reason given for asking!

Just looking for tips on buying a new car what to look for in the price they pay not the msrp.

Sold Pontiac in a previous life.  The price the dealer pays for a car is called the Invoice price, or "tissue".

The costs that go into that invoice price is what they factory charges, delivery of the car to the dealer (sometimes added on later to bring down the initial cost but you always pay), a % of the cost of the car gets paid into the local advertising thingies like Tri-State Chevy Dealers, or Metro Honda Dealers Assoc. etc.  Also, the dealer doesn't own the cars on the lot, yet.  They finance them so the longer they sit, the more it costs the dealer.

The difference between Invoice and MSRP becomes greater as the price of the car goes up.  Much less of a "profit" on a Tercel compared to a Forerunner.  The %'s are all over the place, though.

I bought my last 2 cars using Truecar.  But that was before the chip shortage and the rest of the nonsense.  True car gives you a few choices of actual cars at the dealership and a price that they've already agreed to sell it to you for plus a $75 paperwork fee.  When I bought the Challenger, it went smooth as silk.  They honored the True car price which was the best price by far that I got after visiting 3 dealerships.  The Honda was a different story.  The dealership honored the Truecar price, but then started adding delivery, prep, etc on top of the $75.  I got up to leave twice before they finally honored the Truecar deal, which was the best by far again.

[scoobydoo]

Good luck, when I purchased my new truck last June it was MSRP not a penny more or less. Some Dealers were adding additional price due to shortage.

[f6john]

The thing I have noticed is no one advertises price anymore, sometimes payments on the cheapest car they can offer. It’s more like if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. In my case I know I can’t afford it so no need to even show up! Apparently the new system works, I see a lot of new cars with temporary tags every day.

[Psychotic Bovine]

Good luck, when I purchased my new truck last June it was MSRP not a penny more or less. Some Dealers were adding additional price due to shortage.

Same here.  Wanted to buy a 2022 Tacoma, both local dealers added $5000 to the price.  One email to a dealer just 50 miles away and they sold me what I wanted for MSRP.  I had to wait a bit, since there were none in the area I liked, but I got exactly what I wanted.  Patience pays off.

[cookiedough]

yah, the days of buying at INVOICE pricing give or take a few hundred either way are long gone.  Any new car today will be around full MSRP.  Anyone who pays OVER full msrp is foolish IMO. 

Dealers are getting to be rip off artists adding 3-5K extra add ons they require you to pay above full MSRP for items added that cost very little cost to them to do, pure profit.  99% of them will NOT delete the add ons either, so I keep looking and walk away.

[Rams]

Patience pays off.

The last new vehicle I bought took me about 4 months to get the deal done.   Luckily for me, the vehicle I wanted was not the vehicle most folks want.   In fact, it was a special order another man had put a down payment on and then something happened and the deal fell through.   Regardless, the truck was precisely what I would have ordered.   As I said, it took about 4 months to get it done but they finally made a deal.   The dealership manager said to me as I got the keys, "You do realize you got one hell of a deal on that truck, the salesman nor I will make a penny on it.   We just needed to move it off the lot." 

Told him it was exactly what I was looking for and at the price I was willing to pay.   Yes, patience pays off.

Rams

[Jess from VA]

Before the supply chain mess, I bought a Dodge Promaster 2500 (nicely optioned up) in 2018.

A 2017 model dealer demo with 600 miles on it.  My salesman was a young vet, just off tours in the sandbox, and as nice and honest as could be.  This was surprising and refreshing and had a lot to do with me buying anything at all.  (My minty, low mile Dodge Intrepid SXT, which was all I really needed, had developed a bad gremlin that left me stranded several times, and although I knew it could be fixed eventually, I no longer trusted it.  This dealer's service people were scratching their heads about it while I was looking at their trucks).  He said he had put the whole 600 miles on it, and there were no troubles with it.  When he found out I was also a vet, he went to town and found me 5 or 6 discounts.  The sticker was around $37.5K, and I paid $26.5K, with a personal check.  Today, if you can find one, they go for around $48K.  

I love this truck and the whole deal was quite fortuitous.  It's a monster, but drives just like a car, except for the jumbo size.  Last 4 wheeler I should ever need.  I have had no problem at all with it, except the two drains in the windshield wiper channel above the hood keep getting clogged up and need blown out with a compressor.  I wanted to put the factory fog lights on it, but passed when quoted well over a $1K.

Just last week, I got to use it as an actual truck for the first time, when I had a big load of bagged stone just dropped into the side door on a pallet with a front loader, instead of my using back (though the offloading at home was all back power, one by one.  But I was able to drive it right next to the work).

I do not know the tricks to discovering dealer cost vs sales price (and mark up practices), but it seems likely the interweb would have a lot of information about that.



With a 20 inch floor (lowest in the industry, because of front wheel drive) a big Valk will go right in the back (with ramp and chock) and heavy duty tie downs up and down both sides of the floor.  With fore and aft positioning, I believe two Valks could go in there.

My only upgrades are having the very slippery painted floor sprayed with Rhino liner and throwing an old beater recliner chair in back for extra seating and a place to sleep on trips.  

[cookiedough]

If looking for INVOICE price,  I have always just asked the dealer to show me the invoice.  The few I have asked have always showed me the invoice paper they got so I can see what they 'mostly' got the vehicle for.  I use to be the wholesale clerk for GMAC financing dealing with dealer's wholesale floorplan and looked at invoices daily for 6 years before they closed our branch office in the early 1990's.  The markup now vs. then from invoice to msrp has gone down a lot so the profit margin for dealers has decreased as well.  There is a dealer holdback amount on that invoice as well I believe that the dealers can use for filling up cars with gas before delivery that you could try pinching the dealer as well more off full msrp, but like said, nowadays, unless the vehicle has been on the lot say 5 months (long time), I doubt many dealers with go below full msrp nowadays on a new vehicle.  

Backed when I worked for GM,  buying new vehicles was easy.  It was the GM employee discount (set price) which was around 18-20% off full msrp and was below dealer invoice pricing, plus get any rebates/incentives as well.  A few chevy silverado's I kept buying new every 1 year since in the 1990's they were hot sellers and I could keep the vehicle 1 year and trade it in for a new one for what I paid for it 1 year ago trade in price.  That only lasted in the 1990's though back in GM's heyday.  Since I no longer get the GM employee discount since 2008 when dad passed (he worked for GM plant),  I know the GM employee discount has been greatly reduced and GM every now and again use to offer GM employee purchase pricing to EVERYONE.    Pretty sure those days are long gone as well.

buying any vehicle nowadays seems to be a rip off with the low inventory and high pricing on the lot whether new or used.  My 2014 sonata 118K miles a few years ago was worth say 8-9K, now I have seen them used like mine going for over 11K. Price paid new in 2014 was 17.7K.  My kids old 2004 pontiac vibe I bought 6 years ago with 104K miles for 4K used.  Now, that same car with 166K miles is still worth 3500 easily today.  

I know one thing which is my opinion only.  If new car pricing continues to increase the way they have been past few years,  very shortly NO ONE will be buying new vehicles, especially the ones costing 50K on up which seems to be the majority of pricing on new vehicles nowadays.  I priced out a new 2022 tundra SR5 msrp was pushing 49K msrp very similar equipped SR5 I bought at full msrp on 2021 tundra I have now was 43K.  A 6K msrp to msrp price increase on a similar equipped SR5 tundra 1 year ALL NEW design is STUPID high.  msrp's use to go up say 300-500 bucks per year tops, now it seems 1000's more year to year.  Not many of us am sure can or want to spend over 50 grand on a new vehicle ever. 

Even one guy I sometimes watch on youtube does tundra videos reviewing them traded in recently his near 70K 2022 tundra decked out platinum series for a new 2023 tundra SR5 mid-level equipped for pushing 60K saying the pricing cannot be justified blowing 70K on a purchase, even he cannot justify making a large purchase like that, and am sure he is more loaded than most of us are. 

[Chrisj CMA]

Normally I tell young car buyers never do a trade in because they make it sound good but it costs you. There is an exception however,  if you have a vehicle that would be very hard or impossible to sell ie it’s old or very high mileage, maybe kinda ugly. If the dealership is willing to take it in and you don’t feel it’s a total rip off then it’s probably worth it. Otherwise sell your old car and use the cash for a down payment. The other good move is to secure a very low interest loan (if available) from your bank and avoid dealership financing. Just don’t tell them you have financing until the end, after there is paperwork printed already. They might say the negotiated price is only good with their financing. Just say ok then and start to walk away. Chances are they won’t let you get to the door and will accept your financing.

[..]

They might say the negotiated price is only good with their financing. Just say ok then and start to walk away. Chances are they won’t let you get to the door and will accept your financing.

Yep. Don't get so emotionally invested in a vehicle.

[Rams]

Normally I tell young car buyers never do a trade in because they make it sound good but it costs you. There is an exception however,  if you have a vehicle that would be very hard or impossible to sell ie it’s old or very high mileage, maybe kinda ugly. If the dealership is willing to take it in and you don’t feel it’s a total rip off then it’s probably worth it. Otherwise sell your old car and use the cash for a down payment.

The last time I traded, my vehicle was a high mileage 3/4 Ton, 2WD tow vehicle.   They really didn't want it.   Told the dealership that I understood they would simply send it to the auction but, I didn't care, if they wanted to sell me the new truck, it was part of the deal.   I didn't want to mess around with trying to sell it.   They took it.

Rams