This "One Price" / "No Negotiation" is Getting Tiring

[07Burb]

LOL....must not be too hard up for sales if their willing to pass up a solid cash offer. Some times I wonder if paying cash actually hinders the bargaining power because they make some much money off people who finance their vehicles a lot of times unless it's 0%, of course. lol

 

[yates ™]

LOL....must not be too hard up for sales if their willing to pass up a solid cash offer. Some times I wonder if paying cash actually hinders the bargaining power because they make some much money off people who finance their vehicles a lot of times unless it's 0%, of course. lol

Absolutely they would rather you finance through them then pay cash. They are paid by the lending institution as long as you keep the loan for X amount of months. 0% I am not sure but I am sure they are getting incentive from somewhere.

If you guys think a dealership stays a float from just the Vehicle transaction you may want to do some research as to how they actually make money, it may help your negotiations.

 

[WillCO]

Good Afternoon,

I have been looking for a new Tahoe recently and a couple of dealers have the "one price" offering.

This seems very odd and not something any buyer would be interested in doing.

I have seen Tahoes sitting on lots for months and they will not reduce the price or take any offers.

They are clearly paying interest on these vehicles. One would think they would want to clear these off of their lots and stop the interest charges and free up cash.

Has anyone else run into this lately and thoughts?

I see it, but more so on the BMW side. The largest BMW dealer in Colorado is a one-price dealer and they will indeed not move a dime. To their credit, they are very transparent on the incentives. A few years ago when the pricing and incentive information was easier to come by on the BMW forum I found that this dealer was indeed using every lever available to them to lower the customer price. So, I guess there are some manifestations of that model that work better than others.

I bought my Tahoe the old fashioned way, I found some good quotes from nationwide dealers like Laura and Al Serra, then carried those into my local dealers, established myself as an immediate-term buyer, and asked them to come as close as they could to those prices. In the end, the dealer that did the best happened to be the one closest to me in town, which was sort of nice. And they were close enough on the price for a plane ticket and a 600 mile drive to not make sense.

I doubt my experience is typical anymore though.

 

[TheMaineEvent]

A couple car guys I know say that offering cash isn't really an incentive anymore. Perhaps it still works with a used car dealer, but the large dealers don't care if you pay cash or not.
Personally, I like the no haggle price. Saves me a lot of grief going back and forth. The last car I bought, before the Tahoe, I got the dealer to throw in some oil changes and service work so I felt happy. The dealer I bought the Tahoe from, Avis, doesn't service vehicles and they really are a no haggle seller, but I feel they're aggressively priced. They want to move their vehicles, not sit on them.

 

[RST Dana]

Good Afternoon,

I have been looking for a new Tahoe recently and a couple of dealers have the "one price" offering.

This seems very odd and not something any buyer would be interested in doing.

I have seen Tahoes sitting on lots for months and they will not reduce the price or take any offers.

They are clearly paying interest on these vehicles. One would think they would want to clear these off of their lots and stop the interest charges and free up cash.

Has anyone else run into this lately and thoughts?

Wherever you located? My dealer is in Cincinnati. Real easy to work with.

 

[sneasle]

With the suburban I just bought, I was surprised how easy the negotiation went. Gave the vehicle a good looking over, ran my mental calculator for the issues I saw, and offered them a price. They took it without any fuss, which makes me wonder if should of gone lower.

I agree that the ‘all cash’ offer on new vehicles is probably less likely to move the needle on price due to all the incentives associated with financing and trade-ins. For used vehicles, especially ones that are old enough or have enough miles that they are harder to finance directly, ‘all cash’ can really accelerate a deal. I think it did in my case...

 

[WillCO]

Absolutely they would rather you finance through them then pay cash.

+1. I walked in to buy this Tahoe with a credit letter from my credit union - for intents and purposes that is a blank check where the dealer can write in their name and the amount and the CU funds the loan the next day. Essentially a cash deal.

The dealer's finance manager spent 15 minutes trying to convince me to use her financing instead, even though the terms weren't quite as good. She actually told me that doing so would be "a great help to the dealership." She must have been behind on her quota.

 

[ChrisYukon]

+1. I walked in to buy this Tahoe with a credit letter from my credit union - for intents and purposes that is a blank check where the dealer can write in their name and the amount and the CU funds the loan the next day. Essentially a cash deal.

The dealer's finance manager spent 15 minutes trying to convince me to use her financing instead, even though the terms weren't quite as good. She actually told me that doing so would be "a great help to the dealership." She must have been behind on her quota.

My answer would have been "What will you do for me if I get a loan from you?" (I'd be looking for them to take more off the price.)

Usually, there is an incentive paid to the dealer for using the manufacturer's financing. When I bought my wife's Toyota, there was actually an incentive for NOT using dealer financing. We took that route - then shared that incentive with the dealer. (They got $300, I got $450.)

 

[Ilikemtb999]

My counter to this, is haggling as a buyer has also become a lost art.

I no longer do haggling if I'm trying to sell something on craigslist, facebook, etc. The sheer number of people that start off with a 50% offer, planning to go up to maybe 60% is wild. Or the folks where we chat and chat and chat, agree on a price, then they show up with the "I only brought this much $$" excuse is extremely frustrating. That and you have the folks who don't even put forth the effort - they expect me to compete against myself and propose to them, a price. There's haggling, and there's just being a *****. I've yet to encounter the former, which is a real pity.

I can't speak to the business decision to discontinue the art of negotiation, but on my end: It's proven to be both a waste of time, and a slap in the face. I post something for sale with a price attached. That's what I expect to get for it. If I wanted less, then I would have posted it for less. I am not your coupon.



Perhaps I have an unpopular opinion here, but I've officially been broken by the system.

Or the famous, “best price?” Or “lowest you’ll go?”

I usually ignore those people on CL or counter with my full asking price. I usually price CL stuff like 30% higher assuming I’ll get lowball offers but some people outdo themselves. I wonder how many years till people just ask for it for free.

 

[Garandman]

We pay cash but don’t mention it up front, as others have mentioned thinking they can make some money in financing may help the deal.

It all depends on what you're buying. When I bought my Subaru I was in shock about the lack of negotiation... being a craigslist and GM guy most of my life I expect to show up with a *** of cash and save a good chunk of money.

Subaru has the distinction of being the brand with the highest percentage of cash buyers. To cater to that, they keep down the MSRP and dealer margins especially compared to brands that do a lot of leases.

In New England you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Subaru dealer and they do a lot of volume so pricing is aggressive. Alaska Subaru dealerships are notorious for holding you hostage. There is at least one dealership in Washington that caters to “Fly and Buys.”

http://www.cars101.com/alaskasubaru.html