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Use the power of the market to make a deal

Discussion in 'Dealers & Pricing' started by BikerDude, May 28, 2006.

  1. BikerDude

    BikerDude Junior Member

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    B) My wife and I had done enough test driving and research to know what we wanted, a Barcelona Red #3 with gray interior. Rather than visit dealer after dealer to try to get a good price, and haggle it down by a few hundred dollars, we used the power of the market to make a deal.

    I set up a special e-mail account, and used it to send messages to the Internet sales departments of every Toyota dealer within 100 mile radius. I told them exactly what I wanted and didn't want, that we wouldn't have a trade-in, didn't require financing, and didn't want sales tax to be considered as part of the pricing (our search included dealers in 5 states). I gave a deadline for proposals and on that day I collected the messages and closed the account.

    Most dealers didn't reply, one insisted on doing business in-person, and a few came back with offers. The best offer was $1200 below MSRP. I signed the sales agreement the next day (via fax) and we'll be picking up the car on Tuesday, a short 4 weeks after placing the order.

    I think it's a great way to work. The salesman we ended up connecting with understood that he had only one chance to make the deal. I didn't waste his time and he didn't waste mine. We've talked on the phone maybe a half dozen times, for less than five minutes at a time. I think he's happy with the sale, and so are we.

    -Doug
     
    #1 BikerDude, May 28, 2006
  2. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    Location:
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    2005 Prius
    This is the same strategy used by the "Carbargains" service from Consumer Checkbook. They do the work for you for a price ($160). I didn't bother to use it when purchasing either of our Priuses, as at the time I figured the best price was MSRP, but I did use it recently when I bought my sister a Subaru Legacy GT Limited. I paid $2000 under invoice, or around $4300 off sticker. I've also used it several times in the past when buying new cars. It's less hassle and always gets you a better price. I don't know why you'd ever want to take the normal route and talk to a salesman. I've told many friends about this technique and the Carbargains service and in every case they saved hundred over the best deal they had been able to negotiate with a salesman, and there was no negotiating and no hassle. Can't imagine why you'd want to buy a car any other way, except ignorance.
     
    #2 priusenvy, May 28, 2006
  3. billboe

    billboe New Member

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    I just sent out a bunch of these messages (see below)... When possible, I sent them to email addresses (a few bounced and some didn't seem to have email addresses published), faxes, and webforms. We'll see how many responses I get (if any!?!?)... Any comments on my message that I sent?

    BTW, it was pretty time consuming to collect all the dealer info from the toyota website... They only seem to show 4 dealers at once and you have to keep plugging in different zips or cities. Then if you want an email address you have to dig on each website. Hopefully it was worth it!?!?!


    Wish me luck!

    Billboe...

    --
     
    #3 billboe, Jun 11, 2006
  4. tacomel

    tacomel New Member

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    I did very similar to you (sent Thursday night) and was successful in finding two Priuses, "hers" which we picked up on Saturday, and mine which is expected any day now.

    My only comment is that to some degree, this e-mail reminds me of when I received when doing software sales - a small number of potential buyers would e-mail in a spreadsheet or something and request that it be filled out. The length of this varied but I always interpreted this to mean that I was dealing with someone who was too lazy to actually visit the website and see that the most basic things they were asking about were stated right there in big letters. The worst were when I had to fill out "name of product" as one of the items. Generally we didn't respond to these, and did so grudgingly when we did.

    I suspect the situation is different here because you're dealing with a big ticket purchase and not an inexpensive software program, and you have already demonstrated some knowledge of the product by mentioning colors and packages. One thing I will mention is that I did get greatest success in responses to those posts where I searched the new inventory via the website, and put in my message something like "I was interested to know if the {color} Prius #{number} listed in your inventory as stock number {whatever} is available or is pre-sold." This personalized it a little bit. I also don't know if asking for the VIN up front is useful, so unless you're going to do something with it, that might be overkill.

    Final advice: if you do get offers, be sure to follow up with your finalist(s) over the phone. For me it seemed like the whole e-mail concept was something just recently added even to the larger dealerships - e.g. received an e-mail from another salesman at the same dealership, from the same apparently personalized e-mail address, AFTER I had already put down a deposit with a different salesman. Either way, it's worth it to make sure you're comfortable with their verbal communication skills too.

    In any case, I hope that you are successful and suspect that you will be. Good luck!
     
    #4 tacomel, Jun 12, 2006
  5. billboe

    billboe New Member

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    Well... I was successful! I received about 25 responses and 4 had cars available... Only one had the package I was interested in (Courtesy Motors in Berlin, VT). I ended up buying at MSRP but they gave me a decent price for my trade-in (a vehicle that the market isn't the best for). I do like a deal (below MSRP) but I'm happy anyway! :)

    Brad was the salesman and he was very good. The process was painless...

    If anyone is interested I can pass along the info on the other Prius'... They are all in either NH or VT...

    Also, I have a pretty good list of dealers in the VT, NH, MA area that I compiled from the Toyota.com site...


    Billboe
     
    #5 billboe, Jun 17, 2006
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