New Cars and Negotiations
Posted on July 1, 2006 by Ching under Life, Toys.
It seems that everyone is getting in on the new car action. Two of my coworkers bought new cars in the last month. Possibly a third will be buying a new car shortly also. Then, Annette and Mike upgraded the Tahoe to a brand spankin’ new Acura MDX. It seriously only had 8 miles in it when they drove it off the lot!
It is so fancy! It has a sunroof, a navigation system with a rear camera and it is voice activated. It has got everything you could possibly imagine! They bought it last weekend. The same weekend Brian and I bought our yet-to-be-named new car.
Of course, Annette is a really good wheeler and dealer. She learned from her mom Tommy, the expert. However, it is general consensus that Annette may have surpassed the master. She is amazing at getting the dealer to agree to the price she has set.
They were actually picking on us for paying the sticker price. I guess it is a commonly known fact that sticker price is just a suggestion. It is a starting point for negotiations. MSRP stands for manufacturer’s suggested retail price after all.
Brian and I, who are totally inexperienced at this, didn’t even know what hit us. The negotiations were over before they even began. Mom being there didn’t really help much. She was helping the car salesman more than me during the negotiations. Mom and dad both pay sticker because they’re are no hassle folks. They’re every car dealers’ dream. She did write the check to secure the car, though. We owe her big for that.
Seriously. Brian and I were at the dealership for over there hours without accomplishing anything. Dad probably spent no more than 20 minutes at the dealership each time when they bought mom’s Highlander and his Corolla. Dad likes to build his cars on the internet, tell the dealer to have it ready, and just pick it up. Like I said, no hassle.
Poor people like Brian and I have to try and negotiate in vain. We are easy targets to even the most inexperienced car salesman. Anyway, at least now I know how it works for when Brian decides to get his Yaris. That won’t be for another two years, though. Hopefully we would’ve recovered from the ass-raping by then.
Last Sunday Dill, who has worked for a car dealership before, said that that he could’ve saved us at least $1700 on the price. I wish he could’ve gone with us. Everyone who was knowledgeable about car negotiations had something else going on that weekened, though. Dill was working. Tommy had a poker tournament. Mike and Annette were buying their own car. So Brian, Mom and I had to go through it by ourselves.
It would’ve been cool to bring a whole entourage of people, though. I bet the car salesman would get so confused! LOL.
Anyway, Dill said to just enjoy the new car. I would enjoy it more if it wasn’t for that raped feeling. I seriously do not like the whole car buying experience. It is frustrating and exhausting. It leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. I’d rather get a root canal. At least when you get a root canal, insurance pays for part of the bill.
Dill jokingly said last night that I should’ve pretended not to speak any English. Most Asian people get what they want because of language barriers. The car salesman would probably just get frustrated and give in.
He said, when he give you a price just say “No! Too much!” in your heavest Asian accent. He’ll go back to his boss and then they’ll come back with another price. Again shake your head and say, “No! Too much!”
No matter what they say to try to justify the price, disregard it. Act like you don’t understand and just keeping saying no. They’ll come down on the price some more and then you go, “No! Still too much!” They might try to explain it some more but they’ll probably get frustrated at this point because you can’t understand a lick of English.
They might come down on the price some more, or they might say “Listen lady, we can’t go any lower than this! This is $100 more than invoice.” Then you should reply in the most perfect English, “Alright then. Where do we sign the paperwork?” That would be totally hilarious!
I wish it worked that way in real life. =P
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