$1595 for painted pin stripes, nitrogen-filled tires and wheel locks

In reply to spandak :

Similar experience: When we bought my wife a new car, I emailed 5 dealers telling them I found what we wanted on their website in their stock, and to respond with an OTD quote, and we would be buying from the one with the lowest quote.  Two sent me an email asking when we could "stop in and drive the car" (I had included our location and it was nowhere near those dealers), one asked for my phone number, and two actually responded with a quote like we asked.  We took the offer to our local dealer, asked them to match it, and when they said they couldn't, we purchased from the dealer 400 miles away who had given us the best quote.  They even delivered it for no additional charge.

All done over email except for 1 phone call to line up the delivery.  Signed the paperwork in my driveway.  Less than 10 minutes.  

Dealers will have to adapt to this brave new world of informed customers, or die.  Good riddance I say.

Negotiating at the dealership is nothing but a (time and money) losing proposition, and those official looking add-on stickers are just one example of how we'll they've refined their tactics for dealing with the under-informed masses...Here is a good read for anybody in the market for a new car:

https://clark.com/cars/beat-the-pricing-from-online-c/

Not that the fundamental concepts of this technique are anything new, let alone revolutionary, but there are some good refinements in it to what I had been doing prior. You'll know you're on the right track when multiple of the dealerships you've contacted start getting defensive, or even passive aggressive, about the price you've propositioned them to compete against. 

When I bought my new Canyon last year the salesman looked me right in the eye and said it was the best they could do. I looked him in the eye and suggested that all the fuzzy math showed me that they hadn't taken a dime out of the dealerships pocket or his. He asked if I really expected him to take a reduced commission. "If you want to move that truck you will" was my response. The price miraculously changed by another $1800 five minutes later. You have to know how to play the game and stand your ground if you're going to walk into the showroom, otherwise I'll just fire off requests for quotes and buy from the lowest one. Now, I'm retired and I'm not above spending hours with a salesperson who has wasted my time. I'll reciprocate and willingly waste his before walking out. In the case of the Canyon the salesman was told my OTD price within 5 minutes of me walking onto the lot and I still had to play the game to get there. He was wasting my time and I said so, out loud, in the middle of the showroom.

ebonyandivory said:

I think 98% of the time the ball is in the buyers' court. It's just most of that 98% don't act that way.

THIS:  the dealership has a lot of money tied up in inventory.  They need you to buy one of their cars waaaaaaaay more than you need to buy that particular car.

FWIW at the outset of discussion I tell the salesdroid that we'll be dealing off factory sticker numbers and won't even consider the add-ons.  They can throw the extras in or remove them, I don't care, but I'm not paying for them.

If they balk, I walk.  If they accept that, we can move forward and see if we can reach an agreement.

Stampie said:

When I retire I think I'm going to learn how to paint pin strips, fill tires with nitrogen, and install wheel locks. Seems like a great way to supplement social security. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but years ago when I worked with dealers (adding Monroney stickers to used cars) I discovered a whole series of side businesses that support dealerships.  This was 20+ years ago.  Guys that would do minor body work, interior cleaning, smoke smell removal, pinstriping, etc.  There were two pinstriping guys.  One did the simple sticker pinstriping, charged the dealers $25-50 and the other did actual paint pinstripe.  The sticker guy usually worked at dealers that sold cars at the lower end of the price range.  The painted pinstrip guy would roll out a long magnetic strip along the sides of the car to align where he wanted the strip to go, and just use it as a guide to lay down the pinstrip.  Each car took him less than 30 minutes and he'd charge the dealer $100-200 per car.  Cost depended on the paint (and the dealership).  He mainly worked on higher priced cars.  He worked in shorts and a t-shirt.  Said he worked less than 20 hours a week and pulled down around $100k/year.  He did offer a lifetime warranty on the pinstriping.  He had inherited the business from his brother and I'm sure getting into the dealers and building a good name and reputation are probably the biggest barriers.  But, it always seemed like a dream job.

-Rob

dinger said:

In reply to spandak :

Similar experience: When we bought my wife a new car, I emailed 5 dealers telling them I found what we wanted on their website in their stock, and to respond with an OTD quote, and we would be buying from the one with the lowest quote.  Two sent me an email asking when we could "stop in and drive the car" (I had included our location and it was nowhere near those dealers), one asked for my phone number, and two actually responded with a quote like we asked.  We took the offer to our local dealer, asked them to match it, and when they said they couldn't, we purchased from the dealer 400 miles away who had given us the best quote.  They even delivered it for no additional charge.

All done over email except for 1 phone call to line up the delivery.  Signed the paperwork in my driveway.  Less than 10 minutes.  

Dealers will have to adapt to this brave new world of informed customers, or die.  Good riddance I say.

Did a similar thing when I bought a new truck a few years back.  I kept it to within 100 miles because Chevy dealers are a dime a dozen.  Ended up getting a smoking deal on a truck because the dealership had bought the stock of another dealership and were dumping them way under cost.  The original dealership sticker was still on the car and they had made a $24k truck right at $30k with add ons.  I was out the door for under $17k.

If I ever buy a new car, again, I'll be doing the same thing.  I think some dealers are trying to work better with people that do that and try to make it as easy as possible.

-Rob

ShawnG said:

In reply to Stampie :

You're already 74% of the way to filling tires with nitrogen.

Bravo, sir. Bravo!

It's dumb, but no one is forcing someone to buy that particular new car. 

At $24k, you have a lot of options for a commuter vehicle.

Ask dealer to prove that the gas in the tires is 100% Nitrogen.

AnthonyGS said:

You should see what Ford is charging for painted stripes on the new GT500. 

 

 

I saw that.  $10 grand for painted stripes!

NOHOME said:

Ask dealer to prove that the gas in the tires is 100% Nitrogen.

But the green stem caps prove it!

Never mind the fact that unless there are two valve stems on each wheel, you have no way to purge the regular old air out of them, even if you are putting 100% nitrogen in...

Duke said:

NOHOME said:

Ask dealer to prove that the gas in the tires is 100% Nitrogen.

But the green stem caps prove it!

Never mind the fact that unless there are two valve stems on each wheel, you have no way to purge the regular old air out of them, even if you are putting 100% nitrogen in...

 

This is where I have always asked them to show me the secondary tube to verify that they pulled the "air" out before filling.

Duke said:

NOHOME said:

Ask dealer to prove that the gas in the tires is 100% Nitrogen.

But the green stem caps prove it!

Never mind the fact that unless there are two valve stems on each wheel, you have no way to purge the regular old air out of them, even if you are putting 100% nitrogen in...

 

You could put your tire mounting equiment in a glove box filled with nitrogen. Now you have me wanting to ask the next dealership that tries to upsell me on nitrogen filling tires to show me how they purge the tires, then nitpick what level of air is likely to remain in there - I'm sure that would make a great time waster.

Now... did the pinstripes look like this? A full Von Dutch treatment on a Civic might be worth some money, although I'm not sure you'd find a buyer.

In reply to ShawnG :

It has been a long time since I have prepped new motorcycles.  Suzuki's used to come about 90% assembled.  The handle bars were in a low position and tight.  The front calipers had blocks between the pads and were tied to the forks.  The front wheel was not installed and was positioned next to the bike in the crate.  The battery was empty and needed filled and charged.  Of course things might have changed since 1978.  *sigh*  That makes me feel old.

I walked into Gary Yeoman's Ford wanting to buy a Mustang GT back in 2012 (2013 model). I had a brand new corporate job, no kids, etc. Life was good. They had the exact color and trim level I was looking for. They had very similar practices back then. $1000 for pinstripes, $xxx for nitrogen, etc. It was almost enough to walk away but I'm always in for a good fight at a dealer especially after working at one for years. They treated me like a moron, tried to get me into an 84 month loan instead of listening to what I wanted to pay out the door, blah blah blah. Threw down the X-plan pricing I had for that car in my back pocket and their whole mood changed and it was "what can we do to get you to walk out with that car tonight?" 

This same Gary Yeoman's Honda dealer had a CTR recently that caught my eye. They wanted $46k out the door for it (tax, tag, title included). I beat them up to $42k but it was still $2k over my budget because of their nitrogen, pinstripes, and wheel locks (wheel locks that cost $55 dollars at the parts counter). They essentially told me I could pay for the pinstrips, nitrogen, and wheel locks or the market adjustment. I told them they could find another buyer. 

2 different tries, 8 years apart, needless to say I'll never go back to any of their showrooms if I ever buy a new car again.