August 12, 2021
The Playbook
Car dealerships are an interesting place. They have a sort of monopoly on how business is transacted and the customer pretty much has to follow along. Of course, you can look around and hopefully find that one dealer that does it a little different this time, but that's a lot of time spent on your part simply looking to be treated fairly.
The real issue is that dealerships have made buying a car not fun. LIke cleaning your attic not fun. Like dropping a dumbbell on your foot not fun (I did this last night). Buying a car SHOULD be fun but instead, dealerships have turned it into a time suck of gross. And they know it. They know it but they REALLY don't want to fix it. So instead, they do other things. Other things like offering you some sweet perks.
At first glance, all these "perks" seem nice, but the reality is that the perks are being done FOR you. No, the perks are being done so the dealership can justify charging you more money. "Hey, it's worth paying $30 more a month because we do so much to make it better for you" is what your salesperson will be saying to you.
It's called "building value" and dealerships are using it to justify you paying more money. Of course, it sounds like an obvious good idea, but the reality is that they are just finding ways to make more money off of your purchase. The worst thing about it is that they back you into a corner and you feel like you are compelled to pay more money.
Salesperson: "Would you like to be ownership experience possible?"
Customer: "Yes"
Salesperson: "Well great, cause we have a wonderful program. It has X, Y and Z in it. That sounds great doesn't it?"
Customer: "Yes"
Salesperson: "Wonderful, because it is only $100 more a month (or $3500 cash more)"
Customer: "Gurgle gurgle gurgle"
Backed in to a corner and you either have to choose "crappy ownership experience" or paying more money. AWESOME!!!!!!
OK, so it's awesome for them but not so much for you.
They will also use all the "throw ins" to justify charging you more. Shuttle van or loaner cars, "the best customer service ever", a fantastic, grade A service department and other things that should be a natural way of doing business are thrown at you as a means to get you to pay more money.
You don't need to deal with them. You don't need to deal with their tactics that make you feel trapped. The tactics in which they ask you obvious questions and then use your answers against you. You don't need to deal with being backed into a corner.
That's what we are here for. It's what we do for you. We keep the negotiations on track so that the focus is getting you a better deal.
The easiest analogy I can use is this: Dealers have a big playbook and they will use all of them to get you to pay more money.
Why you want us on your team: We wrote their playbook