Americans are buying new cars every year. In 2016, 17.5 million new light vehicles were purchased by America according to research. While 2017 might have been a little bumpy for auto dealers. The young families and baby boomers are going towards small sports utility vehicles.
Surveys show Americans hate dealing with the salesperson. Research shows 17 out of 4000 car buyers do prefer the online car buying system. This is happening because the buyers do not like the conduct of the current salespersons. Salespeople will do just anything to sell the car. If you are going to buy a new or a used car, here are a few things you should know.
1. Getting you ready to buy before even stepping in the dealership- According to salespersons, they don’t consider rotating stocks, advertising or putting up sales hoarding as a sales strategy. But I think clients do get attracted and step into the dealership. Once you have entered the dealership, the salesman will immediately start conversing with you and try to know your budget and what kind of car you are looking for.
2. Salesmen are trained to sell on incremental payment rather than full price- Basically there two main reasons why dealerships focus on the payment methods. Monthly payments hide the real cost of the vehicle and Financing means more profits for the dealership. Your salesman might give you a deal like $200 per month instalment instead $300 and you might consider this a great deal. But in reality, you are paying 9 percent interest on $200 which adds thousand to the purchase price. Always change the subject whenever the salesperson asks you to take up the monthly finance plan. Most of the profits are made through this system on low-cost sales. If you are going to pay for the car without financing, reveal this after some negotiation.
3. Use your smartphones- You can research about the car you are about to buy on your smartphone, this is the most significant enemy of a salesperson. There was a time when all the cards were with the car dealers now smartphone boom has given the buyer the opportunity to research and look for the actual prices. Now you can instantly compare prices of the car you want to buy by looking up online.
Sales people do have a few tricks to deal with this. They will try to convince you by telling how the online price doesn’t reflect the actual condition of the car. They might persuade you by saying that their financial options are superior to any other dealership. That’s stretching the truth. In case you have liked a car, but you haven’t made research on it don’t buy the car immediately go home and do some research and take your decision wisely.
This is also a scenario as far as financing is concerned. You are investing your money so do little more legwork to walk out with the best deal. Get your own loan from your bank because the salesmen will try to lure you by showing many banks who have rejected your loan. But this is not true; they are just doing all this to convert you.
4. They will do anything to make a sale- In a well-run dealership, the sales team might work together by passing the customer around to other sales associates, giving the customer the impression that other salesclerks have better offers. The “asking my manager” trick they use about getting a discount is purely fake most of the times. Your salesman is discussing the sales tactics or anything just to waste time and show you that he is talking to the manager for some discount. Sometimes they actually go and speak for the discount, but most of the time it is fake.
If you insist on some price and it is reasonable, the salesman will eventually agree to make a deal. To crack the discounted deal, you need to keep patience and wait for an hour or so. If you can earn $1000 discount after the time you have invested, you have got yourself a financial deal.
Once you are ready to buy, decide on a fair price and call other dealerships in front of your salesman. Now you might start a bidding war.
5. Be careful with the trade in values they coat- They won’t lie to you about the trade in values, but they can inflate the prices to show you that you are a getting a great deal of discount. In reality, they are just offering a low discount. Do not trade in your old car until you are entirely ready to negotiate. If you trade in your old car first, you have lost the battle. They will say you have got a car of the book value of $1000 and I am giving you a discount of $1500 for a $20000 car. The salesman will consider this a considerable discount.
How to win in this situation?
Consider your current vehicle as an average high-value vehicle and not a bargaining chip you got. Be careful with the too good offers because everything comes at a price. If a dealer offers you a great discount without even inspecting your vehicle, indeed they are cheating on you somewhere else.
6. Sales associates are experts at reading people- If you are a customer who is looking for the vehicle performance the pitch of your salesman will be different. Your experience with the dealership will be different if you go with this attitude. They will show you specific aspects of the car and prove their reliability. If you walk-in with ready to buy approach, your salesperson will understand this soon and try to convert and close you. In case you are not prepared to sign the papers, the salesmen will try to get your phone number for a follow-up.
Customers reaction towards the car makes it very easy for the salesman to figure out the interests and expectations of the buyer. Giving what a customer expects is not an unethical way of business until you are following the competition law. The buyer is not interested in the cylinder; gold-plated exhaust, etc. all he wants is whether the car will look good while driving it, then the salesman will give him that. The salesman will check your fuel tank and if its full he will understand you are not ready to buy it.
A good salesperson will put an edge on someone who is ready to buy the car and make his pitch accordingly.
To beat this learn to read between the lines, do not get influenced by the salesman. Keep your thoughts in control and always come prepared so that the salesman does not affect you.
This is how you deal with a sales associate. Be prudent and do not let any pitch influence you. Do your homework and go, after all, you are putting in your money for something you want to own.
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