Car Dealership Experiences

Old but good related article on life as a car salesman:http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-sales...

I used Consumer Reports car buying service for a new Toyota Prius. Two local dealerships submitted offers but couldn't find am exact match. Dealerships then attempted bait and switch (successfully). For two summers I was irritated every time I sweat in my car without tinted windows because I wouldn't pay $350 additional for their tint. But it was probably a better deal than I would have negotiated myself.

It is because a lot of dealers in US are dishonnest. For example they never honor the quote they themselves have given in email. They never tell the interest rate or car price they are offering. They always ask you what is your affordable monthly payment! After buying they push to extended warranty so much. You need to spend couple of hours just saying no. It is just a frustrating experience overall.

The whole idea is that there is a car and non-negotiable advertised price, you pay the price + taxes + registration + processing fee, which are all known in advance and get the car. That’s it. If you are talented negotiator and have time, you’ll get better price elsewhere, but I value my time and well-being more.Obviously there could be bad dealership which would try to screw you, read some reviews and don’t go to such place.

In the U.S. car buying is much more like an old world bazaar than a modern transaction. Dealers might knock this fee off to get you to sign.

> Virtually nobody goes to a car dealership and leaves with the vehicle they want at the price they wanted to pay and a large percentage of people are probably confused about what exactly they end up with and how much they ended up paying for it.I did! I was buying a very slightly used 2015 model, the 2016 models had just gone deep discount (9k off sticker price), I was able to use that to drop another 2k off the price of my 2015.Good car buying experiences do happen, admittedly not tha

Sounds like the average dealership experience.

I went to CarMax so I could pay a sticker price I found acceptable without that feeling of having been tricked. Carvana is similar I believe.

I had a bad experience with a similar service. It led me to a dealership which claimed to have the car I wanted at a I got there and oops they forgot to mention that the car had a extra options package that increased the price by $$ also the car, in our opinion, had a manufacture defect which they said was normal. Finally they gave an offer on my trade-in that was about half the bluebo

Apparently dealers are selling cars like hot cakes nowadays, because the last few times I went to a dealership and tried to get a discount they wouldn't really budge. When you threaten to walk, they say "Well.... bye!" A few years ago, they would practically sell for less than cost. So, yea a service that gives you a WYSIWYG price sounds pretty good these days.