Reply #7: I'm with you [View All]

[Spike89]

My wife and I bought a new car last weekend. We'd shopped around, took a few test drives, researched for months, then went out to purchase. We knew exactly what we wanted, a new or low-mile used Mazda 3 hatchback with an automatic. It was a Friday afternoon (4 pm) when we arrived--the only people on a huge lot, well unless you count the vulture-like sales people.

The guy that latched onto us seemed semi-interested (guess he figured we weren't realistic buyers judging from the 15-year old beater Sentra we limped onto the lot in). He showed us a 2009 model with 16,000 miles that was almost exactly what we were looking for. I asked him over and over "What do you need for this and is it a better deal than a new model with the incentives currently in place?" He hedged and said it was a great value.

Finally, we went into the office and he brings me an offer sheet. The price was $1,000 over the sticker price for a brand new model! I have no negotiating skills, so I substitute indignation and anger. My wife was totally shocked by how angry I got (I wasn't that angry tho). Of course, the sales manager came over and I never said another word to the salesman. The sales manager asked what I wanted, I told her a brand new car, with all the options we wanted (somewhat better than the used car we were considering) and I told her I wanted to see her best offer right then. She came back with a price almost $4000 less than they'd quoted for a used, lesser model! By the time we left, we'd gotten another $1,000 off the deal and felt exhausted by almost guilty at the bargain we got (I am not good at this).

The point is that they are jerks, but they are desperate jerks right now. They don't have many customers (we were on the lot for nearly 5 hours on a friday afternoon/evening and no other customers!) They seem to want to squeeze the rare customer, then are willing to practically give away the store rather than making you walk.