Does a decent down payment get you any leverage with car dealerships?

You used to sell cars? What was it like?

 

we just pay cash.

 

I just do like the po' folks do. I go to a dealership offering "bad credit ok" deals. I get a car for no money down, then I keep the car for 3 or 4 months and not make any payments. Then, the repo man cometh and then I go get another car.

New car every 4 months. No money out of my pocket. Ironclad plan, baby!

 

where do i subscribe to your newsletter?

 

When the oil business went kaput in the mid 80's some of us became car salesman.....others became waiters. I did well and moved up the ladder pretty fast.....after a year I was F&I for many years....used car manager....new car manager. All the horse****. Long hours....always open on most holidays. Rampant cocaine use....it sucked. I had to jump out and regain a real life.

 

LOL. You know those companies where you sell sh!t on the side of a real job to make extra income? I've heard that people that do that become the "makeup lady" or the "hat lady" or the "kitchenware lady" because everytime you see them, you know they're going to try to sell you stuff that you don't want or need, so what do you do? Avoid eye contact, or just avoid them, period.

I hope I never go that route. I've done retail, and that was bad enough.

 

on the upside....it paid....ALOT!!

 

i looked at doing it last fall. i got the hard sell on just going in to "training"

 

Pricetag, if you don't get a hookup on here, this will prove to be VERY important. Summon every once of stubborn prick residing in your soul.

This has worked for me.

1:Research. Decide what you WANT to pay, not what you are willing to pay.
2:When you visit a lot, KNOW that you are leaving with nothing more than a business card. You are leaving no matter how good the deal seems.
3: Over the course of the week you discuss with the sales rep what he is willing to do to get you in the exact model/color you want.

By the end of this, the sales rep will be on suicide watch, and you will be extremely annoyed with the process, BUT...

Last time I bought a vehicle, I got a Silverado crewcab for $6500 less than sticker after taxes, fees, ect. That's 3 thousand less than his "best" price on the lot. He bumped me up to the LT package, towing, fancy electronics package, spray bed liner, rally bars...ridiculous.

One thing I did, I insisted on NOT having the 20 in. wheels which come on almost every LT. Seems wierd right? This dude knew what he was dealing with, but he sold a truck. I just took control of the game.

Be the master of your universe when you go in there.

 

A few years ago I remember a friend shopping for a used car only to find that depreciation on some models was so low that it was almost worth it to buy a new one instead of a few years old one.

Fact or crap?

 

in some cases, i can see that being true, but more an exception than the rule thing

 

One of my son's youth baseball coaches is a salesman (not at a big brand dealership, but a really good used car dealer), and it appears that the guy is making a ton of money. It could be all appearance, but just to keep up his appearance he has to have some cash. He's been doing it a long time, so I guess he's pretty good at it...which, like anything, is probably the key to his success.

What does an average salesperson make a year?

 

crap.....the mark up in used car asking price will be 3 to 4 times what it is on new. That's why you can see such a small difference. Someone deep in the car biz is gonna see me letting every cat out of the bag here and come kick my arse.

 

There's lots of $$ to be made in the car biz. Trust me. There's a reason why I unretired. The sweet thing is that I don't have/need to work. I couldn't imagine being like most of the poor, dumb bastards who work in the car business for their only living. 6 days a week, 12+ hours a day, work all holidays 'cept Christmas, Thanksgiving, and NY. It's not conducive to maintaining a happy family/personal life if it's your day job...

I do it for a) $$, b) I semi-enjoy it, c) I get smoking deals on new trucks, d) I get to drive pretty much everything that has wheels on it. Today, I drove a 1929 Ford pick-up, a 2012 Ford F-350, a Dodge 3500, and a Dodge Challenger. Shelby's, Roush's, CTSV Caddys, Boss 302s, GTs, Chargers, Challengers, and all sorts of other stuff.

 

varies.....You can go from hero to zero in 1 month..back in 86 I averaged 5 to 6K a month....I had 2 guys average 9K a month working for me in 93 and 94....profit margin is WAY higher in used. They work off of ACV (actual cash value) and not from a manufactures invoice with a set MSRP. Hence they try to bring in the trade or the auction unit at the lowest possible ACV.

 

Trust Rhett... too soon? Well, it happened in 2005 so I think the healing's over

My next door neighbor is a car salesman. I hardly ever talk to him, but he drives a shiny new car home every day. He might not it, but rather, does "research" for salesmanship or something, so that he can say how kick arse the Cadillac is by having driven it a lot, heh.

 

Interesting. That's some really good money back in the mid 80s!

You or Dean (or both) can answer this question, I always wondered how they could do the "push, pull or drag in your POS" for 3k+ trade-in? Is it all because of the mark-up from invoice, so they know they can make it back?

 

I can't answer those types of questions because I'm in a unique little niche of the business - in fact the place I work is probably the only dealership/s to have someone doing what I do, and I only dabble in sales when a friend wants a vehicle.

I manage a group of drivers and truck/trailer drivers and also take long trailer trips to pick up/drop off exotics or high-dollar vehicles. I get paid a decent salary for running the drivers, and also get paid by the mile when I choose to drive. All dealerships have old farts who drive, but not too many have someone who exclusively handles the drivers. I am responsible for 2 dealerships in the same town. My gig is pretty much being a geriatric day care manager with a bunch of stressed out salesmen and managers who rely on my old farts.

 

Here I was thinking you were wheeling and dealing on the lot. You've got a nice little gig there. That's something I could do after I "retire", just for the reasons you mentioned earlier.

 

I've always purchased used cars from private individuals.