chikoo

Same here. No confrontations in person. Keep it impersonal.

SW17LS

It's interesting, luxury dealers are cool with that. Mainstream dealers don't like it. I find that luxury dealers are happy to give quotes over email, mainstream dealers keep trying to get you to come in.

One Lexus dealer here won't give quotes over email, they always promise "to make it worth your while to come in". So, I have to stick to the other 5 lol.

tex2670

I last experienced this 4 years ago, comparing a CX-9 and a Highlander. The Toyota dealer with the Costco price told me he wasn't allowed to give the price over the phone, I had to come in. I told him the best price I had, and he wouldn't even confirm if he could match it. The dealer is over 15 miles from my house, on a route which takes twice as long to get there no matter when you go because of all the lights and traffic. I told him I wasn't wasting my time to come there to get a price--and he stuck to his guns, as did I.

Some dealers sell their entire allotment and just don't care to go the extra mile.

mmarshall

It doesn't necessarily hurt to negotiate in person....but I agree on the "Talk to the manager" stuff. What I tell the salesperson, particularly if he or she doesn't previously know me (a number of them already do from my many auto reviews) or the person I'm shopping with is: "Look, you're either a salesperson or you're not. If you have the authority to make deals, then make one....right here. Otherwise, why even bother with this?......and why do they hire individual salespeople in the first place? I'll just march right over there, up to the Manager's desk, and negotiate with him (or her) myself." While, most of the time, in my experience, it doesn't actually come down to that (both sides usually reach an acceptable compromise in a reasonable length of time), you'd be surprised how effective using a line like that can be if necessary.

SW17LS

It doesn't hurt...but it's a horrible experience. I've had much better success doing it remotely.

chikoo

It hurts my brain... Waste of my time bieng captive, but then many people like caged fights.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

despite asking numerous times i've never been able to get a dealer to email a quote. i guess last time (for my jeep) the sales guy did 'text' pictures of bits of documents which were totally confusing and not helpful.

dealers also mostly communicate through foul 'lead tracking' (crm) packages and it seems they often don't really read the communications with responses saying they have 'x' in the stock, when you asked for 'y' etc.

SW17LS

You have to contact dealers through online portals that require them to give you a quote. Cars.com, edmunds, TrueCar, Etc. That links you with Internet reps who are used to replying to those sorts of requests.

That one dealer I mentioned who won't email quotes was on Edmunds and I filed a complaint forwarding their reply refusing to give a quote and they removed them from Edmunds.

Like I said too, easier with luxury cars than mainstream cars too. But doable. Bought my 2011 Jeep that way, 2014 Jeep I had quotes before I found the group buy. That was all online too.

coolsaber

It depends on the dealer in question. Some dealers have always given me the pleasure to quickly remove them from my "to-do" business list. Other legit dealers will gladly email you specs, quotes, and more importantly a complete sales order to verify their facts are legit.

gengar

Same when I was shopping for my '08 IS-F. No one in Chicagoland wanted to e-mail. Several of those dealers bombarded the phone numbers I provided. Just more stupid salesman tactics - huge turnoff and another perfect example of why to go haggle-free.

SW17LS

I've never had any resistance to emailing requesting quotes from luxury dealers. How are you going about contacting the dealers?

caha14

Interestingly, in the Greater Boston area, I have found little correlation between willingness to deal over email and luxury/non-luxury brands. Speaking of Lexus specifically, I have bought three new vehicles Lexus over the last 12 years, each from a different dealership, mainly because of how their way to do business has changed as a function of who's in charge. My used LSs have come from out of state.

Let me explain...

Of the four Greater Boston Lexus dealerships, only one dealership (which we bought our GS350 from) has consistently provided quotes via email over the years. Mind you, they are part of a conglomerate and have a central internet department (cutting across brands) that gives you an initial number and then interacts with their Lexus store.

Of the remaining three, two (one of which is the largest and the other the smallest by volume) have handled internet requests very differently over the years, again, subject to the management in place.

The fourth, which is part of a large chain of local dealerships, has what -IMHO - is the most misleading, old-school, frustrating process. I finally wrote them off years ago, as no matter how clear I've been in my requests for quotes (i.e., please send me what I am asking for; I am not interested in setting up an appointment...), they will not provide figures. If pushed, they have given me MSRP and told me I may be able to do better in the showroom. And, lastly, if contacted with a competitive quote for them to match, they typically don't even bother to respond. Thinking along similar lines as you, my last time attempting to connect with these people, I used Edmunds. I vaguely remember feeding this information back to them, but can't recall for sure.

Bottom line: I wholeheartedly prefer negotiating remotely too, but in years past, it hasn't been as straightforward with some of the local Lexus dealers. I haven't bought a new Lexus in a while (just helped friends, so I have some recent data) but am ready to give email another shot when the time comes.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

truecar specifically contractually obligates the dealer to sell you the car at the truecar price, and the dealer then gets to pay truecar for the lead. the dealer is certainly under no obligation to go lower than the truecar price not to mention the fee they have to eat, so most dealers HATE truecar.

anyway, again, most contact through dealers via crappy crm systems, not regular e-mail.

didn't the group buy jeep require you to fly/drive to texas to pick up the car?

coolsaber

Just email the personal email on file for the dealer in the CRM lead post? Thats what I do and it works fine.

TrueCar is exactly what Lexus Plus is, but outside the walls of Lexus and without the One person does everything idea. The dealers agree to a set target price, and since its fair (regardless of whether dealers are counting back end incentives) and basically a set price that is based on transactions carried out and shared with TruCar. Buyer is guaranteed the price, but can be hit with dealer fees etc. Come to dealership, sign paperwork and drive out. The only fee that comes out of this is the lead fee to the TruCar. Remove TrueCar, and replace with Lexus Plus where there is no lead fee. Welcome to the future

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

have never seen an e-mail address in the messages from the crm.

yup, and that's why dealers hate it. they have less ability to screw people.