JDR76

I think you got the trade in offers backwards.

Newport $47,900 - trade $40,400 = $7,500
Cerritos $52,300 - trade $36,800 = $15,500

scooky

I like to move to fixed pricing, but I also recognize it is very likely an advantage to the dealer on average.
I'm not a strong negotiator, and I don't know anyone that is that could sit in for me. I've traveled to parts of the world were haggling is part of the culture for everything. Can't say I'm a fan. I have enough stress and anxiety producers in my life that I don't need to volunteer for more of it.

My latest car Lexus RC was at a fixed price dealership. Honestly I am happy with how it went. I had a price in mind when I went in. A specific # over invoice. This was before I knew they were fixed price. Turns out, that was almost exactly what it was priced at. Easy happy for me. Other things were easy too. I wanted extra wheels and other options. I knew what they cost from some of the online places and was willing to give dealer a little more for my convenience. Some things I got, some I didn't. Super easy. I said I'd take the wheels for X and they were a little under X. I didn't take other things that were over. I didn't need to worry about my negotiation skills as it was as easy as comparing prices between BestBuy and Amazon. We do have another Lexus dealer not too far away that is not fixed price fwiw.
It's not all rainbows and unicorns. There's still all the conversations about warrantees and other junk to say no to that takes time and requires some skill/patience.

Now, I admit, the dealer likely wins in these scenarios. However, with my skills, they have some advantage anyway. Sure I can walk away, but then I've got to walk into another place and deal with the same BS all over again. I also don't mind if my dealer makes some reasonable profit. I want them to be a successful business for me long term. I don't want to get pillaged, but some profit margin is appropriate in all business.

While the price was fixed, it also flexed from month to month. I ordered mine and needed to wait awhile. My price was quoted as being no higher than agreed price, but could float down if market conditions lowered price (fat chance right). It could NOT go up however. Sales guy told me I was lucky as price had gone up and they were honoring the agreed price. Whatever, who knows what the truth is on that, but I got what I agreed to.

It did seem clear they had someone doing market comparisons on a regular basis and making adjustments. Likely between other regional dealerships of the same brand, and competing products of other brands. I doubt this would be effective to set internationally, or even nationally. They can't just crank up the price constantly. There are market forces to consider.

I'd prefer they all be fixed price. Then I could take it or leave it as I see fit. Let market forces drive prices. Most average buyers probably do neutral to better with this, and have less stress. I do, however, totally understand why some people prefer to negotiate. They likely do better than average and that's to their credit.

I'd like to think we might get a better class of salesperson with fixed prices and they would be less scumbag. However, they are salespeople in a tough industry with certain kinds of incentives. That's likely not going to change, and will continue to lead to specific behaviors.

riredale

I'll wager that even the "fixed-price" folks are able to negotiate a bit. Just get a bottom-line quote (all taxes, fees, add-ons, whatever) from one dealer and then walk into another dealer. Say, "I can buy this car for this much from someone else, what can you do for me?" If they want to move stock they will come back lower. And, as mentioned, you take out your checkbook and say this is a deal for cash. The dealer knows money will show up immediately and also that their time won't be wasted working on a sale that later falls through.

I imagine there are also certain days of the month when there is an increased urgency to make sales.

It is interesting how different people respond to negotiation. Me, I love the back-and-forth and am fully prepared (in fact, expecting) to walk away from a deal. But many others, perhaps most, hate the idea of dickering. Once, when our daughter was a little girl, we all went on a cruise to Mexico. She saw a pretty dolphin statuette in an open-air market. I taught her how to ask how much, then shake her head and counter with maybe 1/3 of the asking price and not to be insulted when the vendor threw a hissy fit. Eventually they came to a price about half the original. I hopefully taught her to not fall in love with the item and be fully prepared to walk away. And from my time in Ethiopia as a young man I knew vendors who looked at tourists with disgust because they accepted the initial price.

mjeds

scooky

I've spend a few months in Vietnam at different times (as a tourist. people always seem to ask...)
Bartering is a big deal there. And they do look down on people that don't barter.
I've had some long bartering sessions where there were hugs and high 5's after it was over. Shows sign of respect. Rule is never get angry, that's massively frowned upon.
Some things like bottled water, fruit, Pringles!, you just got to know what a fair price was. I wouldn't ask or look, I'd just provide my known good price and move on. Sometimes to no reaction. Other times a pause and nod.

You have to be prepared to challenge everything there. Taxi's with rigged meters. People trying to renegotiate prices after services rendered. Vast majority of people were good an honest, but you had to watch for the ones that weren't.

While I got a lot better at it there, I didn't really enjoy it.

UDel

The buyer loses out in no haggle used pricing, not a good thing.

mmarshall

Wouldn't that depend on the condition of the vehicle? For any given fixed price, the better the condition it is, the better deal it is likely to end up being for the buyer. That's why KBB and NADA have so many different factors they ask for before computing their Trade-In, Private-Party, and Retail used-vehicle values.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

rmason

It seems to be the trend. It depends on who you ask but for me, it's not all that bad it actually saves me time and hassle.
I'll run a carfax, examine the car, run a kbb, do a comp nearby see what fits my me as far as options, miles and current condition and worst case just wait or purchase new.
If the car doesn't move at the no-haggle price...well I'm sure the market will tell the pricing boys they are off...and if sells like hotcakes, there's more money to be made.

Let's face it, you don't have to buy it and if one enjoys the haggle so much the no-haggle trend keeps them on the fence; there's always craigslist.

It is what it is...just my 2 cents.

LS430FL

I just bought a family member a CPO 2015 RX with this new fixed pricing at my local Lexus dealer. They call it "Lexus Plus". It was a great experience for me. I did some searching at the local dealers as there are several Lexus dealers around me 5 or 6 within an hours radius. This was the best price despite it being no haggle and there was no dealer fee! they give you a simple print out with the tax on it and the tag fee depending on if you need a new one or transfer and thats it. 3 itemized lines nothing else. I was in and out in 2 hours and only dealt with one person. It was a pleasure to me. Sometimes like others have said there is some haggling. They refused at this Lexus dealer but I also bought a CPO Mercedes CLS550 late last year and they had a fixed price. After lots of back and forth over a couple days I ended up with a couple grand off their "no haggle price" so I think it depends on the dealer.

SW17LS

Are all car dealers moving to no-haggle used pricing?

They sure would like to.

mmarshall

No-haggle pricing for both new and used cars, among other notable customer perks, is a major part of what made Saturn the smash success it was in the 1990s.....at that time, the only low-priced vehicle brand to be in the same class of customer satisfaction with the dealership as Lexus and Infiniti. True, the brand seriously faltered after 2000, but that was because of mismanagement on GM's part by dumping the ingenious S-class plastic-body cars and substituting generic GM and Opel re-badges, not because of the no-haggle pricing, which, at Saturn, remained popular with customers right up to the very end. It's interesting to note, though, that, while Opel re-badge vehicles failed at Saturn, they were, later, a big success at Buick.

SW17LS

Consumers are pretty dumb, I can totally believe that many consumers will love "no haggle" pricing where they see some fake "MSRP price" and then their "no haggle price" (otherwise known as MSRP) which is lower and think they got some great deal. Its all smoke and mirrors.

mmarshall

In one sense, you can't really fake the MSRP price. Either it agrees with the official figure from the manufacturer (vehicles, options, factory/dealer-approved accessories), minus rebates, at the time the vehicle was built, or it doesn't....one can easily determine that from the manufacturer's Build-Your-Own feature on the website and, of course, from the official price sticker on the car itself. Anything else, by law, has to be put on a second sticker. Of course, once you get past the salesperson who wrote you up, into the dealership's business office, the Business Manager, often with smooth-talk, will usually try and hit you with extended warranties, tire/road-hazard protection, service-contracts, rustproofing, undercoating, paint protection, seat-fabric protection, etc......But those are not mandatory, and one can simply say no.

oldcajun

My experience with (mostly) reputable dealers is that they have a minimum price for a particular car. What they don't do in the negotiation is let the customer know what that price is in hopes that someone will pay more. If you make an offer below this price they will let you walk.

The local Lexus dealer is not part of the Lexus + program but they are primarily a no haggle dealer. Their first offer (in my experience) has always been a fair price and near what I expected to pay. There are some negotiations over small items and on one sale they agreed to buy my lease return to save me money on a required repair. In that instance, it was almost $1000 in my pocket.

Not all no haggle dealers start from MSRP and in some instances their price is at or near their bottom line.