If I have to choose between not guiding that day or taking someone out at a little above cost, sure I would do it. I gotta figure that person will tell someone else that he had a good time on my boat. I would be gambling on return business. Customer service is what gets people to come back. I have fished for cost several times when I first started out. It has paid for itself 10X's.

Wall mart sells all there products just like most any other store for a profit and keeps the doors open lights on and the workers paid, but they dont sell one packe of bateries to you for 1.50 and then try to sell that same pack to me for 2.75. I think it is bs.

I recently bought a new truck, and was given the run around by every salesman except two. In practicaly every case I know more about the truck I was looking at than the salesman did.

The truck I was looking for was a little hard to find, I wanted a manual trans so they had to look, very few on lots, most were in dalas and only two in the color I wanted. out of 5 dealerships I shoped every one of them found the same truck and tried to work a deal with them, my final offers ranged from 42k to 38K that is what pisses me off. The guy who offered me the truck for 38K openly still admited that they would make money on the deal. Finaly found an honest salesman and ordered a truck.

TRUCK SHOPPING IS A NIGHTMARE

matt

The reason we as customers get upset is because you as salesman look at us on an idividual basis and say how much can screw this guy out of.

agree or dont, it is the truth.

matt

FordBoy,
First of all, i work for a non-profit organization. Second, im not talking about trying to haggle the price down on a vehicle so that i end up with a great deal and the seller ends up with very little retail. I understand that people have to make money. That was not my point. My point was that if im going to spend $30k on a new truck, it better have the tires i want on it or there is no deal. Why would i want to spend that much money and not have everything on it that i want?

I like profits ! I dont like lies and deception....( not accusing them all of that, btw). But face it, some do.

If you dont like haggling, then maybe you're in the wrong business. No one forces a dealership to lower his price. No one is making him sell a vehicle at $100 over invoice. He chooses to do so, if and when he does. We both know that the real money is made in the F&I section and service depts anyway.

My family owned a Yamaha dealership for several years. We'd sell them for 15-20% over invoice ( max)...and even as low as invoice + floor plan interest if we had to...because we knew they'd crash the dirt bikes and we'd make the money in the shop or parts dept. So the more bikes we sold, the more customers we had coming in for other stuff.

As for what I do for a living, I'm selling something that's a heckuva lot more difficult to sell than cars. Life insurance and pension plans. I dont get my panties in a wad if someone wants to go somewhere else. I'm expensive and I know it....or am I ?

I bring more to the table than just "product". I go above and beyond. I work with your attorney to help set up your trusts, and your CPA to minimize your taxes, so you can accomplish your goals. I'll even put your commercial loan package together and present it to your bank.

I dont have to do all that...but I do. That's how I get referrals. I know my chit....and I do it right. It's served me well for 34 years. That said...feel free to go elsewhere if you want. I have all the business I can handle anyway.

service and the salesman have more of an impact than price IMO. I mean I do not go to Wal-Mart expecting to get great customer service, I go because of prices. Same with truck shopping. If I do not like the price or service then I go to somewhere else. I have had some interesting run ins when shopping for a car and everytime I leave thinking, man some car buyers must really get screwed by that guy. Do some research, do not be ingorant. Waste of time and energy complaining about car dealerships....

FordBoy,

I can understand that you get upset. I do not agree with windshield pricing but a fair price for all might be the solution. As long as manufactures continue to put ridiculously marked up MSRPs on vehicles then people are going to expect to be able to haggle a fair discount. It is the car saleman that take advantage of people who are intimidated and not use to negotiating that P me off. For one thing Wal Mart does not sell items costing 10s of thousands, the marked price is normally a fair one, & they have been known to negotiate on big ticket items. I have gotten the sales tax waived on furniture and a lawn tractor and known other people that have also. I could go on about this for a while. The other thing I will add in is if you buy a used vehicle from a dealer than buyer be aware. Of all the used vehicles that I have bought the worst came from dealers. Dealers know how to and will cover up serious problems.

If they want to make the deal, they will switch out the tires, but you gotta convince them its a deal breaker. That said, back when I was in the business for a short while in the late 90's, there was roughly 12.5% difference between invoice and sticker on a Ford F150.