His car has 2k miles on it and the ones I see in the market have 4k or 9k miles. I don't think the extra miles warrants the extra markup.

I stuck to my price of $56k (plus tax and other stuff) and essentially said to let me know if the manager agrees to a price drop. He just replied. I will just let him sit on it. Unlikely anyone will buy it so quickly. Most cars like that sit on the lot for weeks and see price reductions. I will continue with my test drives since I don't have a deadline. Since this is a demo car for 2025, many more will open up in the next few months as the 2026s come in. He will crack.

He has a customer waving with his checkbox with fingers twitching to write him a check and he is waffling. I told the dealer the same thing in 2011 when he began to claim that "there are so many people who want to buy this car", and I looked around and asked "really? who? I don't see anyone with a check book. I have one right here with fingers itching to write him a check". At that point he knew he either sell it or lose the sale.


He's extending the range it might drop to already - saying 400 to 800. I will just walk away now. No reply, no coming into the dealership. Already contacted another dealership which has a 9k car.

Quote:

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If you'd like to wait exactly one month and risk the car being sold the price will drop anywhere from 400 to 800.

Or I can see if I can get you a portion of that now but only when you're ready and in the store. Only the. Is it likely I can do that.

I've explained since the e very beginning how this dealership functions, I'm trying to accommodate but if that's not enough then my hands are tied.

Let me know if you'd like to work on something in store and when that could be.

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wangus12 said:

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Cars are some of the most overrated expenditures out there. Go get you something for 20-30k or cheaper. That 60k car isn't gonna last any longer than them and probably be more expensive to fix

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Yes, but this is for the wife for our 25th anniversary.
If I get her a Kia or a Honda, she will be unhappy and she won't be able to tell her friends that her husband got her a "nice" car. Women love to do these things. In fact it may make her the butt of jokes among the women.

If I got her a Lambo, that may be a tad too much as I don't consider myself to be of the class to buy that.

Merc, Audi, BMW are just in the right sweetspot. I can easily afford one and it also feels good.

It's just like buying my wife flowers. I think it is a waste of money but she loves them. Why? Who knows. It's a woman thing and I don't claim to understand.

Remember, try to think like a woman, not a man in situations like these.

DamnGood86 said:

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infinity ag said:

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.....Their listed price is $300 over Carfax value at around 59k. All other similar cars in the area are priced up to 2.5k to 3k lower than Carfax value. .....

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If there are other similar cars in the area that are $3,000 cheaper in your mind, why don't you buy one of those? Answer that question, and you may solve your riddle.

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Good point. The only difference is that the miles are 4k or 9k while this one is lower. Not a big difference but if lower is available for a reasonable price, I'd take that. The other point is that the other ones have the "Black Optic Package" on the Audis which I don't like. It obscures the logo and reduces the brand value (in my mind). All else are exactly the same.

South Platte said:

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Not sure the salesman is wrong. He might not have a line of people waiting to buy the car, but over the next month somebody else won't hassle him as much and will pay the advertised price. Why would he move it today at a discount when he can get more by being patient?

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It is possible. He looks out for himself and I look out for myself. There are no guarantees in this game and it is giving me some experience negotiating. The only risk is I lose that particular car, but there are others in the market.

All cars in the local area are about $500 to $3000 below Carfax Value. This one is above. People see this. Eventually I expect him to reduce the price. He can sell it to me right away and take it off his books or wait for weeks/months gradually reducing prices like I see for all the other cars of the same make/model.

GAC06 said:

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Is this the suv for your wife you've been posting about for a while?

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Yes it is.
I finally arranged the money in my account, did all the test drives, went through a few brands and models with a lot of test drives and arrived at what we (she) wanted. That took a while, I had some international travel in the middle also which caused some delay. But we are in no hurry.

This is how you could have done the deal:

Quote:

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" On Aug. 11, Sandy police were called to the Larry H. Miller Dealership located at 10905 S. Automall Drive. Investigators were told Sorensen "purchased a Range Rover Sport using a $60,710 IRS check," according to charging documents. The dealership hangs onto the title of the vehicle until the payment clears, but soon learned that the check Sorensen gave them was fraudulent, the charges state."

" Sorensen arrived at the Larry H. Miller dealership in a Ford Fusion, purchased a Range Rover, and requested the dealer place a diplomat plate on it, which they declined. The U.S. State Department confirmed the plate was not authentic, and no ambassadors were assigned to Utah," the charges state."

" Police then held surveillance on Sorensen's residence and pulled him over in his stolen Range Rover after he left his home. When asked for identification, Sorensen "presented an ID labeled 'American State Citizen' and 'The United States of America Unincorporated.' The card displayed Sorensen's full name, date of birth, photo, and an address, and listed 'Issuing Authority: The Utah Assembly.' "

https://www.ksl.com/article/51362666/man-accused-of-using-forged-check-to-buy-range-rover-putting-fake-diplomatic-plates-on-it-

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I mean, go big or go home.

Ginormus Ag said:

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Email him back right now and sincerely apologize!!! Offer $5,000 over his asking price, $10,000 if you know what's good for you. Finance with a 120-month loan and a higher rate than what they are asking for. Tell them you are a horrible credit risk and ask for a 29.99% rate. Auto debt from your checking account with no cancellation. Two months!!! This guy has bent over backwards for you. He is a saint!!! Two test drives!! WTH KAREN? In addition, you need to get every upsell they offer you. VIN etching, tint, clear coat protection, 40-year extended warranty. Buy every article of swag they sell at the dealership. Jacket. Hat. T-shirt. Tire valve stem caps. And, don't you dare even ask for a bottle of water while you are there. Bring your own pen to sign with.

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Come on. You're acting like it's still 2021.

They'll let you borrow their pen now.

at this point just tell us what kind of car it is

I think you did the right thing walking away from him. Tell ya what, I happen to have a used car too and since we're both Aggies I'll sell mine to you for only $46k. Aggies helping Aggies.

I'm guessing Fiero or high-end model Saturn

Tell him you would come down to negotiate in person, but you are headed over to pork his wife. But, if he met the 56k number you would come to the dealership first.

are you doing this in person or over the internet? If you are serious, go in person. know your top dollar, I'm walking away price and stick to it. give them a bid lower than that. let them hem and haw. see where it goes. depending on how much patience you have. you can keep going for it bit. if you want to cut through the chase, then the second bid should be your number. say this is it i'm not going higher but am willing to do the deal right now. if they don't bite, thank them for the time and start heading for the door.

Have a BIL that has owned a high end used car dealership for about 40 years.
They know what they have in the vehicle and if they move a lot of cars that one car really doesn't matter in the big picture. They are more than likely floor planing the car and if it gets 60-90 day aging on it and has not sold holding their margin range, they know what they can get for it at the weekly wholesale auction.
If they are fat on the deal they may give a little…..if skinny on the deal they won't and they will just send it to the wholesale auction and open the floor plan for another vehicle.
Even though I deal on the manufacturing side of the marine business I often times have to assist our dealers in retail at shows.
Dealerships get played a lot. I only figured buyers were serious if they were standing in front of me. Too many times they know folks are just using their price to work a better deal at another dealership.

I'll knock my offer down to $44k and offer to give your wife lessons on driving a stick, since it has a manual transmission. Final offer.

Gunny456 said:

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Have a BIL that has owned a high end used car dealership for about 40 years.
They know what they have in the vehicle and if they move a lot of cars that one car really doesn't matter in the big picture. They are more than likely floor planing the car and if it gets 60-90 day aging on it and has not sold holding their margin range, they know what they can get for it at the weekly wholesale auction.
If they are fat on the deal they may give a little…..if skinny on the deal they won't and they will just send it to the wholesale auction and open the floor plan for another vehicle.
Even though I deal on the manufacturing side of the marine business I often times have to assist our dealers in retail at shows.
Dealerships get played a lot. I only figured buyers were serious if they were standing in front of me. Too many times they know folks are just using their price to work a better deal at another dealership.

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That's a good perspective on the other side of this. A car is a pricey purchase and they all know you are talking to loads of other folks about deals. Why would I negotiate a final price with you not in person? You have no real skin in the game as you can shop that price for better elsewhere or just not show up. Whereas somebody in person is much more likely to commit to an actual purchase. They have loads to lose though if they forego a sale waiting on you or if you decide to change a term in the deal not explicitly discussed via phone or email or text when they can't stand behind a number.

if they've done the work and you are in the market… you should go talk to them. But… be prepared to walk as somebody said earlier is the key. When you don't even show up, you aren't even signaling being prepared to walk… you are signaling not being ready to deal.

Yes sir. Exactly.

ATM9000 said:

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Gunny456 said:

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Have a BIL that has owned a high end used car dealership for about 40 years.
They know what they have in the vehicle and if they move a lot of cars that one car really doesn't matter in the big picture. They are more than likely floor planing the car and if it gets 60-90 day aging on it and has not sold holding their margin range, they know what they can get for it at the weekly wholesale auction.
If they are fat on the deal they may give a little…..if skinny on the deal they won't and they will just send it to the wholesale auction and open the floor plan for another vehicle.
Even though I deal on the manufacturing side of the marine business I often times have to assist our dealers in retail at shows.
Dealerships get played a lot. I only figured buyers were serious if they were standing in front of me. Too many times they know folks are just using their price to work a better deal at another dealership.

---

That's a good perspective on the other side of this. A car is a pricey purchase and they all know you are talking to loads of other folks about deals. Why would I negotiate a final price with you not in person? You have no real skin in the game as you can shop that price for better elsewhere or just not show up. Whereas somebody in person is much more likely to commit to an actual purchase. They have loads to lose though if they forego a sale waiting on you or if you decide to change a term in the deal not explicitly discussed via phone or email or text when they can't stand behind a number.

if they've done the work and you are in the market… you should go talk to them. But… be prepared to walk as somebody said earlier is the key. When you don't even show up, you aren't even signaling being prepared to walk… you are signaling not being ready to deal.

---

I have met him in person many times at the dealership. I can remember 4 times. 3 times for test drives and once just to check out a car model and sit in it.
If he thinks I am messing around and would waste his and my time, then he is a stupid salesman. I made a clear offer, he said no and we are at a standoff to see who blinks. I don't know what will happen, he may come back with a revised offer or not. Or I may buy a different car from someone else.

If I was him, I have a customer waiting to buy and has put in so much time into it, so I would adjust the ask. These aren't cheap cars, total is over 60k. I see similar cars in the market here with prices falling. I am just waiting for the right one without the ugly Black Optic package and the right seat color to show up and I will snap it up.

I am not stupid to go to his showroom just to negotiate and he play the usual salesman tricks. I have been through that 3 times in the past, I won't waste 3 hours of my time. I made an offer over email, we have been in regular communication over text, it is a simple yes or no from his side. This is 2025, not 1995.

Furlock Bones said:

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are you doing this in person or over the internet? If you are serious, go in person. know your top dollar, I'm walking away price and stick to it. give them a bid lower than that. let them hem and haw. see where it goes. depending on how much patience you have. you can keep going for it bit. if you want to cut through the chase, then the second bid should be your number. say this is it i'm not going higher but am willing to do the deal right now. if they don't bite, thank them for the time and start heading for the door.

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As I said in the post right above this one, I met him 3 times in person for test drives of different cars and models. Once because I wanted to take the wife to sit in one of the models, we felt it was too small for us. I have been communicating over email and text with the salesman for a good amount of time as we narrowed down the make and then the model.

If he wants me in the dealership to apply the usual "let me bring my manager in" tricks, I am not up for it.I will take my business elsewhere. No games. I am here to do business. They usually let it sit a week before calling back with another offer so let's see if it happens. I am already looking at other dealerships.

Plot twist.

The salesman is a former ceo.

infinity ag said:

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ATM9000 said:

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Gunny456 said:

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Have a BIL that has owned a high end used car dealership for about 40 years.
They know what they have in the vehicle and if they move a lot of cars that one car really doesn't matter in the big picture. They are more than likely floor planing the car and if it gets 60-90 day aging on it and has not sold holding their margin range, they know what they can get for it at the weekly wholesale auction.
If they are fat on the deal they may give a little…..if skinny on the deal they won't and they will just send it to the wholesale auction and open the floor plan for another vehicle.
Even though I deal on the manufacturing side of the marine business I often times have to assist our dealers in retail at shows.
Dealerships get played a lot. I only figured buyers were serious if they were standing in front of me. Too many times they know folks are just using their price to work a better deal at another dealership.

---

That's a good perspective on the other side of this. A car is a pricey purchase and they all know you are talking to loads of other folks about deals. Why would I negotiate a final price with you not in person? You have no real skin in the game as you can shop that price for better elsewhere or just not show up. Whereas somebody in person is much more likely to commit to an actual purchase. They have loads to lose though if they forego a sale waiting on you or if you decide to change a term in the deal not explicitly discussed via phone or email or text when they can't stand behind a number.

if they've done the work and you are in the market… you should go talk to them. But… be prepared to walk as somebody said earlier is the key. When you don't even show up, you aren't even signaling being prepared to walk… you are signaling not being ready to deal.

---

I have met him in person many times at the dealership. I can remember 4 times. 3 times for test drives and once just to check out a car model and sit in it.
If he thinks I am messing around and would waste his and my time, then he is a stupid salesman. I made a clear offer, he said no and we are at a standoff to see who blinks. I don't know what will happen, he may come back with a revised offer or not. Or I may buy a different car from someone else.

If I was him, I have a customer waiting to buy and has put in so much time into it, so I would adjust the ask. These aren't cheap cars, total is over 60k. I see similar cars in the market here with prices falling. I am just waiting for the right one without the ugly Black Optic package and the right seat color to show up and I will snap it up.

I am not stupid to go to his showroom just to negotiate and he play the usual salesman tricks. I have been through that 3 times in the past, I won't waste 3 hours of my time. I made an offer over email, we have been in regular communication over text, it is a simple yes or no from his side. This is 2025, not 1995.

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Cool. Well… have fun not making a deal and looking like a wiener to the salesman and your wife.

Update: I just looked at their website, they reduced the price by $1020. In just 1 week of it sitting on the lot.

$1800 more to go to get to the price I offered. They haven't called me yet. Let's see if they do. I am ready to make a deal right away. I am okay to even go above my initial offer a bit but I am not going to overpay and I don't fall prey to FOMO.

Not sure if I will get the car or not but I wasn't expecting them to go down so quickly. I think if they don't sell it in 1 week, they will call me with a revised offer which will be $500-$1000 more than my initial offer. At that point I might just go for it.

Car salesman just called me, I did not pick up as I was driving to make a drop-off, did not leave a vm, and texted me asking if I bought a car yet.
I will respond that not yet, I am considering a few options and leave it at that. I discussed this with the wife, she said don't give in, stick with the initial offer, though I am okay with going $1000 above my initial offer.

Let's see how this plays out. There is a lot of learning in these kinds of negotiations.

Friday evening edit @4:40pm: Dude called me FOUR times today. I did not pick up. I will email him later tonight. I am sure he wants to call and negotiate HIS rate. I want it at mine or closer to mine. Let him sweat. Then he will read it tomorrow (Sat) and might be nudged into making a deal. Interesting game of chess.

Well. OP said black optic package. So it's an Audi. He mentioned Carmax, 2k miles, and mentioned 56 and 59k as a price range.

So it wasn't too difficult to find it's one of 3 cars all Q models. Of the 3, 2 have around 2k miles on them and are still listed around 59 and 60k respectively. The third is listed at 58k and has basically no miles on it. Doubt it is that one or OP would have said no miles on it.

So I don't think the story checks out here.

ATM9000 said:

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Well. OP said black optic package. So it's an Audi. He mentioned Carmax, 2k miles, and mentioned 56 and 59k as a price range.

So it wasn't too difficult to find it's one of 3 cars all Q models. Of the 3, 2 have around 2k miles on them and are still listed around 59 and 60k respectively. The third is listed at 58k and has basically no miles on it. Doubt it is that one or OP would have said no miles on it.

So I don't think the story checks out here.

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I never mentioned CarMax anywhere, where did you get that from, Mr Sherlock Holmes?

Anyway a lot happened since then.

The dealership mentioned above reduced the price twice in the interim and is less than $1000 from my original offer. However, strangely he has not contacted me again asking if I am still in the market (I am). If I wait some more time he will hit my original offer from 6 weeks ago. He's probably made it an ego issue to not call me again. The sales guy is a Latino so maybe it is a cultural thing. Never lose a potential sale like this, I could have been persuaded to buy it at the current price. The car is still sitting on their lot and now I am not interested in it as I want other options.

Anyway, I had some home improvement work so paused for a few weeks with not much looking.

Then when I got back to looking, I found the perfect car at a dealership in the area. Exactly what we wanted. I went in and did a test drive. Checked out. I was going to get he wife the next day but she got busy. The car was sitting on their lot for 3.5 months with about 11 price reductions, so odds are that 1 day would not make a difference. So I had to skip a day and drive 40 minutes to the dealership with the wife. I was 2 minutes away when the salesman texts me that the car just got sold!! GRRR. We reached the place, saw the car sitting there near the door but we could not have it. Saw the people signing to get the car. Gone.

2 weeks later, I saw another car but it had everything but something extra features that I did not care about, which bumped up the price by about 10%. I tried to convince myself to go for it and the extra cost did not matter. Almost paid some money yesterday to hold the car. But then last night, I found another car which matches my requirements perfectly! Without anything I did not want. I plan to go down tomorrow, do the test drives and purchase it before someone else gets it. Price is perfect too, lowest I have seen around.

infinity ag said:

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wangus12 said:

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Cars are some of the most overrated expenditures out there. Go get you something for 20-30k or cheaper. That 60k car isn't gonna last any longer than them and probably be more expensive to fix

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Yes, but this is for the wife for our 25th anniversary.
If I get her a Kia or a Honda, she will be unhappy and she won't be able to tell her friends that her husband got her a "nice" car. Women love to do these things. In fact it may make her the butt of jokes among the women.

If I got her a Lambo, that may be a tad too much as I don't consider myself to be of the class to buy that.

Merc, Audi, BMW are just in the right sweetspot. I can easily afford one and it also feels good.

It's just like buying my wife flowers. I think it is a waste of money but she loves them. Why? Who knows. It's a woman thing and I don't claim to understand.

Remember, try to think like a woman, not a man in situations like these.

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Have the wheels pre-scuffed?

infinity ag said:

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But then last night, I found another car which matches my requirements perfectly! Without anything I did not want. I plan to go down tomorrow, do the test drives and purchase it before someone else gets it. Price is perfect too, lowest I have seen around.

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Thanks for the taunts, jeers, jibes, barbs, insults, disses, curses etc, y'all! And some encouragement and advice too of course.
I finally completed the purchase today!

I couldn't afford to lose the car so I went in when they opened at 9, did a test drive and the car checked out. Left $500 to hold the car. Then I came back again in the afternoon with the wife, had her test drive again, and we agreed that this was the one. The financing guy tried to sell me some junk plans for another 7k and tried to shame me into it. When folks on TexAgs cannot shame me into anything, what can a piddly car salesman do? So he gave up. I paid all cash, so no financing hassles.

Took some pictures and drove the car back. The wife is over the moon and called to tell her sister, mom etc. Now I gotta sell her old car to some private buyer.

A long project finally comes to a close!

Now you can retire.