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It’s a fact that most people prefer to “negotiate” a
price. Though many dealers and dealer-groups have tried to
present the no-haggle option, with the exceptions of new cars from Saturn and used cars from CarMax, it just hasn’t proven to be popular.

As I was finishing this up, a
deal to purchase the Saturn
brand fell through. The ‘little
brand that could’ is no more.
So…there goes that option.

Buyers assume that they can always offer a thousand dollars
less than asking price and do business. When this universally understood concession does not meet with success, these folks walk out the door.

For those who want the ‘best price’, CarMax often can’t match it. They MUST include a profit margin or go out of business, so their advertised price must necessarily be higher.

The intention of dealers that offer the one-price option is to
present a more (ostensibly) pleasant environment in which to do business, but buyers simply won’t play along! As they say, that dog won’t hunt.

It’s also a fact that there is rarely any actual negotiation
going on, but it is important to most buyers that the illusion is maintained and respected.

If a buyer says “I’ll give you $10000 for that car right now!”
and the dealer says, “Okay, let’s do it!” what are the chances that the buyer won’t run away, thinking that it was too easy? If the dealer agrees too readily to a proposal, the buyer will think the deal is no good.

What would you think?

Studies have shown that folks who pay the most for their vehicles (% vs. MSRP or KBB) are happiest
with their purchase. This is because these folks have decided that they are not going to let buying a car ruin their day or their week.

They have determined that it will probably cost more than it
should, like many things in life, but they are going to buy a car and drive away in it.

Folks who ‘negotiate’ all day long always think that they left
something on the table; that perhaps they could have worked out a better price if only they would have held out just a little longer!

They suffer from both a lack of proper research (or they
would KNOW what was on the table and what was not) and a need to ‘win’ something that is not being contested.
Dealerships understand very well how these dynamics work,
and a dealer will never remove his hat and surrender, proclaiming his admiration for his vanquisher.
-
Sometimes a novice salesperson will OFFER to show a
customer the invoice, thinking that this up-front honesty will
assist in closing the sale.

The sales manager won’t be happy with this weakest-of-all
sales strategies, but he will usually go and get it.
-
Many times, when the customer sees it, he’ll claim that it
has been ‘doctored’–that it’s not the actual invoice. No amount of internet evidence will convince him, and he is dug in like he is storming the beach at Normandy.

He CAN’T buy now…

He’ll likely go down the street and buy from someone with
more confidence, more experience, and he will likely not be
looking at any invoices– real or otherwise.

This is a person who came spoiling for a fight, expecting to
be lied to, would not take “Yes” for an answer, and thought
himself out of a great deal. He could not finish buying until every element was satisfied.

His ‘negotiation’ at the first place was enough to convince
him that he had done all that he could, so he could confidently buy at the next place.

These are the kinds of contortions that honest, well-meaning folks go through simply to purchase a vehicle. It isn’t fair or right, this is just the way that it is and the way it has always been.

There will be no change in this process in the future,
because it works.

It just doesn’t work for buyers.

As for ‘negotiation’…there are many kinds of leverage that can be brought to bear in an actual business negotiation, but one of them is never that one party has to get home and feed the kids. Sitting at your adversaries place of work on your day off is NOT a negotiation…

Ford became only the third automaker in 17 years to sweep the car and truck awards at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) scored a historic doubleheader today, capturing both the North American Car of the Year and North American Truck of the Year awards for the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and 2010 Ford Transit Connect.

The Fusion Hybrid edged out finalists including the Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf/GTI to win the North American Car of the Year award. It is the fourth hybrid vehicle in 17 years to win recognition as North American Car (or Truck) of the Year. It also is the second hybrid win for Ford - the most hybrid wins for any automaker. The Ford Escape Hybrid was named North American Truck of the Year in 2005.

The Transit Connect bested finalists including the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback to win the North American Truck of the Year award. It is the sixth Ford truck to win the award - the most wins of any automaker in the 17-year history of the awards program. It also is the second year in a row that Ford has captured the title. Last year, top honors went to the 2009 Ford F-150.

Fusion a Winner Out of the Gate

The North American Car of the Year award is the latest in an impressive string of awards and accolades for the Fusion Hybrid. Most recently, the vehicle was honored as CAR and DRIVER Magazine’s “10Best” Cars for 2010, one of AUTOMOBILE Magazine’s 2010 All-Stars, and the entire Fusion lineup captured the acclaimed MOTOR TREND Car of the Year® award.

The all-new Fusion Hybrid arrived in dealers in March, complete with a powertrain system that combines the best attributes of the gasoline engine and electric battery-driven motors to deliver the optimal experience for the customer in terms of driving performance and fuel economy. The Fusion Hybrid also offers drivers a way to be more connected to the hybrid driving experience thanks to Ford’s SmartGauge(TM) with EcoGuide, a unique instrument cluster execution that helps coach them on how to optimize the performance of their hybrid.

Other class-exclusive technologies and features that set the Fusion Hybrid apart from the competition include Blind Spot Information System (BLIS®), Ford SYNC®, SIRIUS Travel Link(TM) and more total passenger and luggage capacity than the Toyota Camry.

Despite the slump in overall industry sales, 2009 was a record-breaking year for the Ford Fusion. Sales are at an all-time high, with the Fusion Hybrid accounting for almost 20 percent of total Fusion retail sales. Perhaps even more significant, more than 60 percent of Fusion Hybrid sales have been to customers coming from import brands - mostly Toyota and Honda.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ford-sweeps-na-car-and-truck-of-the-year-awards-81129492.html

Respect
When there is no respect, no recognition of another’s worth
in a conversation, how can there be communication?
For the salesperson that has been told that he must sell two
cars in the next two days or lose his job, how can he look at a
customer as anything more than an adversary, as someone he
must defeat?

When buyers have been told repeatedly over the course of
their lifetimes that car sellers will always try to lie and steal from
them, how can they look at the person who welcomes them to
the lot as anything other than the enemy?

THEY CAN’T.
-
What if we could start over?

What if salespeople were taught that it is essential to treat
any customer with all the respect due them– not only as human
beings– but also with the understanding that without them, no
one can be paid?

What if buyers were taught that the salespeople on a car lot
work 60-hour weeks, they are under relentless pressure, and
they have families and obligations like regular people?
Would it matter?
-
Would shoppers treat the salesperson on the lot differently if
they knew that he or she might be the one person on the
property who can’t take their money?

And what if they knew that this salesperson was, without
question, backed up by highly skilled negotiators with decades of
experience in this high-pressure environment?

Would buyers re-think their plan? Would it encourage them
to have a plan?
-
The disconnect between buyers and sellers of vehicles is so
complete, so pervasive, that it extends to private party deals as
well. Sellers lie about their car, buyers lie about their ability to
pay…

Where car deals are concerned, lying and misrepresentation
is not left only to the professionals.  It’s easy for folks to justify these unethical actions. After all, it’s a car deal!

No matter that the ‘opponent’ is another person with identical concerns.

In this world, everyone must look out for themselves.
-
Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of
equal respect for all men.
Jane Addams

next:  THE WAY IT IS: “Negotiation”

THE WAY IT IS: On the Lot

Overheard on car lots every single day, all across this great land:
Sales Manager: “Where did those people go?”
Salesperson: “Which people?”
SM: “Those people that were back there checking out the (anycar).”
SP: “Oh, they said they were just looking.”
SM: “Really. Did they talk to a manager before they left?”
SP: “Well…no.”
SM: “You’re fired.”
-

Car dealerships know that it is more cost-effective to
alienate 85% of the people who are “just looking” in order to sell
to the other 15% who will finally give up and buy after several
hours of ‘the process’.
-
When you say “where are the keys to my trade-in, I want to
go home…” what they hear is “I need some more convincing.”

Why does this make sense to them? Because they sell an
exclusive item that only ‘needs’ to be replaced every 3 to 5 years.
You won’t remember where you had your bad experience, and who
cares if you do? These are sales of tens of thousands of dollars.

When folks are asked for their opinion of car salesman, the
answer is often an unbroken string of obscenities.

Even kindly old Granny, sitting there knitting a sweater for
her cat, might fire off a burst of profanity that could make the
most battle-hardened Marine queasy.

This is the result of years of conditioned responses from
both buyers and sellers.

The ‘process’ is so contentious that many folks keep their
cars long after they no longer want them in an effort to delay the
sacrifice of time and dignity out on a car lot.

The fact is that this is an invasive procedure by nature:
gathering personal information and determining credit worthiness.

When folks become aware that their ‘comfort zone’ has been
breached and the rules that they live by during the rest of their
lives no longer apply, they can become less honest and less
straightforward, as a kind of defense mechanism.

In 80-90% of franchise car dealerships today, the salesperson
you meet on the lot is more of a tour guide than the
plaid-jacket-striped-pants-white-shoes stereotype of yesteryear.
He may well be the one guy who CAN’T sell you a car.

He has absolutely no idea what they will sell the car for, what your
interest rate will be, or how much you can expect for your trade-in.

There is a well-known adage in the business that one talks
about cars ’standing up’ and about money ’sitting down’. In this
age of specialization, his or her sole function is to get you inside
and sitting down. Period.

This method of using the soft-spoken ‘nice guy’ to greet the
potential buyer and urge them to come inside makes perfect
sense because very often the customer is so wary and on-edge
that the task requires the gentle persuasiveness that ‘the closer’
typically lacks.
———————————————–
‘The Close’, ‘Closing’, ‘The
Closer’: The process of securing a
commitment to buy, an
agreement to final terms, the
person responsible for this action.
———————————————–

Once you are sitting down, the next person you will meet is
The Closer, and s/he does not really care what your kids are
named or where you work, what your hobbies are or how long
you have been married. They only want to know how much effort
will be required to put the deal down so they can move to the
next one. They want to know the answer to “if I can ___, will you
buy now?”

Somewhere in a room, near the back of the dealership, out
of the sight of customers, in this most competitive of all sales
disciplines, there is a chalkboard that lists the names of all the
salespeople and the sales each have made during the month to
date.

The well-seasoned and the rookies alike will face this board
several times a day, and each will be reminded of their respective
rankings on this board by their managers. Often.

No one knows when the sales-magic will leave them (or
arrive!), and no one counts a deal done until the car rolls over the
curb and into the street.

There is no such thing as job security, and every salesperson
begins each month at ‘zero’. The fella or gal who greeted
you on the lot, that “polite young person”?

They are hovering in the background, hoping all goes well.

They are rooting for you to hold strong, to not get tired, to
be happy with the trade-in amount offered.

They want you to be warm and comfortable and they want
you to be able to afford the car.

But most most of all, most of all, they want to put some chalk on
the board.

© Copyright 2009 Peter W. Robinson All Rights Reserved

next: ON THE LOT:  Respect

It’s easy to surf the internet and find an endless litany of
bitter, invective-filled anecdotes of terrible experiences that folks
have had while buying a car. Is it always the fault of the dealer?

When you are on the lot, they know that you won’t be coming back to that lot, even if you don’t. They have to gather an investment in time and effort from you, and they have to get you inside and they have to try, really hard, to sell you a car.
What else can they do?  What else should they do?

We can’t blame the finance manager or salesperson for
trying to sell one of their products. Isn’t it their obligation to try
to sell us everything they can? How would their boss answer that question?

How would their family answer that question?

It’s our job to know what we are going to be offered,
whether or not we want it, how much we should pay for it, and
how these things affect the total loan and the terms.

We are going to act, not react.

We’ll decide on the vehicle that best satisfies our dreams,
our desires and our pocketbook.

We’ll decide how much we will pay for it, then we’ll find it,
check it out, drive it, buy it, and love it.

We’ll love it because it’s just what we wanted, just what we
wanted to pay, and the process was quick and easy because we
did so much of it from the comfort of our couch at home.
We won’t spend all day at the dealership, because we have
things to do and a new car to drive.

When we possess the lifelong ability to perform the difficult
task of car buying with confidence and clarity, we can actually
enjoy the shopping experience.

We can even get excited about it because we know that we
will emerge from every deal in the best possible financial situation
with the best possible vehicle.

CAR FU is a way of thinking that eliminates blame, mistrust,
fear, disgust and aggravation from the car-buying process by
helping us understand that we alone are responsible for our car
deal, that no one can make us do anything, and in 90% of the
situations that frustrate us the most…they are just doing their
job.

CAR FU maximizes our time and our money, and eliminates
our resentments and feelings of helplessness.

It’s time to forget about the dealer, forget about the
salesman… they have their job to do, and you have yours.

Your goals and interests just happen to be a bit different
than theirs are.

They are not the enemy.

As you will see, they are merely one of the tools you will use
to attain your goal.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.
Mark Twain

next:   The Way It Is: On The Lot

INTRODUCTION: For many of us, the act of buying a car is the most
unpleasant, traumatic experience of our lives.

It’s easy to understand why– it’s the single biggest expense
of our lives (at least our homes generally gain value), it must be
repeated over and over, and it takes place in a (seemingly)
hostile environment through an opaque process.

Many of us will commit ourselves and our families to
$300,000 or more in car loans over the course of our lifetimes.
Do you know that dealer auctions are closed to the public,
and that the record of transactions is available only to licensed
dealers?

What about the car buying websites? Why are the listed
values of the same vehicle often thousands of dollars different
from site to site?

Do you know that there is software that dealers, banks, and
credit institutions use to determine the ACTUAL trade-in value of
a vehicle, and that these are not available to the public?
No wonder it all seems opaque; it is opaque. We’re used to dealing in absolutes, especially when it comes to money.

Nearly all of the complaints of car buyers are process-related.
Folks don’t know what to expect when they go in, things
happen very fast, so many decisions are necessary, and many of
these decisions involve thousands of dollars (though it may not
seem that way at the time!).

Anyone who has spent time working in the car business has
watched buyers spend hours and hours negotiating a thousand
dollars off the purchase price of a vehicle, only to give it back and
more immediately upon entering the finance office. Many folks just plow through it, hoping it will end soon and not be too painful.

The thing is…the money. It’s just too much money.

Folks are often in shock when they leave the dealership, either that they bought that day or by how much they are now obligated to repay.

In this country, we are often extended to our maximum debt
load, but the car buying process is much more invasive than, say,
running over our MasterCard limit while on a department store
spree. In fact, sprees can be kind of fun while they last, while
most car purchases are grueling and painful throughout.

It’s easy to surf the internet and find an endless litany of
bitter, invective-filled anecdotes of terrible experiences that folks
have had while buying a car. Is it always the fault of the dealer?

The more you read and learn, the less your adversary will know.
Sun Tzu

next: Introduction pt. 2

then:  The Way It Is: On the Lot

as promised, the video of this remarkable feat:

Travis Pastrana–NO LIMITS!

Champion driver, cyclist and record holding car jumper sets a world record by jumping over water 274 feet on to a barge, then backflips into water to cool down. Subaru Impreza!   Welcome to 2010!

Make it the best ever and DRIVE HAPPY!

This video coming–meanwhile, enjoy some other Travis virtuosity:

The folks at Monaco-based Venturi Automobiles have used two strategies to overcome the problems of producing a high-performance, all-electric luxury sportscar: manufacture only 25 units per year, and charge $400,000 for each one. The Venturi Fetish, described by the company as “the first production electric sports car in automobile history,” can bolt from zero to 60 in 4.3 seconds, and reach a maximum speed of 105 mph. The physics behind this level of performance: 330 horsepower pushing a carbon-fiber vehicle weighing only 2,425 pounds.