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…

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