|
Many years ago during the purchase of a Mazda the dealership pulled out all the stops - I'd just read the 'tactics car dealers use' article that I think is now a classic, and just about lost my cool as they played every tawdry trick in that essay - right down to using the 'you're asking me to take food off my kid's table' line. Since I'm sort of in the head games business, I found it all kind of amusing. I'd come in late on a Saturday, and primed my wife to play her part. I stuck with the 'why won't you sell me a car?' line, and by the final bit, an hour after closing time, they had four guys from the shop standing around looking like bouncers and saying they 'couldn't come down a bit'. Playing it up, we 'left' (but killed a few minutes in the car, long enough for the GM to come running out 'wait they didn't get that last calc right, and we CAN meet your offer'.
Fast forward to our next car purchase (Honda), and I nearly crapped myself when a nice, personable salesman sits down and immediately offers us a better deal, and a better price on our trade than I thought I could get via KBB. Hate to admit it, but I felt a little like I'd been robbed, like when you have a big game coming up and the other side forfeits. They didn't even try to hard-sell the fluffy extra stuff (paint protect, underbody, etc).
|