I'm a retired salesman

monkey44 wrote:
snip>>The salesman/manager will never tell you his lowest price, he will always make the buyer give it, and then come with a little bit higher price than you offer. Not positive, but I'd be willing to bet if you'd have walked out, you'd have gotten the price you sent in first. But, it takes walking out, and you gotta be willing to do that. You can always come back the next day ... or, wait for his call. :) :) :)

Yes, buyer is in charge, more or less, because you can always walk.

And giving a credit card to a salesman without a signed deal on the table? Never happen with me, but apparently it worked out for you this time. Good luck with your new one, and happy camping.

My given offer/price wasn't the highest I was prepared to pay. It was what would be the lowest price I wanted to pay to make a deal "today." My price was an out the door price. Including tax, tags. No document fee. No prep fee. No surprise after charges. He came back $600 and change higher. And that was acceptable to me.

I could have tried to beat him down to the last penny. I could have walked, and he might have called me back. Then I could have taken another few hours or most of another day to get it cheaper. Didn't need to take the time for that. I was going to finance. The extra 600 and change would have made about $2 dollars per month on my payment. What's the big deal. We wanted the trailer. I didn't expect him to play games. And I wasn't going to play games with them either. Got more important things to do.

The credit card thing? That is not a big deal. I could have written him a check too. I don't blame them for wanting proof that we were serious buyers. Dealers get there chain yanked and their time wasted every day. I was a serious buyer. I wasn't hiding anything. My time is worth something. I would rather he works on my deal than spin his wheels working with a tire kicker with no real interest in buying.

The sales manager thing? I certainly can understand why dealers do this. They don't want a sales person to know the real cost of their unit. The finance obligation the dealer has on it, since it was shipped to them. All the other costs involved with a unit on the lot. Nor the intricacies of pricing out the trade in. That is not part of the salesmans responsibility. The sales person is there to satisfy both sides of the deal. To pull buyer and seller together.

At some point the buyer needs to trust those who he chooses to deal with. When you walk into the dealer and find you cannot trust them...that is the time when you should walk away.

A dealer making a profit? Yes...I want the dealer to make a reasonable profit. Not unreasonable. But reasonable. I want him to be there when I need him again. Maybe for warranty.

There are some who will beat them down to the last penny. So they can feel they won the game. As long as I am satisfied with the deal and I get what I want, that is all that counts for me.