I'm a retired salesman

JALLEN4 wrote:

monkey44 wrote:
Vulcaneer: No doubt you made a good deal and went in there armed with good information.

But one other thing your deal illustrates, the dealer will always 'force' the buyer to "tell us your highest offer" sorta, and when you do, will always go to the "in charge guy' (of course, salesman has no authority for a deal the great) and come back with something a little higher. It never fails, and supports again what I said earlier. 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.

I know you are never going to give up the idea that the salesman is going to give you the lowest possible price but trust me...it just isn't going to happen. LOL

Here also is a tip from negotiating 101. As a sales manager, never accept the first offer if it is any less than MSRP. As well, never make the deal as long as the customer is still going up. Only make the deal when the customer has said absolutely no with no counter offer.

The reason I say that, 99% of customers have no idea what is a good deal and what is not. When asked, they have no clue what the dealer should make on a transaction even if they know the cost. On numerous occasions I have stood on a showroom floor and asked customers if they would pay a price for a vehicle that was at least $10,000 less than my cost. Inevitably they either want to know if that is the best I can do or tell me they already have a lower price.

I know, I know ... :) :) we're riding the same horse here. I'm just explaining from the buyer side why we never, ever get the lowest price for any vehicle ... we can never legitimately know the costs and expenses associated with our purchase. Only the dealer knows that (probably not event he sales staff)

I believe the only real issue with most of what buyers complain about is the idea that some (not all) salesmen will give out false info to make a sale. That's simply unethical - but it seems like everyone knows it, accepts it, and sometimes get screwed or sometimes get a really good deal.

Even when it's a good deal, we probably don't know it. It's a fact of buying and selling vehicles - it would take me pages and pages of RV.net to give up all the shady deals and good deals I found myself involved in buying trucks for my company years ago, before I changed careers.

I suspect it's a minority of deals that are truly crooked, but those that are really stand out because it's one of the most expensive purchases a family ever makes. And, therefore, a buyer can really get screwed and it impacts their lives more than any other factor. It's almost impossible to recover from that - like the houses that depreciated so quickly and left families unable to refinance due to depreciation instead of appreciation like every one expected. In some cases, real estate you can sometimes wait it out, but with RV, not possible.