We attended an RV show and about midway through our visit were hanging out in a nice toy hauler. Happened to be near one of the sales desks and we overhear a negotiation in progress (if you want to call it that).
The rig the buyer wanted was already lower than anything I could find online but it turned out the buyer wanted to trade his one year old rig in and wanted $55k for it. The sales manager very politely pointed out that the highest book value was $48k and the wholesale was $38.5k. The buyer didn't care plus he wanted an additional $5k off the new unit.
The sales manager responded, very funny I might add, "what would your response be if I walked in here and simply raised our asking price by $20k... you would probably tell me to get lost. I thank you for your interest and am happy to work with you but only if you are able to negotiate in good faith".
Now there is normally a lot of dealer bashing that goes on but in this example I am totally with the dealer. His matter of fact response made me like him even more. I won't mention the dealer name but they are a large brand. I wouldn't be surprised if that buyer was telling this story but in a much different tone.
Call me contrarywise. Sounds to me like the buyer knew exactly what he wanted to pay for a new coach and what he wanted for a trade value from his current coach. What is wrong with that? The dealer can counter offer, take the offer, or dismiss the offer. I think the buyer should be congratulated for being on top of his numbers and knowing what he wants. The dealer needs sales to put bread and butter on the table. A far better counter discussion from the dealer would have been to ask the potential buyer how or where he arrived at his numbers and take it from there. When the dealer responded about 'good faith' negotiations; all that is a bunch of smoke and mirrors to try to get the buyer to think that he or she is unrealistic. That is when the buyer goes to work and insists on even
more off or a better trade. If the dealer wants to negotiate in 'good faith' then he should provide numbers not a bunch of rhetorical verbosity. It is always smart to ask for more off or something thrown in to make the deal after getting to what the dealer thinks is the absolute bottom line best possible can't possibly go lower price. You would be amazed at how much more they can go if asked and they know a deal is pending. Like a previous poster mentioned, walk and see if the the dealer asks you back to the table.
Sounds to me like you watched a shrewd buyer taking on a dealer that mostly sells to people who will pay whatever the dealer wants to charge. It was a good lesson for you to watch the interaction with the buyer not being intimiated by a dealer and taking charge of the potential transaction. Most dealers know you will ask for 30 percent off MSRP. So it is easy for them to raise the MSRP to cover that discount. Then you the buyer get the discount and are happy. But, really you are not happy you just think you are.
I have made some incredibly ridiculous offers on RV's and vehicles. And more than half the time the dealer takes it. Imagine how I would have felt if I paid far more for something than I needed to. If a dealer asks where I got my numbers I tell them. Usually that settles it, they know I can go somewhere else and get it and they know I have done my due diligence to that end. It works and I suspect the buyer you were watching knows it works, too. And the dealer would still make a profit, so it is a win- win situation at the end of the day.
