Car Negotiation Coach

CarsDirect offers a low price guarantee on their instant car quotes, but I urge you to be wary of the fine print.  It’s a good idea to check this price as it may be the best deal in town, however, you may find too many stipulations in the fine print to make the guarantee viable.  But first….

What’s the difference between an Instant Quote and a Dealer Quote?

Before we look at the guarantee, you must understand that an “instant quote” is different than a local car dealer quote.  Both are available from the CarsDirect site, but they are definitely unique.  The instant quote is provided immediately (hence the name) and is based on CarsDirect’s group buying power.  This quote is non-negotiable, but is usually lower than most. 

On the otherhand, dealer quotes come from local automotive dealers who receive a “request for quote” when you submit your email address to CarsDirect’s certified dealer network.  Once dealers receive these requests, they will respond to you within about 24 hours.  Their quotes are somewhat independent from the CarsDirect site.  They simply pay an advertising fee to CarsDirect in order to get in contact with you, the buyer.  These quotes are definitely negotiable, but will likely start higher than the CarsDirect instant quote.

So what is the CarsDirect Low Price Guarantee?

Taken from the CarsDirect website:

If, within three days after purchasing a vehicle from CarsDirect, you find a lower price for the same vehicle identically equipped, CarsDirect will refund the difference between the price you paid and the advertised or other dealer’s price. Or, at its discretion, CarsDirect will repurchase your vehicle. This guarantee is for vehicles purchased directly through CarsDirect and is not applicable to vehicles purchased through our VIP Dealer referral network.

So why is the guarantee so hard to use?

When you read the fine print closely, you’ll realize why it’s easy to offer a guarantee and very challenging to redeem.  Let’s look at a few snippets of the terms and conditions: [...]

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Many people have asked us this question.  The answer is simple, absolutely not!!!  Now if you want to buy a car online, there are some perfectly safe sites like CarsDirect, and they will give you a low price guarantee.  However, it’s certainly understandable that you may not feel comfortable dropping 10-30 grand into an online shopping cart.  We are strong advocates of negotiating online, and that almost always leads to a physical purchase at the car dealership.

The reason it’s in your best interest to negotiate online is that you can make multiple car dealerships compete with each other to offer you the best price on a new car.  If you were physically at a single dealership, there’s no competition and the salesman has far less of an incentive to give you a competitive price.  On the other hand, if you get Internet car quotes, each dealership knows they must give you a competitive offer.

Your best bet is to go to a dealership, take a few test drives, and then go home!  Get on your computer and negotiate over email with multiple dealerships.  Once you’ve settled on a specific car and price, THEN go back to the dealership to finalize the sale.  You’ll still have a chance to kick the tires and examine the merchandise before you sign on the dotted line.

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By now you’ve probably learned that it’s a mistake to negotiate a car price at the dealership because there is no competition.  And you’ve also probably read the success stories of people calling every dealership in a 100 mile radius or using a fax machine to do a “blast fax”, “fax attack”, or “fax-a-thon”.  But is there a benefit to all that extra work?  Here’s why sending email to car dealers will get you the same results or better with less effort:

• It’s easy. Quickly personalize this email to a car dealer and send emails to multiple car dealers.  You can have an email ready to send in under a minute.  Car dealers respond to your car quote requests using email templates (at least the good ones do) so why shouldn’t you?
• Faxes are a pain! Let’s face it, this isn’t 1985.  Who uses a fax machine anyway?  First, you have to find one or plug your computer into a land-line.  And who even has a land-line these days?  Then you’ve got to type a letter, print, scan, dial, send, whoops-forgot to hit “1”…..redial, send, wait…and wait.  Enough already!
• Prevent the salesman from running his game. Car salesmen want to talk with you to convince you to spend more money.  When you speak with a car salesman over the phone or in person you give them the opportunity to use their selling skills.  They are trained in the art of negotiation and make a living off it.  Don’t give them the chance to scam you or make the hard sell.
• You can get right to the point. In an email you can clearly tell them exactly what you want (make/model/options) and set expectations so no one wastes their time.  It’s best to express urgency so they know you are serious.  Example: “I’m interested in buying a 2010 Honda CR-V LX.  I’m accepting offers from multiple dealerships and would like to make a purchase by the end of the week.”
• Reach multiple dealers quickly.  You can easily reach multiple dealerships in a short period of time and move on if you don’t get an acceptable response.
• Car dealers can respond quickly. Car dealers can quickly copy and paste specific pricing and model information into a reply to your email and tell you exactly what you need to know with minimal effort.
• There’s a record.  If you communicate over email you’ll have documentation.  You can save every email you receive and every sent email should be in your Sent folder.  When you settle on price, make sure the dealer has included all car details including what options are installed, the total out-the-door price, MSRP, and VIN#.  You can take this with you when you close the deal to keep ‘em honest.

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We usually talk about dealer car quotes here, but for a change of pace, here’s a few memorable movie car quotes:

Ricky Bobby: Now, I’ve got a message for all the other drivers out there. If you smell a delicious, crispy smell after the race, it’s not your tailpipe. It’s just a little of Shake…and Bake! -Talladega Nights

Marissa: That’s really, loud.
Frank: Yeah, thanks. Took the restrictor plate off to give the Red Dragon some juice. But it ain’t exactly street legal so keep it on the down low. -Old School

Truck Driver: Is this Bandit? This is Mr B., gearjammin’ this rollin’ refinery. You got a smokey?
Truck Driver: Come ahead, Bandit. We’ll slip you into the rockin’ chair, play a little hide-and-seek.
Truck Driver: The welcome mat is out, and you’re comin’ home. -Smokey and the Bandit

Reggie: How much of my money did you spend?
Jack: Oh, about 25 grand. You said I could buy a new car.
Reggie: So where is it?
Jack: This “is” the new car!
Reggie: This looks like the same piece-of-sh&t sky blue Cadillac you had before!
Jack: Yeah, I bought the same make, model, year, color, everything the same. That’s the way I like it. I get attached to things, Reggie! -Another 48 Hrs.

Marty McFly: Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?
Doctor Emmet Brown: The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style? -Back To The Future

Elwood: You don’t like it?
Jake: No I don’t like it… (Elwood jumps over an open drawbridge). Of course it’s got a lot of pickup…
Elwood: It’s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?
Jake: (Jake lights a cigarette and then throws the lighter out of the window) Fix the cigarette lighter. -The Blues Brothers

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When you use a car price quote service like Edmunds or Vehix, over 75% of the initial email replies will be incomplete, misleading, or simply be a salesman’s contact information.  Car dealerships sign up for these services as a means to bring in new leads.  They’re just looking for a way to get you to the dealership to give you the hard sell.  But they can still be valuable if you know what to do with them.

Here is a recent example from a car dealer responding to a price request for a 2010 GMC Acadia SL.

As you can see, this email contains a lot of information, but none relevant to our request.  All we wanted is the price for 2010 GMC Acadia SL.

This is typical, so don’t let these types of responses bother you. You should simply view these services as a way to get contact information for the Internet Salesman at several dealerships. Those are the people you should negotiate with and make compete with one another.

Once you know who to contact, you can send a follow-up email asking for specific information about the type of car you want to buy. You will have a much better success rate in response to your follow-up email.

Here’s an email template for your follow-up email to a car dealer  (this should get you an actual quote for a specific model)

If the Internet Salesman doesn’t respond to this email or is still vague, then move on.  Using 2 or 3 of the best car price services online, you should easily get enough contacts to begin negotiations for a new car.

Once you’ve gotten acceptable responses from at least 4 or 5 dealerships, then you can begin negotiating.  Using an Email Price Reduction strategy, rank your quotes from most expensive to least expensive.  Send an email to the dealer who gave you the most expensive quote and ask him to beat your best price.  Work your way down the line asking each dealer to beat your current best price until you end up with a great price on a new car.

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