Volvo sales team lines up outside car dealer showroom to “wel- come” prospective customers (i.e., to offer new-car “deals”).
IS SWEDISH CARMAKER’S SHIFT
TO ONLINE AUTO PURCHASING
THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?
Stress, challenge and fun
of matching wits against
automobile salespeople
could be thing of the past
TURNING THE TABLES
ON THE CAR DEALER
By David Maril
Volvo has never been perceived as a trend-setter or a tradition-breaker.
The Swedish carmaker, now owned by China’s Geely, has always been known as an upscale, luxury car company that offers somewhat traditional looking station-wagons with a premium on safety from a reinforced body frame.
But that may all change.
With the recent announcement by Volvo to begin offering its cars for sale digitally online, the long- established tradition of going into a dealer showroom to negotiate over purchasing a new car may be coming to an end.
Volvo is quick to point out customers will still go to dealers to actually pick up the car and get service. However, if the online plan catches on, the most formal part of the selection process will be done ahead of time electronically.
Will this trend spread and eliminate the traditional battle of wits in the showroom?
Maybe it’s a good thing. Sometimes the process of buying a car can be an unpleasant, irritating experience. You feel the dealer always has the last laugh and you are at a severe disadvantage.
Most of us have had the experience of going to a car dealer and feeling overmatched. It can seem as futile as trying to win a basketball game yourself against a team of five veteran all-star NBA players.
HOME FLOOR OF THE DEALERSHIP
You are there on the home floor of the dealership negotiating against a team consisting of a salesman, a sales manager, the owner of the dealership, the mechanic checking out your old car and a couple of the front office employees circling around the polished floor like buzzards.
To be sure, not all car dealerships utilize the power of intimidation. There are many that make their customers feel comfortable and allow them to complete a purchase feeling good about having participated in a fair transaction.
But we all know there are also dealers out there who have their customers sized up before they even enter the building. While the sales force stands in the back of the showroom chattering away, they are closely watching the way potential buyers approach the entrance.
Two or three salespeople walk over to the far corner of the showroom window and stare at your old car as if they can see under the hood. One will shake his head and start laughing as if it’s a big joke that anyone would even consider trading in a piece of junk like that for one of their high-status cars.
Right away, they are thinking of match-ups: If the customer looks physically tough, the burly 6-foot-4 salesman is selected. If the potential buyer appears timid and well-educated, the most scholarly looking salesperson is pushed toward the door.
The torture starts after you find the make and model you really want.
The salesperson then drags the whole process out, continually checking booklets and brochures and huddling with superiors trying to come up with the “best” deal “for you.” You are left sitting and wondering while the sales rep leaves you, ostensibly to get his manager’s approval on a price.
It turns into a con game.
After making the car you are hoping to trade in sound like a condemned garbage truck, they come out with their “top” offer.
But if you don’t swallow the bait and take the deal, they ask what price they can give you to complete the transaction. If you do buy the car, you wonder whether you should have taken a tougher stand.
I always figured that if you did plan to continue buying from this type of dealer, why not make it a fair competition?
You should try driving up with at least four other people, leaving two in the car.
Before you enter the showroom, spend several minutes walking around outside staring at the cars through the window and keep shaking your head, looking down, as if you are disappointed the vehicles don’t look as promising as you’d expected.
When you do finally enter the showroom, take the lead in the discussion of price. Pull out several printouts you’ve made off price-guideline websites.
DON’T LET THE SALESMAN SEE THE FIGURES
Keep checking them over every time the salesman starts talking but don’t let him see any of the figures. While you are sitting there, have a couple of your friends walk around and keep shaking their heads as if they can’t believe you want to buy one of these cars.
Just when the salesperson seems ready to name a price, get up from your seat and say you have to talk to your other associates waiting in the car to come up with your own figure. Spend at least five minutes outside, making the salesperson wait.
Whenever the salesperson goes to confer with his people, have a meeting of your own with your two friends inside.
Make sure you keep the salesperson waiting after his or her meeting ends. Then when the salesperson starts talking, say that any sale hinges on your mechanic looking over the model and under the hood.
When you feel the four-corner offense has gone on long enough, make an offer yourself, based on what you’ve learned from Internet research about the dealer’s costs and what your car is worth. Tell the salesperson the offer is good just for this day only and will be taken off the table once you leave the building.
When your offer is rejected, ask the salesperson what it would take for the dealership to make a deal this very day. Add that you are starting to wonder if the dealer is really a serious seller and interested in making a deal.
Popular Volvo “Amazon” of the 1960s — the car, not the model — was sold in the Unit- ed States as the “122S.” Marketed worldwide from 1956-70, it was introduced in the U.S. in 1959. Its name derives from the fierce female warriors of Greek mythology.
If the salesperson tries to huddle with management, say you are in a hurry because you have an appointment at a competing dealership. Hand the sales rep a card with your phone number and tell him to get back to you in a few days when the place is ready to deal.
Drive out of the parking lot slowly and make sure your friends keep looking back at the showroom, shaking their heads. Even if you do not buy a car at this location, you’ll have the satisfaction of having turned the tables a bit.
All this fun would be missed if online car buying replaces negotiating in the showroom.
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S “INSIDE PITCH” COLUMN: click here
…and read archived Dave Maril columns by clicking here.
December 28th, 2014 - 11:23 AM
Volvo will never achieve success with on line sales in the US
What about the trade values ? Plus, the problem with the car buying process is
Not the fault of the dealers, and so they should not be punished.
What other business in the US works this way ? Where dealer costs are posted
Everywhere for the consumers to know ? When you buy furniture, food , clothes at Walmart ..,
actual “cost ” is none of your business. Why is this different with a new car? If everyone would pay the asking price like they do everywhere else on every other consumer good they buy .. There world be no problem with pricing disparities. New car dealerships in the US have been under siege like no other business in the US with profits falling to record levels resulting in many dealerships closing and going out of business. New car dealers have been vilified for decades, and this latest move by Volvo perpetuates the notion that dealers are the problem. The actual problem is the consumers desire to purchase vehicles for less than is reasonable. This culture has created the slick, sharp , often deceptive car dealer tactics we see today, as a matter of survival. It’s a purely defensive set of tactics designed to keep their heads anyone water and it will continue for as long consumers continue to try and buy goods and services at rediculous pricing expectations. Manufactures attempting to circumvent the battle instead if working to repair it will in the end, fail. Nobody will work for peanuts – and that’s what in line pricing to dealers will represent with the manufactures fattening their pockets at dealers expenses. Hector
January 5th, 2015 - 1:09 AM
[…] Voice of Baltimore by David Maril. CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S “INSIDE PITCH” COLUMN: click here …and read archived Dave Maril columns by clicking here. […]