One Saturday a young couple drove all the way from a little town to buy a new car. We went through the whole process, from the meet ‘n’ greet to the needs analysis to the test drive, and then I sat them down in my office and prepared to present them with numbers. I was pretty sure I had a car deal at this point. They loved the car — a gleaming new Zorch Commander — they said they had good credit, and they appeared eager to buy. But, over the years, I’ve developed the habit of asking a bunch of routine questions, just to ferret out any potential problems that might arise, and one of these questions is “Are you trading in anything?”
Now, this would appear to be a stupid question, because the couple drove to the dealership in a new car and told me they were looking for an additional vehicle. So the obvious conclusion would be no trade-in, right? But I asked the question anyway because, well, let’s just say I’m paranoid. And I’m glad I did, too, because the couple told me: “Yes, we’ll be trading in our 2002 Dodge Neon.”
Ah.
“And where might this little gem be tucked away?” I asked. “Oh, it’s sitting in our front yard back at home,” they replied. An hour and a half away.
Now, folks, I don’t know about you, but if I was looking to buy a new car, and I wanted to trade in my old car, I think I might take my trade-in with me to the dealership. To, uh, you know, trade it in. But not these people. No, they drove to a dealership that was an hour and a half from their home and left their trade-in behind. There are only two possible explanations for this. Either A) they’re idiots, or B) there is something seriously wrong with their trade-in and they don’t want me to know it. They want me to put a number on it sight unseen. Because they know that if I do see it– and the bodywork that needs to be done, and smell the smoke from a thousand cigarettes, and hear the ka-thunk-a-thunk-a-thunka when it starts up– I won’t give them anything for it.
This is a common buying strategy. Sometimes it’s deliberate, sometimes it’s accidental. Either way, it makes a car deal a lot harder to achieve. Some dealerships will refuse to put a number on a car they can’t see and drive. If a dealer does put a number on it, it will typically be a low number, just to protect themselves from overpaying for a clunker. So you’re really only hurting yourself by leaving it at home.
That’s Strategy Number One: Leave the Trade at Home. Here’s Strategy Number Two: Leave the Money at Home.
Back when I first started in sales a young man I’ll call “The Poker Player” came in to buy a new pick-up. He wore sunglasses the whole time — even under the dim fluorescents in my office — and bragged about how good he was at poker. I shrugged it off. “Let him brag,” I thought. “I’m still going to sell him a truck.”
Well, we got down to the nitty gritty and he was indeed a good negotiator, so it took us a while to agree to a number. But the Poker Player had poor credit, which meant no lender would approve him without $2000 down. “That’s no problem,” he said, when I told him. So I got the Poker Player to sign on the dotted line and the manager approved the deal. When I got back to my desk I asked the customer for the money he said: “I don’t have my checkbook with me.”
“Do you have a credit card?” I asked. “Nope.” “Cash?” “Nope. I don’t have a penny on me.” And then he smiled his Poker Player’s smile, as if he had somehow outfoxed me.
Now, folks, I don’t know about you, but if I was going to spend three or four hours at a dealership, trying to buy a $35,000 truck, I might just bring along my checkbook. Or a credit card. Or cash. But hey, that’s just me.
At any rate, I don’t know if my customer thought we would be so desperate for a deal at that point that we would waive the money down or what, but we couldn’t get the deal approved without it and there was no way around it. So in the end, the Poker Player outfoxed himself right out of a new truck.
You wouldn’t believe how many people go to a dealership without a checkbook, a credit card, their driver’s license, or with a suspended license and expired insurance — sometimes without even a wallet — and try to buy a car. It leaves you scratching your head. What are they trying to accomplish? Do they think that leaving the money at home will protect them from making a bad decision? No, all it does is waste their time– and the salesman’s.
And finally, Failed Customer Strategy #3: Leave the Customer at Home.
The next time I greet someone on the lot and they say they’re shopping for their wife/husband/brother/sister/aunt/uncle/significant other/teenage son/daughter, I’m going to tell them to stop what they’re doing and go get their wife/husband/brother/sister/aunt/uncle/significant other/teenage son/daughter. Because it is a complete waste of time to go car shopping without the person for whom the car is intended, or the real decision maker.
Here’s what typically happens. The “looker,” or Advance Scout, goes out and spends several days, possibly weeks, going to different dealerships and looking at cars. He test drives them, he asks plenty of questions, he takes pictures with his phone, he collects a bunch of brochures– and salesmen’s business cards — and then goes home to talk to the wife, or whoever the real Decision Maker may be. “Great news!” the Scout reports. “I’ve got it narrowed down to A, B, and C. Which do you want?” And the Decision Maker looks at him and says “Are you crazy?! I don’t want any of those! Yesterday I saw a red convertible in the parking lot of Walmart and now I have to have one!”
Whooosh!!! There goes all that time out the window. Or, the Scout brings the Decision Maker into the dealership, planning to show him/her the car he/she has so carefully selected, and the Decision Maker takes one look at it, turns up his/her nose, and walks to the other end of the lot, where they pick out something totally different– and usually much more expensive.
Folks, you cannot avoid the painful process of shopping for a car. You can, however, prolong it and make it even more agonizing by going shopping without the things you need, like the trade-in, the money, and the final Decision Maker. It makes no sense. So please, for my sake, don’t do it!
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