- Good Morning America and Edmunds.com team up to reveal simple negotiating strategies.
- Edmunds and GMA visit two dealerships in the quest to purchase a used Honda Odyssey.
- The whole transaction was recorded by a hidden camera.
SANTA MONICA, California — Many consumers have heard of Internet car shopping, but a fair number are still drawn to the less-than-optimal dealership shopping experience.
At the request of ABC's Good Morning America, Edmunds.com recently went undercover with a GMA team to see how different dealership shopping could be compared to buying on the Internet.
Edmunds' Senior Consumer Advice Editor Philip Reed, along with Good Morning America producer Elisabeth Leamy, author of Save Big, shopped for a used Honda Odyssey at two separate dealerships, recording the whole experience on hidden camera.
The GMA segment aired on Monday, October 11.
Inside Line says: Edmunds is now the proud owner of a dark cherry red 2007 Odyssey EX-L. — Kelly Toepke, News Editor
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tbone85 says:
04:54 AM, 10/21/2010
VWgreg, if that is a successful sales approach for you, then I think it's great. You're working in a business with a troubled history. It's not your fault nor the customer's, but it is what it is.
vwgreg says:
10:45 AM, 10/20/2010
tbone>>>
i think what i will do instead of leaving the business is this; i will simply show the customer the invoice and explain to them that they can buy the car at only 10% over invoice. we should all agree that 10% is a small markup percentage.
tbone85 says:
05:36 PM, 10/19/2010
Sounds like you need to change professions. For every horror story of bad customers, there is a horror story of a bad dealer or sales person. I have several I can tell myself, but I'll leave that for others.
vwgreg says:
09:23 AM, 10/19/2010
how about we film these idiots going into a bar and asking what the bar's cost is on bottle of Heineken, then offering the bartender cost on the bottle of beer. i would like to see what the bartender does.
gordon32 says:
07:31 AM, 10/19/2010
Anyone who owns a business knows if you buy a widget for $10.00 and you sell it for $7.00 you will do what? Go out of business. I know a person buying a car could give rats tail abouth the Salesperson making a living. Just think how you would feel if a person came on your job with the intentions of verbaly abbusing you, make you get in and out of 10 diffrent hot cars along with wanting the best price on all 10 cars, Then tell you, can we get you card, we will be back. And when you ask for thier phone number, they give you a bogus number. Tell me what you are felling?
madmallard says:
04:17 PM, 10/18/2010
vwgreg>>
Except that nothing they did in this footage was unreasonable. None of their behavior, none of the questions they asked or the pricing was an insult, or out of line with making a serious purchasing inquiry.
There are plenty of psychological games that even 'honest' dealers play that are not truly upright imo. Like intentionally leaving someone alone to stew, or trying to devalue your market value reference like Edmunds or KBB.
tbone85 says:
01:46 PM, 10/18/2010
If you hate negotiating with consumers over a car, stay out of the Real Estate game. Like unions and manufacturers, much of the current day tension at auto retailers is due to historical experiences. Manufacturers created a history of taking advantage of employees and unions emerged to tilt the balance. Now the direct trust between employer and employee has eroded, and the poor relationship has damaged both employers and union members.
Car dealers used to have much greater control over information and greater power in the sales transaction, and many consumers felt mistreated. With better access to information, the power has shifted towards consumers, but the mistrust, and at times rancor, remains.
There's little sense in current actors whining about unions or the car sales experience. Predecessors made poor decisions, poisoned the atmosphere, and now you have to deal with it. It's not fair, but until a Saturn-like approach with leading products emerges, we're stuck with it. Everyone knows the deal going in.
gordon32 says:
12:26 PM, 10/18/2010
Can someone tell me the last time they walked in to a Macey's department store, gathered all the clothes they wanted to buy, and after the clerk gave you your total, you tell the clerk, "I'm willing to pay a much lower price"!!!!!!!!! Stop wearing out car salespeople.
vwgreg says:
11:34 AM, 10/18/2010
in reply to funpolice.....
we all agree that one should look around and try to save a few bucks.. agreed. however, when the jackasses feel like they need to come to the dealer and fight and be rude whilst the dealer is offering them a sale @ zero or minimal profit we need to stand up and boot them out of the store. the people who will drive to 5 different stores trying to beat the dealer down to 1k below invoice should just be booted from the store. i sincerely wish that one of the stores that these idiots went to would have launched them.
funp0lice says:
10:40 AM, 10/18/2010
@VWGREG,
For a lot of people, buying a car is a huge decision. It's a large purchase-tens of thousands of dollars-and you have to live with your choice, for better or worse, for the next 5-10 years. That makes shopping around (and sometimes saving THOUSANDS of dollars) the right thing to do. If shoes cost $30,000 a pair (AND shoe dealers have made haggling an integral part of the shoe buying process), then shoe-betcha people will be driving from one shoe store to another to haggle for the best shoe price. It's not a crime to make 2 or 3% margin on a sale. It's also not a crime to save yourself a few thousand dollars.