Help me Be a Car Salesman's Worst Nightmare

[Jon Westfall]

First of all, any car salesmen out there should not be offended. With a father who has been in sales for over 30 years (Some of it in cars), I appreciate the tough job they have. However, this weekend with my girlfriend, its Us vs. Them, so since They don't post Here, can you help Us prevail?

Anyway, I'm looking for 2 quick and easy things this weekend, and wanted to get some input on the best programs to do it with.

1. Kelly Blue Book prices - anyone know of an ebook version of blue book? Otherwise, the website is pretty unreadable in PIE for me on my XDA. Any alternatives for good used car prices?

2. Carfax - I have my 1 month unlimited membership, and since site is pretty bad on PIE, I figure I can just submit the VIN and then get the report from my email. Problem is quickly getting to the page to submit the VIN. Any good fast browsers out there that will only show links & forms? That would be great.

And any helpful hints on what I could pack on my XDA (Short of an OBD-II Scantool) to help this weekend?

Thanks

[theon]

How bout just getting the trail version of Thunderhawk? That should work just for the weekend?

[dunneldeen]

Not sure where their figures are derived from but Edmunds2Go (http://pda.edmunds.com/) is formatted for handhelds, and contains a wealth of info on new and used cars (including prices.) I bet you could even get it configured in AvantGo or Mazingo, with a little bit of work.

[dunneldeen]

You can also get Kelly Blue Book data from http://autos.msn.com/kbb/. Doesn't look pretty on my 2215, but it looks a little better the http://www.kbb.com.

[DimensionZero]

Hmmm.. Interesting... Is there a Canadian version of the Blue Book?

[karen]

Hmmm.. Interesting... Is there a Canadian version of the Blue Book?

The Canadian versions are called the Black Book and the Red Book.


http://www.canadiancarprices.com/values.html

[aleib]

I used to sell cars -

Let me give you some tips

1. Don't negotiate your monthly payment - Negotiate on the actual price of the car - If you negotiate payment you could end up on a 6 year loan instead of a 5 and will pay much more in interest

2. Do not give the salesman the keys to your trade in if you have one - They will usually ask for them so that they can give them to their used car manager - If you decide to leave though you will have a tough time as the assistant manager will try to close on you.

3. Figure on a $200-$250 payment for every $10,000

4. Best time to go car hunting is end of the month, end of the quarter - The sales managers are looking to move product and are more likely to make deals -

Thats all for now! Good luck

[dh]

I sold cars too for a while (VW and Audi) and agree with all the points above. At my stealership the keys for the trade were held hostage so that the poor customer could be beaten up from every level in the business, through to the owner.

Couple of other things, I used to like Edmunds.com for pricing info. The owner hated me to do it, but I would often take a customer to a terminal to check out facts.

One thing you should do is use Edmunds to see what the trade value is of the kind and age car you are looking for. This will give you a rough guide as to what the stealership paid for the car. There is much more margin to the dealer in a used car so there is always plenty of room for negotiation.

If it's a new car, it's easy to get the invoice value from the same site. Remember though that the car companies do put additional items on the dealers invoice that are not shown at Edmunds or KBB that usaually add up to two or three hundred dollars.

Also, I would always get a customer the CarFax info if they wanted it. The dealership didn't like that either, so I used my own account.

As mentioned above, end of month/quarter is by far the best time to get a good deal. If the dealer is trying to get to their quota you can get some great pricing.

If you find a good sales person, who understands that the internet is a good thing for the business, you should be just fine.

Finally, don't forget there are plenty of cars and plenty of dealers. If you don't feel comfortable at one, walk out and go to the next.