Buying Cars...

From: Shaun.Hendricks@bergenbrunswig.com
Date: Thu Oct 22 1998 - 12:58:09 EDT


   I've read with interest the various things about carpoint, etc. etc.
Having a roomate who sells these things for Dodge is a very enlightening
experience. He could tell you about things like advertising, hold-back and
other such stuff but there is a fairly universal rule of thumb: a dealership
won't go below invoice unless they are desperate to get rid of the vehicle.
Newer or "hot" vehicles have higher "minimums" than invoice so you'd be
barking up a wrong tree to try and get them below invoice.
   Most dealerships have separate departments: sales and fleet. As a general
rule, sales trys to make the highest profit from each car they can as the
salemen are paid on the "Net Profit" of the deal: a low percentage at that.
Fleet departments like to move volumes of cars and will generally go much
lower than salesmen as fleet sales works off of "gross profit" (a value that
includes all possible profit of the vehicle including hold back, advertising
etc.) per vehicle at a much higher percentage than regular salesmen so the
more cars they sell the more money they make. Regular salesmen would starve
if they sold cars at Fleet levels. What most people don't understand is that
you can walk into any Fleet department and buy a car: no special card or
account needed, but they don't bargain like salesmen. They tend to give you
"Here's my price, take it or leave it." If they like you, you will get a
lower price than some stranger.
   For those that are new to the list, I'll re-post the information on how to
get ahold of my roommate and see what kind of a deal you can get elsewhere if
you like. Here's the post again:

   He will sell vehicles (including the 99 Dakota R/T) to anyone from the list
for $100 over invoice price plus any Courtesy Delivery fees (read: the charge
other dealerships charge him for delivering a vehicle he sells to a out of
state customer). He is SUPER easy to deal with, he will not try to screw
around with you or sell you the useless stuff. He is only interested in
moving cars. This is what you do:

#1: Decide what you want and what goodies you want on it.
#2: Call him at (800) 926-3634 or (714) 847-5515 and ask for David Weinberger
#3: Tell him who you are and that you are a member of the Dakota Mailing List
    (you can tell him Shaun sent you too ^_^)
#4: He will fax you or e-mail you the invoice cost on the truck and just add
    $100 to it for your cost. If you are out of Calif, he will also ask that
    you pay the Courtesy Delivery costs as he will drop ship the truck/car to
    your local dealership where you can pick it up.
#5: If you order the vehicle, he'll keep you informed of where it's at in the
    building and shipping process if you ask him to.
#6: Be amazed at how easy buying no hassle/haggle is. (I was)

Shaun H.



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