Q & A Table of Contents
Is It Too Late?
From: John, Huntington, West Virginia
Question: I need advice, and hope it is not too late. My girlfriend brought three Hondas from the same dealer, one for her, and one for each of her daughters. all with in the past year and half.
I asked her if they gave her a good deal on buying there so much, she said they did not give her any special treatment, or discount or anything. I know on her latest car it was $500.00 down, and $270.00 a month payment (interest was low), on a Civic.
To me I think it would have been better business if they had at least knocked something off of the sticker price. If it had been me, if some one brought 3 cars from me I would have really treated them well and knocked something off the price as a way of saying "I appreciate your business."
Is there a better way she could have handled the transaction, and get satisfaction?
Response: Unfortunately it is too late to change past transactions, particularly if your girlfriend (and her daughters) have already been paying their monthly car payments. While it is normal for people to negotiate automobile prices, and generally people do pay less than the sticker price, there is no law requiring auto dealers to reduce prices.
Your girlfriend needs lessons in how to buy cars. Probably the best source of information is available from the Consumers Union (in the USA), the organization which publishes 'Consumer Reports' magazine.
If you want to take some private action, and if your girlfriend is okay with it, you could visit the dealer and describe your surprise that he/she charged the full price on each of the three cars. Frankly, even if your girlfriend had only bought one car, there should have been a discount. Three cars bought in a year and a half at full price pproaches being outrageous
-- again, not in terms of the law, but in terms of the usual practice in car sales.
If the dealer offers to make an adjustment, that would be great. The dealer may be nice, but firm, indicating that s/he simply sold the car at the advertized price -- and there's no law against that. If the dealer responds impolitely, there is nothing wrong in giving some thought to letting friends know about it, discussing the situation with the Better Business Bureau, and looking for alternative car dealers to use in the future.
The basic lesson in this is that people must prepare before negotiation. Folks who know all the answers and don't prepare tend to get the raw end of the deal.
Good luck next time,
Steve
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