A few years ago, we bought a used pickup from a dealer in a town near here. Their policy is no dickering. The price on the window in the lot is what you pay, no matter what. They're the biggest dealer in that town and they polled their repeat customers to see what people wanted. The result showed that nobody wanted to dicker so that's what they went to. New or used, they set what they consider to be the market price and they stick to it.
I ran into a place like that. After test driving the used SUV I was interested in, I showed them the online printouts of the dealer just down the road who'd had
that very truck on their lot for 11 months, listed for $2K
less than this place was now asking.
The lady wouldn't budge. I asked her if she'd like to bring the boss in, to explain how they thought they were going to move the truck at a higher price, when even the lower price was demonstrably too high (it hadn't sold in nearly a year). She declined, and wished me well.
I don't enjoy dickering, but when data is fairly easy to come by these days, I don't enjoy being treated like a fool.
I don't go to a dealership until I'm ready to buy and I'll email every one I'm willing to drive to in order to get their best price up front. If they don't want to give me a price without me coming in, so long. Some offer terrible deals, while others aren't bad. Then I'll use one dealer against another to get the best price.
Yup. I pick a model, trim level, and color that's fairly common and shows up on most of the dealers' inventory pages. Then I call them 3 days before month's end, telling them EXACTLY what I want, and that I'll take delivery on the last day of the month. Day 1 = get quotes, Day 2 = make the rounds just 1 more time, giving all one chance
only to meet or beat the best offer, Day 3 = buy vehicle.
I test drive to see what I want, then never visit a dealer 'til I take delivery. Anyone who won't bid, or tells me to "come in" with my best offer, gets scratched. And some dealers are so close to their monthly sales goals, that they throw out some deals that neither I, nor their competitors, can believe.
Fighting Chance has pricing data and sales trends, along with spelling out how to do the bidding process. I find their data is worth the $39.95 they ask.
FC