[cabmandone]

My daughter decided it was time for a new car. Saturday she drove a new Crosstrek and absolutely loved it. She told the salesman (Salesman A going forward) I'd be helping negotiate a price on the car. Salesman is cool with that, not that it mattered.

Monday I email salesman A letting them know I prefer to get three or four quotes from dealers and the best deal gets my money. The salesman expressed some concern that he didn't want to lose a deal over $100. I told them that would not happen. In my mind it would take more than $500 for me to go elsewhere simply because the salesman had some time involved and I appreciated that. Salesman A told me that if I brought a deal in that he'd try to match it. I said "that's not going to happen" because I don't believe that's fair to the other dealers who gave me their best price without needing to see any other offers. I explained to each of the three other dealers how I was going about things and asked if they'd be interested in providing a quote with the understanding that I was going to be buying a car by the end of the day. Each of the three I reached out to were good with that and naturally a few offered to match any deal if I'd show them the deal to which I said, "you're not giving me your best number if you can match a lower deal so no, we're not doing that"

Before noon, I've got four offers in hand. I reached out to each whose offer was too high letting them know I appreciated their help but that their offer was higher than the dealer I went with. One went high pressure and tried to say that the other dealer was somehow putting the screws to me and that there's no way another dealer beat their deal... yeah I love that tactic. One thanked me for giving them the opportunity to quote a car.

For salesman A, I gave him more information on the deal we went with because I knew going in he was concerned about losing the deal over a small amount. I told them the second best was $312 less than his offer with the best being a somewhat significant amount better than that (The best offer was $800 lower). Salesman A says "I would have matched that deal" about the $312 offer. I told him that he'd have still be second best and that if he could have matched the second best offer that he wasn't providing his best offer up front. Then he says I ultimately cost my daughter money because he would have provided extended warranty at dealer cost AND that she'd HAVE TO take the car elsewhere for service. I finally told him that I understand he's upset over losing the deal but that ultimately he cost himself the sale by not providing his best offer up front.

My daughter told me he text her and seemed really upset. He told her the same thing he did me, that she'd have to bring the car elsewhere for service. She said when they met on Saturday he was very pleasant. I told her, now you got to see the real person. Good lesson in life. Everyone is pleasant for the most part until things don't go their way. The truly good people don't change. I told her, I hate losing a deal as much if not more than anyone but I'd never say something to a person to make them not want to come back in the future. Maybe I should have explained that to Salesman A.

Anyhow.. my daughter got her new car and a little lesson in life without having to deal with the joy of buying a new car.

If ya wanna hear a real good one... ask me about the joy of buying a home! I got to help my son negotiate the purchase of his first home back in March..