Dealer won't negotiate over phone or email?

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Kieran973

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
170
Location
near NY, NY
I'm in the early stages of trying to negotiate a purchase of a 2018 Leaf. I know this sounds like a bad idea to many, and believe me I'm fully aware of the battery degradation and rapidgate issues. The thing is, given the combination of various local, state, dealership, and federal credits/rebates/discounts, the 2018 Leaf is actually the best long-term value for the money in my situation.

I've been trying to negotiate with one local dealership over email with no success. I then called them and tried to negotiate over the phone and was told they don't negotiate over the phone either. What they want is for me to come in for a meeting. So my question is: is there an actual good reason why a dealership wouldn't negotiate over the phone or through email? Like for some legality reason? Or is this purely just about theatrics, leverage, car salesman Jedi mind tricks, etc?
 
I would recommend finding another dealer, sounds like they are trying to play games with you.

I just bought a 2018 a week and a half ago, love the car so far. Everyone has different needs and wants for their purchase, don't mind the naysayers.

Best of luck!
 
It's common, but there are exceptions. If you live anywhere near Upstate NY, try Lia Nissan of Colonie. David Seacord is the guy you want. I didn't have to go there until I picked the car up - literally. And he worked hard to get me a good deal. He even checked build dates for me online.
 
Lots of dealers consider it bad business for them to negotiate online -- it lets you sit at your keyboard and toss them lowball #s; if they say no they've lost a potential customer, if they say okay you take it to another/more local dealer and ask them to match it. Negotiating online undercuts the whole dealership model, so by and large they'll use the cars as the lure -- if you want one, you have to come talk to them about. "When can we meet to discuss your needs?" etc.

Source: Personal experience; in the earlier days of the internet I had more luck negotiating online! Now most have fallen inline with the above philosophy -- with some exceptions though so it doesn't hurt to toss a lot of emails out there to dealers and see if you get any traction. For the most part though use the internet to find the exact car you want and the lowest price listed on it anywhere, then start your negotiating (in person) below that.
 
Kieran973 said:
is there an actual good reason why a dealership wouldn't negotiate over the phone or through email?
Yes. They do not want to.

Not to your liking ? Go somewhere else
 
They are refusing because they want to get you into the dealership so they can waste your time, wear you down, and dazzle you by moving numbers around on pieces of paper and letting you sit while they "talk with their finance guy". Don't play. Cast a wide net and get as many dealerships involved as possible, insist on a firm out-the-door price before you come in. More than likely, somebody somewhere is anxious to sell a car. I've done this with my last 2 LEAF deals.

I've also been told it can work to contact the "fleet manager" as they are interested in volume and want to spend the least amount of time possible on the deal. I haven't tried that tactic and don't know if Nissan even allows their fleet dept to deal with LEAF...

Interesting listen: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/513/129-cars
 
Normally, I would cast as wide a net as possible. And LeftieBiker, thanks for that dealership referral. The problem is that one of the local discounts (5K off the sale price) is tied to my local utility, so that limits me to only a handful of nearby dealerships - if I go to a dealership further away, since I'm not a utility company customer in that specific area, then I can't claim the utility discount. Actually, Nissan's strategy of tying this discount nationally to local utility companies seems like an excellent strategy for disciplining deal-savvy, inter/intra-state LEAF-shoppers and pinning them down to their local dealerships. As for dealerships being unwilling to negotiate over email/phone, my feeling is that if their reason is they don't want to quote me a price over email and then see the contents of that email posted somewhere on the internet for potentially thousands to read, I get it. But if the reason is instead that they want to put me in a room with the finance person for several hours until I make a mistake, or that they want to draw four boxes on a blank piece of paper over and over again until I make a mistake, well then, I'm going to be one sour, sour grape.
 
Many dealerships have a young, fresh salesperson who wants to get some sales. Make it very clear that you are serious but want to handle the preliminaries over email, and you should be able to get one assigned to you.
 
I bought a Prius over the phone (and across the country, for that matter) by asking for "internet/fleet" sales.
I was told by the person who closed my deal that they do not work on commission. If true, their time has value and they are likely to either say "ok" or hang up ;-)

My call took all of two minutes.

Regarding the discount via the electric utility, you still might have a wide net if e.g. you are an Xcel customer. They cross multiple states.
And fwiw, I'm not even really sure that the dealership has to use the same electric utility as you. You may wish to ask
[email protected]
 
Nubo said:
SageBrush said:
...
And fwiw, I'm not even really sure that the dealership has to use the same electric utility as you. You may wish to ask
[email protected]

I was kinda' wondering the same thing. Why would the utility care where the dealer was?
I don't think it does; in fact the entire utility connection is opaque. Nissan is sent the paperwork from the dealership and pays the rebate.
 
^That's how it worked for me. The dealer asked me if I was an Excel customer (yes) they got my address and then everything from then on was between the dealer (or Nissan) and Excel. The rebate was simply taken off my list price and I never had to do anything else.
 
I believe that most dealers believe negotiations by email, telephone, or text message is a waste of their time. Being a small business person, I can understand their point of view. I do not negotiate purchase agreements or contracts by email either.
 
Dooglas said:
I believe that most dealers believe negotiations by email, telephone, or text message is a waste of their time. Being a small business person, I can understand their point of view. I do not negotiate purchase agreements or contracts by email either.

Responding to casual "how much?" emails may be a waste of time, but responding to a detailed email from someone who seems genuinely interested in buying is not. I'm an excellent case in point, having leased my loaded SL from the only salesperson who was willing to handle it over email.
 
Dooglas said:
I believe that most dealers believe negotiations by email, telephone, or text message is a waste of their time. Being a small business person, I can understand their point of view. I do not negotiate purchase agreements or contracts by email either.

Waste of who's time?

Car dealers know that wasting the customer's time can wear down sales resistance to all sorts of bogus upselling.

Sorry, but I'm not interested in sitting in your office with a bunch of people trying to sell me things I don't want. I want to buy a car. I'll bring a check, you have the paperwork ready before I get there, I don't want any extended warranty, undercoating, etc. We can have this done in 20 minutes or less. If it isn't as we agreed, I'll leave with the check, and in less than 20 minutes.
 
Dooglas said:
I believe that most dealers believe negotiations by email, telephone, or text message is a waste of their time. Being a small business person, I can understand their point of view. I do not negotiate purchase agreements or contracts by email either.

In my case I make it clear up front that I know what I want and have cash in hand, and a good price will get me through their door ready to sign. Hardly a waste of their time --it's the easiest money they'll ever make. It's the same effort to say yes as it is to say no, so the choice is theirs.
 
Nubo said:
Dooglas said:
I believe that most dealers believe negotiations by email, telephone, or text message is a waste of their time. Being a small business person, I can understand their point of view. I do not negotiate purchase agreements or contracts by email either.

In my case I make it clear up front that I know what I want and have cash in hand, and a good price will get me through their door ready to sign. Hardly a waste of their time --it's the easiest money they'll ever make. It's the same effort to say yes as it is to say no, so the choice is theirs.
Now that I have sold a couple cars privately, I can sympathize a little with car dealerships. People tend to value their own time only.
That said, my habit has been to do enough homework to know ahead of time how much I am willing to spend. I mention my price early and either buy at that price or leave. It has been obvious through the years that I am atypical.
 
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