Sure we make money on the sale of cars, but we make even more on financing and on the sale of extras like unnecessary add-ons.
Customers who have pre-arranged financing or are paying cash, are still sent to the Finance Department. Sure the finance department can arrange financing. They also work hard to load you down with over-priced extras. They can and do talk people into useless, and very profitable stuff. For example, believe it or not, we’re still able to sell some car buyers on undercoating, despite the fact that lots of media have published lots of stuff by experts stating it’s unnecessary.
From Consumer Reports, August 2018: Cars today are manufactured with corrosion protection, which makes this added treatment unnecessary, though it is profitable for car dealerships. Consumer Reports recommends that car buyers skip the undercoating and several other pricey add-ons, including VIN etching, fabric protection, and extended warranties.
But Consumer Reports with all their experts and engineers can’t stand up to lines we use, like “It’s only a few bucks per month, so why not protect your investment?”
God bless those finance guys!
And don’t think you can outsmart or out-negotiate us. You shop for a car, what, once ever 4 or 5 years? We do this every day, we have all sorts of training. We know the objections and the effective replies to them all… We even love it when people come in with their printouts from Consumer Report and other places that purportedly show what the car cost us. They think they’re so smart. Ha ha ha. Believe me, we are trained to obfuscate that info, and quickly get them wrapped around our finger.
One of our mantras: Customers don’t have to get a good deal. They just have to think they are getting a good deal.