(continued from yesterday's post...)
My big fat black dog decided to wake up at 4AM to take a piss. She kept whining in a sound that would only wake me up. My mom was staying up late watching TV so she was sleeping on the sofa right by the door, but I believe her snoring was louder than the noise the dog was making, so she never heard it.
I dragged myself to the door with my eyes closed to let the dog out to pee. While she was lingering in the yard I began to worry about today's negotiation. I never had to deal with car sales before and I don't know the full mechanics of car buying. If they started to bombard me with technical terms I'd be at disadvantage. At 6AM I lost all desire to sleep, I hopped on my computer and started to go through websites after websites on car purchasing.
Knowledge is power. I came across this website that offers confidential information of the dealership wholesale prices. It was a hefty $42 dollars to spend on an email transmission, but I figured, if I have already saved her $1700 dollars, what's another $40 to give me the leverage I need on the dealer? Within 2 minutes my report was printed. I spent the rest of my early morning refining my understanding of lease terminology and procedures. At 9:00AM I left go to the dealership and stopped at work as my staging area before the showdown. It feels better to call from the call center than calling from my house.
I asked for Ken the manager. I asked him if he was aware of my situation and that would he have time for me to come in and talk to him. He refused, he claimed that he did not have time for this meeting and that there was nobody higher than he was to handle a situation like this. I got upset. I wanted to do this in person so he knew I was serious, instead of going over the phone tagging back and forth hiding the false sense of security. I was upset at his reaction because Carlos the sales we had dealt with promised that Ken would be taking over today for him.
Eventually we compromised to speak on the phone. During the first 30 minutes of the conversation, he was insistent that it was already a done deal that nothing can be changed and he did not understand why we were even having this conversation. One of their tactics leaked to me when he said they're already offering me free first payment on the lease. He was out $588 instantly because apparently this was a chip he's been holding and Carlos never used. The $565 I took as a given from then on. After a heated conversation back and forth, he was only willing to add a $200 gas card to Petro Canada. Also he had concluded that I was an unreasonable customer that they're willing to dispense. If I wanted to go somewhere else, I may do as I please, but they will not return the deposit. They probably still thought that I should have had no business butting into this done deal. He said the conversation was over and he thought that there was nothing more he has to say to me. I was a bit shocked that he was willing to shut the door after giving almost so little grounds. I told him I'd call him back.
Honest as I am, thinking that there was no reasoning with this guy, I started to look for a better quote with my new wholesale price report as a weapon. I called Richmond Nissan and mentioned to the salesperson, Harrison, about the report I had gotten and why I was calling him. The report mentioned an affiliate that was willing to deal at a fraction of amount above the wholesale price. Only that Harrison wasn't specialized in dealing with those kinda deals. I asked him to try his best and indeed he did. He quoted me a $500/month lease price. This again was over the phone, took less than 10 minutes. I didn't believe it, I asked Harrison to check the specs 3 times and see if I missed anything. It was a deal ready to go, $500/month, sign the paper and drive the car away, as Harrison put it. This over the phone quote beat Ken's deal by $3120. I felt absolutely appalled by Ken's attitude just 10 minutes ago. Was I being unreasonable?
I called Ken back and quoted him that price. He gave out a long silence before he blurted, "I'm going have to look into this and I'll call you back." I left him with my direct extension. I began to pace back and forth in the call center. The feeling of anticipation was killing me. I sat back down to my desk and checked my email. The wholesale report has charged me on my credit card already. I thanked God that I bought the report. It was single-handed the best thing I've purchased. Then there was a second email from the provider. The wholesale report website had found me a real-time dealer who will honor the deal of $1050 above whole sale. I called Harrison with that detail. He wasn't too familiar with the pricing because he had never sold anything with that kind low profit margin. Five minutes later he got an okay from his manager to lease the car to us for $480/month. I called Ken immediately, trying to inform him that he should put this new quote into his consideration. He wasn't available at the time. I had a smile on my face.
At 11:30AM he called me back. He sighed and said, "You know, we're gonna do it. We'll match their quote...and..I am afraid I can't get your that first payment and gas card since..." Before he could finish I cut him off and gave him the new $480/month quote that's been authorized by Richmond Nissan. He groaned and begged, "Please stop playing this game...." Hey, I am just learning as I go. Things happened at the right time just to give him a slap on the face whenever he had a new offer for me.
I stopped there. He was now willing to put the free first lease payment and the gas card back on the table. Keep in mind that they have the only black on the train coming to BC, I agreed to his offer before he collapsed. We recited the terms: $500/month, tax-included, first month free - $500, and a $200 gas card at Petro Canada, no freight charge.
From our stand point, we came from $588/month+ $600 freight to $500/month - $700 discount. We've come a long way to get $5500 dollars back. From the dealer's standpoint, (according to them), they are earning 1500 dollars from us, while losing 700 dollars for the freight transport of the two cars. That's a whopping $800 profit right there. I think they should be happy because I had originally offered them a $300-$500 profit that they scoffed at.
I am at the end of the rabbit hole now and I know God is the king of all rabbit holes.
p.s. I would recommend using carcostcanada.ca for the reoprt and buy from their real-time dealer. No haggle. No trouble.
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