Dealerships and pricing question

Question on dealerships that won't give a price over the phone? "you have to come in" An atv dealer did this, some people don't like it; dealership says it weeds out the phone rif raf.
I can see some good and bad what would you guys do would you go in or go to another dealer? This was discussed at a community board.

LONG RESPONSE--SORRY. Some businesses quote over the phone and do well. These businesses are service related. You know, either you want it or you don't. For example: Cable TV (your price is x dollars- are you interested) or the interest rate paid on savings is x%. However, businesses that sell products do better when the buyer is there ON THEIR HOME TURF, touching, and in general Ooooing and Ahhhhing over the product. You know, Living the dream of wind blowing thru your hair and mud flying everywhere except on you, as your buddies snap frame after frame of your expert riding with their new camera/phones. Retailers understand that when selling products, they have a much better chance of separating you from your money or (financing)if you walk thru THEIR front door. At that point, 1/2 their battle is already won. You have mentally decided that you ARE interested in buying. Now it's just a matter of selecting WHICH ONE you are buying. (Psychology of selling). Nothing wrong with that, just understand the process.

Want my advice??? OK. If you're smart and you have already made up you mind to buy, then research on line. Find the model you are interested in buying and any shortcomings. Learn what to look for to spot potential repair problems. Now we, consumers like our toys. But in many cases, wanting something and using it are 2 different things. These "I used to .....(fill in blank, ex. boat, snowmobile, 4 wheel etc) but don't do it anymore" toys sit in the shed until owner decides they no longer want them. Keep an eye on the newspapers, trade papers, craigs list, and buy it used for 1/2 the price of new. No, you didn't get to burn the paint off the muffler, but you saved 1/2 the price, so now go donate $10.00 (or 2 bales of hay)to your local animal rescue orgainzation. Hope this helped. Now you'll probably walk right into the dealership and mess up this whole teaching/learning effort. Time will tell.

If I'm going to spending some money on good equipment I usually call around for pricing first. If I can't get a price I move on to the next on the list. When I find something I'm interested in I will then go in and take a look. The way I figure it,if they want my business they can at least tell me how much. With the economy the way it is it seems self defeating to hold back potential sales because you won't give information out on the phone because there is always somebody who will.

atv dealers are crooked bums that dont want to work real jobs. As far as implement dealers it goes both ways. If I dont get a price over the phone that sort of ticks me off, maybe I wont call or come by about anything else either. Tell them you want a price and they can bring it out to you so you can test drive it...........this can and sometimes will happen.

My local Chevy dealer, also Ford and a Chrysler all large dealers (all owned by 2 brothers) have reasonable prices posted on every vehicle(100’s). You may be able to negotiate a lower price if you don’t want to trade-in or you want to give up something or you want to finance. They are always rated as #1 dealers by all manufactures.
At least when you go in you know what you are going to be talking about in terms of pricing not some figure the salesman pulled out of his ---.

They want to work you in person,they can see how you react and how close you are to buying and work different angles or sales tatics on you.Can't do that over the phone.

If they won't tell you a price over the phone usually means they have a different price depending on who you are. I'd rather deal with a place where the price is the price no matter what. Some people are better at dealing than others and some sales people are pretty slick at getting people to pay extra. Dave

This isn't dealers BUT.

I can't understand when someone post an ad for something they want to sell in paper, craigslist, etc. why they won't put the price they want. I used to answer them but found that 99% of the time the price is too high. Now I don't even respond if price isn't listed. You know that sooner or later the seller has to tell me what they want, why not list it in ad?

Bingo.

They want you to play their game on their playing field. How many people would challenge the Denver Broncos to a football game on their own field at Mile High Stadium? Yet, in effect that's what you're doing when you present yourself on a showroom floor and announce that you're in the market for a new car.

The thing to do is be creative and get the salesperson off balance and off of their own playing field. Such as asking the salesman to bring a car to your house so you can check it out, as someone else said.

I've worked both sides of the desk, and, believe me, salesmen like to play their game on their home turf. And you can't read someone's facial expressions and body language over the telephone.

I guess my take is diffrent. Have been a KUBOTA dealer for 28 years and do seel on the phone but here is the problem a dealer has with the innernet or phone pricing. Joe blow gets up in the morning and calls around to get the absolute lowest price. All that does is drive down the price for all dealers. I know as a customer you always want to buy at the lowest price. Tractors have become so complex with options it is almost impossible to compare everything on the phone.
People can,t belive it but the AVERAGE price of a kubota rtv going out now is well over 10 grand so it is nice to have the customer where everything can be explained..Two sides to everything.

I like to see prices advertised as well, but sometimes they are not because the machine is still in the shop getting repaired, and they may not know how much they"re putting into it. Dealers listing a large volume of equipment as "call", I just ignore.

i always thought that when a dealer listing said to call instead of putting a price on it, it just meant they were lonely and needed someone to talk to.

I have never been a dealer but I'll tell you what, if you want to buy hay at the lowest possible price don't put me on your list of producers to call. Even though model for model machines are very close to the same, there is still a lot more that goes into it. I have found where I drive right down to a dealer because it sounds like over the phone they have what I want at a good price but get there and it was just sold. "But we got this one here with different equipment on it for just a little more."

Because everyone wants to base their buying decision on price, which isn"t all bad, but a good established dealer likes to promote his product knowledge, parts and service support...as well as the extras that the real good dealers provide: free delivery, loaners, personalized service...and such.
The dirty little secret is that in order to stay in business you have to be able to do theses things or you"re here today gone tomorrow, and the even dirtier secret is that you have to make a profit to do that stuff, the dirtiest secret is that dealers are in business to make money...no profit=no dealership.
Everyone is shopping around on the net, calling and grabbing the cheapest price, then holdin" their azzz when they need the other stuff, so if I am that good, well established dealer with a large loyal customer base I want new potential customers to come in and see what they are buying besides the product.
I worked ull time for and now moonlight at major brand dual line ag/construction dealer, we like you to come in and see why we are gonna cost a tad more than the internet guy 100 miles away who never has to see you again, or the new guy down the street that took on a line in his back yard.
Bottom line is that no matter what the volume is, if a dealer can"t average a certain percentage of profit on each sale he doesn"t last, and if you are one of those good dealers, simply telling everyone what your price is over the phone results in lot of hangups!

What that tells me is; the dealer...whomever that may be, is out to make as much as possible.....and if the shoe fits, wear it.

But my opinion is, a dealer knows what he"ll take for an item....whatever it is. So, when somebody asks....just tell them....X dollars and cents and be done with it. But no.....it can"t be that easy, the dealer wants to suck you into the showroom where they can apply heat on the customer and make his eyes bug out looking at all the chrome and shiny paint.....it"s just a way to milk the customer. Saturn dealers supposedly had a price in the window of the car....there it is, buy it, or walk. I like that system.

The grocery store advertises milk for $3.99 a gallon....if you want some, you pay...$3.99.

I wonder what kind of reaction a grocery would get if somebody called and asked, How much is a gallon of 2% milk? And the grocer said...well, that all depends, come on down and we"ll talk about it!

As a dealer once, would you like to have a surgeon work on you over the phone? No personal connection in other words I don't know you and you don't know me. You could come in to my dealership with a couple clean but rowdy younsters and saying I'm willing to leave a hundred dollar deposit on payday and chances are I wouldn't even take your money but on the other hand if you came in and said it was a cash deal no trade then after I dropped the price to rock bottom you suggest that you have a couple old tractors to trade in then I would say no deal.