Do car dealerships still use high pressure tactics?

All those who write about being professional obviously did not see the deal a lady got at the Mazda dealership in Orangeville, paying a little over $20,000CDN then manufacture's recommendation. Two years ago I was ready to buy a Mazda 3, went into that dealership and ended up walking out in disgust. Yes there are good and bad salesman as there are in every work force, but these people thought me to be stupid and treated me as so. Unfortunately for them, I work with numbers and can do very quick math in my head. Every time I challenged thier numbers I was greeted with an almost hostile salesman very angry I would challenge his math. When I finally convinced him to do the calculations on the calcuator in front of me,I can still remember the look on his face when I proved his numbers way wrong and walked out. Yes I did eventually buy the car at another dealership using a very professional non-pressure salesperson, yes the experience was good, and when I mentione dmy previous experience to him, he acknowledged it was by far not the first he had heard of that dealership. My question then is this.. why do we need a forum here, why doesn't the industry regulate itself.. i know the answer.... money..

In my opinion dealerships are the problem with the car industry. I recently had the privdlige of purchasing a new vehichel. If I had taken the lowest price available from the first dealership I would have paid over $7,000 more than what I finally paid for the vehichel.Price list are removed from the windows of the vehichels in the yard (many reasons are given but most don't seem to make sense) Dealers refuse to provide you with rebates that are available and secretly turn pages with caution when you are signing. Do your homework before you aproach a dealership and watch them do their funny little dance!!!!!

How many of the disgruntled people have "haggled" in a grocery store, or in a clothing store for that matter? Would it surprise any of you to learn that there is a significantly higher percentage of profit in a pair of jeans than there is in a vehicle? The next time you are in a grocery store .... tell the cashier that you are only going to give him/her only 75% of what your final bill is ......"take it or leave it!" Let us all know what happens!

Prices in a grocery store or a clothing store are clearly marked, the sales person does not have to make a trip to the managers office to get the list price!!!

"The next time you are in a grocery store .... tell the cashier that you are only going to give him/her only 75% of what your final bill is ......" I kinda like this way of thinking. Perhaps if we all did, then prices would drop drastically. Of course, the cashier isn't the one to take it to, but perhaps the manager/ owner. The fact is, people haggle over price all the time. The sticker price of anything is not etched in stone, no matter what they tell you!

Tiger, stop buying your cars from immigrants ya cheap prick!! Buyer's are liar's, period! How many times have i been screwed over by customer trades, or the other guy is going to sell it to me for $5,000 less!! We know costs on new vehicles morons, you look like jack a**es. This to most says, i'll screw u over if you don't screw me over first! Anyone here thought about that $1-3,000 dollar tv you bought? Or those $150 pair of jeans you have on that cost $5 to make?? hahahaa... everyone gets screwed, it's how the world goes around. I hope you come to me HAHAHAHAHAAA... i'll take your kids, your lawn mower and your goldfish, money money money... i'll rub it on my nipples and chant your name!!

I have worked for auto manufacturers and dealerships and the experience a customer has depends upon the salesperson they get. It's just the luck of the draw. And there are bad sales practices in both the U.S. AND Canada. Simply go in there knowing what you want, slow down instead of rushing, do your homework and be as honest with the salespeople as you want them to be with you. Cell phone contracts in Canada stick it to consumers more than a short-term auto finance contract.

There is a lot of ignorance amongst some of you posters regarding car price markup and profits. FYI most dealerships still lose money on new car transactions and 1/3 of a car price is NOT markup with a salesperson earning 1/3 for their pocket. That is pure stupidity. Many salespeople can earn as little as $25, $50 or $100 when they sell you a new car in these highly competitive times. Whatever it is you do for a living, let me know your true costs so I can hammer you down on price until you actualy lose money on the transaction.

I bought a car under a 3.4% financing promotion. I was approved for the loan on a Saturday, I couldn't take delivery until the following week because of my work schedule. I returned to the dealer, to find they were in the middle of finalizing my financing. I told them I thought that had been finalized the previous week. The manager told me not to worry, I'm getting the 3.4%. What happened was during the week, the month end came and went, so the promotional interest rate no longer applied. In the fine print, it said I had to take delivery by month end. The sales manager actually went to bat for me to keep the interest rate at the agreed upon price, which I was surprised at, as I would have thought they'd make me take the higher interest because the fine print said I had to take delivery b y a certain date. I didn't have a legal or principled leg to stand on, but the dealer actually kept that promise for the lower interest. I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, most dealerships I've dealt with are shady to say the least.

Just remember a car purchase is done in 2 stages at a dealership: you negotiate a price with the sales manager, then you close the deal at the business office. The latter part is where you could get hit with high loan rates; extended warranty; life insurance etc... (anything the dealer can gross up the profit margin). By this time, you are probably tired and mentally drained just from negotiating the price. So be prepared to spend a good long day at the dealership. Always prepare to walk if the business manager starts to get aggressive and demands you must buy this and that and force you to sign on the dotted line.

Boutght a used uplander two yeras ago from a dealer on Sheppard Avenue.
I asked the salesman what kind of gas milage I expected and he replied the van would go over 700 km on a full tank of gas. Not the answer I wanted. I did not tell me how big the gas tank was.
I drove the van home and parked in my driveway. I opend the rear door and when I closed it the glass shattered. I phoned the dealer. I was advised to bring the van in so someone could look at the van and see if some stress caused the damage. I dove miles spend the the day at the dealer and not one person looked at the windshield. The manager said when the van left the dealership it was in good shape. Why did they call me in and waste my day. And I am still looking for the cruise control the paper says the van has. When I bought it I was directed to someone who tried to sell me rust protection although the original owner had it done.
Needlessw to say I have kept away from the dealer and I do not trust salesman.At anothe dealer I took my car for a quote on some problen I had. They took the car in for diagnosis and charged me for something I already knew about. The servise manger would send me reminders of this and that so when I wrote hin back and mentioned the charges he stopped sending me offerings and reminders.

ACURA LOUGHEED BRITISH COLUMBIA... SLEEZIEST SALES PEOPLE EVER.

Wow its funny how human mind works! you can have 1000s of good experiences but you never mention that but that one bad experience that you had always gets mentioned... its like our media always showing the bad stuff and not the good ones because no one cares to here that and its not fun! get it together guys..

"Tiger, stop buying your cars from immigrants ya cheap prick!! Buyer's are liar's, period!"
Your insult does more to shoot yourself in the foot than it drives home your point. You then go on to say,"How many times have i been screwed over by customer trades,", says more about your incompetence than anything else. You appear to be just the type this article, and commentary are aimed at. Keep up the good work, Herb Tarlick.

To the Poster that said most cars cost 1/3 of the msrp i call B/s to you. Go spend 39.95 at cars cost canada.com. You will see about 1100 dollars profit to a dealer in a $21,500 dollar civic, I shake my head every time i see this. As i have 5 yrs selling and did 146 cars in 1 yr, I still made less than 90,000 dollars. Go figure you do the make decent on used but i sold way to many new cars. In case you guys dont know we make our big bucks off used. Thats all lots and brands. The guys i would not buy a car off will not last long. As too many of there deals get kinked. Also why waste my time with i have to go home and talk to my wife. Did you sneak out the back window to visit me. Did you decide 20 min ago to buy a car. Ask the questions you want and if you do not get a fast answer leave. We have to decide how much time to invest in you on a busy Saturday. It may be your 1st time in but the guy waiting was in the day before. One last point here in Edmonton Alberta the Car market is still fairly hot. What about our sales guys down east.

Last august, I bought a new GMC 2500. I signed the contract which included a 10 000 $ rebate. i knew GM had a 8500 $ rebate on the Internet. Two days later I reviewed the numbers at home and they did not balance. Back to the salesman to explain the "deal".

Well they started with a number that included 1350 $ transport fee, the reduced it by 10 000 $. Then they took that figure, added the 1350 $ transport fee and came to my "special price". So I was charged transport twice, I pointed out. Their answer: "Everybody does it this way". What a way to do business! I will never buy a car from them again! And I am not sorry that they lost their GM franchise!

I had a better experience when I bought my used 2004 Miata from a used car dealer in a small city two years ago! Would go back to them without hesitation...

I purchased my present (used) vehicle and it's 2 (used) predessors form the same salesman at the same dealership and I was treated very well each time. I was also treated very well in the parts and service departments. I have recently moved so will be unable to use their service department, but when the time comes that I'm thinking of buying another vehicle - if that salesman is still at the dealership I will give him first opportunity. There are good dealers and salemaen out there; the trick is to find them and then stick with them.

The Auto Industry is the only industry where people want to see the dealer's profit margin, costs, etc. Try asking for that at a Leon's, BestBuy, HomeDepot, Costco etc...they will laugh you out the door....get real people.

As someone who hasn't bought a "NEW" car in more than 20yrs I can't say first hand about thier practices---But I can tell you about my daughter (young& inexperianced) I had bought her an older used car when she finished college & this is a couple yrs later&she was having problems with it!
So; she goes to a Chryser dealer to look at new cars--Well--she "TEST" drives a new Neon(2000) she leaves her car at dealership thinking they wanted to appraise it for "Possible trade in"But the salesman had got her to sign"SOME PAPERS"--She goes back the next day to discover that they JUNKED her car(that she wanted back) & that she had unwitingly bought a new car!
This was either in Penbrook or petawawa She's in the armed forces there!
About 2 yrs later she bought a Mazda & this time she paid more attention(lease /purchase plan)--Then she was to be posted over seas(Afganistan) the lease was comming do while she was away at war--she thougt she had things extended so she would buy a new one when she got back--But Mazda said TOO BAD times up--Lucky for her that her sister was there& raised hell including getting the base commander(or wichever officers in charge in Pettawawa) involved & she did get the lease extention!If they had of agreed to work something out before she was deployed they would have sold her a new car when she got back(she liked her Mazda!
She has since bought another new car(not a Mazda)!
Now--I really don't know if this is just hapening in that neck of the woods or the salesfolks just take advantage of Whoever they can--BUT I do have to wonder if these salespeople ever look at Future sales potential as she still buys new cars!
I don't know what this PROFESSIONAL Behaviour the salesmen here are talking about is but things like this endup with us Regular folks lumping car salesfolks in with crooked politions-lawyers- Ph. solisisters-door to dorr salespeople ect--(the worst of)EVEN though as we know the Vast majority of folks in sales are just hard working folks(including car sales folks) We including (Honest sales people) need more consumer protection so we don't get ripped off or misslead& honest sales people would get the respect they deserve--But I suspect there would be too much oppisition as far too many are just looking for a quick buck& dealership leadership doesn't EVER want to be held responsible for the actions of thier employees!

In response to the post by the guy who said that only a third of the MSRP is actually the cost of the car. Never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. So...he's trying to say that a dealer makes $20,000 on a car that has an MSRP of $30,000..??
I've been a sales manager for almost 30 years and let me give you some insight about profit on new car sales. I have only worked in domestic product dealerships so I can't tell you exactly on import cars but I can say that other than the high luxury brands, the imports are pretty much the same as the domestics. The average gross profit on the sale of a new car (depending on price) ranges from $1000 to $1500. Yes that's right..!! Approximately one third goes to the salesperson...depends on the pay plan of the store, and the rest goes to pay for overhead, advertising, utilities, property taxes, support staff etc. A store has to sell a whole lot of cars before they turn a profit. Now let's talk about the salesperson who averages $250 to $500 a vehicle. How many visits and how many hours did he spend with you during the time of discussing your needs, showing you inventory, taking you on a test drive, reviewing the equipment and pricing, dealing with your trade-in, making sure your car was perfect on delivery day, reviewing the documentation, reviewing the warranty books and service schedules and answering any questions you have when you come in for a service visit. And remember, he doesn't get paid unless he sells. How about the guy who ties him up for hours, only to go down the street and buy the car from a guy who was $100 cheaper after he did all the work.
How about dealing with the customers that expect the salesperson to be available 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Who make appointments and never show up after the salesperson cancelled plans to spend a little time with his kids but was assured that "we'll be in tonight at 7:30".
If you think the car business is such a walk in the park and so darn lucrative, come on in for an interview and I'll really open your eyes.