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Quoting Online w/o Destination Fee

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#11
Tom, Unlike most States, I don't think that Kansas has separate laws pertaining to dealership advertising. I couldn't find it on their website.

In Texas, it states:

10.9 Dealer Price Advertising.

a. Allowable Excluded Charges. The advertised price must include all costs and charges for the vehicle advertised, including destination.

The Louisiana regulation is the same but enforcement is predictable. You will be caught and fined. They are not timid in enforcing the regulations and the fines are very high. In Texas, it is hit and miss. People are not quoting the destination because they feel like they can get away with it.
 
#12
Alex Magnan said:
Has anyone else had to deal with this at your stores? If so what did you do to overcome this issue with your customers? I look forward to any input you guys have.
Click to expand...

Alex, I've dealt with this many times in the past. You'll almost certainly lose business to it, but exposing these dealerships is your best bet. I would create a page on your web site, and link to it through one of your banners on the home page. Make the banner say, "Don't get scammed" with some clever graphics. Then on the page it will link to, write a blog post telling customers what to expect when they visit these dealers. The ones that go after the lowest price will still go, but if they know what to expect when they get there and then find that you were right, you'll likely be the second place they'll visit. Let us know how it turns out for you.
 
#13
Victor,

I appreciate the input. We work hard to make sure our reputation is above average. And we know that in some cases that doesn't matter but we ask ourselves how we want to be treated when were shopping. If my initial contact with you starts off by me hiding fees from you, then I've already taken a step back. But it does get frustrating.


Alex
 
#14
I include this line at the bottom of my quotes:

"Beware of Dealers offering much lower prices -
many dealers do not include freight, have much higher processing fees than
ours, and add accessories that are not included in the price. These are not
practices that we believe in."
 
#15
emilymoore said:
I include this line at the bottom of my quotes:

"Beware of Dealers offering much lower prices -
many dealers do not include freight, have much higher processing fees than
ours, and add accessories that are not included in the price. These are not
practices that we believe in."
Click to expand...


Emily, have you considered making this a permanent P.S. note in all your outgoing email?

Read this post around the power of the P.S. P.S. This Really Works!!



I hate the hide the destination game. And as someone point out, unfortunately there are consumers that still fall for the bait. I side with NOT playing the game. In the long run it only hurts your reputation and sales. Find some unique ways of using it against the dealers that are playing the games.

"We don't play games. All pricing includes the freight charges that most dealers DO NOT include only to get to you show up"
 
#19
About 2 months ago I found a competitor doing this:

“Our Internet Price includes factory rebates, college grad rebate, military rebate, value owner rebate, competitive owner rebate, lease cash rebate, dealership discount and online savings certificates. May have to lease or finance through Manufacturer. Price does NOT include dealer installed options. We reserve the right to modify this quote to correct arithmetic errors, incentives and pricing. Programs are subject to change by manufacturers without notice. MUST qualify for all the rebates and incentives so contact us for details.”


Once a person arrives at this dealership intending to finance the car I imagine the salesman pulls out a clip board with a lengthy checklist to go over:

Are you a college grad? Are you in the military? Do you own a competing brand? Do you own a VW? Do you have our coupon? Was your mother born in Scotland? Do you have a Golden Retriever? With each “no” lifting the price higher, but what I found most alarming was that their price included a lease rebate on every quote.

I created a followup email that I'd send to people on the same lead source that talked about this to warn people titled "What to do when you found the lowest VW Quote"
 
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