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Thoughts on a big-city test for no-haggle pricing?

ed.brooks

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Jan 15, 2010
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Automotive News published this article on June 8th - What are your thoughts?

"Roughly 300 dealers in the New York and Los Angeles metro areas will offer no-haggle pricing below sticker on their new-vehicle inventory this week, in a promotion organized by car shopping Web site Edmunds.com." says the article. And they go on to say, "Dealers who use Edmunds’ Price Promise offer up-front, no-haggle price guarantees over the Internet on new vehicles stocked in inventory, similar to up-front price guarantees offered by TrueCar. In an age when the vast majority of car shoppers do most of their car research and shopping online, such programs aim to give them the same level of price transparency they get through online retailers such as Amazon."

A big-city test for no-haggle pricing?
 
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Ed, my first thought took me back to when I took RR from Vietnam to Bangkok. I went to a place called the Paradise Lounge. They had so many "women" that they had three digit numbers on them. This puts the Paradise to shame.

This puts the Automotive business real close to the Walmart model.
 
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Ed, my first thought took me back to when I took RR from Vietnam to Bangkok. I went to a place called the Paradise Lounge. They had so many "women" that they had three digit numbers on them. This puts the Paradise to shame.

This puts the Automotive business real close to the Walmart model.
Are trying to say that these dealers are "whoring" themselves out?
 
You can do one price/no haggle and not cheapen your store. Why not let sales people focus on customer service and not be worried about trying to hold gross. But it is an entire process, I used to work for a one price store and all our units were marked on the lot and the sales people were trained how to explain it. We showed ACV on trades and we took the customer along on test drives for trades and let them sell us their trade. The way I look at it, I want the guy who would usually come in and beat the crap out of you, never come back for service and give you a bad CSI score to pay the same as the little old lady who comes in and pays your first pencil, uses your service dept for everything and loves you!
 
Don't let them fool you, they're haggling and just saying their not:) go walk into a few of the stores with a trade and see for yourself. I know 4 or 5 dealerships I can send you to.
In a Time / Money magazine article about the program it's stated, "For that matter, consumers should also be ready to deal with the usual dealership hassles and upsells that usually come toward the end of buying process, when you’re worn down and antsy to escape, including the value of your trade-in, as well as extended warranties, service plans, rust proofing, fabric protection, and whatnot. “Those are areas we’re looking at for the future,” said Denogean of Edmunds.com, which would love to make these parts of the equation easier and less stressful for buyers as well. “For now, we’re focused on price, which is by far the biggest stress point.”

If You Hate Haggling, This Is the Week to Buy a Car
 
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Why? I still think that a good salesperson should still make six figures.

You can still make that at a one price store. My old store has 3/20 salespeople making over $125,000 selling 25-30 units a month. As a group they negotiated their compensation plan, and the owner has stuck to it - even with the new people. It includes bonuses for high volume, accessories, finance and some odds and ends.

Edited: Probably not the norm, but some stores find ways to pay their top salespeople well.
 
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Doug, it's it fully the best customers are the happiest? They are always treated like royalty when they come back; everyone wins!
What I've seen is the cognitive dissonance the internet has created. Everyone wants to sit at their screen and shop for the "Best Price," do their research, and then go into a dealer where they feel the (ingrained) need to negotiate (because of the perceptions created by dealers of yore & pop culture).
I know Tom White & his crew have worked hard to overcome these issues, but we all know they aren't the average dealer. I'm not sure how well the one price model would work for most dealers. I think it more important to know what type of dealership you have-Gross or Volume-and to market accordingly.
 
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