Over the years, I have seen the One Price philosophy come and go...and come.....and go again, and on and on and on. I am now in a market that has a couple dealers that are One Price, and I have a couple that aren't. The One Price stores are consistently 10% higher priced on their pre-owned inventory than I am. I believe that Yago hit on some really good points regarding the customer's perception about the value to price ratio and feeling good about the transaction.
My favorite customer has always been the one that handles it like this:
I am going to give you 1 shot. Give me your best deal, and I am either going to buy it or I am going to walk away empty handed. Just cut all the crap, and give me your number.
Ok, no problem. I will sell you the car for $12,260.
I will give you $12,000, right now.
Customers love to negotiate. They just don't want to feel like they got Man Handled through the process. We price our cars fairly close to market. We also leave a little room for the customer to have some fun with us.
Buying a car is supposed to be fun! We make sure that they have fun and negotiation is just part of it.
