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There have been a lot of threads, lately, dealing with Pricing on the Internet.  I have my views and some of my friends are not in agreement.  I've learned that if you want friends, you have to accept their imperfections. :lol:


Dealers still advertise vehicles, in the paper, at thousands back of invoice.  I've heard Managers threaten to fire a salesperson if they sold the "price leader", if that car actually existed.  I have made gross, switching customers but when you are thousands away, it is difficult.  I've seen salesmen hide when they saw a customer come on the lot, holding a newspaper.  It is really hard to move a customer that far and make a profit.


I was looking at a Nissan dealership website.  I noticed discounts on Altimas at over $6,000.  Next to the pictures, on the page of Altimas, there was a disclaimer: "price includes incentives: rebate, military, student and loyalty".  I am assuming that they were fading enough heat that they wanted the disclaimer prominently displayed.  I guess that if you could combine the incentives, and the planets align, the customer would get the Internet price.


I worked for a store that would price their used vehicles at what they paid for them.  When customers came in, they would be hit for "pre-prep", "inspection", "reconditioning", "dealer installed adds" just to name a few.  The first pencil would be $4,500 above the Internet price.  I left the week that this was initiated. Their Used Car department did see a huge boost in sales, but for a short period.  Recently, I was reading their reviews.  I didn't think they allowed that kind of language on review sites.


I am convinced that these practices will yield only short term results but will make our jobs difficult in the interim.