What to make of mystery shopping another dealer?

[JesseJ]

I do this from time to time as I'm sure most of you do. I work for a Ford dealer so I've been comparing with the top Internet Ford dealers nationally according to Ford's metrics. I've come across some interesting results but I'm not really sure what to make of it. I don't work at a volume dealership and we don't get the same type of kick backs that some of our larger competitors would so that may play a roll in pricing.

One dealership in Texas just quoted me a price $3,500 less than we could (would) offer. I guess the frustration is not knowing whether they are just lying and trying to explain to the customer once they are in the door or if that is just a price they can sell at with their volume and business.

Another dealership just flat out lied. They interestingly enough post their internet price on the website on all vehicles, however they jack the MSRP up from it's real total. I checked. They are still making a nice profit but it looks like an appropriate discount with their phony MSRP.

Most of the other dealers took the conventional approach and emailed a price in the same manner I would. The actual price. The one thing I noticed others seem to do more than I is withhold information until they can either A. call me or B. I ask them to communicate through email.

Just interesting I guess. I'm not sure if I took anything away from it.

 

[danoneil]

I think mystery shops are an excellent habit. You can see what their templates look like, the verbage used, what their disclaimer reads and you have an opinion of how your store quotes customers vs. how other stores quote. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[DanMorgan]

tough one....I definitely mystery shop though most of my competition go about their leads pretty much the same. Since the luxury market is a little different then yours I have to step back and remember how it was when I was at Toyota.

What a cut throat market where dealers try to get the extra edge with the lowest price out there but then bump the shit out of the customer when they arrive.

....oh you're not a college grad? well then you lose the $750 rebate....oh you're not a repeat customer? darn then you can't get the $1000 rebate which was in our internet price.

hate that. I even saw dealers trying to be sneaky when the Scion brand came out and everything was pure price where you can't haggle.

If your customer brings up a large price difference, all you can do is take a gamble and say that there is definitely something not right about that price to hopefully bring up red flags in the customers head.

....on another note that is stupid that they help out the large stores and not the smaller guys like the OP. I know Toyota dealers pay the same for the same car and the large dealers only get more allocation, but nothing on the $$ side of things.

 

[JesseJ]

Dan(s),

It is informative but I'll never have any way of knowing exactly what their game is. One of them actually broke down the discount with rebates that didn't exist.

I agree it is frustrating that the dealers get different kicks. We have a huge dealer less than 10 miles away who kills us at the end of the month selling their cars well under invoice because they have that cushion. It makes it tough.

I'm still so new to this business, I will probably just learn this type of stuff as I go along but I always want to know everything I can to give myself and our dealership an edge.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Some dealers will quote a low price on the new vehicle in hopes of making it up on the trade.

I might also mention tools exist allowing dealers to see the IP address from which the lead was submitted and can generate a Gooogle map showing exactly where the lead originated. If I worked in a dealership and I found my competitor mystery shopping me, you can be damn sure I'd have fun yanking their chain. So make sure you do your mystery shopping from a non dealership PC.

 

[JesseJ]

My only response to that...is what tools are you referring to and where do I download them? Hah.

 

[joe.pistell]

Dan(s),

It is informative but I'll never have any way of knowing exactly what their game is. One of them actually broke down the discount with rebates that didn't exist.

I agree it is frustrating that the dealers get different kicks. We have a huge dealer less than 10 miles away who kills us at the end of the month selling their cars well under invoice because they have that cushion. It makes it tough.

I'm still so new to this business, I will probably just learn this type of stuff as I go along but I always want to know everything I can to give myself and our dealership an edge.

To the best of my knowledge, government law written decades ago prevents auto manufacturers from giving dealers any volume bonus... period.

IMO, you're assuming that there must be some "honest" reason why their prices are lower. Nope, I'm with Dan Morgans view, you are simply looking at a well oiled shell game that is generations in the making.