Strange experience with dealership

[Anonymous]

This isn't really loan-related, but is my story of a really strange experience with a dealership, and I'm hoping someone can help shed some light as to what is going on!

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I found a 2013 Grand Cherokee Laredo at a nearby lot with under 24,000 miles on it, listed for $24,350. It is about the cheapest I've ever seen it listed, probably because it's the most basic model. I called the dealership, spoke to a salesperson and told her I would try to make it to the dealership in the next couple days. I got off of work early and decided to head home for the holidays, so I called and told them I couldn't make it but would try to come by the week later.

The Monday after Thanksgiving (last day of the month, for what it's worth) I went to the dealership and took a test drive with another salesperson at around 6:45 PM. He seemed to have no interest in moving forward with me and told me that the original salesperson would be in touch. At this point, the price had been dropped $500 to $23,850.

The next day, I emailed the dealership and told them I wanted to move forward with buying the vehicle, but that the price listed was more than I wanted to pay. I asked them what price they would be willing to go down to. I very quickly received a call from the 1st salesperson who tried to tell me that they cannot quote a price over the phone; she said the only way they could quote me is if I was sitting in front of them at the dealership. I told her that I had been to the dealership the night before and that every other dealership I've worked with has quoted me a price over the phone without any issues. She sais she would talk to a manager and email me.

Her email to me said that there was "zero wiggle room" on the price and asked how I wanted to proceed. I told her I was sorry to hear that they didn't want to make a deal and told her I would continue to look elsewhere, and she told me no problem and that was it.

Three days later, on Friday, the price was dropped $150! And yesterday the price dropped another $200 to $23,500. 

I emailed the second salesperson I talked to (who I had gone on a test drive with) and told him I was still interested, that I would NOT deal with the first salesperson, and explained that while I was told there was no room to drop the price, it had dropped several hundred dollars in a matter of days. I asked him to get back to me or for him to have another salesperson get back with me. As of today I have still heard nothing!

For what it's worth, this car has been on the lot for nearly 60 days now. 

Can anyone help explain what happened here?

[Anonymous]

The second salesperson was probably just being polite to the first salesperson.

If you indicated to him that you had already spoken with the first salesperson, they were probably extending some courtesy to her as they are all commissioned-based.  I'm sure he would expect the same from her if the situation was reversed so they abide by those "rules" pretty well I take it as hiding a car sales is nigh impossible and the other salesperson would surely know he or she sold it to "their" customer, which would pretty much assure that person will get no courtesy in return.

In any case, I'm no expert as I need help myself, but one of the unwritten rules is to never get a "quote" over the phone anyways.  Always get it in writing.  Verbal or phone quotes are kind of meaningless.

They want you there at the desk as that's typically a tipping point where they can pressure you and most people will just gladly sit there until the deal is signed.  I never go to the "desk" unless I'm actually prepared to sign as walking out at that point (while always a good idea) just means I wasted a lot of my time (which I hate).

I kind of get the sense that she (and they in general) kind of cued in on your eagerness (assuming you were eager and exhibited signs thereof).  Regardless of the price being dropped by the dealer, that salesperson knows you want it and hence, their outreach (or lack thereof) might reflect that.

They've been doing this a lot more than we've been buying cars, so.

[Anonymous]

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@franatic wrote:

The second salesperson was probably just being polite to the first salesperson.

If you indicated to him that you had already spoken with the first salesperson, they were probably extending some courtesy to her as they are all commissioned-based.  I'm sure he would expect the same from her if the situation was reversed so they abide by those "rules" pretty well I take it as hiding a car sales is nigh impossible and the other salesperson would surely know he or she sold it to "their" customer, which would pretty much assure that person will get no courtesy in return.

In any case, I'm no expert as I need help myself, but one of the unwritten rules is to never get a "quote" over the phone anyways.  Always get it in writing.  Verbal or phone quotes are kind of meaningless.

They want you there at the desk as that's typically a tipping point where they can pressure you and most people will just gladly sit there until the deal is signed.  I never go to the "desk" unless I'm actually prepared to sign as walking out at that point (while always a good idea) just means I wasted a lot of my time (which I hate).

I kind of get the sense that she (and they in general) kind of cued in on your eagerness (assuming you were eager and exhibited signs thereof).  Regardless of the price being dropped by the dealer, that salesperson knows you want it and hence, their outreach (or lack thereof) might reflect that.

They've been doing this a lot more than we've been buying cars, so.

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Thank you for your response and insight!

It sounds like you're saying they might be sensing my eagerness and may think I will eventually cave and buy at this price... would it be a good idea to just stop contacting them and wait it out and see if they reach out to me? Fortunately at this point my current vehicle is working (mostly) well enough so I'm not in desperate need of replacing it, so if this specific car doesn't work out then it's not the end of the world.

[sccredit]

Just an FYI - I am currently working on purchasing a 2015 GC Laredo for my Safety Director and I'm looking at $28k brand new.