Here is Part II of the story of my parents buying a new car last weekend…

“The Honda is FINE, I don’t know why your father wants me to go look at that other car, I found one I like, why can’t I just get that one? The white one is FINE” my mother explained.

It was actually hilarious to hear all of this, I could just see them at the dinner table. My dad wanting to make sure they’re getting the absolute perfect car for my mom and my mom ready to go with the first one that meets her criteria.

So, Saturday they went together, back to the Honda dealership to have a look at the Crosstour, they drove it together in the daylight. Apparently her first visit was in the evening, so she had never really seen it in the daylight. After their test drive they told the sales guy they were going to go to the Toyota dealership and off they went, to have a look at the Venza.

I’m sure that made the Honda sales guy nervous because statistics show that the vast majority of people who leave, never come back. They had dodged that bullet once already after my mom’s initial visit, would this lady with the 17 point checklist ever be back?

They drove the Venza and it just didn’t feel right to them. My father said there was some “weird harmonic thing happening with the suspension that started to give me a headache” on the test drive. Yeah, he’s pretty in tune with whatever car he drives, almost becomes one with it actually. So that was a short visit, it just wasn’t the right car for them.

On their way back to the Honda dealership my dad called me.

“Well Dave, we’re going to go with the Honda, what should I tell these guys?”

“You’ve got a couple of things going for you to make sure you get a great deal,” I began, “the car you want is in stock, you want THAT white car and are ready to drive home in it today. That’s all the dealer needs to hear, once they know that’s the one you want, they’ll make the price work, the only way you can walk out of there without that car is if you’re just completely unrealistic on the price.”

In stock is key. The best deal is always on what’s in stock. My mom liked the white one well enough, the options were more important to her than the color, that car had what she wanted. If she just HAD to have red with tan interior she could get it, sure, but it would cost a little more. It’s not currently on the dealerships floor plan, it would have to be trucked in, the best deal is always IN STOCK, TODAY.

“Don’t even talk numbers unless you know you want the car they’ve got” was my next piece of advice.

In these days of such technology and information you should have a pretty good idea of what you should realistically be able to buy a particular car for, long before you set foot in a dealership. You should pretty much know what it’s going to cost, within a few hundred dollars anyway.

I prefer a well informed customer, they’re a pleasure to work with. They have realistic expectations. There isn’t really any negotiating, you’re more or less just figuring out where the last several hundred dollars are going to go, or come from, rather than talking about thousands of dollars.

So, without getting into the numbers of my parents deal for their own financial privacy, let’s just say that my father was completely honest with them when they sat down to talk price. They wanted to buy a car TODAY, it was in STOCK.

Here is a piece of the email my dad sent me after I asked him to write something about their experience so I could post it here on the blog. It sounds a little formal, like he was writing it to someone he didn’t know… but here it is:

“Our experience buying a new Honda Crosstour went just like you said it would. We got the price you said we would get. The conversation about the price was very comfortable because we did what you told us to do and accepted what you had advised us to accept. The dealer felt good about the transaction and so did we. It was all very friendly, not the least but nerve wracking or confrontational. The salespeople were friendly and businesslike. Both buyer and seller showed respect for one another.

The car was for my wife. Things were so comfortable, and went so well, that when the time came, she went into the finance office alone to complete the deal. When the day was over she made the comment that the day had been one big positive experience.

Beginning the interaction with the information you had armed us with, and the attitude that you had suggested, made it the best, most positive car buying experience that we have ever had, by a wide margin. You saved us money, we got the car we wanted, and we made a friend in the salesperson. We would recommend him to our friends.

We can’t thank you enough.”

Not bad really… I was just happy to hear it was easy for them, and kudos really need to go to the people they worked with at that Honda dealership in Kansas. They clearly operate a solid dealership with solid people. It always comes back to the people, on both sides of the transaction.