Andy Rankin

Nobody is Listening

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Buying a Car Online

January 29th, 2008 ·

This isn’t a post on how to buy a car online - maybe I’ll write that one later.  I need a new car.  I’m not a car guy and really don’t enjoy shopping for cars.  My wife and I decided on the car we want, the options we want (thankfully this model has limited options available), and the color we want.  I have used Edmunds and Consumer Reports so I have a pretty good idea of how much the car costs.

I’m sure I’m not the kind of customer a car sales guy wants to see - but this is easy.  I can tell them the exact car I want.  Exactly.  No questions to be answered on my part.  I’ve asked six area dealers what their total price is for the exact car I want.  I’ve been up front that I’m shopping around.  I’ve been clear that I know exactly what I want.  Whoever sells me this car isn’t going to make much money - but if they do it right they won’t spend much time either.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but it’s taking quite a bit of effort to get the price from most of the dealers.  It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Tags: web · shopping