Negotiating mid order
Tuned
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 393
Likes: 18
From: Irving
+1 to what you said. I've complained long and loud about how useless dealers are, how unwilling to do any work at all, but then I heard the stories on the OTHER side of the desk. Customers can be just as flaky, most will walk for just a couple hundred bucks. I'd rather pay a little more and have a good relationship.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,077
Likes: 8
I used to sell boats. A customer came in and we worked out a deal for the boat he wanted and I collected his deposit. The next day while doing the paperwork, I noticed the boat had been priced wrong on the floor. It actually had more options on it than the invoice indicated. I had charged the customer about $65000 but the actual price should have been closer to $78000. I argued at length with my sales mgr that I thought we should honor the deal. Both parties had signed on the dotted line and a deposit had been made. I even offered to forgo my commission! My sales mgr wouldn’t budge and the customer was furious. It was a terrible position to be in. Customer decided he was going to take legal action until I showed him the fine print at the bottom of the page. By signing, he had agreed to cooperate with the correction of any errors. I lost the sale and felt like a real scumbag! Sometimes breaking a deal is unavoidable!
Tuned
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 393
Likes: 18
From: Irving
Sure. Sometimes one party or the other just realizes that the deal that seemed good isn't anymore, sometimes situations change. In the case you cited, I think everyone would have to agree and a significant mistake in pricing had happened.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 216
Likes: 1
Im going to be a little in the minority here, new car salesmen make a set price on the sale of a new vehicle. So the negotiating process on a new vehicle shouldn't make anyone feel bad or like they have less integrity for trying to get the best price for their new vehicle because you're not effecting that sales mans commissions at all. However, where this would be a little on the side of wrong would be if you went to another dealer for another truck and that salesman didn't get any commissions. I have always used the tactic of pinning the dealership against another even if I have 0 intentions of going to the other dealer. Not hard to find a truck on another lot for say 45k then find a truck on the lot you intend to go and say they've already said they would come down to 43k I just wanted to see what you guys could do for me and do my due diligence shopping around. Just my $.02, everyone has their own tactics and views on how to do this... Do whatever you're comfortable doing to get the best price for the truck that you can get.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 863
Likes: 35
From: MA
I used to sell boats. A customer came in and we worked out a deal for the boat he wanted and I collected his deposit. The next day while doing the paperwork, I noticed the boat had been priced wrong on the floor. It actually had more options on it than the invoice indicated. I had charged the customer about $65000 but the actual price should have been closer to $78000. I argued at length with my sales mgr that I thought we should honor the deal. Both parties had signed on the dotted line and a deposit had been made. I even offered to forgo my commission! My sales mgr wouldn’t budge and the customer was furious. It was a terrible position to be in. Customer decided he was going to take legal action until I showed him the fine print at the bottom of the page. By signing, he had agreed to cooperate with the correction of any errors. I lost the sale and felt like a real scumbag! Sometimes breaking a deal is unavoidable!
Come on. They may have swallowed $2K, but $13K. That's crazy. An unintentional, non fraudulent mistake was made, that's what the fine print was for.
You can't expect to be unduly enriched like that on an accidental, honest mistake. Personally, throwing a lawyer up when the guy didn't get his way,shows you his lack of character.
That's like me selling my truck for $60K and I forget to put the K after $60 and some guy argues with me it says $60 and I have to sell it for that...........good luck.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,366
Likes: 185
From: Frederick, CO
The rest of this conversation is just a long way of explaining the golden rule. Treat others the way you'd like them to treat you. Enjoy.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 377
Likes: 9
I used to sell boats. A customer came in and we worked out a deal for the boat he wanted and I collected his deposit. The next day while doing the paperwork, I noticed the boat had been priced wrong on the floor. It actually had more options on it than the invoice indicated. I had charged the customer about $65000 but the actual price should have been closer to $78000. I argued at length with my sales mgr that I thought we should honor the deal. Both parties had signed on the dotted line and a deposit had been made. I even offered to forgo my commission! My sales mgr wouldn’t budge and the customer was furious. It was a terrible position to be in. Customer decided he was going to take legal action until I showed him the fine print at the bottom of the page. By signing, he had agreed to cooperate with the correction of any errors. I lost the sale and felt like a real scumbag! Sometimes breaking a deal is unavoidable!
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Cargo Master
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 2,277
Likes: 949
I bet if you had bought the Deere it would be worth far more today than the Kubota.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 377
Likes: 9
I tried to buy a US made tractor, but the dealer turned out to be a bigger A-hole than I could deal with, so I went across the street and bought the other brand. Over 30 years of abuse, the Kubota has only had regular service, and I have not had any issues at all. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy another, I wouldn’t even look at a JD.
Tuned
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 393
Likes: 18
From: Irving
I guess I just take things less personal than you guys. My view is until the truck is at the dealership and I'm sitting down to sign the paperwork, the negotiating isn't done.
Why should I try and make friends with my salesman? You know the dealership could care less about you, its all about the $$$.
All that being said, I will probably stick with my current order. I just want my damn truck
Why should I try and make friends with my salesman? You know the dealership could care less about you, its all about the $$$.
All that being said, I will probably stick with my current order. I just want my damn truck
I hear what you're saying, but I've heard enough from the sales side too. It's uneven and a lot of the dealerships I go into have a pretty cynical atmosphere. But, just like I'll share information on "those dealers", I'll try hard not to be one of "those customers". :-)
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 863
Likes: 35
From: MA
Doesn’t really matter, I’m sure the Kubota will be part of my estate, hopefully in 20-30 years. But, for laughs I just did some pricing, they are within a couple of thousand dollars of each other. Considering I got the Kubota for a couple of thousand less, it’s a wash.
I tried to buy a US made tractor, but the dealer turned out to be a bigger A-hole than I could deal with, so I went across the street and bought the other brand. Over 30 years of abuse, the Kubota has only had regular service, and I have not had any issues at all. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy another, I wouldn’t even look at a JD.
I tried to buy a US made tractor, but the dealer turned out to be a bigger A-hole than I could deal with, so I went across the street and bought the other brand. Over 30 years of abuse, the Kubota has only had regular service, and I have not had any issues at all. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy another, I wouldn’t even look at a JD.
Pretty sure the lawn tractors are not USA. Don't know about tractor with buckets.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 180
Likes: 36
The exact opposite happened to me. Had a deal done and signed. All I had to do was pick up the truck. The dealer was in the proses of being bought by another dealer so on my way to pick up the truck the sales manager calls me and says “the new owners friend wanted your truck so he just came here and took it” so I was furious. She then told me “we have the same exact truck at another one of our dealers but it has a couple more options about 2k more” so I said that’s fine just match the price and they wouldn’t budge telling me they already gave me to much for my trade as it was. So I told them to get bent and I went and bought my truck at another dealer the next day for close to the same deal as the original truck. First truck was a ruby red platinum the truck I ended up with was a pearl white KR. Both had same options.
Cargo Master
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 2,277
Likes: 949
The exact opposite happened to me. Had a deal done and signed. All I had to do was pick up the truck. The dealer was in the proses of being bought by another dealer so on my way to pick up the truck the sales manager calls me and says “the new owners friend wanted your truck so he just came here and took it” so I was furious. She then told me “we have the same exact truck at another one of our dealers but it has a couple more options about 2k more” so I said that’s fine just match the price and they wouldn’t budge telling me they already gave me to much for my trade as it was. So I told them to get bent and I went and bought my truck at another dealer the next day for close to the same deal as the original truck. First truck was a ruby red platinum the truck I ended up with was a pearl white KR. Both had same options.
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