People are interesting. And the way people go about trying to accomplish certain tasks is even more interesting. Sometimes I hate talking about the car business, but it's an unavoidable part of my life for now and I found this situation strange:
A small Japanese woman with a cane walks into our dealership last week. The funny thing is that this woman is the type that everyone knows that from the minute she walks in, she's here to play hardball. It emanates from her. She spends time with her salesman (not me) and seems to find some kind of thrill in making him run to and from different cars, pull them up, open them up only to say "I don't like that one." They find a car that "kind of" works and sit down to figure out the payments. This woman proceeds to tell the salesman "You have 2 minutes and then I'm out of here." The salesman scrambles to try and get the figures in time, but she sticks by her word and at the exact 2 minute mark, stands up and starts hobbling out of the dealership. The manager runs out and begs her to stay. She says "Ok, fine. 2 more minutes. BUT THAT'S IT." They scramble to put together the price. They run out as she's standing up again, show her the price and she says "Ok, thank you." and leaves without buying the car.
Here's where it gets interesting:
This woman uses a fake name and "secretly" shops me on the internet to see if she can
really get the best price. She proceeds to email back and forth with me for several days and several times a day to milk every bit of information possible from me. Once the week of emailing is through, she calls me for for a few more brief questions, but blocks her number so I can't call back. The crazy part is that this woman just went through this entire process to save less than $200 from the price she was originally given in the dealership. The even crazier part is that this woman bought the car from another dealership to save $200 more (We were selling the car at $200 over cost. I told her that and told her I thought it was fair. The other dealership sold the car at cost and didn't make
anything).
The psychology of people when negotiating intrigues me. Just when I think I'm starting to understand a little, I realize I may never understand. Party because everyone is different and partly because when people want a good deal they can truly act insane.
I would like everyone to know that life doesn't have to be that hard. You don't have to spend a week of your time and everyone else's time to save a few hundred dollars. If you want a good deal on something
Google it. You really can find just about anything you want there. And if you find yourself paying $400 too much for a $25,000 car, it's ok. Life will not end. You won't miss the money and probably won't know you even spent it. Don't stress. Be happy. That's it.
