Richardx80

Has anyone been able to get dealers to bargain with them when it comes down to the MSRP? If so please give a rookie some pointers :-) Richardx80@hotmail.com
All I keep hearing is, “the MSRP is the true price and there’s no room for a discount.”

WarrenSteve

believe what you hear...

kwc5811

^^^^^^ Hmmm... Simple yet effective.

tC_Normo

^ yeah what they said.. there's NO bargaining at all.. every dealer is going to tell you the same thing. scions are are already priced ridiculously low (which is a good thing).so why would you want to bargain anyway? what you're looking out for is who's dealer plates look cooler/who you want servicing your car. :D

Heliotropic

my bro is the General Sales Manager for a dealership in baton rouge. The funny thing is, if he wanted to buy a scion, he would have to pay sticker. the reason being is that scion audits the dealerships every month to make sure the # of vehicles sold match the net sales. if there is a difference, the scion dealership could possibly lose their line of cars. They only mark the tCs up like 800 bucks anyway... most other cars are 2k-8k.

rockettc

As above, there is no negotiating whatsoever. None. No chance. Not if you visited every dealer in the USA. Or on alien planets, if they sold Scions there they wouldn't negotiate either.

Heliotropic

^^^ haha, alien planets. yes.

scottc

The dealership sets the pure price. But once it's set, then there is no haggling.

My dealer sold all the cars at $50 less than MSRP.

fearturtle44

The dealership does NOT set the price. The price is set by Scion corporate. The dealership does have mark up ability on accessories.

Kevin

d-dave

The only wiggle is what options the dealer with give. I think it's great, but it hurt scion when I went to buy my car. Nissan gave me 1% financing, and 1500 in rebate. Scion couldn't match that deal.

There's a scion dealer in fort mill sc that gives you free tires for life with your scion purchase. That's about the limit of what a dealer can do, just the perks they offer.

Lonely_Raven

Options and Labor on the options. I'm lucky in that the
dealerships around here are pretty straight up for the most
part, but I've heard horror stories about dealerships putting
a bunch of crap options on the cars, and jacking up the labor.
Then, woops! No bone stock models in stock, it's this tC
with $6000 in options or nothing kid.

So bogus.

I'm glad Scion does the no haggle thing, I think it makes a
big difference.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

AFAIK, the way they should be sold is bare... you pick the options/accessories. If you want base everything, the only thing they have to put in is the radio. Done. If you want more, they'll put in more.

If someone is doing something else (i'm sure it happens), I don't really think that's the best business practice and you should find yourself another dealer.

JBHS98

The above is incorrect. This would be price-fixing, and it is illegal. The manufacturer cannot set the price, only the "suggested" retail price. The dealer decides what they want to sell the car for. A Scion can be sold for as much or as little as the dealer wants to sell the car for as long as all customers pay that price and it is posted. The whole idea is that customers hate having to negotiate for a good price, so they already lowered the price below any competing vehicles. It is funny that even though this is done, there are still customers that want to haggle because they just cannot grasp the idea that this could be true.

Avek

Just find a dealer that will wave the dealer handeling fees, it might save you a few hundred dollers but it helps.

wholeflaffer

I bow to your superior wisdom. I wasn't aware that a corporation could legally mandate an independent dealer's selling price in the USA. I could see how Toyota might be able to enforce a "no price variance" (i.e., no haggling) policy, but I always thought that dictating a selling price to independent dealers was a no-no. I guess Toyota must have gotten an exemption .

tckurt

Actually the price for accessories is let by regional directors and what not and the mark up on scions is like 200 bucks so they arent gonna negotiate what you are thinking of... so I would say your pretty much stuck with the msrp but its not like its expensive

Joehnn

Toyotas/Scions are not independent dealers, they sign agreements with Toyota and you can set a price as a manufacturer under these conditions. Price fixing is when two competitors collude to set a price. But I could be wrong, I only have a Masters in Economics.

Saturn has been doing this for years.

wholeflaffer

Once again, I bow to your infinite wisdom. Your post caused it to suddenly dawn on me that all of the dealers across this great country of ours are 100% owned and operated by Toyota.

I'd quit while I wasn't in it any deeper, Mr. Master of Economics. You don't know a thing about what you are talking about!

p.s. - instead of looking up "Price Fixing", try finding "Restraint of Free Trade" in your textbook.

Joehnn

I didn't not say all dealerships were owned by Toyota, I said Toyota/Scion dealers have a contractual relationship with Toyota. That is not the same ownership. I did not mention other dealers. I at your logical reasoning abilities.

wholeflaffer

Well, if they're not independent, and they're not owned by Toyota, what are they?

Or, are you trying to tell me that, by signing a contract with Toyota they are no longer independent? What if I told you that the dealers could elect to drop Toyota and try to take on other lines of cars?

Enough of my sarcasm, here's a short lesson you may have slept through in Grad School:

The US government deems that manufacturers who sell through agents (i.e., do not sell direct to the consumer) may not legally dictate a selling price. This is done in order to maintain competition between the dealers, and allow them to properly compete for customers on price (as well as other factors).

Manufacturers MAY establish an MSRP, but keep in mind that MSRP reads: Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. This is legalese for "This is the price we recommend that our dealers sell it for, but we cannot control the actual price." What Toyota apparently does, via its Scion dealership agreements, is require that the dealer set a selling price and not vary it from one customer to the next. Note that this requirement does not affect the dealer's ability to compete on price against other dealers, and is therefore legal.