This is how I do it and it has paid me very well for the time invested:

There are different approaches to purchase a vehicle. One is to make an offer or negotiate in person at a dealership. Another is doing one of these long distance deals after verifying the price first. At long distance the negotiating is limited. What makes them attractive is the price.

What ever approach you take YOU MUST BE INFORMED. I am a price shopper. I do my research, decide what vehicle I want, and then compare prices at different dealerships. If you are in the market for a car or truck check the advertising and prices in the automotive sections of newspapers. The internet makes it real easy to be informed. In a couple of hours you can find the lowest retail price for a particular vehicle in the USA. Ebay is a good place to start. Many dealers post new vehicles with buy it now prices on their ads. Traderonline.com has all kinds of vehicle and equipment sub links. There is a sub link atvtraderonline.com that features hundreds of dealer postings for new atvs. Many of them post prices. These dealers all have an 800 number. I will print out an ad with an attractive price then call the dealership. I then ask for new vehicle sales and when I get a sales person on the line I verify their name and WRITE IT ON THE PRINTOUT. What ever vehicle you are purchasing, the most important question to ask is this:

WHAT IS THE OUT THE DOOR PRICE?

The only price I am concerned with is the out the door price. I do not care how they ad it up and arrive at that figure. I care how much the total price is. If you start listening to how much they charge for this or that that you are being sucked into a smoke and mirrors situation. It saves you a lot of stress and mental energy not to try to figure that out. It is relatively easy to compare out the door prices. Before I figured this out I walked out of several dealerships when they tried to spring a $200.00 or $300.00 title fee on me after I thought I had already made the deal.

If you do one of these long distance deals call and verify the price and make sure the vehicle is in stock before you go. Make an appointment date and time with an individual sales person who's name you have to purchase the vehicle for the out the door price. Make notes on your print out and if possible have them send you a confirmation e-mail with the price offer. When you get there plan on paying that price. In that case you avoid negotiation, offers, counter offers etc. DO NOT ENTER INTO A CONTRACT AT LONG DISTANCE. That opens too many opportunities for them to try monkey business. Get them to make a price offer that can be verified without obligating yourself.

The next rule to remember is DO NOT BE A SMART @$$.

If I am visiting a dealership and I know I am informed about prices I will make an offer. That forces a response. I seldom pull out a competitor?s ad. I don?t try to reason or argue with them. Not all dealers will sell for the same price. They are trying to make a living. That is ok, I accept that. I want the best price I can get. I am free to choose that best price as long as I know what it is. No hard feelings from me. If they can?t accept my offer I will leave. I do not negotiate the price upward very much once I make my first offer. That method has paid off for me on every vehicle I have bought for the past 30 years. In 2003 I walked out of a local Ford dealership after they turned down a $42,000.00 offer for a new King Ranch pickup with a $48,000.00 window sticker. Five days later I walked into a Ford dealership in Ft. Worth Texas and made an offer of $39,500.00 for an identical vehicle. The salesman disappeared to check with management and 10 minutes later came back congratulating me on my new truck. In June of this year I walked out of a power sports dealership after they turned down my offer of $6,300.00 for a new KingQuad. The next morning I called Procycle, 80 miles away, and verified the internet price of $5,920.00 out the door. They set that price, I did not make different offer. I had my bike home by dark that same day.


All of that being said there is value in purchasing from a local dealership. If you have a good relationship with your local dealer you can tust it is worth a few hundred extra dollars on a deal. You still need to be informed. The problem you will run into if you make a purchase from a long distance is your local dealer will not be nearly as interested in providing service, especially warranty service. That is human nature I guess. I am having a warranty issue with my atv. The local dealer's service manager told me that they do not make as much profit on warranty work because Suzuki has a formula for reimbursing them that is less than the rate they charge customers for the same work.

 

The same thing every dealer tells me when we dicker in price, he tells me " why should he sell it to me for a lower price when tomorrow someone else will walk in and will pay full price for the same one" then he will tell me if Im someone special that I should get a lower price. Those lines the dealer uses has me lost for words for a good come-back line, I can only tell him im planning on going to another dealer and buy one who-ever has the same price, but I do know dealers do work together, as soon as you leave he's on the phone calling the other dealers with ur name and info and price and the type of machine you want. Thats one thing people don't understand, ur a marked man when you walk in a dealership and ur judged as a serious buyer.

 

I guess you'd know all about that Moto. I hear that recently you're thinking of trading your Eiger in on a new Suzuki King Quad complete with belt drive transmission.

http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/BBS/a...ual-sport.html

 

My apologies to those of you who are technically challenged. Here is a better link.... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

Post by MotoF150

 

Great advice! My local Suzuki dealer will not perform warranty work on machines bought elsewhere. My friend, old owner of same deal, loved doing warranty work. A good, fast mechanic can actually make money in warranty work. It is paid by flat rate.
Once again, great advice on buying an atv.

 

Laugh out loud funny. After seeing posts ALL over the place by Moto about how belt driven quads suck..this is just hilarious.