Car shopping

One aspect of returning to the US is the inevitable trip to an auto
dealership, and the distasteful haggling with the sales staff that
one must endure. Karen has really liked all her Honda cars over
the years, so we had basically decided on either one CR-V and
one Accord/Civic vehicle, or possibly two CR-Vs. We testdrove
the CR-V and the Accord on Monday the 12th, and surprisingly,
Karen found the CR-V more comfortable, while Rich liked the
Accord.

After stopping by the insurance company on Tuesday the 13th
(we chose an Allstate office led by one Tom Vaught, based on one
uncomplicated factor: he was the only agent that responded to
our email inquiries before we left Taiwan; the other agent in
the office, Alicia, handled all our needs expertly), we went back
to the Honda dealership on the 14th. We had the Consumer
Reports new car pricing information with us, but noted that
there were other, dealer-installed, add-ons that were not
covered by the Consumer Reports information. We decided
to concede these costs and factor that into our negotiations.
One possible mistake we made was to negotiate the prices on
both vehicles together, but maybe that would not have
mattered. We started with the Consumer Reports price, plus
the add-ons from the dealership, at the list cost, knowing there
was profit to the dealer from these add-ons. The dealer came
back with a price that wasn't much better than the sticker
price. We bumped up our offer by a reasonable amount, and
the dealer came back with a smaller discount from their last
offer. We went up by a similar amount, and Karen's skills in
negotiation, honed by four years in Asia, came in handy;
when the salesperson wondered if there was a compromise
we could reach at this point, we just kept silent. Eventually
the salesperson took the offer back to the manager (or
wherever it really goes). He came back with a position that
was actually an increase from the dealership's previous offer.
That only strengthened our resolve, and we threatened to
leave the dealership and get some lunch while we mulled
over the negotiation. That brought the manager to our
table quickly.

At this point we were only $700 apart, and if the previous
position of the dealership weren't such an aggregious error,
maybe we would have been in the mood for compromise.
We weren't in the mood. Then the manager started touting
his dealership's protection package that was applied to the
vehicles and its cost. Many sites, including Consumer
Reports, criticize these packages as being unnecessary,
except for dealer profit. The cost of the package is also
not included on the dealer add-on sticker, which seems
a deliberate obfuscation. Rich called the dealer on these
practices, and noted his dissatisfaction. The manager
attempted to deflect the issue by suggesting Rich's
complaints were questioning the ethics of the dealership,
but Rich deflected those criticisms (although, in
retrospect, the manager's suggestions were probably
more accurate than Rich had planned) and brought the
focus back to where it belonged, the price.

The manager asked how far apart the two sides were,
which was, as mentioned above, only $700. He thought
briefly, then extended his hand, and said "Let's do
business." We shook his hand, prepared for further
negotiation. Turns out we were done. We bought the cars
at our last price, in the end.

This win in negotiation sure seems as if it came with a
hidden cost, though. The service we received from the
dealership after the deal was sealed has seemed, at best,
mediocre so far. Karen wanted further dealer add-ons
for her CR-V, but they could not manage to get them on
the car that day (despite having all afternoon to do so).
Rich's new XM radio came with only a trial subscription,
of which he was not advised (this wasn't a big surprise,
at least). The salesperson also didn't do a good job putting
tags on the cars, either. There were other nagging
concerns, but we hope that having Hondas, cars that
generally are reliable, will alleviate those concerns.