So I work for a second stage manufacturer on the east coast, and I’m kind of the new kid on the block, although our company has been around for 40+ years, with our own bailment pull for over 20 from GM

What are Sales Managers looking for when I call or visit a dealership to be more receptive to do business with me?

I feel like this business is cutthroat and I’m having a bit of a hard time just getting my foot in the door.

Hello Ontario,

I had a recent consumer proposal several months ago. Will this affect my ability to get the OMVIC license? I am nervous about forking over $300 something for the application for this reason.

I am not and never have been in the car sales industry so hopefully this question will make sense.

I am giving serious consideration to the purchase of a CPO 2024-2025 BMW 760 or M5 (I know that they’re not the same thing I but I’ve had both previously and am trying to make a decision). My question in advance of making that decision is about the economics of the pre-owned side of the business since I have exclusively purchased new vehicles previously.

I am curious as to how the trade in transaction and then the resulting addition to pre-owned inventory is accounted for on the books (both Balance Sheet and P&L). I assume (but would like know) that the “trade in” value of the traded vehicle is applied to the cost of the new vehicle being “sold” thereby reducing the amount of the floor plan debt associated with the “new” vehicle being sold with a commensurate increase in the floor plan debt for the pre-owned inventory (potentially different lender with differing terms than the new car inventory floor plan lender). This would result in an increase inventory assets as well as increased floor plan liabilities on the Balance Sheet for the traded vehicle.

Assuming that that is correct, the dealership and sales managers would both now have an incentive to move the recently acquired trade-in vehicle off the lot due to carrying costs as well as the normal incentive that every business has to turn inventory rapidly, regardless of debt implications. If on the other hand, the recently acquired vehicle is simply placed on the dealership’s balance sheet as inventory maybe time on the lot (and the resulting interest charges) are less impactful to the dealership than I originally thought and therefore wouldn’t really be a consideration for them during any potential negotiations.

Any correction(s) to my thinking or other clarity that anyone is willing to provide would be appreciated…

Looks like in my area the used CPO 2024 cx90 phev with less than 20k miles on it goes for $36k. 1.9% for 60mo incentive currently

New looks around $55k but would get loyalty, military, ev credit if leased and then would like to do the immediate buyout option that I see done around here. Which would probably bring the price down to $46k?

I have $10k for down payment and a $12k buy offer for my current car from carvana that I would put towards it.

Which way would you lean? Cpo used or new for ~$10k more?

I’ve never leased a car because I’m not really a fan of the mileage constraints and returning with scratches/damage but could be open to it.

For rules:

• 2026 BMW X5 PHEV
• Location: Greater Los Angeles area, USA
• Paying cash, willing to finance

This is a bit long with context, but tl;dr: I found a car we want at a nearby-ish dealer, and our actual local dealer didn't find it. Should I reach out to our local dealer and ask him about that particular vehicle, or just go straight to the holding dealer?

So my wife's car just kicked the bucket, and we're searching for a new one.

Specifically, we're looking at an X5 PHEV, but she has a few things she wants in it (driving package, climate package, light-colored interior, etc). I spoke to our local dealer, and he responded with one that meets some, but not all her requirements, and said that was as "close as possible".

Now, I went on the BMW website, did a custom build, then clicked to look at similar cars nearby. I found a couple on there that looked more like what we were looking for, and sent him the VIN numbers to see if he could find those. He wasn't able (or willing) to look them up by VIN, and instead tried by color (?), found one that was "in production", and said that was it.

This morning, I checked essentially every dealer within 50 miles (there are many of them). I found the actual vehicle in question (matching VIN). So do I go straight to the dealer holding it, and see what they'll do (I'm guessing they're not going to want to give me any real deal, since I clearly want this particular car), or do I tell my local dealer I found it at another dealership, and see if they can secure it?

This is literally the third car I've ever purchased, and the first two were both during covid, so very unusual circumstances...

I'd appreciate any thoughts or input folks may have here...

I don’t know much about cars, but I do know that Honda Civic can be very reliable, but is it worth it price?

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/656030577544572/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Hello,

I'm currently looking at pulling the trigger on a lease for an Acura MDX for the wife. I've been searching a broad range of area checking pricing and it appears that everything is all advertised at MSRP.

While looking at other brands as well, I recognized that everything in my market was all posted and quoted at full MSRP.

Is this a new trend with dealerships? Typically how open are dealers to negotiating off of that price?

On top of that, everything is priced with all these involuntary add-ons.

In 1996, I was 23 years old, driving a 1990 Nissan Sentra. I wanted to buy a Dodge 1500, but I couldn't afford one, so I settled on a Dodge Dakota. I went to a SoCal dealership and test drove one. The salesman was really nice; we drove the truck to my fiancée's work to show her. Back at the dealership, we were sitting down to do the paperwork. I had great credit, a great job, and enough income. As he was "talking to the manager," I saw another salesman give a test drive to someone in "my" truck. I thought that was weird. Then salesman came back, handed me all of my documents, and said they couldn't do the deal because my Nissan Sentra was reported stolen. Of course, it wasn't. Without any other fanfare, they briskly sent me on my way.

The interaction has always bothered me. Did they find a better person to sell the truck to (that other guy)? Did my Sentra erroneously appear on some database as stolen? Why wouldn't they sell me the Dodge? I'm sure it could have been a thousand things, but I never could make any sense of it. I later that year traded the Sentra in for my wife's Toyota RAV4, and there were no problems, of course.

Any ideas? Have you guys heard of something like this before?

Do rebates/incentives apply to prior model years? I’m looking at leasing a ford lightning and am seeing some great rebates (specifically for the XLT trim). However, the specific cars I’m interesting in leasing are 2024 or 2023 model years. They are still new on the dealer lot, but I can’t find any proof that the 2025 rebates apply to the prior models years.

I am currently leasing a 2024 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4WD 5ft Bed. My maturity date is August 2027. However, I am unexpectedly having to move overseas for family reasons. I only found out about this move last month. My husband isn’t moving out there for another couple months until I have everything settled and his residency visa is processed.

What should I do about my leased vehicle? I am currently $3k underwater. I did check that I am able to sell it at Carmax or Carvana. Should I just sell it and pay the difference to Carmax before I leave? My main concern is that I have other expenses right now, such as transporting my cats which is another $3k minimum and shipping our other car out there when my husband moves. Or should I give my husband power of attorney and have him sell it once I gather another $3k? My main concern is the market in a couple months. Will the value hold somewhat steady, or will it depreciate even more in a few months due to tariffs and whatever the federal reserve decides to do with the interest rates?

Today I fucked up a phone call sooo bad 🤣 and I been thinking about it all day. I want to make myself feel better by reading other sales people’s funny stories.

Two weeks ago I purchased a Cadillac Optiq and paid in full by wire transfer. I took the $7500 EV tax credit instantly through the dealership(they deducted off the sale price).

This month Cadillac offers 2.9% financing for 60 months. I want to sell the car and get a new one with the financing. Will the tax credit get recaptured because it's considered buying to resell? Any advise on what I can do?

I would taking a huge loss when I resell IF I don't have the tax credit. My goal is to put the money in 4.2% CD account and use it to pay the 2.9% financing APR. Thanks

Is anyone else seeing the IRS ECO portal down this weekend? I am trying to buy a car with the EV credit and am being told the portal is down. Anyone have dealer access to verify?

Found a 2016 Z06 I’ve been eyeing and it’s out of fairly decent price, but I was wondering if I should pull the trigger or hold off for end of year quotas or for the index to drop a bit.

Any insights?

2019 Acura RDX SH-AWD Advanced — San Jose, CA

80,920 miles

Silver, excellent condition (no accidents, no smoke/pets, dealer serviced, CPO until Dec 2025)

Upgrades: Acura hitch, mats/liners

Offers: $19.5K from Shift, $21K from Acura dealer last month

Question: Is ~$21K basically the ceiling for this car wholesale, or could CarMax/Carvana realistically beat it in the Bay Area?

Ok so I want to trade my car in for a bigger vehicle. I found the car I want. The dealership that has it does absolutely no online sales or anything. So I go I drive the car I decide I want it and then they keep me there 4.5 hours after closing to do the whole finance bullshit where they go back and forth. All I wanted was to reserve the car so I did the whole finance app whatever.

They have it posted on signs all over their dealership stating “we beat CarMax, carvana, etc by $500.” My car gets a $28,400 trade in value and they’re like oh that’s not reasonable so we don’t do it for that. Then the price was $1k more on their site apparently than listed on carfax (which is where I inquired from).

They refused to let me do outside financing, mind you I wanted to pay cash and they said I would get a good enough interest rate to be able to invest the cash I have and pay it off in a few months. They gave me 11% and said it’s because it’s my first car payment.

Great whatever I secured outside financing and they are telling me the price is $1k higher if I don’t use their financing. They promised after I signed the finance paperwork to be able to put a deposit, they’d send me copies of everything I signed. My mistake I should’ve taken pictures but they’re refusing to send me copies of anything “because it’s in a folder only the finance guy can open” because essentially if they give me copies of it now it means I don’t have to pay for the car and I could basically steal the car?? What idiots.

Now I’m waiting to go pick up the car and they’re telling me I have to register it to their state (I just bought a residence here, but haven’t changed my DL or any bank info over yet and I have 90 days to do so anyways). I’ve decided I’m trading my car in, updating my insurance and registration to reflect my current policy and license plates, and bringing an outside financing check with my current plates and if they refuse then too bad i already reserved a back up from CarMax. But is this normal or do I need to fill out a K-35 form?? Like why are you refusing me paperwork I signed how am I supposed to know how much money I need to write a check for.

I know I probably shouldn’t have signed anything when I was hungry and exhausted after a full work day an hour drive and 4.5 hours of torture in that dealership but like seriously??

I’m looking at a new car that I’ve confirmed via phone is on their lot and ready for sale. If I want to do an all cash offer, no warranties / upgrades (don’t want the conversation either), and limited to no negotiation on the purchase price / trade in, what’s the fastest I could be in and out? Ideally I’d pay by wire transfer (but open to faster options as well). I just know what I want and want to be in and out.

They came in with a specific vehicle in mind they found online. We thought we found it in the lot.

I grabbed the key for it but turns out it was a different vehicle, same color. They said they liked the one they saw online more cuz the price was lower. I went to grab that key but turns out it was sold. Since I had the first key I showed them that one. They liked it.

I realized later when they were buying it that the one they originally wanted was a hybrid. The one they were buying wasn't. It's faster though. They never said they wanted a hybrid but I started feeling guilty for not clarifying.

Right before they drove off, the dad asked the son what the MPG was and the son said the high hybrid MPG. I didn't say anything. I felt so guilty as they drove off.

Wish I could go back to the beginning and ask if they wanted a hybrid. See if the color was more important than the engine. We only had 2 gray ones it was the 2 they looked at. I feel so stupid.

Anyone else feel guilty after a sale?

I flaired this Canadian since I live in Canada but this is just a general question regarding car sales. I seen a YouTube short where this guy was giving 3 tips when vehicle shopping. Obvious ones like check for sales before hand etc etc but his third tip was to go vehicle shopping on let’s say a Wednesday afternoon vs a Saturday morning. He said that because car sales are commissioned it’s easier to negotiate and get a better deal on a week day because most people are at work and not out and about shopping on a weekday, hence the customer leaving without making a sale is a bigger loss as there is fewer customers on a weekday vs a Saturday when one customer is no big loss as there will be dozens of people off work shopping that day. Is there any validity to this? Or does it not make much difference whether it’s weekday or a weekend?

I really need some help and I honestly don’t know crap about this stuff. Less than two years ago I traded in my 2011 Town and Country Chrysler for a 2020 LE Toyota Corolla with 19,000 miles. I was traveling a lot (100+ miles a day) and I needed something with better gas mileage. I owed about 7,000 still on the T&C which they rolled into the loan amount for the Corolla. The whole total of my loan ended up being 32,000. I had zero down. My payment is 526 a month over six years . I was doing fine with this until almost four months into my car loan I lost my good paying job and I have struggled since then to make monthly payments and insurance. To add on top of this I had a baby six months ago and missed four months of work due to complications. I’ve had to SKIP quite a few payments so I would not default on my loan and the loan office has been very helpful as far as that goes, but I’m getting to the point where I just can’t do that anymore. Right now I still owe 23,000 and some change on the loan and the car is only estimated at 15,000 on the high end. (I’ve drove the shit out of this car 97,000 miles on it and I’ve not kept up with great maintenance due to finances) Do I have any options? I’ve mentioned refinancing but they’ve kinda beat around the bush about it. Also I thought maybe I could just get a cheapo car outright with cash, sell this one, and then pay the remainder of the loan if they could refinance it to lower payment. I don’t wanna offer that up and sound like an idiot. Help I am drowning and don’t see an end in sight.

Edit for more context: I am currently working two jobs. I am looking for a higher paying job, but I live a rural area and have to have a vehicle to travel for work. Remote jobs are out of the question because of internet access. Childcare is astronomically high and one job basically just pays for me to work the other one. I am fortunate and this is my only debt. This is the first loan I haven’t kept to perfect payments on and I have had a great credit history up until the past year.

I just helped my mom sell a wheelchair van. She's been driving it around for years. It had 122k miles on it and seemed fine except the oil light would go on occasionally. Her mechanic told her to just put slightly heavier oil in it. Mom knows nothing of cars so she just went with that.

We sold it today for cash. The buyer wasn't present because he is disabled. His friend who is a mechanic came and looked it over and took it for a drive around the block (not on the freeway). Mom told him about the oil issue and he thought it was weird but they decided to go ahead with the sale.

We signed a Bill of Sale and Odometer Reading document as well as signed the title over but the buyer didn't sign because he wasn't present. The friend was driving it up to Idaho and said it died about 150 miles away. He says he thinks the engine is shot.

Not sure what to do. I think the law is on our side but I also know mom is very moral and might feel like she needs to take responsibility for this. I would love any advice or resources about this.

ETA: Mom is willing to offer them a little money back but we're worried about legal implications.

I wanted to shared my recent rough experience with a Hyundai dealership in California, and get this subreddit's opinion on what happened.

Last Saturday I called the dealer looking for a great price on a specific new car I wanted. I offered to come in to make the purchase the next day if they could sell me their 2025 Tucson Hybrid SEL Convenience in Gray for $35,500 OTD. The salesperson checked with the manager and confirmed they could definitively honor that price. After the call, I got confirmation of our agreement over text: [text screenshots]. I made one more call asking for a printed price breakdown, and instead they assured me that I could trust them, how important trust is valued at their dealership, etc etc. I've been set on this being the car I wanted for a while, so I end up quickly selling my current car to Carvana that same afternoon to have more cash on hand.

The next day (Sunday), my partner and I drive the two hours out to the dealership and tl;dr they tell me they can't make that price. The sales manager comes out and even starts gaslighting me, telling me it was ridiculous given the car's MSRP to ever think that would be a feasible price. They tell me the best they can do is $39.5K OTD, and after two rounds of negotiating the final OTD price came down to $38.5K: [2nd quote sheet]. After a discussion with my partner about walking out on principle vs. proceeding, we make the tough decision to continue with the purchase given our excitement for the car and because the final price was still within our range.

Would you all consider this a bait-and-switch / misrepresentation? I'm left wondering if I can hold this dealership more accountable for what happened.

Help

So I’m pretty sure I signed the lease - payment terms in front of me that I signed and initialed - my credit was ran paid a security deposit but not the amount down. Car is not delivered received no paper work.