While Julia hates the vehicle purchase process, I rather enjoy it.
First, I made a plan. I wanted a truck that was 2019 or newer and had less than 60,000 miles. If it worked within my budget, I wanted to upgrade from my existing towing capacity and payload capacity. I also wanted at least a six foot bed, so that I could camp in the back at some point with the purchase of a new or used topper.
I didn't have any particular manufacturer in mind. I considered and looked at the Nissan Titan, Toyota Tacoma and Tundra, Ford F150, Chevy Silverado, and Dodge Ram. I stopped at about a dozen dealerships and talked to salesmen until I had a real good idea about the used market and what my trade-in was realistically worth
I considered standard cab, king cab, and crew cab. I liked the standard cab for the long bed feature, but I would have needed to buy a topper almost immediately because Julia was not going to ride shotgun with Callie. The ideal would have been a king cab, but they just don't make as many of those anymore. Selection was very limited.
I found a 2020 Nissan Titan in my price range with low miles, but realized after laying down in the back of the bed that it was too short to sleep in.
I nearly bought a 2019 Toyota Tundra with 60k miles on it, but it had these huge butt-ugly red splash decals all over both sides of the rear half of the vehicle and also red splashes inside the cab.
That would not have passed the Julia test. The salesman didn't think the decals could be removed from the outside without damaging the paint but was going to look into it for me. It had a Leer topper included that I liked a lot.
In the end, I went with a 2020 Dodge Ram, Big Horn edition. It had 39k miles. I ended up getting 7k in trade for the Nissan and negotiated 5k off the asking price of the Dodge. My new-to-me truck has more features and technology than I necessarily was looking for, but I have a feeling that is just the wave of the future.
Closing the deal only required waking out of the dealership twice--once on the price of the Dodge and once on the price of the Nissan. The thing about negotiating the best price is that you have to be willing to walk away from the deal. The salesman and his manager tried to convince me that this was the truck of my dreams. I had to convince them that I was willing to drive the Nissan for 60k more miles if the transaction exceeded my budget. As in all good negotiations, neither of us was totally happy with the final result. But I could live with it.
When I got home, the Toyota salesman emailed that they could get the decals off without damaging the paint. The Tundra wasn't meant to be.
Comments
Can you provide details of the interaction as you walked out twice?
I also would like your opinion on whether you think salesmen are trained to convince people a vehicle is comparable to their spouse or if the dealerships get them from somewhere?
Kristen has been thinking of a new-to-her truck and knowing what you paid could be helpful. She likes the extended cab but would probably want 4wd.
Those Leer toppers are nice, aren't they?
Have you thought of hiring yourself out as a "buyer." Or maybe, as consultant for dealerships to "test" their salesmen. It sounds as if you had a great time! Congratulations!
I don't know where the salesmen come from. When I was visiting all of those dealerships, I talked to several salesmen that seemed really honest and good communicators. It was the salesman at the Honda dealership who suggested that I check out the Nissan Titans. He had one and really liked it, but the Honda dealership didn't have any in stock. I also talked to some stereotypical bad salesmen.
Walking out became necessary when the sales manager got involved. The salesman was likeable and easy-going but had no authority to close the deal. The sales manager took the Nissan for a test drive with the salesman and then came back and tried to brow-beat me. The Nissan would only bring 5k at auction. His purchase price at auction for the Dodge was 35k, and he wasn't even covering his overhead. Yada Yada and both assertions unlikely. We reached an impasse twice. With the Dodge, I told him that I was going to look at more vehicles and got up to leave. He wanted to know why I didn't like the Dodge. I said I liked it fine, but there were other trucks I would like too. He wanted me to drive the Dodge again, and I said that wouldn't be necessary. I didn't have any problems with it other than the price. He asked me to sit back down, and we came to an agreement on the Dodge. With the Nissan, I got up to leave when he told me that he just couldn't go higher than 5k. I didn't get mad. I just said you've convinced me to keep the Nissan. Then he said he might be able to go to 6k if he talked to the owner. I said that would be a waste of his time. I would keep driving the Nissan. Then I added that if he went to 7k, together with 35k for the Dodge, it would be difficult to turn down. He disappeared for awhile and then came back and asked me to shake on it.
Those Leer toppers are nice. I had a similar Gem Top on my first Nissan back in 1986. We did a lot of camping in California in the back of that truck. Really good memories at Lassen National Park.
My working days are over unless the economy falls apart, but I've always enjoyed negotiating, especially with other people's money when I was working as an attorney.
You *did" get the longer bed, didn't you?
Having a bad day. I think I've got a bad starter. Battery is fine, but all I get is a click. Vehicles! Lol
Damn! and Hell! besides.