It is only fitting that President Obama is driving it to its grave. His hand-prints are all over this dog, from the $503,000/year electric battery jobs in Michigan, to the claims of 1,000,000 Volts by 2015.  The first year they plan to build 10,000.  Do the math, it will take 100 years to reach 1,000,000 units, not 4 years.

Note that the Nissan Leaf will be 30% less than the Volt for basically the same car.  A conventional gas powered car will be a whopping 51% less than a comparably equipped Chevy Volt, according to the Washington Post.  So you can get one electric car or two conventional gas powered cars, you know the kind the government wanted you to buy when they gave your neighbor some of your money during the Cash-for-Clunker Program.

If you select the conventional gas car you have $1,000 left over for your next family vacation. When you return you’ll remember that you bought two cars for the price of one, and one will have no miles on the odometer.  What a deal.  Volt, you are DOA for this OTP (One Term President).

The vehicle of her choice was a Toyota Highlander.  We were on the purchase path in early 2010.  When the Toyota brake recall occurred we cooled-down the buying process and waited.  Now in June 2010 we shopped several dealerships in a nearby metropolitan area.  The CarGeek also called several dealers and reviewed NADA and Edmunds for what “Dealer Cost” would be expected to be.

The selling strategy has been amazing in this major market.  Dealer cost has come to include a variety of overhead items including:

1. Floor Plan Cost
2. Interest Expense (Even if the car is not financed)
3. Dealer Holdbacks
4. Bonus Fees
5. Prep Costs
6. Gas
7. Cleaning
8. Inventory Tax
9. Processing
10. Toilet Tissue, etc

Everything imaginable is included in the “Dealer Cost” of a new car, truck or SUV.  If the dealer can focus the buyer on the “total cost to operate his business” it gets the buyer’s attention away from the fact that there are holdbacks and incentives included in the REAL base cost price, the top line before the add-ons.

CarGeek car-buying-advice … Don’t pay for the add-ons.  Make it clear the first few minutes that you want to pay approximately dealer’s cost plus a reasonable and respectable markup without the games.  They will initially say, “Those costs are assessed to us by Gulf States Toyota, the six state distributer.”  OK, let them know you will drive to Alabama to buy a car if it means wiring around such monopoly.  Be kind, respectfull, firm and cool.  Do your homework.  At one of the dealerships I was able to finish the sentences of the sales manager.  I think it was a test to see my knowledge of the product.  He said, “You’ll want power seats.  They are … he paused and I finished his sentence, “$320 suggested retail $256cost.”  At that point he knew that I knew what the numbers were and was prepared to seek a good price on the vehicles he represented.  We also learned within ten minutes that he was not motivated to sell us his inventory at a deep discount.  We were able to make better use of our time at the next dealership.

At the next dealership we were met with an equally friendly sales staff and were presented with a very good price within a few minutes.  The sales rep made it clear that he wanted to sell us a car that day and soon after we discussed our desire to pay slightly over dealer cost we were presented with a price by the sales manager that was $1,000 less than the offer that was already the best offer.

We offered a few stipulations to do the deal:

• We did not want to waste their time or ours entertaining extended warranty opportunities
• We did not want to pay an exorbitant price for title, license, processing fees, etc.  These are known as PAC (Profit After Commission) fees

They agreed, but still presented us with a title, licensing and processing fee that caused us to have to leave the dealership that evening.

They stayed cool and professional and they sensed that I was calling on a higher authority to maintain my composure, although Mrs. CarGeek was admitedly not happy that she did not drive away that evening with the car.  She wanted THAT Highlander since it was equipped like she wanted it.

Knowing it was unlikely that it would sell overnight I anticipated a call from the dealer the following morning.  At 8:30AM he called, “Hey, I want to thank you for coming to the dealership to see our cars.  What would it take to win your business?”  I simply stated that we were hung-up on the PAC fees.  Normal is OK and expected, but I was not prepared to pay the number that was presented the day before.

After a quick meeting between the salesman and the sales manager, I received a call back that we had a deal.  Not wanting additional surprises, I requested that they email me the final numbers and we’d return to sign the paperwork.  He did, we did, and we drove Mrs. CarGeek’s 2010 Toyota Highlander home a few hours later.

Summary:

1. Know what you want
2. Do your homework
3. Check NADA pricing
4. Check Edmunds pricing
5. Check CarGeek’s priceing
6. Make it clear that you know the  market on that car, what options re available with what model and at what price
7. Be respectful and professional
8. Stand your ground
9. Drive home happy!

+CarGeek

It will take less than 60 seconds to get all this information.  Below is a graphic that you will receive on the 2nd page.  This is what I received when I asked 01CarPrices for the best price on a 2010 Dodge Charger.

]]> http://cargeek.com/cars/the-best-car-quote-form-ever-check-it-out/feed/ http://cargeek.com/cars/gm-chevy-volt-hope-hype-or-hot-potato/ http://cargeek.com/cars/gm-chevy-volt-hope-hype-or-hot-potato/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:00:00 +0000 CarGeek http://cargeek.com/cars/?p=97

GM Chevy Volt

More news was issued today on the Chevy Volt. More mis-information coming out of the government propaganda machine. The headlines announced on CNBC earlier this morning:

230 MPG in City Driving!

300 Mile Range Electric Car

Operations cost = Three (3) cents per mile

Drive Coast to Coast on one tank of gas.

230 MPG?

Let’s do the math. First, after they got past the headlines they admitted that the range was actually 40 miles if used in pure electric (plug-in) mode. If you drive the 41st mile, you better be charging your battery with the electric motor as you go.

They referenced a conversion that the EPA uses to convert power consumption to MPG. Snake-oil? How can you dispute the EPA? By the way, they own General Motors. Can you spell conflit of interest?

300 Mile Range Electric Car The CarGeek is scratching his head on this one. The headlines also said you could drive coast to coast on one tank of gas. If this is correct, why is there a 300 mile range?

Operations cost = Three (3) cents per mile OK, the price is not set yet, but whisper numbers are set at $40,000.00 per car. Based on the last 100 years of whisper numbers for cars not yet in production, they have NEVER has a release less then the whisper number that the CarGeek is aware of. So keep in mind that this number is probably optimistic. Nevertheless, you would have to drive a $40,000 car 1,333,333 miles just to pay for the investment, not to mention the electricity, gas, tires, maintenance (that could be considerable), insurance and taxes. This number is so wrong, the author of the propaganda should be arrested. Is it possible that they might encourage someone to buy one that thinks it will only cost 3 cents a mile to opperate?

Drive Coast to Coast on one tank of gas - Note to self - Have a lot of friends located along old Route 66 with lots of free electricity. They probably will not mind if the Voltcomes out before the Cap and Trade bill passes the US Senate and electrical rates triple.

Happy Driving!

The Bush administration carried forward, with the initial “bail-out”, a failed plan.  The Obama administration has not done anything to make the situation better.  In fact, in an act of socialism, the Obama administration practically completed the take-over of the GM organization.  The CarGeek is not sure why.  There are existing laws on the books dealing with bankrupt companies.  GM should have fallen under these rules early in their troubles.  There are rules that apply to debtor/creditor relationships and for some reason the Obama administration did not want to follow them.  It was only after they made a complete mess of the situation that they reverted to the rule of law.

Oh yes, after Obama spent approximately 50 billion dollars of US taxpayer money to save the unions.  How much is that?  Well if there are 300 million Americans, say 100 million are working adults.   That is $500 per working American.  That is on top of the money spent on AIG and the other sweetheart bailout deals.  The $500 per person  is the cash value.  Naturally we do not have the money to pay it, so we borrow it from China and other countries.  The total ticket is likely to be in the thousands per working adult.  If we were asked to write personal checks to maintain GM’s creditors and unions, how many people outside of Detroit would have agreed?

So, is it normal to ask the US public to walk up and buy from one of these companies, GM or Chrysler. Ask, yes.  Buy, NO!  It is the same as investing in a scheme your black sheep brother-in-law suggests, while he is out on parole.  I think not.  Only time will tell the fate of GM and Chrysler, but the CArGeek thinks that the public has too many other options that will interest them.  But wait, what about the NEW Camero? Won’t it revive GM. No, neither will the next car that runs on water, fusion, hydrogen, baked beans, beer or fried chicken grease.

America is all about choices, and GM and to a lesser degree Chrysler, will not likely be part of it.

You know the drill.  Usually the salespeople are lined in the cubical lined showroom.  They usually see you when you drive up.  They see you when you get out of your car.  They might even see you when you approach the intersection.  Not now.  In my local area, in a market of 250,000, the Chrysler has reduced his sales force.  Where there were once dozens of salespeople, now there are three.  Did he say three.  Yes, 3!

Pure economics are at work here.  CarGeek looks forward to the time when you can see dozens of eyeballs looking at you from the showroom window.  No, I hate the “pitch.”  I just want the economy and the automotive industry to be healed.

• 5 Year / 100,000 mile warranty
• Payment protection for unemployed buyers for up to nine $500 payments, or $4,500
• Equity protection on your vehicle.

When President Obama said the American people would stand behind the warranties of GM, he clearly did not assume that the warranties would be extended the NEXT DAY!  This cost combined with the unemployment payment adjustment could represent possibly $20,000 per vehicle.  It is the “Buy Now / Let the Taxpayer Pay Later” plan.  The government oversight committee should have stopped the press conference in mid stream today.  If the US government was complacent in the deal, they are knowingly committing taxpayer funds in later years to fund sales now.  Congress should step in and stop the madness.  Where are taxpayer groups?

Is it arrogant to pledge things you do not have?  If your are being forced into bankruptcy because you operated on credit all of your career, how prudent is it to pledge the good will of the American people?

Americans want cars of exceptional value that are well made, sold at a fair price and retain their value.  They will buy them all day in great numbers.  The US has tried to help GM survive.  What GM did this morning was similar to a homeless person receiving a gift from a stranger he could never pay back, and leveraging it into a loan that the donor will have to pay for the for the next 5 years.  Incredible!

The Car Geek at CarGeek.com has helped car buyers find pricing and financing on new cars since 2003.