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June 18, 2004

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Give and take

Hong Kong is the city of capitalism and there are certain rules of the game. Firstly you never pay the sticker price. That is just a guide for starting the negotiations. Secondly, in the great words of Homer J. Simposon, reject the first offer. When you're bargaining the first offer by the seller is just the opening gambit and the buyer counters until you reach the right price. The other key rule is to know when to walk away. Bear with me, I'm going somewhere with this.

In our ongoing quest for a family car to cater to the expanding family we have done a fair amount of research. We finally found one we both liked. We had both taken it for a test drive and thought it was in good condition. So I asked to see the service history, only to be told they wouldn't give me the service history until we agreed on the price. As I pointed out, it's a little hard to agree on a price if I don't know the history of the car. Nevertheless we started haggling on price, including the trade-in on our existing car. For the sake of this example let's say the asking price was 165. The agreed trade-in value was 15, making the balance 150. The man offered it at 140. I countered at 130, but said let's meet in the middle at 135.

Yesterday he called me back and told me the offer was now 145. He had made a mistake, he said, and his boss told him this was the best price. After checking that he was actually moving his price higher I told him that was fine, I'll go elsewhere. I'm not going to do this with people who don't understand the rules. When you're haggling, the seller's price is meant to come down, not go up. I'm not really sure how they can call themselves "Triple Rich" if that's how they do business.

 posted by Simon on 06.18.04 at 10:22 AM in the




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Comments:

I think that's exactly why they call themselves triple rich.

In the States we have the tactic of moving into the showroom only if the day of negotiations falls near the end of the month or the end of the financial quarter. That way we have the salesman trapped on a quota. He/She wants to sell that damn car to get a line from the boss.

Also, it's best if it's raining.

Do those tactics work here?

posted by: hk on 06.18.04 at 12:33 PM [permalink]

I had a similar incident with a dealer here and wound up threatening to take them to Trade Practices and even had the Director of Marketing of Holden in Asia/Pacific region phoning me. It all resulted in a $4,500 discount on a car that there is short supply of....

 posted by: paul on 06.18.04 at 12:35 PM [permalink]

Chaching...another .25 for Sgt Hook.

I was in Jamaica a very long time ago for a few days liberty. I spent part of the last afternoon haggling with a local vendor at the boat landing over some souvenirs. It was a wonderful experience and we both were happy at the end of it. Me more than him, I think. I switched currencies on him at the end of it.

You, however are dealing with car dealers. A breed that is not known for integrity, honesty or honor.

Good luck with the next one. With any luck you'll find a "good" one. In 28 years of dealing with the creatures I've only found one I that I would buy more than one car from.

 posted by: StinKerr on 06.18.04 at 12:36 PM [permalink]

I had a similar thing when I wanted to test drive the car (from one of those automarts in public car parks), and was told I could only test drive it after I had agreed to buy it.

Needless to say, negotiations stopped right there.

 posted by: fumier on 06.18.04 at 03:45 PM [permalink]

A long time ago (in the UK) I had a very strange experience buying a new car. After I had negotiated the price and ordered it, I went to pick it up and discovered it was a different (cheaper) model. I agree to buy it for the same discount off the list price (the discount amount, not the percentage) and drove off. The following Monday the sales manager called me and explained that they couldn't offer that much discount on that model (which I already knew from reading the papers on the salesman's desk).

As the car was a real lemon (nothing worked properly) I took it back and said I would wait for the model I had ordered, but I wonder what would have happened if I'd insisted on sticking with the deal I'd agreed.

posted by: Chris on 06.18.04 at 03:49 PM [permalink]




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