that dealer will sell the car at MSRP, you just gotta talk to someone else

-Steve

 

si_to_evo,

Where did you confirm the 1K off?

 

Such a markup is in insult to the general public and me personally. Thus I will never, ever consider buying anything from there, even if they drop it 2k below msrp.

 

I work at a Mitsu/GM dealer and we have two GSR's at sticker. No one has even come to take a look at them yet. I guess its the market, our store is in Baltimore City. We sell about 25 times as many Impalas as we do Lancers of any kind. We even allow demo drives and there is just no interest.

 

call him back and ask what days he's working, insist to meet him on his day off that you want to make the deal.
then dont show up and f him for trying to rip u off.

 

It's ridiculous, but it's nothing new. I remember when the Evo VIIIs first came out, they were marked up MUCH worse (try $20k) in some areas:



Buy it from somewhere else. The only "stupid" people are the ones who actually pay the markup, or anything close to it. The salesman might be a little silly since he doesn't know what he's talking about, but he's just trying to up-sell the car. Unfortunately dealerships place more value on their salesmen being able to sell the car rather than actually know it inside and out. (I once had a Subaru salesman tell me that "the WRX is the only car in the world that you can drive at 60 mph in, downshift into third gear, then pop a wheelie.") The guy probably just thought you're the drifting type. I'm not saying it's okay (as he is clearly an idiot), but he's just doing his job.

 

Had to chime in here since this is a topic near and dear to my heart (and my wallet). I was in the same boat in 2001 before when I bought my ElantraXD and I realized back then that there are different levels of enthusiasts. I thought I'd help define them. Basically, your level of fanaticism is defined by where you enter the supply and demand cycle.

Back in 2001 the ElantraXD was coming out. Now, I knew the GLS was coming out early and by the thousands since it was a nice family car. I also knew that the GT was hitting in summer but it was sport-tuned, had leather and all the look and feel that an enthusiast wants. My dilemna was: buy early for a fair price or later for sticker plus. I knew eventually things would "trickle down" and that maybe by Winter of 2001 I could get a GT for a decent price. But...sometimes you have to pay more for what you want.

The fact is, I wasn't dying to drive a tricked out Elantra down the block for the sake of comfort, I wanted to put in evofusion headers, install chrome headlights, p/p intake manifold, high spoiler, etc. NOW. So I got the GT early, paid more and got to work.

We're all on budgets, but my budget (before the XD GT ever got to America) included a "marketing adjustment" since I knew there would be low supply and high demand. I'm talking basic economic theory here. I knew I was going to be sinking thousands in mods into the car, but I also knew that paying a few thousand extra up front would be my first expenditure.

Fact is, if you want it, you have to grab it. I'm not saying all this since one of the stores I manage is a Mitsu store. I'm saying it since I remember going through it and now I see the same thing happening, not only here on the board but also in my showroom. Anyway, I said I was going to define the level of enthusiasts so, here goes:

REAL NUTS
Half of the EVOs we got allocated were sold before the got to the port. People came in months ago and said, "I want the EVO."

We said, "we're not sure yet on color, price, options or anything yet. The only thing we know is that whatever MSRP is, we'll probably be about 5k over."

They said, "OK, where do I leave a deposit."

TRUE ENTHUSIASTS
Once the cars actually got here came the second wave. We have two cars here at the dealership and people come in all day looking and gawking and asking for test drives. Those who buy for sticker plus are true enthusiasts (as I was with my XD GT). They saw what they wanted, it was good, they had to have it and they got it.

EIT (Enthusiast In Training)
Sometimes you love something but you can't quite afford to be an enthusiast. No shame there, I spent many years as a broke "lover" of cars. These are the people who come in and can't afford to go over sticker (or for that matter, sticker itself). They were hoping to buy a low supply car for invoice. They'll get their EVO used some day and trick it out nicely.

EINO (Enthusiasts In Name Only)
These are the people who trick out used crappy ricers and laugh about the price of a new EVO as if there's no way they're going to pay over sticker for the car of their dreams when they can't even afford a new Lancer. There's no shame here either guys, many moons ago when I was babying my Lincoln Mark VII, I went into the showroom to look at the first Mark VIII's with delusions of grandeur and did the same thing you're all doing. The fact is, if they could pay they would.

My jump from EINO to EIT came when I became cognizant of the laws of supply and demand. Then I wasn't so cocky, but I was still broke so I was still an EIT for a while. Eventually when I got some bucks I became a True Enthusiast. I don't think I'll ever be a Nut but who knows, right?

The thing I don't understand about this discussion is...why the discussion? Who was really expecting EVO's to go without a marketing bump? These are high demand, low productions cars! And what fools thought they could negotiate them under sticker? Honda Odyssey's have been in North America for 13 years and you still can't buy them for less than sticker. Honda underproduces and Americans are lined up to buy them. And that's a friggin minivan! the EVO is a niche car made for a niche market (all of you). I'm sure the car will eventually trickle down to sticker price but it's not even available everywhere yet and people are complaining. LOL. They complain while real enthusiasts drive. I know it sucks, I've been there, but get real people.

People who have bought Lambos and Bentleys and even Porsches since forever, have paid over MSRP and not complained. Paying thousands extra for an in-demand car was a point of pride for me with my XD (as were all the thousands in mods). Everyone was like, "wow, how'd you get that?" Why are there people here griping about dealership scams instead of saying, "I know I can't afford it yet but I give props to those can."

 

I completely disagree with this "level of enthusiast" rating system you have. I really think it has little to do with how much of an enthusiast you are, it's more about how much money you have access to and how much of it you're willing to burn. My situations and choices (waiting until '06 to buy my first Evo and getting it for below invoice through South Coast Mitsubishi) don't make me less of an enthusiast than the guys who paid $10k over MSRP to be among the first in their area with an Evo.

 

I didn't mean my post as a knock to anyone but think about the word "enthusiast". Obviously someone who'll pay a legitimate marketing adjustment is more "enthusiastic" about the vehicle. Those who pre-ordered here and bought in the first few days are not (judging by their credit apps) people who have money to burn. They just had the fire in their belly to obtain an object of their desire no matter what the cost.

I wasn't dissing you, I was giving them credit since everyone on the boards was referring to them as suckers. I know of a guy (see him here on youtube) who had a custom-designed Ferrari and paid $4 million for it. Are you going to tell me he's not more of an enthusiast than the guy who buys it at a dealer/broker for MSRP plus marketing adjustment.

So I beg to differ. The amount you're willing to pay on a vehicle does factor into how much of an enthusiast you are.

 

4k markup at Ken Garff in Utah.

 

there is a difference between having the money to pay more and not having the money to pay more, that alone has nothing to do with "enthusiasm"

if I have 40,000 and the car I want is 35,000+5000 markup and I am willing to pay 40, then I would

If I have 35,000 and the car is 35,000 +5000 markup I just plain out cant afford it...dont see how it has to do it being an enthusiast.

If I want the car really friggin bad but have the patience to wait a few weeks, why not? Ill save some dough which can go towards upgrades since that is what a lot of enthusiasts do. Some people are smarter and/or more patient in getting what they want. Enthusiasm is not directly correlated with impatience.

and then u can have two guys willing to pay extra over sticker, one might actually attend shows/races/meets etc and the other might just want a quick car... but we all know which one is the real enthusiast.

 

hahahah

 

I didn't take offense to your post. I understand the point you're trying to make, but despite that, the fact of the matter is that it boils down to money most of all.

I don't deny that the people who pre-order cars are definitely serious about wanting that particularly vehicle, but that still doesn't make them more of an enthusiast. I'd say that these people can be broken down into two types of buyers: 1 - The buyer who just likes the car and has enough disposable income to get it ASAP (think of Veruca Salt... or, in this particular type of example, Paris Hilton paying quite a bit extra to get her Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren right away instead of waiting several months after the car's release to take delivery due to supply and demand like every other "typical" SLR customer), and 2 - The buyer who truly admires the car and is going to go whatever great lengths to be among the first, no matter what the cost, as poor of a financial decision it is whether you have a lot of breathing room (i.e., Jerry Seinfeld reportedly dropping around $50k to take delivery on supposedly the very first U.S.-spec production Subaru Impreza WRX STi to reach our shores) or not (i.e., the average Joe who dreamt about the Evo ever since he saw Who Am I and was willing to fork over the extra several thousand dollars, despite it requiring many cutbacks on other things in their life). Obviously the latter group are going to be among the biggest enthusiasts, and it sounds like this is the group that you were referring to as the "real nuts," though the way you described it, it sounded like EVERY person to put their order in right away was automatically at the top of the enthusiast chart.

Then again, there are still a lot of guys who might love the car just as much as the "real nuts," but they just aren't in a situation to make that huge of a leap for whatever reason within reason (kids, mortgage, college tuition, or just insufficient funds). While they might not be nuts, they can still be just as much of an enthusiast as the average Joe who is a car nut and is willing to eat Top Ramen noodles for a year just to make payments. And it's not that the nut loves the Evo more, he just doesn't value other things as much.

 

The other thing to consider is how easy it is to get a dealer to drop his price. I called a dealer in Philly and was quoted a price around 4k over MSRP and just by me telling him over the phone I could get one for 100 over invoice plus shipping he agreed to sell me one for 1500 over invoice.
Dealerships want to sell cars quickly, not have them sit around collecting dirt and wait for the sucker who will pay a market adjustment. They lose money when the cars are just sitting on their lot. Plus the only way the dealerships get more cars to sell is by selling the inventory they have. High volume dealers don't get lots of cars just because they ask for them, they work hard to sell more cars so they can get more cars. Instead of driving to a dealership and drooling over a new cara nd then haggling with a high pressure salesman, do your homework, call around and you could make a salemans day when you buy a car for just over invoice with all the work he has to do is get the ok from his manager.

 

Which is why smart people in states near South Coast will pay $500 to have one shipped at invoice or less.