Yahoo Autos Why Does It Seem Like I Can’t Trust Car Dealers?
Question: Why is there such a lack of transparency with car sales? … Maybe I’m missing something but I feel like the car buying experience would be so much nicer if there was no haggling. The price you see is the price you pay. Sure there are people that will be stuck in the old mindset of haggling but eventually the culture could change especially if they want it bad enough.
Answer: Automotive industry insiders say that transparency – when buyers can tell the actual price of the car they are buying – can be clouded by price negotiations, mistrust, trade-in values, loan interest rates, fees, and pressure to sign contracts.
“There’s a trust gap between consumers and dealers because consumers do not know if they a paying a fair price when buying a new car or truck. Transparency overcomes the trust gap,” said Stewart Easterby, chief operating officer at TrueCar.
Before the Internet, two car buyers could walk into the same dealership and walk out paying a 30 to 40 percent price difference for the same car on the same day, said Easterby.
But car buyers can overcome this lack of transparency by doing some research.
“If you are informed, you don’t feel like there is lack of transparency,” said Lisa Copeland, managing partner of Fiat of Austin, the top Fiat retailer in North America.
Consumers can see what the dealer pays for the vehicle, find the latest incentives and find the approximate value of their cars online says Copeland.
