11 Sep 08 Top Keywords You Need to Know Before Car Purchase (3)

Volume bonus: Most of the time, car dealers not only get money by selling the car and get the difference between their “cost” and the price they sell the car. They also get bonus when they reach certain number of sales set by car manufacturer. The amount of volume bonus could vary from a couple hundred dollars to thousands of dollars per car, depending on the model and manufacturer program.  Sometimes the money is paid to store manager.

For example, in summer 2007, one major Japanese auto maker had a program that after the dealer reaches certain amount of the mid-size sedan being sold, sales manager could get additional money for each car they have sold within the time frame.  Another example is that rumor said a Europe car maker gives a free car to dealers if they sold two of the same model.

Most of the time, you will not find information of volume bonus as it is secret money that dealer could make. In order to help car shoppers to get the best deal, people should share information they got with all of us.

Spin game:  The award for this game is usually given to salesperson from manufacturer. After salesperson sells you the car, which means you and dealer finish paperwork, salesperson could enter your VIN and let manufacturer know the car is sold. Once salesperson reports to the automotive maker, you can imagine that there is a computer spin game in the system and your salesperson uses your VIN as the “coin” to play the game. Even though they know  what awards are available, they do not know which award they would win. The awards available could be cash or gifts. Since it is not certain for dealers to get the money, dealers have another excuse to exclude this money from their “cost”, and tell you they lose x amount of money by selling you this car.

Hidden/unknown Incentive: The reason they are hidden is you don’t find it on major automotive site, and only car dealers and salesmen know about it. The amount could be very huge, for example, Nissan currently has $5000 incentive on 08 leftovers. You cannot see it on most car sites, but we will try to get the information either from our source, or readers like you. With your information we could analyze them collectively so people would get better deal.

Tags: Car Buying Tips

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