13 Aug 09 GM + Ebay = Bad Car Deals + Good Car Marketing Strategy

It is not news that GM(General Motors) started to list vehicles on Ebay for sale since this announcement was made around one month ago, and car shoppers might be wondering if they could find a good deal as Ebayers usually try to get from Ebay. However, average deal might be available, while the amazing killer deal, which is what we are trying to help our community to get, might not be available since selling cars on Ebay is probably just an idea from marketing department to get attention from media and car shoppers.

GM Prices factor

The most important part to get this conclusion is the car prices set for these GM listings. The “buy it now” prices for these listings are set at the M.S.R.P (Manufacturer’s suggested retail price) minus public GM rebates. MSRP minus GM rebates is the everyday price for GM cars, and it is very easy to get the car at the price. Basically, the discount being given is simply the GM rebates for everyone. GM shoppers could get the price from every GM dealer, so why would settle for a car that you never see it in person?

Yes, GM does offer “best offer” option with those GM car listings, but car shoppers could make offers on almost every car dealer website already, why would go to ebay to do the same thing, while your local dealers could do the same, if not better?  GM dealers could check your bidding history and would try to know they type of person you are, and how you bid the item, then know more about you so they could try to sell the car to you with higher price.

GM Dealer Factor

Besides, since car dealers have sales goal to meet, GM dealers are the same. When car shoppers visit dealership with money on hand, they know you are serious about buying the car, and in case they want to hit the quota, they could depend on you, and of course, actual selling price could be lower and better.

Therefore, we think the best way is to communicate car dealers directly. Check How to buy a car in 30 days, and How to get car quotes from car dealers and you should be fine.

Tags: Car Buying Tips, GM on ebay

13 Jul 09 Are Mazda Dealerships Giving the Real S-Plan Price Honestly?

Mazda S-plan and Mazda E-plan are both special car purchasing programs for Ford and Mazda employees, their families, friends and affiliates to purchase Mazda vehicles at a discounted price without negotiation. Some people think that these special Mazda offers are not good. We believe it is both right and also wrong assumption. Since Mazda E-plan is similar to the Mazda S-plan, we use S-plan as an example.

What is Mazda S-plan? How does Mazda S-plan work?

Mazda S-plan is a special Mazda discount program that provides car buyers a easy way to purchase Mazda Vehicles. For each Mazda car, in addition to the factory invoice price, there is a base S-plan price printed on the Mazda factory invoice. On top of the S-plan base price, S-plan holders are qualified for ALL possible incentives. Let’s take a look at the direct quote from Mazda S-plan Guideline of Mazda Official Website.

• S-Plan price is equal to the total dealer invoice price including freight and any voluntary advertising assessments and state-regulated fees. The amount is printed in the lower left corner of the factory invoice as “SPLAN”
• S-Plan prices are non-negotiable.
• The following rebates and incentives should be deducted from the base S-Plan price. All applicable incentives convert to Customer Cash and must be treated accordingly.
• All Customer Cash retail incentives.
• All Dealer Cash incentives.
• Top-level dealer engagement or stair-step programs unless noted in program rules.
• Miscellaneous rebates such as college grad or financing cash may apply as long as the specific rules and conditions are met.

Keep in mind that the true Mazda S-plan price would be the Mazda S-plan base price minus all dealer incentives, customer cash, and the most important part – Top-level dealer engagement cash or star-step program. Here is the key point. How much is the Mazda top-tier program incentive? How much is the hidden Mazda dealer incentive?

Many people think S-plan price is only at around invoice price because Mazda shoppers are not clear between the S-plan Base price and the S-plan price.

Besides, when people mention about S-plan to Mazda dealers, it is highly possible that Mazda dealerships do not apply the correct S-plan price for a Mazda vehicle with massive incentives and dealer cash. The reason is simple. They do not want to sell the car with S-plan due to the fact that they could make more money from car shoppers, compared with the processing fee of $250 from Mazda USA and their “documentation fee”.

One of our readers was looking for a 2009 Mazda CX-9 and when he was at the dealership, he showed the S-plan certificate with the salesperson, and would like to know the S-plan price for the car. The Mazda salesperson basically says the S-plan price for the car is $1,800 off MSRP, which our reader knows it is definitely a lie as the invoice of the car is at around $2,600 off already. The $4,000 dealer cash is not added into the number yet.

The salesperson finally asked out reader if the discount of $5800 is a number he is willing to pay. If the number is correct, he could present this offer to his manager. If you think $5,800 is a good discount on this car, please see how people are paying for the Mazda CX-9.

If you think that our reader could simply call Mazda USA and get more information from Mazda Headquarter, you are totally wrong about this.

Our reader called Mazda USA after the visit to his local Mazda dealer, and the response from Mazda Customer Hotline is that the whole S-plan procedure is not correct and they want our reader to go back to the dealership for their store manager. The reader went to the Mazda dealership the next weekend, and the salesperson said there is no way for them to deliver a car as they have some promotions going on. Besides, the manager is NOT available as he is working with other customers, while the salesperson refused to provide his name for reference.

The whole thing shows that

1.       Mazda S-plan price is not only at invoice, but could be an un-beatable price on Mazda cars when there are massive dealer incentives available, especially when there is volume-based bonus is given to Mazda dealer because S-plan automatically receive the top-tier volume bonus regardless if the Mazda dealership meet the sales goal or not.

2.       Mazda dealerships could provide car shoppers with fake S-plan price and have car shoppers

3.       Mazda Consumer Hotline does not know much about S-plan program.

Did you, or will you get the real S-plan price for your Mazda cars? We would like to hear from you!

Tags: Car Buying Tips, Mazda S-Plan