Not All Car Deals are Rock Bottom These Days: Shopping for a 2009 Dodge Challenger
(Sales Manager John Davis, Glenn E. Thomas Dodge in Signal Hill, CA, with our new Challenger.)
Car buyers are told that they can get screaming deals these days. But when I went shopping for our long-term 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T I found that when car salesmen have a hot product they still try to hold the line on price. You can't blame them since if they're giving away most other cars they have to make their money somewhere.
We decided to get our Challenger with the six-speed manual transmission and the 27J Package which includes the smaller wheels. And don't forget about the the 5.7-Liter V8 Hemi. We also wanted it in either black or white, not some crazy retro color like orange. By selecting these colors and specific features we substantially reduced the pool of vehicles we could buy from.
To search for the Challenger, we used our Edmunds.com New Vehicle Inventory tool. After locating a prospective vehicle, we then went go to the Dodge website to view the window sticker to verify exactly what equipment was on it.
We then had to consider at what price we could purchase this Dodge. It appeared that the Challenger could be purchased under Chrysler's Employee's Pricing Plus plan which brought the price down to below invoice.
At this point I made a classic car buying mistake.
I fell in love with one specific car. It was a black Challenger with a six-speed manual, the 27J package and a few other goodies. And it was on the lot at Glenn E. Thomas Dodge
in Signal Hill, near Long Beach, Calif. The sticker price for this car was $36,310.
I called salesman Lucas Crabtree who had been recommended to us by a friend. He said he would check to see if it fell under Chrysler's pricing plan. A few minutes later he regretfully informed me that it had been excluded from the pricing plan. I told him I thought he was mistaken. He politely referred me to John Davis, the sales manager at Glenn E. Thomas Dodge.
After I got Davis on the phone he said the R/T was excluded from the pricing plan in the western region. He explained that the R/T had been under the plan for a few days, but Dodge dealers had strongly petitioned to have it removed.
Checking with several sources, I found out that Crabtree and Davis were correct. I had to go back to Davis and utter the three most difficult words: "you were right." After I was done apologizing, I asked for his best price on the car. He offered a $600 discount off MSRP.
I then decided to shop for the car in other local dealerships but made little headway. One dealer offered in $800 discount and another internet manager I spoke with refused to come down off the sticker price at all. Clearly, this sentimental favorite was selling without the help of deeper discounts.
After checking with our data department, I found that Challengers in the western region were in fact being discounted more steeply than my initial research indicated. So, I went back to Davis, and offered him $34,600 for his Challenger. An hour later he called back and said they would accept our offer.
When I went to pick up the vehicle I met Davis and learned that Glenn E. Thomas Dodge was purchased by his father from the original owner in the 1960s. This year marks its one hundred year anniversary of doing business in the Long Beach area. On the walls of the showroom are black-and-white pictures of baseball legend Babe Ruth hunting and fishing with the original owner.
Papers were drawn up by finance manager, Lee Miller, who presented them to me and explained them clearly. I was in and out of F&I in 15 minutes. In fact, everyone at the dealership seemed both laidback and efficient, which makes for a relaxed shopping environment.
These days, car shopping is a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, you can't help but feel the normal adversarial emotions that accompany the sometimes contentious dealings with car salesmen. But on the other hand, you worry that good businesses like this one, won't survive in hard times. In any case, we got the car we wanted at a fair price with a minimum of hassle.
As I was stepping into the Challenger to leave the dealership, a young man rushed out of the service bay dressed in a mechanic's uniform with a big grin on his face. "They'll never going to catch you in that!" he said. About half a block down the street I realized how right he was.
Stay tuned for updates on the day-to-day use of the Challenger on our long-term car blog on Inside Line.
- Posted by
- Philip Reed March 6, 2009, 10:37 AM
- Permalink
- Categories:
- Car Buying, Car Negotiating
- Technorati Tags:
- bad economy, Car buying, Challenger R/T, Dodge, negotiating
I'm looking forward to your test of the last Chrysler product you'll ever evaluate.
I am glad to hear that no dealership tried the "adjusted price" and try to charge you over sticker for the hard to find car. At least they realize that it won't get them the sale in this market.
does this car have the sunroof or did you guys forgo it? If it has the sunroof this would be my perfect Challenger, except I'd buy it in Red :)
Awesome car. I'm looking forward to the reviews.
And boy does that guy need to learn how to tie a tie.
altimadude, that is until they test a Nissan truck.
that deal has been put on hold... nissan is wise to do so.
Nice entry. Very interesting. I was just wondering when you guys plan on introducing the car on the Long-Term blog/putting up the introduction?
Yay! Can't wait to read the blogs! It just so happens that I sat in an R/T today (hemi orange with black stripes and chrome 20's).
Take care with the C-pillars though, you could lose an F-150 in that blind spot.
Nice wheels! I have been to this dealership and the service there is great! John Davis has always been very helpful. As for his tie... it's called being tall and not being able to tuck the back of your tie in :)
My dealer in Ft Worth TX offered $1500 off (for starters) on my Challenger R/T with a 6-speed... so there ARE deals to be had on these, you might have to travel a bit, I traveled 3 hours to do it (yes you may pay more to travel, but I absolutely refused to patronize any dealer that wouldn't deal), not to mention be very patient.
Personally I would have walked away if I'd found out my deal wasn't covered under the EPP, but, like you said, when you fall in love, all reasoning can tend to go out the window in a hurry.
Almost 6000 miles and zero issues - and a big-time grin for every mile. :-)
Very interesting, and gorgeous car.
Great deal! I have been endlessly searching and playing with the build options on the Dodge website. I got an R/T down to 30,000. I can get the real Chrysler Employee discount(much,much below invoice), so maybe this summer...
P.S. Thank you so much for staying away from the giganto rims. Big rims look good on my nephew's Matchbox cars and not much else.
Burn some rubber, bro! Get it on, bang a gong!
I pass by that dealership every time I visit home. You guys love long beach dealerships don't you?