Yup, I went window shopping last Sunday. Came home with four windows, four doors, a windshield, and a hatch.
That wasn’t the plan. I didn’t think I was taking delivery of a 2014
Volt until late next week, perhaps later or not at all if negotiations
failed. I was working all of last week with one of the big-volume
dealers in the Valley, mostly by phone and text, after visiting them on
MLK day to check out the fully loaded Volt in their showroom. The exact
car I wanted was in transit – a Summit White Volt with a black leather
interior. I had a firm idea of what I wanted to pay for a 3-year/10,000
mile lease: $270/month plus tax, $0 drive-off. When the salesman called
back with a $301/month + tax offer, I let him know that I was expecting a
lower payment based on my calculations using the $3000-under-invoice
offer that the dealer advertised on the Volt forum. I wanted to pay no
more than $300
including tax, so their offer was more than
$1000 higher than what I was willing to cough up over the next three
years. I asked if he could give me the details of the lease –
specifically the gross capitalized cost, since that represents the sales
price, and the capitalized cost reduction – but I didn’t get a call or
text message with the information. After a couple of hours I got tired
of waiting.
Coincidentally, the other big dealer in the Valley posted an ad on
the same Volt forum. Their posting parroted the Volt lease terms that
headlined their weekly sales ad in the local papers, delightfully
complemented with a long list of the numerous Volts they had on the lot
and in transit. I noticed that they too had the white-with-leather Volt
of my dreams coming their way. I emailed the internet manager of that
dealer with the lease terms offered by their competitor on the other
side of the freeway. After a couple of email exchanges and a phone call
from her salesman, they quoted $302/month, a buck more than the first
dealer… but theirs also had the $525 safety package that includes a
backup camera, which would be nice to have, but frankly I didn’t want to
pay for it. After all, that feature came standard on my Focus
Electric, my wife’s Honda Pilot EXL, and her Sienna LE before that, so
it just seemed wrong to have it as an option nowadays. I was really
close to caving in and taking the deal anyway; fortunately I refrained
and told the salesperson that I wanted to sleep on it and that I’d call
him in the morning.
When I woke up the next morning, my intent was to head down to the
Valley to try to negotiate a better deal in person with one or both
dealers. Failing that, I would give up on getting a Volt for now and
call Dianne at Carson Toyota about a RAV4 EV. I figured that if I had
to blow my budget, I’d blow it big-time on a Tesla drivetrain and lots
of cargo space.
While I was getting ready to leave for the Valley, a salesperson from
the local dealer called… which greatly annoyed me because I was in a
rush to leave. I started chewing him out for not calling me when I first
reached out to them last week, then went on and on about the deal I was
trying to close that morning with one of the big Valley dealers, and
then declared that there’s no way he can beat their deal because he
doesn’t have any with Volts with leather only; all he had were fully
optioned ones that were close to $40K. He asked if I would like a white
one with a black cloth interior. I told him absolutely not, and ranted
even more about how he simply does not have one in stock that I want. I
continued by telling him that if I can’t get the lease terms I want
from one of the Valley dealers, I’m done with looking for a Volt anyway
and will be going for a RAV4 EV. I was on a roll. He tried to interject,
but I kept cutting him off.
Then, with one very sincere, personal apology, he calmed me down. As
soon as he got my attention, He enthusiastically asked me if I had ever
seen one with cloth, and that it actually looks great in black. Then he
asked me if I’ve driven the Volt yet. I paused for a second, then
realized how unreasonably I was acting, because I certainly had done
neither. He urged me to come to the dealership to see it, drive it, and
give him a chance to beat the offers I had in hand. So I told him that I
do qualify for the competitive lease rebate and GM employee discount,
and promised that I’d hold off going down to the Valley for a half hour
to let him work his offer.
Meanwhile, I called back the Valley dealer that has the safety
package Volt, let the salesman know that I will drive down there
immediately if he can close on $270/month + tax. He said he’ll have his
manager call me.
Minutes later, the salesman from the local dealer called back and did
the unexpected… he offered $269/month for 35 months, $0 due at signing.
Including tax. That’s $247/month before tax. I was stoked –
that was more than $50/month below the other two offers! I told him that
I was impressed, and that I’d call him back before noon with a
decision. I braced myself for a barrage of high-pressure tactics to
force an immediate decision, but instead was left with a message of hope
and opportunity. He thanked me for giving him a chance, said he’d be
there for the day.
In short order, a manager from the Valley dealer called back. I told
him about the local dealer’s offer on a base model, then rationalized
that the MSRP of his incoming Volt with leather and backup camera was
about 6% higher than for a base model, and that my $270/month + tax my
for his car was over 10% higher per month than what the local dealer
quoted on a base model, so therefore my counter-offer was reasonable.
The manager explained that the pricing structure is different for the
cars with options, and that essentially their first and only offer of
$302/mo plus tax is their final offer. I thought about it for a second,
then decided I didn’t want to shell out and extra $50/month for the
privilege of sitting on a dead cow every time I climbed into the Volt. I
thanked him for his time and hung up.
I called the local dealer and said I have 30 minutes to spend with
them before I needed to go back home and take care of some things. The
salesman had the car waiting for me before I arrived, just outside the
tall glass walls of the dealership. I was sold as soon as I laid eyes on
it, but figured I’d better check out the cloth interior and drive it
for a few blocks before inking a deal. So we took it for a spin…. The
cloth looked and felt just fine, and in Sport mode the Volt moved with
the spunkiness of the Focus Electric. Fifteen minutes later we were back
in the dealership to start the paperwork.
There’s only so much paperwork that can be done in fifteen minutes,
but I really had to leave and couldn’t come back until about 5pm. The
salesman handed me the keys to the Volt and had me sign a no-cost loaner
agreement, said he needed me to take the Volt so that someone else
couldn’t snag it from under me. Naturally, I obliged. When I returned
later that day, I was taken straight to the finance office, and in 10
minutes the Volt was mine. In the end, the deal came out to be
$267/month for 35 months, $0 at signing.
My local Chevy dealer really came through for me on this. Besides
providing me with a great lease, they saved me from three 40-mile
round-trip excursions into the Valley to work the deal, pick up the new
Volt when it arrives, and then retrieve whichever car I took to the
dealership to pick up the Volt. They treated me with courtesy, respect
and efficiency, even after I started off on the wrong foot by chewing
them out over the phone for taking so long to get back to me after I
initially contacted them.
In retrospect, I do feel really bad about flying off the handle…
especially today, after I sifted though unheard voice mail on my cell
phone. Turns out that a manager from my local dealership had called me
right after I reached out to them through edmunds.com; I just missed the
call and didn’t bother to check voice mail.
Now it’s my turn to deliver a sincere, personal apology.
