“Why yes, we do?”
It’s the classic line people love to throw at a car dealership — “Do you negotiate?” like they’re crossing the border in Mexico, trying to haggle for a blanket and a cowboy hat.
I saw a post the other day on LinkedIn where someone walked out of a dealership because the salesman said, “We don’t negotiate.” He was mad and called the salesman a liar because he said that “it’s expected” that in the automotive industry, every dealer should negotiate.
So, what did he do? He wanted that vehicle really bad, but at a price he thought would work for him based on the “mountains of data” available to him online. He called back, got a different guy… and magically, they did negotiate. Amazing!
As The Cool Car Guy, I would have never guessed this would have happened, but he was clear in his post that this was all because of his superior negotiating skills and not being refused.
💡 Here’s the lesson:
It’s not about if they negotiate.
It’s about how well they do it.
You might think you scored $1,500 off MSRP…
Meanwhile, you got buried in:
- A jacked-up interest rate
- A lowball on your trade
- And a $3,200 “warranty” or “protection package” you didn’t ask for
I’ve sold over $50 million in vehicles, ran my own dealership, and never carried inventory. So, what do I know? I know how the industry works.
I watched it happen every day.
People would come to me AFTER they bragged to me that they “got a deal,” only to find out they were completely buried in backend profit.
They would justify to me how they took sometimes thousands less for their trade than I could have gotten them because they saved on the price of the vehicle. The justification with “fuzzy math” was all too comical.
🚨 So, let’s be honest:
- Penske is worth $12.27 BILLION
- CarMax is worth $9.1B
- AutoNation: $8.5B
- Sonic Automotive: $2.8B+
- and Carvana (somehow still worth a whopping $77.91B)
- plus more I didn’t list…
They love it when you negotiate.
They do it several times a day, 6 days a week.
You do it once every 3–5 years.
They’re professionals.
I hate to tell this guy, but he just played checkers at a chess tournament.
“Sure, come on down and we’ll make a deal today!”
Want to actually control the deal?
List your ride on CoolCarGuy.com,
set it to “Make Offer”,
and negotiate all you want — without the games.
PS — Isn’t it funny how people will sprint to the dealership when they’re desperate to unload their car for $5,000 under value…
…but hesitate to spend $39.95 to list it online and drive real traffic to it?
Same people who brag about “negotiating.” 🤷♂️
The Cool Car Guy – John Boyd
🚦 Where to Go Next
Love cars as much as I do? Here’s how you can plug into the new Cool Car Guy ecosystem:
👉 CoolCarGuy.com — List, showcase, or trade cool cars. Enthusiast rides only. No clutter, no commissions.
👉 CarsFreak.com — The wide-open directory for everything automotive. Cars, shops, parts, services, events — if it’s car-related, it belongs.
This blog is the story side. The directories are where the action happens. 🚗💨
