Will You Be Transparent?

Driving home from running a few errands, my eye caught a used Chrysler Crossfire sitting on the lot of my local Chrysler dealer. Painted on the windshield was "'05 42,000 miles."  I looped back around to see if there was a price. I'm not really in the market, but I've like the Crossfire ever since I had the chance to chase one around a track a few years ago. I was curious about the price.

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No price marked on the car. (Down the road, at a local used car lot, the prices are all handwritten on the windows.)

I get it. The dealer wants me to call them, to ask for the price, so we can have a conversation. Problem is, I don't want to have a conversation. I live in a small town. Experience has taught me that I'll start getting phone calls from them every few weeks, or until they see me driving a different car. I'm simply not interested in playing this game.

What do you think? Would the dealership be better off putting the price on the car? I can find prices on eBay easy enough. Why not just be transparent?

3 thoughts on “Will You Be Transparent?

  1. John Schick

    Dave, I agree with you. I also live in a small town. A local dealer tells me the reason he doesn’t put prices on used cars is that “Shoppers come by on Sunday and look around the lot. If I put prices on the cars, they might not come back. I want them to come in to see me to get a price.”

    I have two suggestions:

    Open the used lot on Sunday! Make sure you’re set up to approve deals that day.

    If you can’t open on Sunday, price your cars to move and post the prices. If you really are the “low price leader,” aren’t you proud of your prices? Wouldn’t you want the “Sunday shoppers” to rush in on Monday to take advantage of your superior pricing?

    Reply
  2. Tom Wanek

    Yes, it’s definitely better to be transparent and put the price on the car.

    Same goes for companies selling products or services online, where I see this happen frequently. When no price is listed, my gut reaction is that the item must be overpriced and the company is simply afraid to mention it.

    Reply

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