The car salesman is one of the least trusted people in town.
There's history here. Many years ago, people bargained over horses. And since the proud beasts gave way to the horseless carriage, hardball negotiating between buyer and seller has continued on the car lot.
Dump Haggling Over Price
Negotiating price isn't in our culture: haggling is un-American. Anyone can look up the base price of a car online. Using the Web, buyers can negotiate the lowest price.
65% of consumers say they would prefer not to haggle over the price of a car...and...72% of women feel that way. More women are buying cars these days; they bought half the vehicles sold in the U.S. last year and influenced an additional 20% of purchases.
Then there's Gen Y. An important generation that don't like haggling because it takes too long. Did you know that the average car sale consumes 4.5 hours? Who has time for that? That's why Scion, launched to woo Gen Y four years ago by Toyota, doesn't allow its dealers to haggle. The company says it has cut the time it takes to sell a car to 45 minutes. Gen Y buyers also tend to select everything down to the color and options they want online and before they hit the showroom.
And yet, old habits die hard--especially at those brands, mostly owned by the Big Three, that still have too many stores.
Source: BusinessWeek, October 29, 2007