What REALLY grinds your gears?

Do your research. If it's new, you can probably pay cost for it, because from what I learned from selling cars at a reputable dealership is that more money is made depending on the amount of cars a salesman sells. I never hit any bonuses because I never sold 8 cars in 1 month (closest I came was 7 cars my first month). Some fees are negotiable, some aren't, like state tax. Processing fee might be lowered/dropped, same with delivery fee, etc. Also get multiple quotes from multiple dealerships.

Always get a paper quote from another dealer, then you can go to the dealer you want to buy from and use that to haggle them down. And if you can afford to wait go at the end of the month, that is when every salesman is desperate to get cars out of the door, to hit the bonuses for units sold. The way my pay was set up is 1500/mo, 750 base, 750 draw (i.e. pulled out of your bonuses if you got one). If you sold 8 cars, you got a $500 bonus plus 10% commission. Those bonuses/percentages went up the more cars you sold. I'm sure it was similar at other places because we were part of a chain of dealers owned by one guy. The one I worked at was a Mazda dealer but he also owned Hyundai/Nissan/Honda/Acura/etc. dealerships too. And like I said, profit wise very little money is made on new cars, because with manufacturer incentives if you can hit the bonuses you'll make more money.

Most big profits come on used cars, we would always put a several grand markup on a used car so that even if you haggled us down, there was still profit made on it. No use hitting the units bonus if you never made any profit on the cars you sold. And it never hurts to ask to see the invoice on a new car to see how much they paid for it. If you want any more help pm me, I know it can be a hassle but it might help in the long run. Also see if you can get some service incentives thrown in, we used to offer anything to help us sell a car. Free all-season mats? Done. First 3 oil changes free? Done. It might be different at a bigger dealership because we never sold as many cars as bigger stores out there, but there's lots of help out there if you need it.

Don't forget the most effective technique. Bring food. If you're negotiating spend 20 bucks for doughnuts and coffee for the folks you're negotiating with and you'll make that back plus quite a bit. Should You Eat While You Negotiate? - Lakshmi Balachandra - Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/should-you-eat-while-you-negot/)

Don't forget the most effective technique. Bring food. If you're negotiating spend 20 bucks for doughnuts and coffee for the folks you're negotiating with and you'll make that back plus quite a bit. Should You Eat While You Negotiate? - Lakshmi Balachandra - Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/01/should-you-eat-while-you-negot/)

LOL. I remember hearing about that before, but I've never done that. One of the things I was taught was that if you're dealing with a customer over the internet or phone your first priority should be getting them in the door. I've heard of some of the newer dealerships having coffee bars/doughnut shops in them too, there's a BMW dealer in MD owned by the same company that I work for that has a coffee shop inside it. And if the dealer doesn't have one you can always get a dialogue going with a salesman and invite them to a restaurant or other place to negotiate. It definitely won't hurt to try that though, the article makes it sound advantageous.

Thanks man, worked out. Felt like I got a fair price and a decent deal. 2010 awd Chevy equinox with the mid trim. Speaking of trim, I did score a telephone number and good convo with a female there as well. Probably take her out for a test drive too

Nice. Congrats on the trim and the other trim lol. Hope it helped.

@Jamf: thanks, even though I only did it for 3 months (before I decided I didn't want to spend almost 60 hours a week doing something that paid around 1100 if I didn't hit any bonuses) it was useful if only for the learning experience.

My boss.

I just started a new job back in August and I'm ready to quit. I like what I do (administrative program support) and the community I serve but my boss makes it completely unbearable. What makes it worst is that this isn't a team environment, everyday its just me and her. It's a one year contract position with Americorps and I was grateful to get it because I was unemployed and deadass broke but it's not worth the abuse I put up with. Constantly being told I do everything wrong, receiving absolutely ZERO praise for anything, being snarked at and condescended to every day for 8 hours a day, I received no training from her, the Americorps member who was there before me gave me the best crash course she could before leaving. My boss was spoiled on the last Americorps member slaving for her on hand and foot and her sitting back and doing very little and I'm not the same way. Americorps works on a stipend and I'm technically making less than $40 a day. I have to listen to how chummy she is with her boss so complaining to him is out of the question and I have no HR to complain to and it makes me ready to hurl myself into traffic.

It's bad. Real bad.

And I have 7 more months in my contract. I already know I'm not going to make it. I'm looking for new jobs already.

My boss.

I just started a new job back in August and I'm ready to quit. I like what I do (administrative program support) and the community I serve but my boss makes it completely unbearable. What makes it worst is that this isn't a team environment, everyday its just me and her. It's a one year contract position with Americorps and I was grateful to get it because I was unemployed and deadass broke but it's not worth the abuse I put up with. Constantly being told I do everything wrong, receiving absolutely ZERO praise for anything, being snarked at and condescended to every day for 8 hours a day, I received no training from her, the Americorps member who was there before me gave me the best crash course she could before leaving. My boss was spoiled on the last Americorps member slaving for her on hand and foot and her sitting back and doing very little and I'm not the same way. Americorps works on a stipend and I'm technically making less than $40 a day. I have to listen to how chummy she is with her boss so complaining to him is out of the question and I have no HR to complain to and it makes me ready to hurl myself into traffic.

It's bad. Real bad.

And I have 7 more months in my contract. I already know I'm not going to make it. I'm looking for new jobs already.

Damn. That sounds pretty unbearable. GL with your job search D-Rave. If you break your contract do you have to pay a penalty?

Damn. That sounds pretty unbearable. GL with your job search D-Rave. If you break your contract do you have to pay a penalty?

At the end of the year you get an educational award of up to $3500 you can use towards school loans, classes etc. But I'm done with school and loan free so I don't even need the award. But if you leave early, you're basically in bad standing and not eligible for it nor are you allowed to serve in Americorps again. (I wouldn't anyway. I'd rather volunteer my time for free. Lesson learned)

College kids are desperate to finish because they tend to need that money, but its not even taxed, so at the end of the year, you end up PAYING taxes on it.

Biased people and hypocrites. I am a transplant from California, I have adopted the Redskins as my second favorite team as I have been a 49er fan for 40 years. I belong to the 49er Webzone, sick of all the crying over there about how
the referees screw over the 49ers all the time. No one ever mentions missed calls that help the 49ers, just the times the opponents get away with something. All the latest complaining about the Seahawks and their drug use got me to join over here. Either this place is dead in the off season or has way less active members than they do.

Either this place is dead in the off season or has way less active members than they do.

This place comes alive in the offseason, it's all we got as Skins fans.

Biased people and hypocrites. I am a transplant from California, I have adopted the Redskins as my second favorite team as I have been a 49er fan for 40 years. I belong to the 49er Webzone, sick of all the crying over there about how
the referees screw over the 49ers all the time. No one ever mentions missed calls that help the 49ers, just the times the opponents get away with something. All the latest complaining about the Seahawks and their drug use got me to join over here. Either this place is dead in the off season or has way less active members than they do.

The Warpath is never dead but it may seem that way because it is more selective in its clientele than other sites.

I'll throw one in this thread because I haven't ranted about anything in a while.....

This might sound trivial or what not, but like others have pointed out, this is all we have sort of while not much stuff is going on football wise.

A couple of guys from the office frequent a McDonald's down the road from the plant. At least three times over the past week, they've come back with this item wrong, this burger missing cheese, no fries, etc.... I laugh privately to myself because most fast food places around here there's a good chance your order is going to get F'd up...

Now I know the cardinal rule is that you always should check the bag before you leave...whatever.. My gripe is that things are so bad with the industry that customers have to check behind the people who are being paid to do it correctly.. My other gripe is that they don't say anything about it to a manager or someone at the store (But they probably wouldn't give a shit anyway, and might sabotage your food the next time they see you). A lack of dining options where i work might explain some of it....but CMON MAN!!

Missing the days where you could go through the drive through and not have to worry about it. The good ole days are gone my friends....