Cross-shopping involves comparing prices of the same product at different stores to get the best deal. This technique is becoming more popular in the auto sales industry due to the increasing number of dealerships. Consumers should do their research and focus on the selling price of the car, not monthly payments or other distractions. Retailers may try to steer consumers in a particular direction, so buyers need to be careful.
Cross-shopping is a technique some consumers use to get a better price from auto dealers. In addition to being used to get deals on cars, cross shopping also sometimes works for other big ticket items, such as home appliances, and you can sometimes save a significant amount of money on cross shopping. While cross-shopping turns a purchase into a complicated and time-consuming process, it can be quite revealing at times.
Basically, when a consumer walks through a store, he or she plays multiple car dealerships against each other. For example, Jane Doe examines car A at dealership A and a price is quoted on the car. After saying she wants to think about it, she goes to Dealer B to look at the same model of car and asks for a quote. So, she claims that dealer A has offered her a better deal on the same car and waits for a response; Typically, Dealer B will reduce the price, offer extra services, or otherwise attempt to keep their business.
Cross-shopping has become much more prevalent in the auto sales industry due to the growing number of auto dealerships. Historically, consumers often had a limited number of dealers to choose from, and if they had a specific type of car in mind, they were essentially locked into the prices a particular dealer offered. Now that many new dealers have large inventories, as do used dealers, there are more options for consumers, and dealers are well aware of this. Individual sellers are often willing to go to great lengths to get a commission, and consumers can capitalize on this by cross-buying.
Consumers aren’t limited to a specific car when they walk through the store. Many may choose to compare several different machines, sometimes radically different machines, which can make the situation even more complicated. If cars X and Y have very different base prices, for example, our hypothetical buyer should focus on the amount of discount or extras offered by the other dealer, rather than the direct price.
Many retailers have decided to cross shopping, so buyers need to be careful. Some will call to see if they can find out if the buyer is telling the truth about the best deal, and in some cases, retailers have friendly relations with each other, so they’ll steer consumers in a particular direction by mutual agreement.
If you want to cross-shop when buying your next car, do your research first. Narrow down your favorite choices and research their core values. When talking to dealers, be sure to talk specifically about the car’s selling price, not the monthly payments, and avoid clouding the issue with discussions of warranties and payment methods. If you want to shop in style, ask your retailer to make you a formal written offer that you can show to another retailer; you can also use this document to force the dealer to commit to that price later if needed.
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