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mclark9 t1_j9ud6fa wrote

Don’t go into the dealer. Send them each an email or fax telling them exactly what you’re looking for, including what you need vs what you just want. Let them respond to you and then play them off of each other. Make one of them win your business. You have no idea what dealer incentives are at play with each dealer, especially as it’s near the end of the month. They may all be close to one another in price, or they may not. If they all have what you need on their lot you could end up the winner.

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skfoto t1_j9udvjg wrote

Fax? What decade are you in?

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HomicidalHushPuppy t1_j9uhkfv wrote

Car dealers deal with the government. The government is behind the times. Fax is still very much a thing.

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skfoto t1_j9ui5h1 wrote

I worked in the car business from 2007 to 2019 and I can assure you that any customer request that arrived on our fax machine (the number to which was not posted anywhere) would've gone straight into the trash, if it was even found at all amidst all the junk the banks and vehicle wholesalers would fax to us.

Online is THE way to shop in this day and age.

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mclark9 t1_j9ujl0l wrote

I bought multiple cars via fax between 2007 to 2019. Though, obviously not from the dealer where you worked.

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Tiny-Cheesecake t1_j9umhda wrote

Why on earth would you want to, when email is an option? Serious question. Assuming faxes would work (which, whatever, that may or may not hold in some cases but clearly not all), was there some benefit?

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mclark9 t1_j9v58u2 wrote

It was a process I used starting before mainstream email adoption. The communication medium is not important, it’s just a means to an end. The value in my comment is that those of us outside of the industry don’t have any insight into the situation at any particular dealer at any given time. Do the deal remotely, get it all in writing and don’t set foot in the dealership until you’re ready to sign the papers.

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Floopydoodler t1_j9ve1n5 wrote

I'd love to ditch the fax but that seems to be the only way shops and dealers will communicate. You ask for an email address and they get all sketchy like they're sharing their SS#

Dealers aren't AS bad, but service depts and smaller shops all still use fax.

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fastedzo t1_j9vgiu9 wrote

I’ve worked in dealerships in several different capacities, including finance, sales management, etc. dealers are well aware that this person is looking for a car and often times competing dealerships occasionally communicate with each other. Someone’s looking for specific trim level, and they don’t have it in stock They will call other dealers for trade. Most likely that dealer has gotten the same request for that car as well, the dealer that actually has that specific vehicle in stock can actually offer the best price on it because of holdback. If this person shopping for a car has a trade, I don’t care how many mimeographs you sent out requesting a quote, you have to get your traded appraised and that leaves a mountain of room for negotiating that cannot be done via US mail, fax machine, etc..

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Aggravating_Foot_528 t1_j9w5i1s wrote

I used to get mimeographs from the school office and bring them back to class when I was in elementary school. They were wet, warm, and stinky.

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uglybushes t1_j9uj3sg wrote

We don’t have a fax machine? It’s 2023? Have you bought a car in the past ten years

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