When you are negotiating on your new or used car purchase be ready for the take away close. The take away close is another phrase from the car salesman lingo that is used on a car buyer during the negotiation process. It is pretty much what it sounds like and a car dealer scam.
Take Away Close to Close the Car Deal
To give you an example of the take away close for selling cars I will be your sales person and you are the car buyer. Imagine that we took a test drive in the car that you want to buy and we are sitting at my desk in the showroom. I have already run your credit and determined that you have good credit and I have gotten you to focus on the payment. I have also established that we are negotiating on the car that you really want to buy. I have presented you the monthly payments for the car that you want to buy and they are $400 a month. You thought your payment would be around $320 a month.
Time for The Take Away Car Close
We have gone back and forth negotiating on the monthly payment and I bumped you to $325 a month and I have come down to $365 a month. We have been negotiating for a while and seem to be getting close to a stalemate. I know that I need to get you to $335 a month in order to close the deal and sell you a car. I have tried getting you to $350 a month, but you seem to be stuck at $325. I only need $10 more a month to close the deal, but you won’t budge. Rather than grind you for too long I pull out the take away close and say “I have a one year old car almost identical to this one that I can let you have for $325 a month. Then I shut up and let you think about it.
Usually I can see the buyer going over it in their head, me taking away the new car and replacing it with a used car. After the take away close they will start to soften on their position. After a couple of minutes I say “I can see that you really want the NEW car instead of a used car, so what if I could get your payment down to $340 a month. You know that is only a difference of $.50 a day for brand new car. That would work for you wouldn’t it? You rationalize for a moment and think 50 cents a day for a new car versus a used car and you say OK. I just closed the deal with the help of the take away close. (did you notice that I needed $335, but got $340) Five dollars a month isn’t much, but over 60 months it is $300 and a few extra words can boost the commission of your salesman. Now would you consider that a car dealer scam or sales technique?
Take Away Car Close Cautions
There are some key points to using the take away close. You, the car buyer has to really want the new car. The payment spread can’t be too big. You don’t pull out the take away close until you have exhausted almost everything else and are close to losing the car sale. The experienced car salesman will use the take away close when needed and at the proper time. If it is done improperly or at the wrong time, the customer might get up and leave. The lesson to be learned here is to buy a car based on logic, not emotion.You can save a lot of time and trouble negotiating when you go follow the steps of Getting the Best Price on a New Car.