Automotive Addict

GM's OnStar is becoming more popular with the car buying public. On Star's one year free safe and sound package covers airbag deployment notification, remote vehicle diagnostics, remote door unlock, emergency services, stolen vehicle location assistance, roadside assistance, accident assistance, remote horn and lights if you are having trouble locating your vehicle, and 30 minutes free personal hands free calling. When OnStar was first introduced customers were apprehensive and did not want this feature and now they will not consider a vehicle without it. The dealership that I work at has a 92% renewal rate after the first year. The second year costs $199, but most customers feel this is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

GM's OnStar Feature has added voice activated Navigation. You contact an OnStar Advisor, tell them where you want to go, they download the route to your vehicle, voice commands tell you every turn to make. You can even go to Map Quest on the Internet and plan out a trip, download the trip to your OnStar Account, after naming the trip you can download it to your vehicle for directions and destinations that you have pre-determined on Map Quest. You can even plan how many miles you want to drive per day, where you want to stay, etc. OnStar is adding new features that Customers have found they do not want to live without.

One of the keys to negotiation is understanding the language. Most car dealers use the trade difference method and this is very confusing to some customers. For instance, the salesperson will say "We will trade for $7000 difference, plus payoff, plus TTF-Tax, Title, Fees". Just to make things simple we will say that you are buying a $27000 vehicle. This means that your vehicle appraised for $20000, or less if there are rebates involved. Now, you may owe $30000 on your car, meaning that you are actually financing $37000 on this vehicle, plus TTF. Most customers cannot understand that the payoff has to be added back to the deal.
$27000 minus $20000 is $7000 trade difference, plus payoff, in this case $30000 which will give you $37000, plus TTF.
This method is used to make you forget about how much your trade is worth because it makes you focus on the payoff instead of the amount appraised on your car. Ask the salesperson to break your numbers down so you can analyze them better. Sale price, trade amount, rebates if applicable, taxes, and so on. I myself would rather lay everything out in the open for the customer and not give the old smoke and mirror approach.