When we decided my wife was going to get a new vehicle, I knew we needed to test drive the vehicle she wanted: A Jeep. She had never driven a Jeep before. She had never experienced what it was like driving something with the doors off. So I knew she needed to get behind the wheel to see how it felt. Let me tell you, our Jeep-buying experience was a wild ride!

In this episode of Best in Wealth, I will share our experience, and how I ultimately purchased my wife her dream Jeep at the best price possible. Don’t miss it!

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Outline of This Episode

Walking into the dealership

When we walked into the dealership, we test-drove a Jeep with the salesman. He immediately pushed us to sit down, crunch some numbers, and make a deal happen. But I knew we would not be making an emotional purchase that day, and I immediately let him know we were not going to move quickly.

My wife told him that if negotiation was necessary, all communication had to go through me. The next day, this salesman started bombarding my wife with text messages, emails, and phone calls. Not surprising.

She responded and said she wanted to test-drive a hybrid with the doors and top off. We set up a day and time. We walked to the Jeep and he showed us how he had taken the doors off. But he had not taken the top off because it was a “Two-person job.”

We took it for a spin with the doors off and it was really cool. It was a great ride. My wife decided she wanted a Jeep. But, yet again, he had her test drive a Jeep that wasn’t a hybrid. My wife had a list of non-negotiable specifications that she wanted from the Jeep, including it being a hybrid. We knew that a hybrid wasn’t on their lot.

This salesman had done enough for us that I knew I would buy the Jeep through him if he could match the best price that I could find. That’s when everything went wrong.

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The ridiculous ask

He brought us inside to talk to his sales manager. The sales manager told us that finding my wife’s perfect Jeep was like finding a needle in a haystack. So he asked us to commit that we would buy the Jeep from them before he located it! He would only negotiate at that point. You should never commit to anything before you negotiate and land on a price. It was completely backward, so we walked out the door.

Buying my wife’s Jeep

I immediately went home, sat down at the computer, and found five different Jeeps fitting my wife’s specifications within five minutes.

I emailed all five dealerships asking them to email me their best price on the Jeep. Every dealership called me right away. One said, “We do not negotiate over the phone, you have to come in.” I crossed them off my list.

The other four dealerships gave me their price within 12 hours. But I did not know if what I was quoted was the best deal. So I took the three best prices and sent them all a text saying, “Congratulations. You made it to the top three with your initial offers. If you would like to sweeten the deal, I’m giving you one final chance. I’m buying a Jeep in the next 48 hours and buying it from the person who has the best price.”

One said, “That was my best price,” but the other two sweetened the deal. They took more money off. One of them gave a lower quote than the one that was initially the best. I called that dealership, put $1,000 down, and they held the vehicle for me. I did my due diligence and at the end of the day, I was happy with the price we paid.

I share the rest of the story in this episode (including why we bought a new car). Don’t miss it!

Would you have done anything differently? I would love to know!

[bctt tweet="I negotiated buying my wife’s perfect Jeep at the best price possible over phone and email. How? Learn my strategy in this episode of Best in Wealth! #FinancialPlanning #WealthManagement #Jeep" username=""]

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The Best In Wealth Podcast is hosted by Scott Wellens. Scott Wellens is the principal at Fortress Planning Group. Fortress Planning Group is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with securities laws and regulations. Fortress Planning Group does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the Best In Wealth Podcast. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice.