Getting rid of negotiation is an idea that many dealerships are experimenting with. After all, negotiation has always been a top pain point for used car buyers, and in today’s online listing environment you need to provide enticing prices up front - there is barely any room left for negotiation anyways. Some dealerships have already moved to a “no-haggle” approach, is it time for you to do the same?

No-haggle is still a niche opportunity

When used car buyers had to choose where they would prefer to get their next vehicle, either a no-haggle dealership or a dealership that allows for negotiation, only 27% of used car buyers picked the no-haggle dealership. While that is still a decent slice of the market, it’s far from the majority. Despite negotiation being a huge paint point, 73% of used car buyers still would like to negotiate the price of their car. So, while there is opportunity to take a no-haggle approach, the majority of used car buyers are going to pick a dealership that allows for negotiation over one that doesn’t.

Why do customers still want to negotiate?

Negotiation is consistently rated by used car buyers as one of the worst parts of the vehicle purchase process, yet 3 out of 4 of them don’t want to get rid of it. Why is that? The contradiction comes down to the fact that customers feel like they won’t get a good deal unless they negotiate. 63% of used car buyers believe they have to haggle to get the best price, 77% believe that there is always room to negotiate (even if the price is listed as no-haggle) and only 29% trust a dealership when they say they’ll give the buyer the best price right away.

How to reduce negotiation tension

The key is changing the conversation from negotiating the price of vehicle to justifying your pricing using tools the customer can trust.

For a customer to trust your initial price, you need to justify it. Specifically, used car buyers told us they want you to show them how your car measures up to comparable vehicles online and explain anything you’ve done in-house that may have changed the price of the vehicle. It’s also important to use sources of information that customers recognize and trust, because they could easily write-off information from an unfamiliar tool as being biased towards dealers. The key is changing the conversation from negotiating the price of vehicle to justifying your pricing using tools the customer can trust. These principals can reduce the need for painful negotiation at any dealership.