Even though she’s pleasant and professional, Roxy Scarborough might be a car dealership’s worst nightmare. The online creator (@roxy.scarborough) and longtime sales and marketing professional is assembling a quick an easy-to-understand crash course of TikTok clips showing potential car buyers how to score the best deal possible.
In a recent clip with more than 11,000 views, Roxy gives us some valuable realities in the car-selling game. One of the big ones: Don’t feel sorry for a salesperson who says that they’re going to lose money on a deal they’re working on for you.
“A lot of the salespeople will say, ‘Oh, I’m not making a commission on this. No, I’m losing too much money.’ If they hit their bulk number by the end of the month, they’re going to get a commission. Don’t let them guilt you,” she said.
One of her favorite tactics is increasingly popular. Especially to This American Life listeners who remember the ups and downs of life at a Long Island dealership.
“Can you wait till the end of the month to make your purchase? Because if you can, there’s a likelihood you might even be able to save more money. There are so many that they can take a loss on in the month to make up for the fact that they’re making money on the others and that they need a quantity that they are trying to meet by the end of the month,” she says in her TikTok.
The secret weapons of dealership negotiating
Much of Roxy’s advice is based around applying pressure to the sales staff. That means calling a friend who’s an “expert” to get their advice, haggling as much as possible on the value of a vehicle, and saying you need to go and get something to eat. Roxy knows the sales staff doesn’t want to see a potential sale walk out the door under any circumstances.
Another tip! Don’t state a hard monthly payment number, because then they finance team will just find a way to extend the contract past 60 payments to fit the lower monthly number without reducing the total price.
And here’s perhaps the hardest but most valuable truth Roxy gives us. We should be reasonable in thinking about how much of a price reduction we can secure, even under the best of circumstances. There’s no way you can get within spitting distance of a 25% reduction, and if you can get half that, go ahead an pat yourself on the back as an ace dealmaker.
“If you’re looking for a major discount, you need to be asking for a demo model, last year’s model, if they have anything on the used vehicle lot,” she said.
Once you’ve negotiated something close to 10% off the sticker, then pull out any corporate or industry discounts you’re eligible for to knock a little more off of the price. Take it from this Michigan native from an auto industry family, the GM Family First discount was always a nice bargaining chip to have in your back pocket when you walked into a dealership.
Viewers—and experts—are sold
In the comments, Roxy counseled a viewer on how to get the best deal on a $25,900 used car, suggesting an asking price of $22,500 in hopes of landing on a $2,000 reduction.
“I’d go for more lol obviously lot of factors to consider though,” she wrote.
A commenter who claimed to be in auto sales praised Roxy’s wide words.
“I sell cars and honestly you hit the nail on the head,” they wrote.
Another was glad they’d used similar tactics during their recent purchase.
@roxy.scarborough Replying to @kim Part Three Can we wait? Have we tried to walk away to speed this game up? Have you asked for additional discounts / rebates / freebies?!! 😅😅 come back for pt 4 on Financing!! #negotiating #likeaboss #sales #newcar #buyinganewcar #howtogetwhatyouwant #homework ♬ original sound – Roxy
“Just bought a car and proud to say I did all of this before finding your videos,” they wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Roxy via email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
