Cracking the Sinister Car Dealership’s Secret Code

By Friday July 22, 2011

Hmmmm, seems unlikely. Someone check this out and get back to me.



13 Comments
  1. chuck says:
    7/22/2011 at 11:03 am

    Is this the same guy who cracked the Zodiac code?

    It seems to me that a dealer could also use
    147
    258
    369

    or some variation. Or the salesman could simply look up the car on their own inventory list.

    Reply
  2. scandihoovian says:
    7/22/2011 at 11:20 am

    There’s no system to this. It’s well researched buyers versus buffoons too lazy to do any leg work and pay more as a result. I bet the same person gets their car fixed at a much higher price as well.

    Reply
  3. brian says:
    7/22/2011 at 11:28 am

    There may be a “code” similar to what Pawn shops use.

    The best bet is to know the blue book value if used and street price if new. Both are available online or via your phone for free.

    Once you get them down during your first vist. WALK AWAY and leave the dealership. If you provided them your phone number they will call before you get home with a lower price. If not wait a day or two or ideally the end of the month. Deals that were no on the table always seem to be acceptable close to the end of the month.

    Reply
  4. Gazbo says:
    7/22/2011 at 11:57 am

    Sold cars for ten years; trust me (yeah right) there is no code, and no dealer worth a dime would EVER let their staff know the “bottom line” out on the lot.
    Price is negotiable on BOTH sides of the deal, nobody lasts in the business by having a fixed formula, so the “best deal” is whatever you can agree to today/now.
    Scandahoovian is about right, Brian is a salesmans dream chump.
    The ads in the paper/online tell you what people want, not what they got, blue book is for bankers.You really are better off buying at the end of the month.
    Want a deal? Grow a pair and deal.

    Reply
  5. Rich says:
    7/22/2011 at 12:07 pm

    Didn’t I just see this on Reddit? Seems too easy.

    Reply
  6. NobodySpecial says:
    7/22/2011 at 1:55 pm

    Is a DMCA takedown notice heading your way?

    Reply
  7. Zybch says:
    7/22/2011 at 4:11 pm

    Not exactly a secret code as a code-for-idiots. Nobody uses a ‘code’ as simple/stupid as this and expects to remain in business very long.

    Reply
  8. Sagrilarus says:
    7/22/2011 at 5:23 pm

    The drug store where I lived as a kid coded wholesale onto the price tags via the name Mary P Jones where M was 1 and s was 0. It wouldn’t surprise me if a car dealer somewhere coded in much the same way as shown above, but I sure wouldn’t expect the code to remain static. Cars cost a whole bunch more than a bottle of Tylenol.

    Reply
  9. Mike Gunn says:
    7/22/2011 at 7:20 pm

    We did have a code for tire prices at a gas station I worked for. The “cents” on the price told you how low you could go. For instance, if the price was $43.39, we knew we could go down to $39.00 each.

    Reply
  10. jasontheodd says:
    7/22/2011 at 9:41 pm

    Little dealer up the street sells every car on their lot for 5% over blue book. Everyone knows they got the cars cheaper than that, we even have a major vehicle auction house here in town, but the fixed prices take the stress off of first time and elderly buyers…they do good business there. Buddy of mine just got a van there, he seems happy enough. Personally I always buy new, because I know how horrible I treat a car, and I’m always worried the previous owners of used cars were just as rotten as me.

    Reply
  11. wbryant says:
    7/23/2011 at 6:35 pm

    LOL Are you kidding??? I’ve been in the car biz 6 1/2 years now and you think most car salesman could follow a code?! (In a Dvorak tone) Thanks Bullcrap!

    No, instead we just did all the research you should do yourself on the car. We know what retail value is and what the lowest price is. It’s pretty easy… actually…

    Reply
  12. Glenn E. says:
    7/23/2011 at 11:29 pm

    Looks like a various of the old Masonic Code. But only for numbers. Can’t see any car dealers using it. More likely they’d use Roman numerals, if anything.

    Reply
  13. Flea Market Haggling says:
    7/24/2011 at 9:56 am

    I always remember one big drug store chain had some simple to use cost code acronym
    It was plastered in clear view of customers in many of their stores for staff to remember easily ( they had lots of turnover)
    It was sort of amusing to see this word all over the place in their stores
    Yet few customers – as far as I knew caught on for the most part
    What good would be knowing the price code – do most anyways in a zero haggle pay the price environment anyways
    Its not as if you are in flea market haggling

    Reply

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