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Customer Shops At Kia Because He Needs An Affordable Car. Then He Learns How Much The Cheapest Kia Actually Costs

"Go to the dealership at the end of the month. Got it."

Car saleswoman gets ‘yelled at’

Photo by: Unsplash.com

Stacy Fernandez

By: Stacy Fernandez

Jul 3, at 6:00am ET

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Car dealerships run on quotas, and it seems quotas get more flexible when dealerships are running up to the end of the month and seeing that they’re falling short of their goals.

While this has long been a rumor, one saleswoman had to find out the hard way. She thought she was doing the right thing but ended up getting chewed out by her manager instead.

‘I Didn’t Know We Were Discounting Cars 8 Grand’

In a viral video with more than 2.7 million views, content creator and car salesperson Taylor (@glassteapott) shared that she just got yelled at at work for something she didn’t even realize she was doing wrong.

It started with a simple question. She asked a customer what their price range was, and they said the most they could do was $20,000, and they wanted the car to be brand new.

When Taylor asked if they'd consider a pre-owned vehicle instead, the customer said no. They wanted something brand-new for $20,000. Taylor explained that the cheapest new car on the lot was a Kia K4, priced at $25,000. When the customer heard that, they started walking out.

Taylor let them go and headed inside to tell her manager what had happened.

"So, if I sell them a new car for $20,000, we got a deal?" she says her manager asked.

She says her manager then ran outside after the customers himself, caught them before they left, and handed over his own business card. Then, he came back inside furious.

"That's not your decision to make," she says he told her about letting them walk out.

Taylor says she apologized on the spot. She had no idea the dealership was willing to knock $8,000 off a car for the right customer. But she also had a theory for why her manager suddenly cared so much about a deal he'd let her lose minutes earlier.

"It's the end of the month. He down bad," she joked.

Is The End Of The Month Actually The Best Time To Buy?

It's the oldest piece of car-buying folklore out there. Dealerships and salespeople do run on quotas that shape everything from a salesperson's paycheck to how many cars a dealership gets allocated next, which is exactly why "wait until the end of the month" became conventional wisdom in the first place, HowStuffWorks reports.

The catch is that dealerships don't run strictly on the calendar. They typically get a couple extra days into the new month to still count a sale toward the previous month's numbers. Show up too early, and the desperation isn't there yet. Show up a day or two late and negotiating leverage is gone.

Data from TrueCar backs this up, showing that buyers who closed a deal in the first two days of the month saved an average of $390 compared to everyone else, while buyers who bought on the literal last day of the month actually paid $843 more on average, likely because salespeople start steering people toward pricier, feature-loaded trims once unit-count matters less than revenue.

How To Actually Negotiate A Car Deal

Timing helps, but it's not a substitute for doing your homework.

NerdWallet recommends starting with the car's real market value through a pricing guide like Edmunds or Kelley Blue Book, so any offer is grounded in actual numbers instead of guesswork.

It's also worth getting preapproved for a loan before setting foot on a lot. Salespeople often ask what monthly payment a buyer wants, which is a way of steering the conversation around the total price. Walking in ready to talk sale price instead of monthly payment keeps the numbers honest on both sides.

‘I Got 10k And A Dream, Let Me Get A Bronco’

Viewers in the comments section took notes and made jokes about the situation.

“Go to the dealership at the end of the month. Noted,” a top comment read.

“You about to get yelled at again,” a person said.

“You reporting live from the scene is crazy,” another wrote.

What do you think?

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“He gon be hot when he see this,” a commenter added.

Motor1 reached out to Taylor via TikTok direct message and comment. We'll be sure to update this if she responds.

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