Jessie had just taken his second test$-$drive in the new three$-$quarter$-$ton pickup truck he was considering purchasing. The sales associate had been friendly and welcoming, warmly introducing Jessie to other managers at the dealership, offering free soft drinks, curb service with two vehicles he had test$-$driven, and assurances that the salesperson was $$working for Jessie$$ and wanted to $$earn Jessie$$s business.$$ The salesperson asked Jessie about his personal life and baited him with $$Truck Month,$$special deals,$$ and $$incentives for a short time only.$$ The salesperson had figured out Jessie$$s payment schedule for him, an amazingly low payment per month. Then Jessie said, $$I have to be somewhere in $20$ minutes, but I might come back tomorrow$$when do you open in the morning?$$

The next day, Jessie returned to the dealer with estimates of his trade$-$in value from three used$-$car websites, a loan preapproval from his credit union, and a summary of the dealership$$s actual cost of the truck he was interested in from another website. He greeted the sales associate and made an offer for the truck. $$We just can$$t do that, Jess,$$ was the response. $$That$$s below what we have to pay for the truck.$$

$$Well$,$ first, you have added charged items that aren$$t even done yet, like the sprayed$-$in bed liner for $$670$ that I can have done for $$230$ from the same place you guys have it done. So I deducted that, and the special sealant extra charges that are included if a vehicle is painted, and all of them are $($painted$)....$ Here are some other items that are similar, and they come to $$1,945.$ I deducted half of your destination charge, and then I deducted half of your holdback to arrive at this number.$$ The shocked sales associate took the information to her manager, who returned with another two managers to try to convince Jessie that his offer was not possible. The hard sell continued into a discussion of Jessie$$s trade$-$in$,$ and finally, Jessie told them he might find a deal at another dealer or even with a different truck brand and that if they were interested in trying to meet his offer, they should e$-$mail him. And then he left.$$

The next day, Jessie received an e$-$mail from the sales manager, saying they had agreed to his offer. When Jessie arrived, the truck had been cleaned, had a large Sold sign in the window, and was parked at the front door. The manager had agreed to Jessie$$s offer on the new truck but had priced his trade$-$in at $$8,000$ less than the trade$-$in value Jessie had found online. After another $30$ minutes of hard$-$sell tactics, Jessie left the dealership for the third time.

That afternoon, the used$-$car manager called Jessie to talk him down from his expected trade$-$in value. That evening, the sales manager called Jessie to say that he could come within $$450$ of Jessie$$s offer and that if Jessie would come back to the dealership, the deal would be made. Jessie agreed and returned to the dealership the next day.$$

The deal was indeed done and written up$,$ and the official $$offer$$ reflected all of Jessie$$s requirements. But it was exactly $$450$ more than the deal Jessie had proposed. To a chorus of how much money the dealership was losing, he was hustled into the finance manager$$s office, where Jessie was offered credit, life insurance, gap insurance, extended warranties$$and special deals on all four after he refused them all; he also refused the special deals on the discounted items. Jessie stood his ground, and the papers were finally signed.$$

That night, Jessie summed up the total additional costs the dealer tried to talk him into accepting. His truck would have cost $$72,360.$The additional costs he could have incurred if he had given in to the hard sell totaled $$19,763.$

Jessie later acquired an extended warranty for $30$ percent of the cost of the dealer warranty, and he had some custom touches added for a fraction of the cost the dealer had wanted to charge.

There was a material cost of failing to negotiate effectively in this case. How could Jessie have reduced his costs further?