I was in a dealership a few months back to see what options there were. I told the sales man basically I want to fund out what you can offer me. My price range is highly variable I want to make a value/price decision. the salesman immediately tried to find out what my price point was. I tried to explain my price point was dependent on the car. I wanted to know what I could get for how much. the conversation was going nowhere. After word I wondered why they couldn't sale to me. A real-estate agent shows knows different features have different values to different people. these guys couldn't figure this out. what was the problem. I figured that they sale by figuring out what the maximum a person will spend then work their "negotiations" from there. so I doubt this will change anytime soon. And on the issue manufactures can hurt by sales reps poor reputation. have a list to this podcast(or read the highlights) on franchising and the auto industry
So effectively you were asking "Which car will get you the lowest return or allow me to negotiate you below the expected sale price?" and you wonder why he didn't bite??
You don't sound like you wanted to buy a car as much as purchase an investment ... estate agents sell both homes and investments (and home-investments), that's why they tailor deals in different ways.
"Which car will get you the lowest return or allow me to negotiate you below the expected sale price?"
in a sense yes. however I would like to add my placement on value for certain features are unique to me. I wanted them to at least try to give me some offers. Say well we have this for that. but refuse to say any thing on what they were sell. with a real-estate agents they realize ever customer values to many things at different levels. ie a young family values location to schools. A competent builder might not place much as much importance on newness...
this is what I wanted a salesperson for the value they add to me is finding me a product I could be happy with. instead he immediately tried to "find my price" but I had no price for the classification as wide as vehicle.
in they end I ended up getting an used SUV. something I never thought I'd do having a small car for years. with out going into details certain aspects of my life valued 4x4 vehicle and until now with the over supply of used SUVs I never considered owning one.
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/06/munger_on_franc.htm...
or this one with a sales manager and a professor of economics after the prof had a bad experience buying a new car
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2008/06/cole_on_the_mar.htm...