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Introduction Look at what car dealers parade in front of you: low monthly payments, 0% interest, huge discounts, zero down, free gifts. They’re all designed to make it appear like the dealer is sacrificing something for the customer. The truth is, the customer is the one who will be making the sacrifice.
I entered the car business in 1989, and from the very beginning I couldn’t understand why the banks were the last to know what was going on in each car deal. It just seemed backwards to me. My first day on the job, I was told to show the customer a car, sell them on it, and then send the deal to the bank. So, a customer walked in, I showed him a car, he liked it, and I sent the deal to the bank. The bank said no. The customer had to come back to the dealership, and he and I went back on the lot and picked out a different car. And I sent the new deal to the bank. The bank said no again. We repeated the process for a third time, and again the bank said no. By this time it was three days later and I was beginning to think it was all a joke. I thought I was going through some sort of car salesman initiation. I thought I was being hazed. Well, it turns out I wasn’t.
That’s how cars are sold. Or rather, that’s how cars used to be sold. Because I soon began asking the banks to give me, in advance, their requirements for how they wanted the deals to be structured. In other words, I wanted to go to the bank first, not last. It seemed so obvious to me. Going to the bank first would make life easier for everybody involved; the bank, the dealer, and the customer. Yet this idea was met with looks of confusion. Nobody wanted to change. Not the car dealers, not the banks. I persisted. It was one go-to-the-bank-first deal at a time. Until one bank, followed by another, then another, became convinced that it made sense to lend money for cars the Mark Marine way.
My philosophy is simple. I believe a customer should never have to make a decision. I believe it is my responsibility as the dealer to provide all the information and all the explanation up front, so you, the customer, can do what’s obvious.
Empowering the customer. Arming you with all the information you need to facilitate your own deal when you make a purchase with borrowed money. You can change the way you use credit. You can stop paying too much for the things you buy when you buy things with credit. That’s what this book is all about.
I want you to hear what I have to say. I want you to understand it. And I think I’m obvious.
Mark Marine
Salt Lake City
June 2005
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