Getting better deals by giving business

Our new (to us) car is now in our driveway.  Pretty much everything is settled with this vehicle, and we sold the old one that had the broken transmission.  We continued “money lessons for kids” with our daughter by showing her a few — OK, two dozen — $100 bills and a cashier's check with a bunch of zeroes on it.

We had the opportunity to negotiate a couple of times during these transactions.  We got some of what we wanted in both cases.

Negotiation Opportunity #1:  We bought our new used car from Carmax.  Overall this was a great experience.  There was one little hiccup at the end: When we went out to pay off our financing with Carmax (which they allow within three business days without paying a dime in interest) neither one of us caught that I had to sign the cashier's check.  (The big one, with a bunch of zeroes.)  We were halfway home when my wife got a call on her cell phone asking us to come back.  Going back would set us back an hour in driving time alone.  I suppose I should have caught that I needed to endorse the check, but I do this once every few years, and they do it dozens of times every day.

Anyway, I went back to the dealership, and when they brought the check back for me to sign, I asked:  “Any way I can get a voucher for an oil change?  This set us back 30 minutes of driving one way.”

A few minutes later, I walked out with a $25 gift certificate.

Negotiation Opportunity #2:  Our long-time mechanic bought our old car after we had it towed to his shop and after he gave the estimates to us to have the transmission fixed.  He likes the kind of van we have, except for the transmission.  He's fixed up a few of them and uses them as loaners for customers.

He said that it would be well worth it to him to pay $500 for the van.  I've had “cash for your junk car” tow away other vehicles of ours for far less than that, so $500 wasn't bad at all for a vehicle that needed about $3,000 worth of parts and labor to be roadworthy again.

My wife was the one who took the title over to him.  She asked if the offer could be more if he gave it in store credit.  (We have no reason to look elsewhere, as we're quite happy with his service.)

He bought the van for $750 in store credit — 50% more than he offered in cash.

Store credit is cheap for the store

The connection between these two wins is that we made it clear that store credit was just fine with us.  I don't think that I would have gotten cash back from Carmax for my trouble had I asked for it, and I know that we would have gotten less for the van in cash.

There are at least three reasons why this make sense:

• The money is locked up in the business.  The business owner keeps their money for now and pays in future goods and services.  There's a small risk that the business could go under and the money would go with it.  But if there's a good relationship and both parties will continue to do business together, then great.
• Store credit is cheaper for the business than an equivalent amount of cash.  It's not going to cost Carmax $25 to give me $25 worth of service.  It's not going to cost our mechanic $750 to give us $750 worth of services.  If it does, then they're working for nothing.  This is the same reason why restaurants love giving out soda: “Buy two hamburgers and get a medium drink for free.”  The drink costs them about a nickel, but the value to the customer is $1.19.
• You're on their side with the transaction.  Indirectly you're saying “I want to continue doing business with you” when you suggest compensation in store credit.  It gives the business that warm, fuzzy feeling.

Any other opportunities you've had to barter in store credit or something similar?  Did you get more than you thought?