The Car Whisperers is featured in the July 9th edition of the BurnabyNOW, before our rebranding. Check out the article. July 9, 2008.
In most of this country, four wheels to get around on are a necessity, not a luxury.
Car, truck or SUV – it’s one of the biggest purchases Canadians will make in their lifetimes: the biggest, for the increasing number who can’t afford to buy a home.
Some love the experience of buying a new car: the haggling, the kicking of tires, the endless test drives.
For others, the experience falls close to walking across hot coals.
Enter Rob Fournier, owner of Cornerstone Concepts, a Burnaby company.
For a set fee of $750, he will find the four wheels his clients have been looking for, at a price they can afford.
The money is the same whether the purchase is of a new or used car and includes a vehicle inspection and a report on the car’s history, including liens and repairs.
There are no extra fees once the car is purchased.
“Everything is clear and up front,” Fournier said.
It’s not just about getting customers the best deal he can, Fournier wants to make sure they get a “good” car that is reliable and safe long after it’s left the lot.
He knows what to look for and what to listen for, signs of potential trouble, and he will arrange test drives.
“And I ask the questions that most people don’t think of until after they buy a car.”
There is no guarantee, but they come as close as possible, Fournier said.
“I really enjoy cars,” Fournier said. “I’ve been passionate about cars since I was a kid.
“On a bad day, I would love to be able to test drive a Porsche or BMW.”
A career as a car salesman might seem a natural fit to indulge this passion, but not for Fournier.
“I did really bad at it,” he said of his brief stint at an auto dealer. “I found there was a lot of politics and drama involved with car sales.”
This compares to his current work.
“I think buying a car is a really fun experience,” Fournier said. “If I could take out all the negative aspects of it (for his clients), … it would make it more of an enjoyable experience.”
Those negative aspects include doing research into what’s available and spending hours going between dealerships to find the right vehicle, then haggling a good price.
The time invested by someone about to buy a vehicle can be substantial, something Fournier said he can save his clients. He estimates he’ll spend about 16 hours making the purchase.
The whole experience can be “overwhelming” for those unfamiliar with it, he explained.
“I find there’s a lot of rules and issues with buying cars,” he said. “And, at the end of the process, most people are like, ‘What happened?’”
Clients tell him what they would like and what they can afford, even what colours they prefer, and Fournier starts hunting, usually able to get a good deal for his customers within a few days.
Part of the service Fournier offers is to educate his customers on their options when buying a vehicle.
His customers have an advantage in dealing with him rather than a car salesperson, Fournier said, because he doesn’t have brand loyalty.
“I work for (them) specifically, not for a car dealership,” he said. “I’m on their side. I only have their interests at heart. I want to find them the exact car, the exact colour, the exact options (that they’re looking for).”
Without a licence to sell cars in British Columbia, in fact, Fournier is not allowed to take money from dealerships, banks or other financial institutions for selling a car.
From his time working at a dealership, he understands how they work and can help his customers avoid buying something they don’t need, spending too much money after they fall in love with a particular car.
Fournier said he can often get a better discount from a dealer with less fuss because both he and the dealer know he’s not going to be talked into a higher-end vehicle than he started looking at.
“The last thing a dealer wants is to tie up a salesman when he’s not going to make a sale,” Fournier explained.
There are several myths about buying a car that Fournier is quick to quell, including the idea that zero per cent financing on a new car is the best deal: one’s better off getting a one-year-old car that has already had its initial depreciation, he noted.
Then there’s the idea, currently growing in popularity, that buying cars in the U.S. is cheaper: it depends on the car, Fournier said. It might hold true for the expensive cars, but for less expensive cars, one isn’t further ahead by going south of the border to buy, especially by the time the shipping and other fees are covered. Another myth is that all cars are marked up $5,000, said Fournier, noting that entry-level cars are actually more likely to be marked up $1,500 or $2,000.
In 2006, Fournier started Cornerstone Concepts, going full-time earlier this year.
“I just decided to jump in,” he said. Fournier has a four-year plan to slowly grow the business, adding staff as he goes.
Recently, he helped L’Arche Greater Vancouver – which is also in Burnaby – find a truck for program called Neighbours Helping Neighbours. Through the Burnaby Board of Trade ambassador program, Fournier donated his service, finding a dealer in North Vancouver who would let them have the truck at cost.
Less than a week after getting their request, Fournier had found a specific truck for L’Arche, within a specific budget. The only wish that couldn’t be fulfilled was the colour: the organization had to settle for its second choice of white rather than red.
