They’d rather lose sale than talk over email to customer.
I was on the market for brand new luxury sedan and certain dealership was insisting of me coming in rather then disclosing their price.
I took my business elsewhere.
With that said, you can tell pretty early on that some folks prefer talking over email to phone -- and that's OK too!
To me the sale is a matter of clear equation: success=min(price). If I have extra questions - i'll call or schedule appointment and come to talk.
Otherwise I am not interested to listen to the other guy's sales pitch and his life stories. If dealer is unwilling or incapable of answering simple question over email - this leaves a perception of some sort shady character and I move on.
And likely so others too.
Basically, I agree with you. If you don’t want to talk with me, I don’t want to waste your time and mine. Generally, I’ll try to supply whatever I can to you via email and propose a phone call or f2f if there are some things which need clarification. If my product (semiconductor manufacturing equipment) isn’t a fit, it is usually apparent pretty quickly and everyone can move on with their lives.
Hence, the reason dealers are unwilling to give a price in writing is because they know they're asking too much and will likely be beaten by the other dealers.
Clear sign to move on to other local dealers.
I can accept it's a thing that could happen and be true. vOv