Test drive etiquette

[bitchstewie]

buyer and seller said:

bhstewie said:

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

Even better, I'll tell you what will be far more amusing, a body cam fitted to some of the know it alls on here while they are running their business's or doing their job so everyone can tell them how they can do it better even though they know little or nothing about how to do it, now that would be fun.

I did my time in retail a couple of decades back and I'll freely admit that I didn't like the targets and hard sell aspect of it.

I was in electrical, OK probably not comparable to cars but I do know that if I had a customer or mystery shopper come in and they showed interest in a product and I suggested they go to Radio Rentals and hire one for a week, or asked them "Will you buy it if I show it to you?" I'd have been fired because it might have saved me some time but it's also piss poor customer service.

That approach might work for some sales people, and it might work for some customers so I'm not about to say that it doesn't - but as a customer it doesn't work for me.

Edited by bhstewie on Saturday 23 May 16:03

[unrepentant]

Ayahuasca said:

A lot of the car dealers on here deem to hate their customers and hate their jobs. If that us the case FFS do something else.

Rubbish. Most of the PH sales guys are veterans who do a great job and have great rapport with their customers. I have great customers, many of whom are friends and I enjoy helping them to buy great British cars.

[twing]

Fox- said:

He ought to be, the more customers his employer has the more viable they are surely? The margin on service and repair is fairly decent, surely?

Do you ride unicorns and swim with mermaids?

[All that jazz]

unrepentant said:

Rubbish. Most of the PH sales guys are veterans who do a great job and have great rapport with their customers.

Clearly you're talking about a different PH as all the ones on here are utter cocksockets with bad attitude problems, as illustrated by their responses in this very thread.

[Fox-]

twing said:

Do you ride unicorns and swim with mermaids?

You've lost me, you'll need to make your point less subtly I think. I thought it was fairly accepted that in a typical dealership model the workshop contributes well to the fixed costs of the business whereas the margins on new car sales can often be very very tight.

Edited by Fox- on Saturday 23 May 16:10

[buyer&seller]

ORD said:

[quote=buyer&seller]

bhstewie said:

I would love to fit bodycams on some of the dealers who have taken part in this thread and see how they conduct their private lives when it comes to buying stuff.

Even better, I'll tell you what will be far more amusing, a body cam fitted to some of the know it alls on here while they are running their business's or doing their job so everyone can tell them how they can do it better even though they know little or nothing about how to do it, now that would be fun.

Get over yourself. You're not a consultant doctor or engineer. You show people cars and ask them to buy them. It's the same as selling cheese.

Really? Well that shows what you know then, idiot.

[anonymous-user]

unrepentant said:

Rubbish. Most of the PH sales guys are veterans who do a great job and have great rapport with their customers. I have great customers, many of whom are friends and I enjoy helping them to buy great British cars.

I'm not sure which PHs you've been on.

Most of them would put me off buying from them. I've certainly avoided a dealership after reading some of them posting on here. Unfortunately, many of them do their profession no favours at all.

[andymc]

The car buying public tend to come in after doing their homework then test drive the car and then buy it, the vast majority on here expect us to feign all over you whilst you lash up and down the test route with this weeks latest hot hatch and then listen to your crap excuses why you won't be buying the car

[bitchstewie]

andymc said:

The car buying public tend to come in after doing their homework then test drive the car and then buy it, the vast majority on here expect us to feign all over you whilst you lash up and down the test route with this weeks latest hot hatch and then listen to your crap excuses why you won't be buying the car

I don't think the majority (or minority) on here expect anything of the sort.

All we expect is that you appreciate that for most of us a car is a considered purchase and doesn't always come down to a simple "Well there's nothing wrong with it so yeah I'll have it please" once you're in the showroom.

Tbh I think the vast majority of the public don't want to have to deal with sales people, but there isn't yet a system where you can just go to a dealer and look at everything and "book out" keys to try the product.

Sales people are a necessary evil due to the practicalities of the situation rather than something people deal with out of choice.

[twing]

u0362565 said:

Hi all,

So I'm about to do my first test drive, I have owned a car for a short period in my teens but that came down through the family, so got to 30 without needing to.

Got a couple of questions, I've booked to test drive a model of car I'm interested in but probably have no intention of buying this particular car, I'm looking at different manufacturers/models all within the same class of car and want to try one of each first which I don't think is unreasonable. So do dealers see this as wasting their time? I will make this clear before we drive that this is the case to save him making a huge effort to try to sell it to us, but you have to start somewhere!

The second thing is, is it unreasonable to ask to take a look at the car for 10-15 mins without them hanging over your shoulder? Do they normally hang around. I feel like they'd be insulted if I did simple things such as checking the lights work? not that I care it's my cash to spend. Perhaps more simple checks like this are only required for private sales,I'll be going through a franchised dealer. My nieve hope is that a franchised dealer wouldn't knowingly buy a dodgy model to sell on, they could make a mistake, buy and then realise but they undertake rigorous tests I presume?

I really have no clue and am therefore probably a salesman's dream.

thanks

Well that escalated quickly

Happy bank hols folks

[Sheepshanks]

unrepentant said:

. Went to my local Ford and Chevy dealers, told them I was buying a car today and it would be one of those two.

Based on the responses on here, in the UK you'd likely have been told to come back when you'd made your mind up.

unrepentant said:

.
The sales manager at the Ford store asked me what I was going to do for a living and offered me a job on the spot.

Bearing in mind you said earlier that you don't get a salary, that's not exactly a generous offer!

[schmalex]

I'm in sales (albeit in a very different industry with very, very different OB, NS & UM targets).

I've read many of the responses on here with a mix of incredulity and disbelief. If some of the sales people who have been posting on here adopted the attitudes they appear to be displaying in a corporate sales environment, they would last about 10 minutes before the client insisted they were removed from the account.

[briang9]

Roo said:

And why is the customers time more important than the salesman's?

maybe because without customers the salesman would not have a job?

[Butter Face]

schmalex said:

I'm in sales (albeit in a very different industry with very, very different OB, NS & UM targets).

I've read many of the responses on here with a mix of incredulity and disbelief. If some of the sales people who have been posting on here adopted the attitudes they appear to be displaying in a corporate sales environment, they would last about 10 minutes before the client insisted they were removed from the account.

And tbh, most people working in different sales jobs wouldn't last 2 minutes selling cars, I've seen lots of people come and go who have done this or that and just can't hack the pressure and hassle we get.

[Sheepshanks]

Butter Face said:

schmalex said:

I'm in sales (albeit in a very different industry with very, very different OB, NS & UM targets).

I've read many of the responses on here with a mix of incredulity and disbelief. If some of the sales people who have been posting on here adopted the attitudes they appear to be displaying in a corporate sales environment, they would last about 10 minutes before the client insisted they were removed from the account.

And tbh, most people working in different sales jobs wouldn't last 2 minutes selling cars, I've seen lots of people come and go who have done this or that and just can't hack the pressure and hassle we get.

I think a lot of posters are using business-to-business sales as their reference point - that's a very different environment from business-to-consumer selling.

[Butter Face]

Sheepshanks said:

Butter Face said:

schmalex said:

I'm in sales (albeit in a very different industry with very, very different OB, NS & UM targets).

I've read many of the responses on here with a mix of incredulity and disbelief. If some of the sales people who have been posting on here adopted the attitudes they appear to be displaying in a corporate sales environment, they would last about 10 minutes before the client insisted they were removed from the account.

And tbh, most people working in different sales jobs wouldn't last 2 minutes selling cars, I've seen lots of people come and go who have done this or that and just can't hack the pressure and hassle we get.

I think a lot of posters are using business-to-business sales as their reference point - that's a very different environment from business-to-consumer selling.

I agree, and that's my point.

It's easy to say 'oh you lot wouldn't last 2 minutes in B2B sales' when in reality someone from B2B also probably wouldn't last 2 minutes in our job.

As per every job, if it was as easy as it looks from the outside, everyone would be doing it.

[Paul Dishman]

hajaba123 said:

Butter Face said:

Go on, for fun, name the one brand who can deliver all of those

BMW, Mercedes, Audi..

What do I win?

Not Renault

[micky g]

I'd rather someone walk through the door that 'isn't interested in buying,' than not walk through at all.

My dad told me a story about two shoe salesman sent to a remote island.

The first rang his boss and said "this is a waste of time, they don't wear shoes here."

The second rang his boss and said "we're going to make a fortune."

[Butter Face]

Paul Dishman said:

hajaba123 said:

Butter Face said:

Go on, for fun, name the one brand who can deliver all of those

BMW, Mercedes, Audi..

What do I win?

Not Renault

They have made a car that fits into all of those categories recently, just not in the current range.

[sealtt]

I can only imagine the sales guys in here are dealing in low commission products. Hence why they don't have any value in spending much time with any individual customer, especially one that is not high % likelihood of conversion. With high commission products / brand then there is much more motivation to spend time with any low-mid % chance buyer.

Mercedes dealer once drove an SLS (approved used) an 8 hour round trip for me to test drive, I felt terrible as I didn't buy it as I preferred the SL. But suggests that the guy was going to earn significantly more commission from it than from regular models - either that or he just wanted to take an SLS out one afternoon!!