Salesman goes into the back for ages to talk to his manager

[stemll]

daemon said:

stemll said:

It's not a charade if they go once. If they're repeatedly back and forth then it either is a charade or they're incompetent.

Sometimes thats how sales managers want their staff to work. He gives the salesman a price and they present it to the customer. If the customer wants a further variance then he has to go back to negotiate.

The salesman wont have the authority to discount past a certain point. Thats just life. Dont forget its not an "everything must go at any price" firesale in a dealers - it has to be a deal that flies for both the customer AND the dealership, so if there has to be some negotiation around the parameters of that then so be it.

As i said, its not difficult to get the whole thing done and dusted in an hour or two - including test drive, etc, etc. If you manage to get an extra £1,000 off and the salesman wears a bit of shoe leather off running about then its probably the best paid couple of hours of your life.

We weren't trying to get any money off, happy with the price, 3 years 0% PCP and the £500 from Mazda. The only thing she should have had to ask about was trade in value which was about £200 below what we'd have liked but we accepted what was offered. Other than that, all we said was "No Supaguard" and "No GAP" both of which seemed to necessitate a walk into the glass bowl. What's to discuss when the customer is paying the price you want and has accepted your part-ex offer? Just fill in the damned form before the customer walks out because the kids are getting bored and playing up due to it taking so long. We couldn't be bothered to argue when she then said "and that includes mats" but they had actually been added on, not included.

Mrs likes the car though so I guess it was worth it.

[Jefferson Steelflex]

I quite enjoy the verbal sparring, it's only a few hours of my time and the end result of buying a new car makes it worthwhile.

[Hol]

Questions for the car salesmen on here.


Is it true that you check out peoples postcodes on google street level, when asked to test drive the high-end stuff?

[Butter Face]

Hol said:

Questions for the car salesmen on here.


Is it true that you check out peoples postcodes on google street level, when asked to test drive the high-end stuff?

From my experience, no. But then I don't sell 'high end' stuff anyway

I expect most salespeople couldn't care a jot what the house looks like!

[POORCARDEALER]

Hol said:

Questions for the car salesmen on here.


Is it true that you check out peoples postcodes on google street level, when asked to test drive the high-end stuff?

No, but when selling the high end stuff you seem to develop a nose for who just wants a run out in something...I have taken loads of people out in exotica (when quiet) who just love cars, and have been upfront about not been able to afford one.

[HTP99]

Hol said:

Questions for the car salesmen on here.


Is it true that you check out peoples postcodes on google street level, when asked to test drive the high-end stuff?

I don't sell high end stuff but due to the area of the UK where we are and the type of people that we do get in; very weathly, then we sometimes do a Google Street View on a house, but only out of curiosity and to be nosy.

[Sheepshanks]

HTP99 said:

I don't sell high end stuff but due to the area of the UK where we are and the type of people that we do get in; very weathly, then we sometimes do a Google Street View on a house, but only out of curiosity and to be nosy.

Nice one - keep them in the showroom for 2 hours selling them Supagard etc while your colleague nips round with the keys from their p/x and turns their house over.

[ferrisbueller]

oldnbold said:

stemll said:

Cyder said:

We went to look at a car at a carshop in Northampton and to test drive my wife had to hand over her licence. Following he test drive we decided we didn't like the car and decided to look elsewhere but they weren't keen on giving back her driving licence.

Being a pregnant hormonal angry ginge she went absolutely ballistic at the salesman after a few minutes of him fking her around and demanded her licence back and announced she wouldn't buy a car from them ever.

We had exactly that (except for the pregnant hormonal wife ) at the same place. I will never go back, most of the stock is quite tatty ex fleet/rental stuff anyway.

I went there with my daughter who was looking for her first car, desperate to have a Mini. We were driving by so just popped in on the off chance they might have something suitable.

The salesmen, well I call them men but they all looked about 18, were stood in the car park in the snow waiting for the next punter to drive in. Once in the showroom a possible suitable Mini was identified on the screen, but after 20 mins of the salesman trying to find the car out on the lot, we left...... Never to return.

And I thought it was just me.

Weirdest car buying experience ever. Well, I say buying but didn't, obviously.

If I were shopping for a car I wouldn't go to a Carshop.

[Mr E]

ferrisbueller said:

If I were shopping for a car I wouldn't go to a Carshop.

I went in once. We were passing and they had something we might have considered (according to the website).
"Can we see the car?"
"I need your details first"
"Can we see the car?"
<repeat>
Eventually walked, to be told that we couldn't leave until we'd seen his manager. I wonder how he thought that was going to go?

[unrepentant]

Hol said:

Questions for the car salesmen on here.


Is it true that you check out peoples postcodes on google street level, when asked to test drive the high-end stuff?

When I was selling Range Rovers it was necessary to do a little due diligence because of all the cars being exported to China. New customer wants to pay cash for a $100k RR? First thing I do is Google their address. They live in a trailer? Hmmm...

Not for a test drive though.

[wjwren]

Carshop have those silly admin fee's on all the car's. Why do I need to pay £99 admin fee so you can sell me a car. Bizarre.
We had this at Bristol street for a short time, I think it was £49 from memory, but they got rid of it as it annoyed people. Plus most people who came in and did a deal refused to pay it anyway.

[KTF]

wjwren said:

Carshop have those silly admin fee's on all the car's. Why do I need to pay £99 admin fee so you can sell me a car. Bizarre.
We had this at Bristol street for a short time, I think it was £49 from memory, but they got rid of it as it annoyed people. Plus most people who came in and did a deal refused to pay it anyway.

I have wondered about the point of these fees as well. Why not just add it to the overall price so it's 'hidden'? I imagine that's what most other places to?

[djdest]

What's it actually for though? 99 quid to remove it from their stock list and fill out a V5?

[HTP99]

djdest said:

What's it actually for though? 99 quid to remove it from their stock list and fill out a V5?

And to do an HPI check!

[littlebasher]

djdest said:

What's it actually for though? 99 quid to remove it from their stock list and fill out a V5?

EH do that as well, but they never made a fuss when i refused to pay it. Says 'optional' in small font on the stickers they attach to the windscreens anyway.

[littlebasher]

Mr E said:

ferrisbueller said:

If I were shopping for a car I wouldn't go to a Carshop.

I went in once. We were passing and they had something we might have considered (according to the website).
"Can we see the car?"
"I need your details first"
"Can we see the car?"
<repeat>
Eventually walked, to be told that we couldn't leave until we'd seen his manager. I wonder how he thought that was going to go?

Carcraft was the same, you had to sit through a 'presentation' when you arrived before you could get at any of their cars, along with handing over your keys so they can appraise your PX. They also insisted on filling in a competition form for a chance to win a prize, most likely a finance pre-approval.

Despite every car on their lot being massively overpriced and utter garbage, the fact i spent more than 10 seconds looking in the window of one of them apparently qualified it as the car for me.

To leave the building you had to navigate past their sales manager, who used some of the most successful sales techniques known before being allowed to leave. Here's some of his corkers from my one and only visit.

"That car you want is priced up wrong, it'll be another £2K tomorrow"
"I have someone else coming to see that car in 30 mins"
"I bet you can't afford it"
"Does your wife make all your decisions for you"
"You're just another fking timewaster aren't you, if you had a job you could afford a decent car"

You get the idea.

His reluctance to return my keys very nearly turned physical.

Imagine what it must have been like if you had actually sat down to buy a car from them, jesus!

[Mr E]

littlebasher said:

"That car you want is priced up wrong, it'll be another £2K tomorrow"
"I have someone else coming to see that car in 30 mins"
"I bet you can't afford it"
"Does your wife make all your decisions for you"
"You're just another fking timewaster aren't you, if you had a job you could afford a decent car"

You get the idea.

His reluctance to return my keys very nearly turned physical.

I'm pleased I just walked and ignored the flapping then.

I would have rather enjoyed the "Does your wife make all your decisions for you" line. Yes, she's standing next to me and she's more pissed off than I am. Who do you think is more likely to sway my opinion.


An aside (indulge me).

We once had a guy round for a kitchen quote. Expecting it to be a 20 minute chat and a few measurements, I was surprised when 2 hours later he was still there doing the hard sell. He was asked to leave. Twice.
He then did the "you have to talk to my boss thing", called him and handed me the phone. I calmly explained that his prices were insane, the sales technique didn't work and I wasn't interested. He engaged in a spiral of "special offers". I told him again, calmly, that we weren't interested.
He then insisted on talking to my other half, expecting her to be more compliant because what all ladies clearly want most is a new overpriced kitchen.
She took the phone, shouted "fk OFF" and threw it at the sales guy.

He left.

[Sheepshanks]

HTP99 said:

djdest said:

What's it actually for though? 99 quid to remove it from their stock list and fill out a V5?

And to do an HPI check!

That's the dealers problem, not the buyer's.

[Sheepshanks]

littlebasher said:

"That car you want is priced up wrong, it'll be another £2K tomorrow"
"I have someone else coming to see that car in 30 mins"
"I bet you can't afford it"
"Does your wife make all your decisions for you"
"You're just another fking timewaster aren't you, if you had a job you could afford a decent car"

You get the idea.

His reluctance to return my keys very nearly turned physical.

You can only imagine the pressure staff must be under to make them behave like that.

[Stenn]

littlebasher said:

"That car you want is priced up wrong, it'll be another £2K tomorrow"
"I have someone else coming to see that car in 30 mins"
"I bet you can't afford it"
"Does your wife make all your decisions for you"
"You're just another fking timewaster aren't you, if you had a job you could afford a decent car"

You get the idea.

His reluctance to return my keys very nearly turned physical.

I hate these places but unfortunately these techniques do sell cars. Not to the typical PHer, but we're really not the target market. For people who just want their next £200 per month family transport, car supermarket type places are fine and they will buy in to the utter tripe that the sales staff talk. Those of us who want to examine a selection of cars in detail, discuss tyre brands and take extended test drives to decide on our next toy.. not so.

Edited by Stenn on Wednesday 24th February 12:32