BMW dealer...

Author
Discussion

Benzo26

208 posts

146 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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CrgT16 said:
I tend not to care much about it... I know the car before I buy it, I just want to test drive it, discuss the options and get the best deal, done. Recently ordered a new car, took 2 visits to dealership, one to spec it and get a quote, second one to have another 4K off and test drive... job jobbed. In total I think I spent 2h in the total of the 2 visits including test drive. Don't get why people need so much time to buy a car.

Go online do most of the research, go to dealer, spec and price, test drive and buy. Done.
Totally agree. With such a wealth of knowledge readily available these days, I rarely discuss anything with dealers other than small talk during the test drive and numbers to get a deal done.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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Fox- said:
Klippie said:
I was in a BMW dealers the other weekend looking at 2 series coupe's the funny thing was the salesman had very little product knowledge for example he didn't know how much power the engines produced I very nearly walked away.

All they seemed to be interested in was quoting the PCP deals and finance packages.
What more do you want? Everything you need and more is available online. You don't need a guy in a suit to tell you how much power a 240i has.

The guy in the suit is for negotiating a purchase with.
All sales people should have a good knowledge of the product they are selling, and if they don't know, they should
Find out, you're the customer, they need you not the other way around

You wouldn't buy a kitchen from someone who had no idea what the worktop was made of or go to a mechanic who didn't know what a clutch was

andymc

7,334 posts

206 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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pretty much salesman in all walks of life

TVR1

5,460 posts

224 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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Speed addicted said:
I did baffle an Audi salesman a few years ago by asking what sort of 4x4 system the S5 I was looking at had as I didn't really want a Halidex system like the S3. He just kept repeating that it was four wheel drive while looking uncomfortable. He did know awful lot about finance though.

My wife thought I was being unreasonable asking about things like the gearbox.
To be fair, I'd probably looked a bit baffled if someone started waffling on about the Halidex system on an S3. As that's not what it's called. (You can't blame autocorrect for that spelling either).

Benjamyn999

22 posts

120 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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I have disliked the breed for many, many years. My wife chooses and buys her own cars but we go to the dealerships together. You can probably guess where this conversation is going. Recently she made an appointment with BMW dealer to test drive a new 5 Series with a credit card at the ready (so to speak). Salesman knew nothing about advantages or comparisons with E Class Merc. Just kept saying beemer was better but not why. Now waiting for Disco5 instead. And we would have bought on the day if only he had taken one millisecond to listen to us.

BigLion

Original Poster:

1,497 posts

98 months

Thursday 27th October 2016
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Benjamyn999 said:
I have disliked the breed for many, many years. My wife chooses and buys her own cars but we go to the dealerships together. You can probably guess where this conversation is going. Recently she made an appointment with BMW dealer to test drive a new 5 Series with a credit card at the ready (so to speak). Salesman knew nothing about advantages or comparisons with E Class Merc. Just kept saying beemer was better but not why. Now waiting for Disco5 instead. And we would have bought on the day if only he had taken one millisecond to listen to us.
I'm not sure if I'm in the minority on this, when it comes to car purchases I know what I want and then just go and get the best deal - I would very rarely rely on someone to tell me specifics as they are not as interested as I am (given it's my money) or unbiased (they will push a car to suit their agenda).

moktabe

895 posts

104 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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Before I bought my CSL ( 18 months ago) I went into the local dealers to ask about service costs etc.

After waiting around in the showroom for approx 10 mins, I was approached by a salesman. Told him I wanted to speak to someone for advice on M3 CSL servicing etc.

He replied "Certainly Sir, is that a current model?"

He tootled off to find someone, I tootled off out of there.

Lakeland9

201 posts

167 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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Have just been doing the rounds to assist my OH in buying a replacement for her A1. When she bought a 1 series a few years ago the salesmen were just as described. Utter planks with a misguided sense of superiority. I would have walked out but she really wanted the car so we stayed and I gritted my teeth.

Oddly, bearing in mind they are a BMW annex, the Mini dealer this week was the opposite. Friendly,helpful, not at all pushy and a decent discount when prompted so deal done. ( The BMW dealers hadn't changed at all...)

Makes you wonder if the BMW guys go on different training courses designed to make them act like dipsticks.

CS Garth

2,860 posts

104 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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Given pretty much every fact known to mankind (including every aspect of vehicle specification) is at your fingertips via your smartphone and t'interweb, putting these types of questions to your local slick rick to test him just smacks of engineering a situation to exert your perceived superiority. Judging him on his hair and clothes is just mental unless you're Gok fking wan

Butter Face

30,191 posts

159 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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moktabe said:
Before I bought my CSL ( 18 months ago) I went into the local dealers to ask about service costs etc.

After waiting around in the showroom for approx 10 mins, I was approached by a salesman. Told him I wanted to speak to someone for advice on M3 CSL servicing etc.

He replied "Certainly Sir, is that a current model?"

He tootled off to find someone, I tootled off out of there.
rofl you walked out? Why?

He may have started the day before, he may be learning the range. You had a service question to ask, he was going to find you someone. That dealer may have had a master tech with 20 years experience and a garage full of M Models.


It's been a while since we had a thread like this, more pages of generalising, slagging off and fantastic anecdotes please. Can't wait for the one with the old guy who was wearing a bin bag to buy a rolls Royce with cash and a salesman in a shiny suit ignored him so he bought ten bentleys and the salesman got fired and lost his house etc etc etc.

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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BigLion said:
I'm not sure if I'm in the minority on this, when it comes to car purchases I know what I want and then just go and get the best deal - I would very rarely rely on someone to tell me specifics as they are not as interested as I am (given it's my money) or unbiased (they will push a car to suit their agenda).
So I take it you use Carwow or Broadspeed etc. and never venture into a dealer?

benjijames28

1,702 posts

91 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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We all know this type of young bloke, they all fancy themself, think they are something special.

It's not just high end brands that attract these pricks. I know a guy who is exactly same, he thinks he's god's gift to women, toughest guy in room, he's got a massive chip on his shoulder and rubs everyone up the wrong way, constantly bragging about this and that. Apparently he makes a grand commission on each MG he sells, and sold 6 that day. Funny really, 8 grand car, big Bruce gets A grand for convincing some soppy pensioner to go MG over a Honda jazz.. yeah right.

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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moktabe said:
Before I bought my CSL ( 18 months ago) I went into the local dealers to ask about service costs etc.

After waiting around in the showroom for approx 10 mins, I was approached by a salesman. Told him I wanted to speak to someone for advice on M3 CSL servicing etc.

He replied "Certainly Sir, is that a current model?"

He tootled off to find someone, I tootled off out of there.
That's a niche car in fairness - how many BMW garages will have seen or ever sold one? Very few I would imagine. The staff member in question might have been new, perhaps not but either way they went to find the assistance you required so your reaction seems a bit unreasonable to me.

I'm a big of a facts and figures nerd, if I'm in a dealership and looking to purchase a particular model it's likely that I know just about everything about it in terms of spec, performance and available options etc anyway as I'm frankly appalling at buying cars and will spend hours reading reviews, looking at online configurations, reading forums and such forth before agonizing over it for weeks and then deciding I'm too tight to do the deal (yorkshire man).

If the dealer knows their stuff, fine, if they don't - no biggy, as I'm not relying on them for such information.

I'd like to think I'd know my product if I were a car salesman though.

chryslerben

1,168 posts

158 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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KTF said:
Most BMW owners don't even know they are RWD...
GOOD GOD MAN!WHY DID NO ONE SAY!

I'd love to see some film an undercover mocumentary in these dealers, however as these "salesmen" are rarely found with a sense of humour it probably wouldn't go down well.

berlintaxi

8,535 posts

172 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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benjijames28 said:
We all know this type of young bloke, they all fancy themself, think they are something special.

It's not just high end brands that attract these pricks. I know a guy who is exactly same, he thinks he's god's gift to women, toughest guy in room, he's got a massive chip on his shoulder and rubs everyone up the wrong way, constantly bragging about this and that.
Talking about the OP?

David87

6,648 posts

211 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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If I want 'X' car, I will have done all the research myself prior to setting foot in the dealership. All the salesman does is operate the computer for me when it comes to ordering and paying for it. I'd much rather just order online, to be honest.

Fox-

13,228 posts

245 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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moktabe said:
He tootled off to find someone, I tootled off out of there.
I'm sure you did. You literally walked out because somebody who isn't involved with the servicing of the car didn't know what a CSL was. You were not there to buy a car, you only needed the salesman to signpost you to the service desk but no! You'll service your car somewhere completely different because that one salesman didn't fawn all over your CSL.

Don't you just love internet anecdotes?

Adrian W

13,848 posts

227 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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Interesting thread, I recently bought a BMW having previously had several Lexus's, It was more of a negotiation than him selling me the car, but once he had my money it all changed, didn't return calls, became coy and slippery regarding promised Black mats and "don't worry about the plate, we'll sort it all out"

The car has three faults, it appears that the dealer is incapable of fixing them,

Like all car salesman the commission gearing is so high that if there not making money they aren't interested.

But my next car will be a Lexus.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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i went to 3 bmw dealers trying to buy an M4

they where all totally terrible, like some sort of through back to the 90s, slimy salesmen that would not have been out of place in the film wallstreet, didn't listen to a word you said, pathetic heavy handed old fashioned sales patter and two of them just blatantly lied

i wont go back to them again

aeropilot

34,290 posts

226 months

Friday 28th October 2016
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Mike335i said:
Doesn't bother me too much, lack of product knowledge does though. An exceptional salesman might be able to match my knowledge of the product they are selling, which seems wrong to me.
^This.

But that's the problem with cars becoming white goods to most people nowadays........white goods sales staff to go with it.