Fancy a laugh? trying buying a car......
Discussion
Got a call from my niece to help them look at/buy a car this weekend. They had spotted a possible car at a local dealer so off we went.
Upon arrival we get greeted by the stereo-typical salesman complete with dodgy loafers who tried steering us away from the car "to get some details and discuss finance" - we hadn't even looked at the car yet!
So after rejecting his kindly advances we finally got to see the car which although we had called ahead early in the morning to let them know we were coming was parked behind another car. The car looked OK bar someone who used tippex as a touch up paint so we asked about the paperwork. The 2 owners was actually 2 previous so was currently sitting on 3 and a time based service was missing from the book but had been serviced within the last 5,000 miles so was happy to let go as the car only had 29,000 miles on it. All looked OK so requested a short test drive to make sure it went stopped, etc. The response? "you can't drive it as its blocked in." - I suggested he moved the car in front and simply drive the car we wanted out to which he replied that they were short staffed (3 of them wandering around) and would have to come back during the week. Bearing in mind we had already rung well in advance i was quite gob smacked at the lack of service this guy was giving. I even offered to move the cars myself and take all of 5 minutes to extract the car which again was met with refusal. But then, amazingly, if we put a deposit down and agreed a deal we could take it out in about 15 minutes! I politely turned him down as i don't tend to buy cars that i haven't driven, especially not from a dealer.
This then started the whole finance/payment conversation and I must admit this guy was a maths genius as he knew he couldn't meet the required payment budget over 3 years but could over 4 - all without a calculator! The last straw for me was when I asked the cash price so that we can sort our own finance out. On a £13,000 car I would expect a bit of haggle room, £500 the target, anymore a bonus. Off he went to his little room and came back 5 minutes later to say he could take £100 off the screen price and not a penny more as he only had £200 in it. He then told us he wouldn't let us drive the car as we couldn't afford it and we would just fall in love with it - what a bell-end! At this point we walked - paperwork not matching, no test drive and that crap = no sale!
I know they have to make money, I know they have bills to pay, but i wasn't born yesterday and any dealer with that low margins won't be a dealer for long. I was a dealer for a couple of years so I know the game but you can't kid a kidder!!
Its not rocket science, be open and honest in your descriptions, let people view the car, let them fall in love with it and chances are they will find a way to buy it.
Went to another dealer and had that exact experience with a sensible conversation, allowed to look over the car as much as we wanted, a test drive and a short negotiation which both parties were happy with. Car bought!
rant over
Upon arrival we get greeted by the stereo-typical salesman complete with dodgy loafers who tried steering us away from the car "to get some details and discuss finance" - we hadn't even looked at the car yet!
So after rejecting his kindly advances we finally got to see the car which although we had called ahead early in the morning to let them know we were coming was parked behind another car. The car looked OK bar someone who used tippex as a touch up paint so we asked about the paperwork. The 2 owners was actually 2 previous so was currently sitting on 3 and a time based service was missing from the book but had been serviced within the last 5,000 miles so was happy to let go as the car only had 29,000 miles on it. All looked OK so requested a short test drive to make sure it went stopped, etc. The response? "you can't drive it as its blocked in." - I suggested he moved the car in front and simply drive the car we wanted out to which he replied that they were short staffed (3 of them wandering around) and would have to come back during the week. Bearing in mind we had already rung well in advance i was quite gob smacked at the lack of service this guy was giving. I even offered to move the cars myself and take all of 5 minutes to extract the car which again was met with refusal. But then, amazingly, if we put a deposit down and agreed a deal we could take it out in about 15 minutes! I politely turned him down as i don't tend to buy cars that i haven't driven, especially not from a dealer.
This then started the whole finance/payment conversation and I must admit this guy was a maths genius as he knew he couldn't meet the required payment budget over 3 years but could over 4 - all without a calculator! The last straw for me was when I asked the cash price so that we can sort our own finance out. On a £13,000 car I would expect a bit of haggle room, £500 the target, anymore a bonus. Off he went to his little room and came back 5 minutes later to say he could take £100 off the screen price and not a penny more as he only had £200 in it. He then told us he wouldn't let us drive the car as we couldn't afford it and we would just fall in love with it - what a bell-end! At this point we walked - paperwork not matching, no test drive and that crap = no sale!
I know they have to make money, I know they have bills to pay, but i wasn't born yesterday and any dealer with that low margins won't be a dealer for long. I was a dealer for a couple of years so I know the game but you can't kid a kidder!!
Its not rocket science, be open and honest in your descriptions, let people view the car, let them fall in love with it and chances are they will find a way to buy it.
Went to another dealer and had that exact experience with a sensible conversation, allowed to look over the car as much as we wanted, a test drive and a short negotiation which both parties were happy with. Car bought!
rant over
meemperor said:
As someone who used to work sales at a main dealer,
Would get in big sh!t if we let someone test drive before details were taken.
Although, if you had called ahead I would have taken your details on the phone, and had the car cleaned/fueled and ready to drive. If wash person was busy I would have at least given it a going over myself.
I see nothing wrong with taking contact/address details - but trying to agree finance terms and budget on a car i've yet to see was pushing it a bit! Would get in big sh!t if we let someone test drive before details were taken.
Although, if you had called ahead I would have taken your details on the phone, and had the car cleaned/fueled and ready to drive. If wash person was busy I would have at least given it a going over myself.
guess the internet has made life easier as people are more willing to purchase unseen perhaps? but i'm old school and like to see/touch/feel what i'm buying
often wondered if some dealerships would be better off employing 30+/middle aged staff on a slightly higher basic/lower comms rate who are able to hold a conversation, don't wear shiny suits, have attitude and are generally more helpful? after all that seems to be the type of people we usually buy from
even though I started this thread I have a view on why some sales'people' with the stereotypical shiny suit, loafers, fake blingly watch brigade seem to hold customers in contempt.
I was co-owner of a small classic car business for a couple of years, we typically held between 20-35 cars in stock at any time and it was down to me and my business partner to source, buy, fix and sell our stock. Obviously for the highest possible margin we could muster.
This is the key here though - we had to buy the stock - from anywhere we could find - free ads, ebay, auction etc so we got our fingers burnt and time wasted many times going to see cars that were nowhere near as described. But this also gave us the view of the buyer, so we made sure that when we resold any car we made the experience the best we could. We didn't have flashy premises or state of the art coffee machines, but we did make sure the car was advertised truthfully, was ready for the visitor when they arranged to see it (quick wash, hoover if needed) and we had a sensible negotiation to agree a price everyone was happy with. We might even make a cup of tea! Yes we made a profit, sometimes great, sometimes little, we even lost on a few, but as long as we were up overall that is what allowed the business to keep going. If a buyer had a problem, we took the car back and fixed it or worked with them to use a local mechanic - its not rocket science and we got quite a few regular customers and built a decent reputation.
This is my long winded way of saying that these people should treat any customer as they expect to be treated - sadly this simple rule is missed by many. or perhaps we just annoy them by disturbing their game of candy crush.
I wish I was in the position to be able to have another car sales business, yes its hard but its also fun and surprisingly sociable if you get it right
I was co-owner of a small classic car business for a couple of years, we typically held between 20-35 cars in stock at any time and it was down to me and my business partner to source, buy, fix and sell our stock. Obviously for the highest possible margin we could muster.
This is the key here though - we had to buy the stock - from anywhere we could find - free ads, ebay, auction etc so we got our fingers burnt and time wasted many times going to see cars that were nowhere near as described. But this also gave us the view of the buyer, so we made sure that when we resold any car we made the experience the best we could. We didn't have flashy premises or state of the art coffee machines, but we did make sure the car was advertised truthfully, was ready for the visitor when they arranged to see it (quick wash, hoover if needed) and we had a sensible negotiation to agree a price everyone was happy with. We might even make a cup of tea! Yes we made a profit, sometimes great, sometimes little, we even lost on a few, but as long as we were up overall that is what allowed the business to keep going. If a buyer had a problem, we took the car back and fixed it or worked with them to use a local mechanic - its not rocket science and we got quite a few regular customers and built a decent reputation.
This is my long winded way of saying that these people should treat any customer as they expect to be treated - sadly this simple rule is missed by many. or perhaps we just annoy them by disturbing their game of candy crush.
I wish I was in the position to be able to have another car sales business, yes its hard but its also fun and surprisingly sociable if you get it right
Wills2 said:
Eclassy said:
Mercs are everywhere now and Audis are a bit rarer.
Audi sell a lot more cars in the UK than Mercedes. For no rational reason I can never see myself driving an audi - no idea why!
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