Dealers closed on Sundays

[durbster]

I'm currently looking for a used car and am surprised how many places are closed today.

Viewing a car takes a chunk of time. It's not something I can pop out and do on a lunch break during the week and I really want to look at quite a few cars at short notice so taking time off work isn't practical.

The weekend is surely the perfect time to view cars so wouldn't it make sense to be fully open Saturday and Sunday and closed on, say, Mondays and Tuesdays.

Any idea why? Do they do genuinely more business in the week or is it something like margins being too thin to pay staff a weekend rate?

[MarkJS]

Things must have changed - I’ve never known a dealer to be closed on Sunday (especially franchised).

[LeftLake]

This frustrates me too! Do dealers not realise that most people work during the week, play sport on Saturdays and only have Sundays as free time to look at cars.

Trouble is, I don't think there's much we can really do about it. Even if we vote with our feet, there are somehow still loads of people that go car shopping during the week.

[Trevor555]

Frustrating, but I'm sure it's about staffing for many of the closed ones.

[Dan W.]

durbster said:

I'm currently looking for a used car and am surprised how many places are closed today.

Viewing a car takes a chunk of time. It's not something I can pop out and do on a lunch break during the week and I really want to look at quite a few cars at short notice so taking time off work isn't practical.

The weekend is surely the perfect time to view cars so wouldn't it make sense to be fully open Saturday and Sunday and closed on, say, Mondays and Tuesdays.

Any idea why? Do they do genuinely more business in the week or is it something like margins being too thin to pay staff a weekend rate?

Having been in the car sales industry for 15 years, We do get a hell of a lot of time wasters on sunday so thats why i would guess most close now.

We are still open sundays but for appointments only, as we in the last month just have parents looking when kids are playing footie across the road or single fellas wondering about because they have nothing else to do.

of course not all people on sundays are like that but in my experience its about 90%

[Bemmer]

Since lockdown I've noticed more and more dealers are doing viewings by appointment only which ever day of the week.!

[HTP99]

We are open Saturday and Sunday; new and used, however Sunday is largely a waste of time, I can sit there all day and not speak to anyone, Saturdays generally are quiet too but busier than a Sunday, the vast majority of our business is done during the week.

I've been selling now for 20 odd years and have seen the change from hugely busy weekends and quiet during the week to relatively quiet at the weekends and busier during the week and I think now with much more WFH and more and more companies offering flexi hours this is something that will remain.

Weekends are much more family time now, just recently my manager was chatting to a friend of his who used to be in the trade, his friend said he'd never entertain looking at a car at the weekend, now his company are far more flexible on working hours during the week and with him now WFH more, he will have time during the week to look at cars and he'd rather spend the weekend with the family.

Also don't forget, most research is done online now, gone are the days of traipsing round dealerships looking at everything, what you are interested in can be wittled down to 2 or 3 contenders with just a bit of Googling, thus there is less need to visit dealers and there is a growing band of people who are happy to buy a car without even looking at it.

I am confident in saying that if we didn't open on a Sunday or a bank holiday (which is even more of a waste of time), we wouldn't lose any business.

Sundays generally bring out the idiots too.

[Sheepshanks]

MarkJS said:

Things must have changed - I’ve never known a dealer to be closed on Sunday (especially franchised).

There's a liitle group near us - https://www.mitchellgroup.co.uk - with Lexus, Mazda and Skoda, who don't open on Sunday as the owner is religious and thinks it should be a family day for his staff.

[Dan W.]

HTP99 said:

We are open Saturday and Sunday; new and used, however Sunday is largely a waste of time, I can sit there all day and not speak to anyone, Saturdays generally are quiet too but busier than a Sunday, the vast majority of our business is done during the week.

I've been selling now for 20 odd years and have seen the change from hugely busy weekends and quiet during the week to relatively quiet at the weekends and busier during the week and I think now with much more WFH and more and more companies offering flexi hours this is something that will remain.

Weekends are much more family time now, just recently my manager was chatting to a friend of his who used to be in the trade, his friend said he'd never entertain looking at a car at the weekend, now his company are far more flexible on working hours during the week and with him now WFH more, he will have time during the week to look at cars and he'd rather spend the weekend with the family.

Also don't forget, most research is done online now, gone are the days of traipsing round dealerships looking at everything, what you are interested in can be wittled down to 2 or 3 contenders with just a bit of Googling, thus there is less need to visit dealers and there is a growing band of people who are happy to buy a car without even looking at it.

I am confident in saying that if we didn't open on a Sunday or a bank holiday (which is even more of a waste of time), we wouldn't lose any business.

Sundays generally bring out the idiots too.

100% agree with all of this

Just had a fantastic encounter with a customer.

Gentleman walks into the showroom no mask on, Wanting to test drive a vehicle, do you have an appointment ?

No i dont do i need one ?... yes as we are fully booked for appointments today which car were you interested in i ask so i could look at reappointing him ... New jimny commercial

Sorry we dont have one available for sale or test drive.

storms off still not wearing a mask, muttering hes driven an hour to get here what a st garage we are, God i love sunday punters

No mask, no calling to check if we have the car or to see if he needs to book a test drive

[sam greenock]

Last September we were looking for new SUV, we wanted to viewing test drive the Mercedes GLS, we'd narrowed choice down to new Defender, BMW X7 and the GLS. Due to work reasons the only day that we could both go was a Sunday, no problem with BMW and Land-Rover dealerships - not so with the 3 Mercedes dealers in and around Glasgow - all 3 closed on a Sunday. ( all owned by Stratstone )

• To be fair I just checked their opening hours and they now open on a Sunday

[Sheepshanks]

Dan W. said:

100% agree with all of this....

..... we are fully booked for appointments today

Seems contractictory, unless all of those appointments were also time-wasters?

[ecsrobin]

Sheepshanks said:

Dan W. said:

100% agree with all of this....

..... we are fully booked for appointments today

Seems contractictory, unless all of those appointments were also time-wasters?

At a guess those who take the time to book an appointment are unlikely to waste time whereas a walk-in is more likely to.

[Dan W.]

ecsrobin said:

At a guess those who take the time to book an appointment are unlikely to waste time whereas a walk-in is more likely to.

Walk ins are the time wasters usually.

People who have made the appointments are generally in the market for a car, Also if you ask sunday walk ins to re book an appointment and firm up some info regarding where there are in the process,they usually make their excuses and scuttle off.

[Sheepshanks]

Dan W. said:

ecsrobin said:

At a guess those who take the time to book an appointment are unlikely to waste time whereas a walk-in is more likely to.

Walk ins are the time wasters usually.

People who have made the appointments are generally in the market for a car, Also if you ask sunday walk ins to re book an appointment and firm up some info regarding where there are in the process,they usually make their excuses and scuttle off.

The contradictory part was HTP99 saying he can sit there all day and barely talk to a soul vs you saying you're flat out with appointments.

I like to browse a place unannounced first. Make it all too organised and people may as well buy online.

[valiant]

I did buy my last car on a Sunday and I was a walk-in too! The sales guy was a little surprised as he said he normally just deals with tyre kickers on a Sunday although it wouldn’t have bothered me a jot had they been closed as it’s an expensive purchase, not a can of beans, and I would have made time to buy the car.

Vast majority of people work 5 day weeks so surely it’s not that difficult to view and buy on a non-Sunday?

[PH User]

I've been to car supermarkets on a Sunday just to jump into all the cars, this has been while I recover from the night before. Never speak to the staff while there. It's good fun.

[Takemeaway]

Not sure how everyone looking for a car can be labelled as timewasters. Surely it’s acceptable to look at more than one car, and even test drive more than one car, when looking for a new purchase.
Not necessarily timewasting, people are maybe just browsing stock before going ahead with a purchase of the car they end up wanting?

[HTP99]

PH User said:

I've been to car supermarkets on a Sunday just to jump into all the cars, this has been while I recover from the night before. Never speak to the staff while there. It's good fun .

Sounds it!

[CSLM3CSL]

sam greenock said:

Last September we were looking for new SUV, we wanted to viewing test drive the Mercedes GLS, we'd narrowed choice down to new Defender, BMW X7 and the GLS. Due to work reasons the only day that we could both go was a Sunday, no problem with BMW and Land-Rover dealerships - not so with the 3 Mercedes dealers in and around Glasgow - all 3 closed on a Sunday. ( all owned by Stratstone )

• To be fair I just checked their opening hours and they now open on a Sunday

I was told years ago alot of the dealershios in Glasgow didn't open for religious reasons but I'm not sure if that's the case now.

[sam greenock]

CSLM3CSL said:

sam greenock said:

Last September we were looking for new SUV, we wanted to viewing test drive the Mercedes GLS, we'd narrowed choice down to new Defender, BMW X7 and the GLS. Due to work reasons the only day that we could both go was a Sunday, no problem with BMW and Land-Rover dealerships - not so with the 3 Mercedes dealers in and around Glasgow - all 3 closed on a Sunday. ( all owned by Stratstone )

• To be fair I just checked their opening hours and they now open on a Sunday

I was told years ago alot of the dealershios in Glasgow didn't open for religious reasons but I'm not sure if that's the case now.

That sounds highly dubious - more likely they couldn't get anyone sober enough on a Sunday morning...... however if it was one of the Western Isles then that would probably be the case

We've been buying cars from Glasgow dealers ( BMW, Landrover, Volvo, Audi & Mercedes) for years now and that was first time I'd come across any major dealer being closed on a Sunday, especially 3 branches of one marque

Edited by sam greenock on Friday 25th June 08:59