Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
Swampy1982 said:
one for the dealers... with modern cars featuring sat nav more and more frequently, and by the time the reach you the software has likely gone out of date, do you ever bother uploading the latest maps.
If so, do you buy the official software or find some moody disk off ebay?
(if moody copy, please private message me your source... its for a...errr...friend... with the same car as me which doesn't recognise the Milton Keynes bypass and large amounts of Birmingham ring-roads... , 65plate audi a4)
My V40 had to go back for that reason. Salesman said he would do it before collection but didn't. They did put the latest software on that allows further updates to be done via free downloads from the Volvo website though.If so, do you buy the official software or find some moody disk off ebay?
(if moody copy, please private message me your source... its for a...errr...friend... with the same car as me which doesn't recognise the Milton Keynes bypass and large amounts of Birmingham ring-roads... , 65plate audi a4)
There was a car advertised at £33k on eBay that I inquired about but it had been sold to a dealer within 24hrs. Car has now cropped up four days later by said dealer at £35k. Whilst I have no intention of going down there and gobbing off about the price difference, etc I know how much he's paid for it (he may have even paid a little less). How would the savvy punters of PH play it?
Osinjak said:
There was a car advertised at £33k on eBay that I inquired about but it had been sold to a dealer within 24hrs. Car has now cropped up four days later by said dealer at £35k. Whilst I have no intention of going down there and gobbing off about the price difference, etc I know how much he's paid for it (he may have even paid a little less). How would the savvy punters of PH play it?
What do you mean how to play it? The dealers obviously spotted it under priced so bought it up to flip for a few grand, not at all uncommon? You win some you loose some! Sheepshanks said:
em177 said:
And he'll pay VAT on any profit + warranty before you even start on costs
Buying a car for £33K to sell it for £35K doesn't seem to make a lot of sense from a business point-of-view. There must be a million things that could all that margin away.See this argument quite often we have scenarios where a customer has been part exchanged it lets say for £6000 and we advertise it for £8000
another customer comes in and says I know mr jones as he is my next door neighbour he traded in his car in for £6000 and I see you have it in at £8000
ill give you £6500 with it fully prepped.
customers sometimes forget we are here to make money
another customer comes in and says I know mr jones as he is my next door neighbour he traded in his car in for £6000 and I see you have it in at £8000
ill give you £6500 with it fully prepped.
customers sometimes forget we are here to make money
Enquired over 2 Mini's, one at a Mini dealer, one at a non franchised dealer, the Mini dealer gives you the option of requesting a video, 2 missed calls later i still don't have the Video, I don't get chance to answer the phone during the working day and its 2 hours away hence the video request. The other dealer has limited photos, so again i asked for more pictures and a whats app video the contact form asks for contact preference, so i request email, and they phone ... i know from answering Autotrader leads it states how the customer wants to be contacted and i would always contact them by their preference.
When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
steve-5snwi said:
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
I can remember the first time a guy bought a car off me "by email". He was in Glasgow, I'm in Manchester / Cheshire and he was enquiring about an ex-demo XJ. I did wonder if I was getting tugged around at first with the email ping-pong but the first time I spoke to the guy was when he rang me with his card number.Seems to be the preferred mode of communication over the last few years so a busy salesman looks different to how he did a few years ago. He doesn't have a phone glued to his ear, he's tapping away on a keyboard and it takes a different kind of communication style. I wonder if the Sales Managers at your MINI dealers have twigged that.
Wooda80 said:
steve-5snwi said:
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
I can remember the first time a guy bought a car off me "by email". He was in Glasgow, I'm in Manchester / Cheshire and he was enquiring about an ex-demo XJ. I did wonder if I was getting tugged around at first with the email ping-pong but the first time I spoke to the guy was when he rang me with his card number.Seems to be the preferred mode of communication over the last few years so a busy salesman looks different to how he did a few years ago. He doesn't have a phone glued to his ear, he's tapping away on a keyboard and it takes a different kind of communication style. I wonder if the Sales Managers at your MINI dealers have twigged that.
steve-5snwi said:
Enquired over 2 Mini's, one at a Mini dealer, one at a non franchised dealer, the Mini dealer gives you the option of requesting a video, 2 missed calls later i still don't have the Video, I don't get chance to answer the phone during the working day and its 2 hours away hence the video request. The other dealer has limited photos, so again i asked for more pictures and a whats app video the contact form asks for contact preference, so i request email, and they phone ... i know from answering Autotrader leads it states how the customer wants to be contacted and i would always contact them by their preference.
When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
Is it a particularly expensive or special car?When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
I only ask as as a dealer we get no end of email enquiries and probably only convert 20% - 30% despite providing whatever info is requested. I know email is often a preferred method of communication nowadays (it is for me) but often email enquiries can be viewed as a bit weak compared to someone that makes the effort to phone or book a fixed appointment to view. There's a lot of bored keyboard warriors out there (i'm not implying you are at all, clearly you want to buy the right car and need some info). We always go back to ours properly but I think it helps that we're relatively young so understand that the world communicates by email not phone often.
Could be a lazy sales person.
A dealer that hasn't moved with the times.
A dealer that isn't interested in distance selling given all the extra regulation surrounding it.
The list is endless as to why they wouldn't do it but it's not unusual IMO
Osinjak said:
There was a car advertised at £33k on eBay that I inquired about but it had been sold to a dealer within 24hrs. Car has now cropped up four days later by said dealer at £35k. Whilst I have no intention of going down there and gobbing off about the price difference, etc I know how much he's paid for it (he may have even paid a little less). How would the savvy punters of PH play it?
Decide if you like the car and pay the 35K if you do. If not move on. Why would he care that you saw it at a cheaper price?I found enquiring by email that they tend to get ignored. When I was trying to buy my E46 M3, I emailed about 3 for sale to separate garages & all 3 never replied. They lost my business as the 4th one that did reply was the one I bought the car from. Perhaps they prefer phone calls, but I also cant always use the phone in work hours.
As another post above, the only time I spoke to the garage about buying my current car was when I paid my deposit. No part-ex, just a cash only sale.
As another post above, the only time I spoke to the garage about buying my current car was when I paid my deposit. No part-ex, just a cash only sale.
grant8064 said:
steve-5snwi said:
Enquired over 2 Mini's, one at a Mini dealer, one at a non franchised dealer, the Mini dealer gives you the option of requesting a video, 2 missed calls later i still don't have the Video, I don't get chance to answer the phone during the working day and its 2 hours away hence the video request. The other dealer has limited photos, so again i asked for more pictures and a whats app video the contact form asks for contact preference, so i request email, and they phone ... i know from answering Autotrader leads it states how the customer wants to be contacted and i would always contact them by their preference.
When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
Is it a particularly expensive or special car?When i purchased my current Mini the dealer was perfect, sent a video, answered questions, valued the PX all by email, I then called, placed a deposit, viewed the car a week later and drove it home.
I know salespeople want to speak to customers but surely dealing with whats requested should be priority. I'm that stubborn that I would pass up on the perfect car if someone couldn't follow a simple instruction.
I only ask as as a dealer we get no end of email enquiries and probably only convert 20% - 30% despite providing whatever info is requested. I know email is often a preferred method of communication nowadays (it is for me) but often email enquiries can be viewed as a bit weak compared to someone that makes the effort to phone or book a fixed appointment to view. There's a lot of bored keyboard warriors out there (i'm not implying you are at all, clearly you want to buy the right car and need some info). We always go back to ours properly but I think it helps that we're relatively young so understand that the world communicates by email not phone often.
Could be a lazy sales person.
A dealer that hasn't moved with the times.
A dealer that isn't interested in distance selling given all the extra regulation surrounding it.
The list is endless as to why they wouldn't do it but it's not unusual IMO
We convert 3-4% of electronic enquiries which is the standard for the SE of the UK, for all manufacturers, oddly it is higher elsewhere in the UK; up to 14%.
Compared to an average 30% conversion for physical enquiries.
62% of enquiries are electronic but with a 3-4% conversion and each and every one is contacted and followed up at least 3 times.
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