Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.

[Dan W.]

HTP99 said:

Dan W. said:

rigga said:

In 201 pages this might have been covered but ...

Do sales people actually sell cars? Recent experience makes me think only the sales manager does. Was "invited "to call in by email to see if there was a possibility of changing our family car earlier than it's intended 3 year deal, young lady who approached us and sat us down, and started to go through details and our preferred options, inspected our 18 month old car, and at every stage had to go and discuss with the manager, I might as well have dealt with him all along, is this the norm these days, certainly didn't seem to be previously.

a lot of companies these days still have this control power thing going on. manager sits in a big office doing all the figures, whilst the idea is the salesperson is on your side and helping you.... because they are not in control of the figures but they want the best deal for you. its very 1990s but amazed it still goes on to be honest.

When you go on courses with other dealer groups you do hear about odd and outdated practices going on; prospecting nights being one, all sales guys have to stay late one night month, phoning people in the evening to make appointments, you tend to find that most of these "appointments" don't show, the same with dealer groups who insist that each salesman makes 5 appointments for the upcoming Saturday, now in my experience and over the years, Saturday/weekends are no longer the busy day that they once were, and anyway these "appointments" generally don't show anyway, they just tell the sales guy what he wants to here to get shot of them and who wants to be phoned at 20:00 by their local dealer, just as they are settling down for the evening, no one answers their home phone now and if it is a mobile then given that it is a mobile phone, people can be contacted at any time during the day so what is so special about it being in the evening.

We have a finance renewals programme that prompts us to contact finance renewals early, deals can be built up in it and it shows if there is any loyalty money that the customer will get if they re-new, it runs alongside our diary system. Recently on a course and one of the guys there said that they had to call each and every person twice a day for 7 days until they answered or got back to them, tome that is bordering on harassment; I told him this and I also told him that if he did that to me I wouldn't buy from him again, he agreed.

Fortunately for us, we are in the 21st century and work in such a way.

worst thing I hated and it still goes on was the phone calls, we had to do 15 prospecting phone calls all over a minute long and because they were recorded you were criticised with every single call if you didn't get an appointment, brought into the office and the calls played in the sales meetings and told how st you were. what a moral booster !!

and it didn't matter how busy your day was or how many you sold if you didn't do 15 you were there till 8 o clock.

[mylesmcd]

rigga said:

In 201 pages this might have been covered but ...

Do sales people actually sell cars? Recent experience makes me think only the sales manager does. Was "invited "to call in by email to see if there was a possibility of changing our family car earlier than it's intended 3 year deal, young lady who approached us and sat us down, and started to go through details and our preferred options, inspected our 18 month old car, and at every stage had to go and discuss with the manager, I might as well have dealt with him all along, is this the norm these days, certainly didn't seem to be previously.

The hours are too long for quality people to stick the job - so they bring in 'high compliancy - high drive' personality type, that will do the hours and exactly as they are told. So, in order to keep some sort of handle on the business, the manager looks after the money.

I do find that the car (or the price of the car/deal) sells - the best thing a salesperson can do is not fluff if up!

[Butter Face]

mylesmcd said:

The hours are too long for quality people to stick the job - so they bring in 'high compliancy - high drive' personality type, that will do the hours and exactly as they are told. So, in order to keep some sort of handle on the business, the manager looks after the money.

The hours are too long for high quality people to stick it? What?

The hours are as long as you want to make them. I work 5 days a week, no extra hours, take all my days off and all of my holidays and sell 280-300 cars a year and do very well. As do the other 5 people I work with.

You work smart or work hard.

Some managers/businesses are run like dictatorships, it’s hardly exclusive to the car industry. I’ve worked in other businesses where every penny is watched by someone else and even a ‘store manager’ has zero authority or autonomy.

Some sales managers are super tight on watching their deals, others (the better ones) trust their team and know they will do a good job.

[swagmeister]

Confused, all these people who cant use a mobile phone for a 5 min call at work - however they can surf the net to find the cars and have time to create an email enquiry ? It takes longer to type than it does to talk, surely you get breaks ? whos time are you on when emailing?

[swagmeister]

Confused, all these people who cant use a mobile phone for a 5 min call at work - however they can surf the net to find the cars and have time to create an email enquiry ? It takes longer to type than it does to talk, surely you get breaks ? whos time are you on when emailing?

[anonymous-user]

swagmeister said:

Confused, all these people who cant use a mobile phone for a 5 min call at work - however they can surf the net to find the cars and have time to create an email enquiry ? It takes longer to type than it does to talk, surely you get breaks ? whos time are you on when emailing?

an email can be written over a period of several hours, surfing can be done between other things, a phone call has to be taken when it happens and doesn't fit as well into an office environment.

[mylesmcd]

Butter Face said:

mylesmcd said:

The hours are too long for quality people to stick the job - so they bring in 'high compliancy - high drive' personality type, that will do the hours and exactly as they are told. So, in order to keep some sort of handle on the business, the manager looks after the money.

The hours are too long for high quality people to stick it? What?

The hours are as long as you want to make them. I work 5 days a week, no extra hours, take all my days off and all of my holidays and sell 280-300 cars a year and do very well. As do the other 5 people I work with.

You work smart or work hard.

Some managers/businesses are run like dictatorships, it’s hardly exclusive to the car industry. I’ve worked in other businesses where every penny is watched by someone else and even a ‘store manager’ has zero authority or autonomy.

Some sales managers are super tight on watching their deals, others (the better ones) trust their team and know they will do a good job.

so you work 9-5, 5 days a week and take all holidays with no other cover staff manning your desk/office when you are gone?

[Mercury00]

Do you think it's fair to leave a bad review or bad feedback for a dealer for the following:

I placed a deposit on a new car. The salesman said he'd contact me in two days for an update on lead times. Ten days later I still hadn't heard back. I contacted him and he still didn't know.

I went into the dealership to sign my finance docs. The salesman wasn't there, so I wasn't able to sign them. The person a did speak to spoke to me like st and then carried on gossiping about another customer.

The salesman said he'd phone me the night before I collected my car as a courtesy call. He didn't.

When it came to collection day I was told 2pm. I got an email from the service department saying there was a problem with my car and it would be 6pm instead. Neither party knew what the other was talking about.

I'm aware that leaving bad feedback is a big thing for a dealership, but I feel like this has been a complete sts how from start to finish. Do you think it would be justified?

[Dan W.]

Mercury00 said:

Do you think it's fair to leave a bad review or bad feedback for a dealer for the following:

I placed a deposit on a new car. The salesman said he'd contact me in two days for an update on lead times. Ten days later I still hadn't heard back. I contacted him and he still didn't know.

I went into the dealership to sign my finance docs. The salesman wasn't there, so I wasn't able to sign them. The person a did speak to spoke to me like st and then carried on gossiping about another customer.

The salesman said he'd phone me the night before I collected my car as a courtesy call. He didn't.

When it came to collection day I was told 2pm. I got an email from the service department saying there was a problem with my car and it would be 6pm instead. Neither party knew what the other was talking about.

I'm aware that leaving bad feedback is a big thing for a dealership, but I feel like this has been a complete sts how from start to finish. Do you think it would be justified?

very much so leave a bad response, in all fairness you could have actually cancelled the deal, if I had treated a customer like that I would expect a bad review at the minimum.

[Mercury00]

I'm a little reluctant at the moment, I've only just collected the car three days ago and it's hard to get into fifth gear. The salesman just said they all do that until they wear in, but I don't want to leave them bad feedback if I have to take it back for repair or even reject it.

[papa3]

Mercury00 said:

I'm a little reluctant at the moment, I've only just collected the car three days ago and it's hard to get into fifth gear. The salesman just said they all do that until they wear in, but I don't want to leave them bad feedback if I have to take it back for repair or even reject it.

Hmmmm. What car?

[HTP99]

papa3 said:

Mercury00 said:

I'm a little reluctant at the moment, I've only just collected the car three days ago and it's hard to get into fifth gear. The salesman just said they all do that until they wear in, but I don't want to leave them bad feedback if I have to take it back for repair or even reject it.

Hmmmm. What car?

The salesman sounds an absolute mess and then tries to fob you off with an "they all do that sir" excuse, I would come down on him like a ton of bricks, maybe it will be the kick up the arse that he needs.

[mylesmcd]

Mercury00 said:

Do you think it's fair to leave a bad review or bad feedback for a dealer for the following:

I placed a deposit on a new car. The salesman said he'd contact me in two days for an update on lead times. Ten days later I still hadn't heard back. I contacted him and he still didn't know.

I went into the dealership to sign my finance docs. The salesman wasn't there, so I wasn't able to sign them. The person a did speak to spoke to me like st and then carried on gossiping about another customer.

The salesman said he'd phone me the night before I collected my car as a courtesy call. He didn't.

When it came to collection day I was told 2pm. I got an email from the service department saying there was a problem with my car and it would be 6pm instead. Neither party knew what the other was talking about.

I'm aware that leaving bad feedback is a big thing for a dealership, but I feel like this has been a complete sts how from start to finish. Do you think it would be justified?

I am not sure why you are even asking. However, if the car (is it new or used?) is experiencing gearbox problems, seek decent advice (legal) rather than a forum.

Unless you are a troll that is..

[Mercury00]

I'm not a troll, you cheeky swine. I'm asking here because a car salesman is a good person to ask, and Dan is a Suzuki salesman, so he might know if it's a common issue. The car is a Suzuki Swift

[mylesmcd]

Mercury00 said:

I'm not a troll, you cheeky swine. I'm asking here because a car salesman is a good person to ask, and Dan is a Suzuki salesman, so he might know if it's a common issue. The car is a Suzuki Swift

Just checking. Its been a while since I have been called a cheeky swine mind!

[steve-5snwi]

swagmeister said:

Confused, all these people who cant use a mobile phone for a 5 min call at work - however they can surf the net to find the cars and have time to create an email enquiry ? It takes longer to type than it does to talk, surely you get breaks ? whos time are you on when emailing?

The trouble is it wouldn't be a 5 minute phone call, one of the dealers didn't open on sundays so that didn't help, but not to worry I called them during lunchtime today, got my photos and concluded the rest by email. I just need to bank transfer a deposit. Oh and get my head around the colour. I think i like it although it would probably number 6 on the list ... I think i'm being distracted by the spec.

[Phil37]

Why do car supermarkets go on so much about how much saving against list when selling a 3 year old car with 60k on the clock?
Hardly a fair comparison.

[rigga]

Phil37 said:

Why do car supermarkets go on so much about how much saving against list when selling a 3 year old car with 60k on the clock?
Hardly a fair comparison.

Must say this annoys me more than it really should

[Dan W.]

Mercury00 said:

I'm not a troll, you cheeky swine. I'm asking here because a car salesman is a good person to ask, and Dan is a Suzuki salesman, so he might know if it's a common issue. The car is a Suzuki Swift

Not a common issue that im aware of, and a salesman saying they all do that is sales speak for I don't know please leave me alone all I do is sell the car not fix them,

if you are unhappy get it booked into the service department and ask them to have a look at it, they are the experts not the salesman. good luck also

[Sa Calobra]

Mercury00 said:

I'm not a troll, you cheeky swine. I'm asking here because a car salesman is a good person to ask, and Dan is a Suzuki salesman, so he might know if it's a common issue. The car is a Suzuki Swift

It's not a pair of boots it's a gearbox that obviously has an issue.