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

[thebigmacmoomin]

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?

Emails can be written & sent out of working hours. Should I call a garage about a car at 7pm?

[rcspeirs]

Some people (fairly small number I admit) work in security sensitive locations where personal mobile phones are banned.

[Jbradshaw]

Where I work, the use of personal mobile phones is not permitted except for during a break. However, I do have access to email throughout the day.
I will be able to converse with a salesman throughout the day and they will get timely responses. If they call my mobile it will go unanswered until I get home.

If a dealer doesn’t want to communicate with me over email then I’ll look elsewhere. I have bought 3 cars over email, only making calls to pay deposit etc. One of these was over 3 hours drive away and was painless.

It is obvious from some of the comments in this thread that a lot of dealers don’t like email contact and much prefer face to face or phone call. That’s fine if that is your preferred method but you have to realise that one size doesn’t necessary fit with all of your potential customers. Please don’t just assume that all emails are just a waste of time.

Thanks for this thread - this is my first post on it. Very interesting from all angles. Hope it keeps going.

[Dan W.]

Jbradshaw said:

Where I work, the use of personal mobile phones is not permitted except for during a break. However, I do have access to email throughout the day.
I will be able to converse with a salesman throughout the day and they will get timely responses. If they call my mobile it will go unanswered until I get home.

If a dealer doesn’t want to communicate with me over email then I’ll look elsewhere. I have bought 3 cars over email, only making calls to pay deposit etc. One of these was over 3 hours drive away and was painless.

It is obvious from some of the comments in this thread that a lot of dealers don’t like email contact and much prefer face to face or phone call. That’s fine if that is your preferred method but you have to realise that one size doesn’t necessary fit with all of your potential customers. Please don’t just assume that all emails are just a waste of time.

Thanks for this thread - this is my first post on it. Very interesting from all angles. Hope it keeps going.

very well put.

[4941cc]

thebigmacmoomin said:

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?

Emails can be written & sent out of working hours. Should I call a garage about a car at 7pm?

Carwow call request came through last night at 10:58pm. For some strange reason, we were unavailable.

The trouble with leads that contain both an email and a phone number that specify email preferred, is that around 15 minutes after the lead is dished out, the manager will ask the sales exec what's going on with that lead.

"I've emailed them the answers to the questions they asked and am awaiting a response"

"Why haven't you rung them? Ring them now, don't waste time e-mailing them, you'll never hear from them again".

That latter part is generally true, admittedly.

2018 year to date, composition of enquiries % age and (deals converted):

Walk-ins: 17.7% (66.6%)
Telephone: 10.6% (5.6%)
Manufacturer website e-leads: 41.1% (11.2%)
Manufacturer finance system: 8.9% (5.6%)
Carwow: 20.6% (5.6%)
Social Media: 1.1% (5.5%)

"Bums on seats sells cars", now as ever.

[markstev0]

Regarding phone calls at work, I do struggle to make personal calls and e mailed a garage last week about a Suzuki swift, I was just asking what finance rate they offer on PCP,HP due to having previous experience with a garage offering 13.9%. Which I won’t pay. I had numerous calls back within a few hours that I wasn’t able to answer, they then r mailed saying they couldn’t tell me by email as they needed to speak to me for 15 mins to go through the FCA before handing out any financial info! I only wanted a rough guide to the representative rate they offer. I can’t understand why they couldn’t e mail it too me, Maybe I was expecting too much?

[Dan W.]

markstev0 said:

Regarding phone calls at work, I do struggle to make personal calls and e mailed a garage last week about a Suzuki swift, I was just asking what finance rate they offer on PCP,HP due to having previous experience with a garage offering 13.9%. Which I won’t pay. I had numerous calls back within a few hours that I wasn’t able to answer, they then r mailed saying they couldn’t tell me by email as they needed to speak to me for 15 mins to go through the FCA before handing out any financial info! I only wanted a rough guide to the representative rate they offer. I can’t understand why they couldn’t e mail it too me, Maybe I was expecting too much?

I don't know why they couldn't tell you all Suzuki's are on 0% at the moment, they don't need to go through anything regarding FCA to tell someone that.

[markstev0]

Dan W. said:

I don't know why they couldn't tell you all Suzuki's are on 0% at the moment, they don't need to go through anything regarding FCA to tell someone that.

Sorry should have added it was a used (year old) Suzuki swift, from a ford main dealer

[4941cc]

Dan W. said:

I don't know why they couldn't tell you all Suzuki's are on 0% at the moment, they don't need to go through anything regarding FCA to tell someone that.

On used?

You can mention that rates vary between X and Y depending upon a number of factors and subject to status etc without falling foul of the FCA.

Quote a payment and a fully compliant quotation, SECCI and Adequate Explanations should be given, fair enough.

[Dan W.]

markstev0 said:

Sorry should have added it was a used (year old) Suzuki swift, from a ford main dealer

Slightly different then in that case, but again they can tell you their apr which I would assume would be between 6.9 to 10.9APR

[markstev0]

Dan W. said:

Slightly different then in that case, but again they can tell you their apr which I would assume would be between 6.9 to 10.9APR

Thanks Dan W

[steve-5snwi]

I've now paid a deposit on mine, Mini Leeds only ever tried contacting me by phone, Mini Park Lane tried contacting me by phone and email, they got a reply thanking them for the email and that i had purchased elsewhere.

Maybe sales mangers need to understand that if a customer specifies email and you make the sales person call then they risk losing the sale.

[Sheepshanks]

4941cc said:

Carwow call request came through last night at 10:58pm. For some strange reason, we were unavailable.

I bought our last new car through CarWow and I have to say the speed of response from dealers was an utter revelation compared to anything else. I wanted to speak to one of the salespeople where we'd bounced questions and answers back and forth and he said he'd call me as it was his day off and he was out with his family!

4941cc said:

2018 year to date, composition of enquiries % age and (deals converted):

Walk-ins: 17.7% (66.6%)
Telephone: 10.6% (5.6%)
Manufacturer website e-leads: 41.1% (11.2%)
Manufacturer finance system: 8.9% (5.6%)
Carwow: 20.6% (5.6%)
Social Media: 1.1% (5.5%)

"Bums on seats sells cars", now as ever.

I'm really surprised by that breakdown - wouldn't have expected manufacturer leads to be anything like that and CarWow is way higher than I'd have expected too, especially at that conversion rate.

[S2r]

Do manufacturers run their own cars for a bit and then sell them off through a dealer? And if so, what are they used for?

SWMBO is looking to change hers and has found a good spec, low mileage, 6 month old one that she's interested in and this particular group seem to have lots of a similar age, spec and mileage that have just appeared.

And what's the feeling about 'live chat' with the dealer? This particular dealer was going to ring back today following our recent 'live chat' (nothing so far) - are they actually in the dealership or in some call centre miles away who just forward the details on? We can't just pop in for a look or to sort of the cost to change as it'd take most of a day to drive there and back so we'll be doing most of it by email and phone and if 'live chat' is a waste of time, we won't bother with it. Just hope dealing with this particular dealer is better than my previous experience with a midlands based audi dealer....

[Fast Bug]

S2r said:

Do manufacturers run their own cars for a bit and then sell them off through a dealer? And if so, what are they used for?

Lots of staff will have a company car, and most will have access to an employee scheme where they can have 1 or 2 additional cars. I work for a manufacturer owned dealer group and can have 2 additional cars (1 MB and 1 Smart) for family on a 9 or month deal, I can never remember which it is.

I believe BMW will pay for an employee to do their CBT and they can have a bike as well

[mcflurry]

S2r said:

Do manufacturers run their own cars for a bit and then sell them off through a dealer? And if so, what are they used for?

SWMBO is looking to change hers and has found a good spec, low mileage, 6 month old one that she's interested in and this particular group seem to have lots of a similar age, spec and mileage that have just appeared.

I'd wager 20p they're either staff cars handed back or ex rentals

[S2r]

So basically a way for a manufacturer to pre-register some cars and get them out on the roads... pile them high and sell them cheap?

[Fast Bug]

S2r said:

So basically a way for a manufacturer to pre-register some cars and get them out on the roads... pile them high and sell them cheap?

Well no, they'll have lots of field based staff so they need cars and it's a perk to attract and keep staff. For employee family cars there is a cost to the employee so they recoup money there as well.

Also the factory that produces 12 month old cars is broken.

[skip_1]

As an introvert I prefer to make enquiries by email. Speaking on the phone or face to face I dislike massively. Obviously I can do it but I'd prefer not to to the extent I'll screen calls and only call back if absolutely necessary.

Also I'd imagine most salespeople are extroverts and possibly not understand why.

[StanleyT]

techguyone said:

Yes the AP (advance payment)

Motability

you can't use it for business,

Yes you can. Two cases with relatives recently (last Nov and Feb '18) where the carer uses the car, the carer is driving as part of their employment. That employment being paid reward requires business use for the funding body (LA for the carer) to pay the milage. Ring Motorbility up and ask RSA and it is fine or fill in a RSAM form to request a Business Use application form. Takes about 2 minutes. Just remember to do it before you get the car, just in case!

Five years ago I used to have access as a driver to a Motorbility car, used to drop a disabled child at school for a relative whom couldn't drive. I then used to do 50 - 100 miles a day business use and pick the child up, return them home and then take the car back to my address to rinse and repeat. RAS and Motorbility agreed that was fully within the spirit letter and law of the scheme. Work wer e happy that RSA issued an insurance cert saying as a driver I had business use. They didn't even want to fit a tracker to check the journies as sometimes alledgedly they do.