Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
Interesting bit of light reading out from Black Horse last week. Summary of changes to CCA regulated sales documents and processes.
If their literacy skills are so poor, what of their numeracy skills and household economic ones when considering high value purchases?
- Separate agreement Ts and Cs for HP and PCP agreements
- 17% increase in reading ease - equivalent to improving the standard from that of a GCSE level to that of an average 11 year old - 'Grade A' readability.
- Sentence lengths cut by 42%
- Reduction in complex (3 or more syllable)0 words to 1 in 10
- Plain Language Commission accreditation
- Better transparency for funding of PX shortfall.
If their literacy skills are so poor, what of their numeracy skills and household economic ones when considering high value purchases?
mr2aw11 said:
On a scale of "one" to "full potato", how much is our franchised dealer bull-s
tting MrsMR2?
So... tting MrsMR2?- snip*
To update...
MrsMR2's car purchase was indeed with the now defunct Border Cars.
Worst case, we (well, she... Her car, none of this accepting dealers talking to the bloke on showroom visits) were looking to take a bath of over four and a half grand and keeping the old car (then finding a balloon, or giving back with a much reduced deposit at a later date).
It's took five weekends, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with Mazda, but today we picked up her build from an alternate dealer.
Mazda, to their credit, have been great, keeping comms up, liaising with alternate dealers etc.
We've not had to stump up any more cash, they've refunded the finance payment for the month she's paid in the interim, and MrsMr2 today took possession of her new car. (And is, therefore, happy... Happy wife equals happy me at the end of the day...)
Result, methinks, and a bullet dodged.
Had we been buying a second hand car, I suspect we'd be shy a few Bob with no comeback.
mr2aw11 said:
mr2aw11 said:
On a scale of "one" to "full potato", how much is our franchised dealer bull-stting MrsMR2?
So... tting MrsMR2?- snip*
To update...
MrsMR2's car purchase was indeed with the now defunct Border Cars.
Worst case, we (well, she... Her car, none of this accepting dealers talking to the bloke on showroom visits) were looking to take a bath of over four and a half grand and keeping the old car (then finding a balloon, or giving back with a much reduced deposit at a later date).
It's took five weekends, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with Mazda, but today we picked up her build from an alternate dealer.
Mazda, to their credit, have been great, keeping comms up, liaising with alternate dealers etc.
We've not had to stump up any more cash, they've refunded the finance payment for the month she's paid in the interim, and MrsMr2 today took possession of her new car. (And is, therefore, happy... Happy wife equals happy me at the end of the day...)
Result, methinks, and a bullet dodged.
Had we been buying a second hand car, I suspect we'd be shy a few Bob with no comeback.
How come after buying a used approved car from a main dealer, getting anything further out of them that was agreed at the time of the sale is like pulling teeth / getting blood out of a stone?
Had this with Ford trying to get the floor mats for my Fiesta ST, and with Mercedes trying to get the tyre inflater for Mrs. Gulf7's GLC.
As a customer experience it sucks to have to chase (many times) for low value items they promised to provide.
Had this with Ford trying to get the floor mats for my Fiesta ST, and with Mercedes trying to get the tyre inflater for Mrs. Gulf7's GLC.
As a customer experience it sucks to have to chase (many times) for low value items they promised to provide.
Probably because the salesman has promised something and it's not noted in the deal file so they try and duck it/wait until they can get one from another car rather than speak to their sales manager. Some sales managers can be aholes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.
holes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.Fast Bug said:
Probably because the salesman has promised something and it's not noted in the deal file so they try and duck it/wait until they can get one from another car rather than speak to their sales manager. Some sales managers can be aholes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.
I had the manager of an Audi dealership promise me a free service as part of negotiation. The official free service offer had ended but he agreed to one to close the deal. When I tried to claim it a year or so later no one knew anything about it but they honoured it after a bit of persuasion that it had been promised. holes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.Fast Bug said:
Probably because the salesman has promised something and it's not noted in the deal file so they try and duck it/wait until they can get one from another car rather than speak to their sales manager. Some sales managers can be aholes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.
My colleague is like this, whether it's sorting a little bit of damage or a stone chip, a set of mats, a boot liner, getting admin to set up a service plan (find out a year down the line!), there are always phone calls; usually on his day off, from people chasing bits that haven't been done or supplied.holes about stuff like this, other will just call the salesman a dick and tell them to sort it out and next time make sure everything is noted in the file so costs can be accounted for.It's not that he promises stuff to get the sale, it's just that he's disorganised and his mindset is "the next sale"; myself I get things sorted straightaway, I don't want the hassle of having someone chasing me, getting things rectified is constantly on my mind until its done, if the customer is due a set of mats, as soon as the sales is done I fire off an email to the parts dept. to get them ordered, once received I put them straight in the car.
There is nothing worse than having someone else's customer getting the hump with you as your colleague hasn't sorted what he promised, it really pisses me off, it's not my problem and yet I get dragged in to it.
HTP99 said:
My colleague is like this, whether it's sorting a little bit of damage or a stone chip, a set of mats, a boot liner, getting admin to set up a service plan (find out a year down the line!), there are always phone calls; usually on his day off, from people chasing bits that haven't been done or supplied.
It's not that he promises stuff to get the sale, it's just that he's disorganised and his mindset is "the next sale"; myself I get things sorted straightaway, I don't want the hassle of having someone chasing me, getting things rectified is constantly on my mind until its done, if the customer is due a set of mats, as soon as the sales is done I fire off an email to the parts dept. to get them ordered, once received I put them straight in the car.
There is nothing worse than having someone else's customer getting the hump with you as your colleague hasn't sorted what he promised, it really pisses me off, it's not my problem and yet I get dragged in to it.
I realise that I’m over simplifying things, but if he’s displaying symptoms of low grade cheap sales type behaviour then surely the dealership are at fault for continuing to employ him. It's not that he promises stuff to get the sale, it's just that he's disorganised and his mindset is "the next sale"; myself I get things sorted straightaway, I don't want the hassle of having someone chasing me, getting things rectified is constantly on my mind until its done, if the customer is due a set of mats, as soon as the sales is done I fire off an email to the parts dept. to get them ordered, once received I put them straight in the car.
There is nothing worse than having someone else's customer getting the hump with you as your colleague hasn't sorted what he promised, it really pisses me off, it's not my problem and yet I get dragged in to it.
Fast Bug said:
ChevronB19 said:
Any number plate cock ups? The one and only new car I bought was delivered with the wrong plate (one letter out compared to V5). I didn’t realise for a couple of days, and they were very apologetic. I guess I was technically uninsured for that period, but it was just a mistake.
Its happened in places I've worked twice in 20 + years and god knows how many thousands of vehicles. It's a rare occurrence thankfully
Bought an AUC BMW and only thing to haggle was a second year warranty (didn’t know at the time you can’t buy 2 years).
It was agreed and a deal done with reference to warranty not time specific but I didn’t notice.
Come pick up I travelled 200 miles to find a duff camera, missing air dam and crap £5 mats, they gave me a 630 gt to go home in and I picked it up a week later with bmw mats, new air dam and working cameras.
Come expiry of the 1st years warranty and the offer to renew I found out I only had 1 year.
No amount of calling could help as I was told you can’t buy 2 years in one go I must be mistaken.
I’m not likely to go to Peterborough again so no leverage and I’ve put it down to experience.
It was agreed and a deal done with reference to warranty not time specific but I didn’t notice.
Come pick up I travelled 200 miles to find a duff camera, missing air dam and crap £5 mats, they gave me a 630 gt to go home in and I picked it up a week later with bmw mats, new air dam and working cameras.
Come expiry of the 1st years warranty and the offer to renew I found out I only had 1 year.
No amount of calling could help as I was told you can’t buy 2 years in one go I must be mistaken.
I’m not likely to go to Peterborough again so no leverage and I’ve put it down to experience.
HTP99 said:
My colleague is like this, whether it's sorting a little bit of damage or a stone chip, a set of mats, a boot liner, getting admin to set up a service plan (find out a year down the line!), there are always phone calls; usually on his day off, from people chasing bits that haven't been done or supplied.
It's not that he promises stuff to get the sale, it's just that he's disorganised and his mindset is "the next sale"; myself I get things sorted straightaway, I don't want the hassle of having someone chasing me, getting things rectified is constantly on my mind until its done, if the customer is due a set of mats, as soon as the sales is done I fire off an email to the parts dept. to get them ordered, once received I put them straight in the car.
There is nothing worse than having someone else's customer getting the hump with you as your colleague hasn't sorted what he promised, it really pisses me off, it's not my problem and yet I get dragged in to it.
Something that happens in every industry where customers are involved pretty much. It's called your job. You represent the business you work for not yourself, if you want to only deal with your own customers open your own dealership. It's not that he promises stuff to get the sale, it's just that he's disorganised and his mindset is "the next sale"; myself I get things sorted straightaway, I don't want the hassle of having someone chasing me, getting things rectified is constantly on my mind until its done, if the customer is due a set of mats, as soon as the sales is done I fire off an email to the parts dept. to get them ordered, once received I put them straight in the car.
There is nothing worse than having someone else's customer getting the hump with you as your colleague hasn't sorted what he promised, it really pisses me off, it's not my problem and yet I get dragged in to it.
revvingit said:
One for the salesmen?
If someone offered you a bike for P/X would you take it or would you just tell them to sell it privately cos it wasn't worth the hassle?
I would take it but it would have to be extremely cheap to do it. If they're on sale for £6k for example I wouldn't want to give any more than £3k to £3.5k just because of the unknown. If someone offered you a bike for P/X would you take it or would you just tell them to sell it privately cos it wasn't worth the hassle?
revvingit said:
Something that happens in every industry where customers are involved pretty much. It's called your job. You represent the business you work for not yourself, if you want to only deal with your own customers open your own dealership.
Nah, does not work like that in a commission based role.
If your colleague is that disorganised and you are taking the grief for his shortcomings, then that is not on.
He can sort his own problems out, why is that fair to another salesman who may be missing selling opportunities whilst sorting out someone else's balls ups?
When you are commission based, you are virtually working for yourself anyway.
Not on at all.
Edited by Mexman on Sunday 4th August 16:44
sparks_190e said:
A dealer I worked at managed to send out a car with two different number plates. Want noticed for a few days.
Bought a new XR3 back in 1982 from a Ford Garage in Durham , had the right plates on but they’d managed to register the damn thing as a 1600cc Granada according to plod who stopped me , when I rang the garage up to get them to sort it , they left me with the impression it wasn’t the first time it happened.Gulf7 said:
As a customer though, when you phone to chase it up you're always told by the dealership that they'll leave a message for the person you dealt with, but guess what, they never call back. People don't buy from a main dealer to end up reliant on an individual after purchasing a car.
That's when you need to get your hair cut in a certain way and ask to speak to the manager.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff