Good experiences with car salespeople
Discussion
I have not been a general fan of car sales people, usually when I buy a car from a dealer, I spend weeks clearing up the mess afterwards, as examples -
Corsa purchased with blown head gasket and dodgy MoT
Mondeo sold as a 130ps turned out to be a 115 ps (not a huge deal, but its nice to know what you actually own!)
MR2 with blown head gasket, dicked around by warranty company etc.
However I am the first to complain when I am screwed over, I am also the first to compliment. So recent experience of an honest car dealer - I hope some people can add their own to balance the dealer bashing a bit
.
Purchased a 2006 Peugeot 307cc (not for me, for the GF). About a week later, I noticed that over several drives, the temp gague was barely raising above minimum. Called the dealer and he asked me to take it to the mechanics behind him.
Took it there, they replaced the thermostat and housing. Two days later the GF told me that the passenger footwell was filled with water. Lo and behold, the car had decided to dump its entire coolant supply.
Contacted the dealer expecting the usual garbage of "not our problem" or "contact the warranty" (which is limited, so only covers part of this stuff. Whilst on hold to him, was expecting to (once again) go into the SOGA act to get it sorted.
Once we got it up to his pet mechanics behind the dealer, I discovered that the original thermostat had been removed and when they "replaced" it, they actually fitted a whole new one. The stat had been removed to cover up a small leak, which then exploded into the footwell from the heater matrix when the new 'stat was in place, causing the pressure of the system to be normal again.
At this point, ready to reject the car and annoyed at all this, it turned out the dealer know nothing about this, and this had been a trade-to-trade sale before us and he had got screwed as well.
Without any further delay, the whole coolant system was replaced (matrix / rad / all pipes), system was fully pressure tested twice, car was compression tested and full diagnostics run.
Been running perfectly for 5 months now.
Whilst I am annoyed that the dealer basically wiped the arse of the car and put it on the forecourt, I am impressed that he "manned up" and dealt with it.
Cool starry bra etc.
Anyone got any similar ones?
Corsa purchased with blown head gasket and dodgy MoT
Mondeo sold as a 130ps turned out to be a 115 ps (not a huge deal, but its nice to know what you actually own!)
MR2 with blown head gasket, dicked around by warranty company etc.
However I am the first to complain when I am screwed over, I am also the first to compliment. So recent experience of an honest car dealer - I hope some people can add their own to balance the dealer bashing a bit
.Purchased a 2006 Peugeot 307cc (not for me, for the GF). About a week later, I noticed that over several drives, the temp gague was barely raising above minimum. Called the dealer and he asked me to take it to the mechanics behind him.
Took it there, they replaced the thermostat and housing. Two days later the GF told me that the passenger footwell was filled with water. Lo and behold, the car had decided to dump its entire coolant supply.
Contacted the dealer expecting the usual garbage of "not our problem" or "contact the warranty" (which is limited, so only covers part of this stuff. Whilst on hold to him, was expecting to (once again) go into the SOGA act to get it sorted.
Once we got it up to his pet mechanics behind the dealer, I discovered that the original thermostat had been removed and when they "replaced" it, they actually fitted a whole new one. The stat had been removed to cover up a small leak, which then exploded into the footwell from the heater matrix when the new 'stat was in place, causing the pressure of the system to be normal again.
At this point, ready to reject the car and annoyed at all this, it turned out the dealer know nothing about this, and this had been a trade-to-trade sale before us and he had got screwed as well.
Without any further delay, the whole coolant system was replaced (matrix / rad / all pipes), system was fully pressure tested twice, car was compression tested and full diagnostics run.
Been running perfectly for 5 months now.
Whilst I am annoyed that the dealer basically wiped the arse of the car and put it on the forecourt, I am impressed that he "manned up" and dealt with it.
Cool starry bra etc.
Anyone got any similar ones?
I have not had one car buying encounter with dealers where I have come away feeling positive with the whole experience. Neutral maybe once or twice, but on the whole usually end up thinking 'christ I'd never buy from them again nor recommend them' and that doesn't even count the countless ones that have been complete rip-off merchants/sheisters/con men/rude/unhelpful that I've walked away from. Some notables being the local car dealer who has been trading for years somehow, 1 car taken out for test drive (given keys) and the brakes didn't work, which was interesting. Assured it was an oversight. 2nd car billowed blue smoke on start-up and the whole time it was running 'they all do that' - tosser.
xreyuk said:
I don't have any good car salesman experiences, because 99.9% of them are t
ts. I've never met a good one, and I've never met one who hasn't tried to FORCE me into deals.
Rarely had a problem, generally find them polite, sensible, and helpful. Ultimately they work on commission so its absolutely in their interest to make the experience as positive and pleasurable as possible.ts. I've never met a good one, and I've never met one who hasn't tried to FORCE me into deals.I wonder why you find "99.9% of them t
ts"... 
The bloke (Chris Anstey, according to the paperwork) at the Fiat dealership in Harlow from whom I bought my Panda in 2007 was fantastic. Helpful, friendly, patient and enthusiastic.
Also the youngish bloke at BMW in Ipswich; Roger at Long Bennington (Lotus) and the bloke at the Colchester Maserati dealership, all of whom I have spoken to in the last 3 months, also get a big thumbs up from me.
However BMW at Bishop's Stortford were generally unhelpful; and I would never, ever buy a car from the bloke in the Nissan dealership at [un-named town] whom I overheard on the phone to a mate (when he didn't think I had arrived yet) who called me a "tosser" as he thought I was just a tyre-kicker. Oh well, his loss.
Also the youngish bloke at BMW in Ipswich; Roger at Long Bennington (Lotus) and the bloke at the Colchester Maserati dealership, all of whom I have spoken to in the last 3 months, also get a big thumbs up from me.
However BMW at Bishop's Stortford were generally unhelpful; and I would never, ever buy a car from the bloke in the Nissan dealership at [un-named town] whom I overheard on the phone to a mate (when he didn't think I had arrived yet) who called me a "tosser" as he thought I was just a tyre-kicker. Oh well, his loss.
FreeLitres said:
My local TVR dealer in Hexham is a star. No pressure at all and very patient.
Although, when they fire up the burbling V8 or raspy S6, the cars sell themselves!
I hate that lot at Hexham.....whats that Phil, yeah that TVR looks nice, here's the keys take it for a spin....he's a devious git Tony Although, when they fire up the burbling V8 or raspy S6, the cars sell themselves!
After chatting to a salesman on the phone we drove 80 miles to see a Discovery at a Land Rover Main Dealer in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago. The car was pretty much as described but we decided it wasn't quite the one for us. The salesman took this in his stride and, since we weren't local, he advised us of another LR dealer in the city which was part of a different group but who he thought had a fairly similar speced car, gave them a call to see if they had it in then gave us directions how to get there. I thought that was quite classy.
ewan221 said:
FreeLitres said:
My local TVR dealer in Hexham is a star. No pressure at all and very patient.
Although, when they fire up the burbling V8 or raspy S6, the cars sell themselves!
Agree Tony at HHC is a gent and knows his TVRs inside out Although, when they fire up the burbling V8 or raspy S6, the cars sell themselves!
A very small gesture, but one that I won't forget. I was clearly not going to buy a car from them, but that sort of customer service is first class and I won't rule out the prospect of having the car worked on there in the future.
Ari said:
I wonder why you find "99.9% of them tts"...
TBH I think 99% of the ones I've dealt with have talked out of their arses. By all means try to sell a car, but don't spin me a load of sts"... te in the process. Buying a Ford last year was probably the best dealer experience I've had, it was the salesman's first day and he went out of his way to make sure everything was okay. I took the car in for it's first service two weeks ago and he made an effort to come and see me and make sure everything was okay.
John Wesley from John Wesley Car Sales took care of my Volvo S60 when it went wrong. Developed the dreaded electronic throttle module failure three days after I had bought it. Many cars I would have just handed back straight away, but I really liked it and John sorted it with no hassle very quickly.
Of course, he wasn't doing anything that he didn't have to do, but he was very polite about it and made an effort to smooth things over and get it back to me as soon as possible.
When I bought my Ford Focus at a car supermarket kind of place the salesman was fantastic at taking into account what I wanted. At the time, I was after a Focus and he was able to direct me straight to a car they just had in, a Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 Ebony. Nothing could have been more perfect at the time, as I had always wanted a car with heated leather seats too! At the time, I needed a car after having been without for a couple of months so I was walking in with a wad of cash ready to buy whatever they had, and he didn't try and fob me off with some tat they had had in for weeks that wasn't shifting. When I went back a few months later to redeem my free service on the Focus they let me have a go of a Mondeo ST220, which was nice of them.
Otherwise, experiences tend to be average to poor. Back at the car supermarket place a couple of years later shopping for an Impreza for the missus and the previous dealers had moved out. The new dealers were much more 'bling' and typical pushy car salesman. I ended up taking a drive in an Impreza WRX and found the salesman's attitude as offputting as the high price of the car.
Of course, he wasn't doing anything that he didn't have to do, but he was very polite about it and made an effort to smooth things over and get it back to me as soon as possible.
When I bought my Ford Focus at a car supermarket kind of place the salesman was fantastic at taking into account what I wanted. At the time, I was after a Focus and he was able to direct me straight to a car they just had in, a Ford Focus Zetec 1.6 Ebony. Nothing could have been more perfect at the time, as I had always wanted a car with heated leather seats too! At the time, I needed a car after having been without for a couple of months so I was walking in with a wad of cash ready to buy whatever they had, and he didn't try and fob me off with some tat they had had in for weeks that wasn't shifting. When I went back a few months later to redeem my free service on the Focus they let me have a go of a Mondeo ST220, which was nice of them.
Otherwise, experiences tend to be average to poor. Back at the car supermarket place a couple of years later shopping for an Impreza for the missus and the previous dealers had moved out. The new dealers were much more 'bling' and typical pushy car salesman. I ended up taking a drive in an Impreza WRX and found the salesman's attitude as offputting as the high price of the car.
SooperDan said:
There are a couple of nice guys at MINI Nottingham, friendly and pleasant as you should expect really.
When I took a test drive in a Cooper S it turned out he didn't know much about the car at all though, but did know an awful lot about Alfa Romeos, oddly enough.
It might just be possible that he's worked a few years for Alfa and has only recently moved to MINI and is yet to possess all the product knowledge he will eventually receive via daily experience of and exposure to the product and maybe some manufacturer training - although that usually only comes once salespeople have passed their trial periods as it's quite costly. When I took a test drive in a Cooper S it turned out he didn't know much about the car at all though, but did know an awful lot about Alfa Romeos, oddly enough.
It's always handy that the time when you're most critiqued and evaluated is the time when you've the least training, experience and product knowledge to perform at your best...
OP - I'd learn how to check over the cooling systems of cheap cars a bit better.
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