One for the car dealers...........

[Vulgar LS2]

A question for the car dealers. What percentage of buyers are walk-ins compared to those that phone up and make an appointment ?

[Baked_bean]

I work for Toyota (which has a slightly older client base than some) and we tend to get 2/3rds walk ins and the other third of customers are through a mixture of Email and Phone.

That is based on a typical week but if we have certain models cheap enough (land cruisers, prius etc) then we will recieve a large percentage of phone calls/web enquiries.

[leefee]

Last saturday i had 2 appointments booked and one phone call first thing making an appointment for that afternoon. None of the three bothered to turn up, but i sold 9 cars to walk ins....... Its not always like that but those making appointments to come are far from dead certs...

[bitchstewie]

Another one - which do you prefer?

I'm hunting for a car now and whilst I don't want to turn up and find a car on the website isn't there, I also don't want to "book a time" and have you waiting on me when I might walk in and know within 30 seconds that I don't like a vehicle so for me just turning up works best in principle but doesn't always work out so well in reality.

[leefee]

I dont have a preferance, i get a lot of people coming a distance. I have a chap who called this am to make an apt for sat afternoon. I have requested he calls me on sat am to confirm it is still available and he is on his way and i will keep the car for him until he arrives. Generally people who make a little effort to call rather than email tend to be more likely to turn up. Dont try and haggle over the phone, we dont like that much. And think of better questions to ask than how many owners, its another one that winds us up...;)

[Save Ferris]

Baked_bean said:

I work for Toyota (which has a slightly older client base than some) and we tend to get 2/3rds walk ins and the other third of customers are through a mixture of Email and Phone.

That is based on a typical week but if we have certain models cheap enough (land cruisers, prius etc) then we will recieve a large percentage of phone calls/web enquiries.

I'm Toyota aswell, and the above is pretty accurate, again most of our web enquiries / appointments tend to be for cheap stuff or Prius (which virtually all sell to taxi drivers in London.)

[pigeonskirt]

Save Ferris said:

I'm Toyota aswell, and the above is pretty accurate, again most of our web enquiries / appointments tend to be for cheap stuff or Prius (which virtually all sell to taxi drivers in London.)

Me too! Hello! :-D

[anonymous-user]

However they come in 95% of them have spent an average of 17 hours online searching before they do.

[Vulgar LS2]

Thanks for the responses chaps.

The reason I ask is that i'm just embarking on trading, I have commercial premises and will be doing by appointment only, I did wonder whether I'd be losing out in a big way by doing so.

[johnnyBv8]

leefee said:

And think of better questions to ask than how many owners, its another one that winds us up...;)

Out of interest, why does that one wind you up? It's a reasonable question, unless it's already in the ad (presumably the main way to stop people asking!).

[PositronicRay]

If it's specialist stuff not a problem, good way to do it. Bread and butter stuff a lot of people just call in on spec.

[Pwig]

80% of our customers we don't see until they come to collect. 10% of them we never see at all.

[Butter Face]

Vulgar LS2 said:

Thanks for the responses chaps.

The reason I ask is that i'm just embarking on trading, I have commercial premises and will be doing by appointment only, I did wonder whether I'd be losing out in a big way by doing so.

It totally depends on what you're selling.

Cheap stuff (£500-£3000) and low volume I would expect people to call from adverts and arrange to see the car.

Same stuff but high volume, expect people to turn up on spec.

Mainstream stuff (£3000-70k/100k, whatever you class yourself as 'mainstream') is a mix of both, mostly walk ins, appointments at weekends I would imagine more (it's the way we try and stack it)

Specialist stuff (£100k+++) I would say appointments only. Most people would appoint to view. They'd be wanting to drive cars, see them fully prepared etc so would give time to see them. If I were buying a new Lambo, I wouldn't expect to just walk into Lamborghini London and them bow to my every whim.

Good luck!

[LouD86]

johnnyBv8 said:

Out of interest, why does that one wind you up? It's a reasonable question, unless it's already in the ad (presumably the main way to stop people asking!).

Same in commercials. You wanting to buy it, or marry it? Often my slightly off cuff comment to regards of owners. It really doesnt affect a vehicle how many owners its had

[Roo]

LouD86 said:

johnnyBv8 said:

Out of interest, why does that one wind you up? It's a reasonable question, unless it's already in the ad (presumably the main way to stop people asking!).

Same in commercials. You wanting to buy it, or marry it? Often my slightly off cuff comment to regards of owners. It really doesnt affect a vehicle how many owners its had

Get asked it a lot, usually by a certain customer profile.

Would you prefer a car with one careless company owner or three careful private individuals.

[Vulgar LS2]

Butter Face said:

Vulgar LS2 said:

Thanks for the responses chaps.

The reason I ask is that i'm just embarking on trading, I have commercial premises and will be doing by appointment only, I did wonder whether I'd be losing out in a big way by doing so.

It totally depends on what you're selling.

Cheap stuff (£500-£3000) and low volume I would expect people to call from adverts and arrange to see the car.

Same stuff but high volume, expect people to turn up on spec.

Mainstream stuff (£3000-70k/100k, whatever you class yourself as 'mainstream') is a mix of both, mostly walk ins, appointments at weekends I would imagine more (it's the way we try and stack it)

Specialist stuff (£100k+++) I would say appointments only. Most people would appoint to view. They'd be wanting to drive cars, see them fully prepared etc so would give time to see them. If I were buying a new Lambo, I wouldn't expect to just walk into Lamborghini London and them bow to my every whim.

Good luck!

Thanks for that, I'm going to be retailing cars in he region of £3k-£7.5k , although buying good cars at the right price is my biggest concern, if anyone would like to share any good places to buy on PM of course that would be great, the "trade" places I've found so far are wanting close to retail money.

[LouD86]

Roo said:

LouD86 said:

johnnyBv8 said:

Out of interest, why does that one wind you up? It's a reasonable question, unless it's already in the ad (presumably the main way to stop people asking!).

Same in commercials. You wanting to buy it, or marry it? Often my slightly off cuff comment to regards of owners. It really doesnt affect a vehicle how many owners its had

Get asked it a lot, usually by a certain customer profile.

Would you prefer a car with one careless company owner or three careful private individuals.

Agreed fully! There is a type shall we say

[johnnyBv8]

LouD86 said:

Roo said:

LouD86 said:

johnnyBv8 said:

Out of interest, why does that one wind you up? It's a reasonable question, unless it's already in the ad (presumably the main way to stop people asking!).

Same in commercials. You wanting to buy it, or marry it? Often my slightly off cuff comment to regards of owners. It really doesnt affect a vehicle how many owners its had

Get asked it a lot, usually by a certain customer profile.

Would you prefer a car with one careless company owner or three careful private individuals.

Agreed fully! There is a type shall we say

Interesting - I thought most people would ask that. I like to know, so I must be the "type" you refer to! Whoops. Unlikely it would be a determining factor for me, but it's part of the background of a car.

As above, easiest way to avoid the question irritating a dealer is for the dealer to put it in the ad!

[LouD86]

Problem is though, number of registered keepers is very much irrelevant in buying a car. I own a car with 6 keepers. My Grandad, Mum, Dad, Mum, Uncle, Me.

Its been in the family, done 18k since 1972, and in perfect condition, but the amount of owners is completely irrelevant. Very much so on vans too. Service History, Mileage, Cambelt, MOT, thats whats important on a vehicle imo

[Spare tyre]

LouD86 said:

Problem is though, number of registered keepers is very much irrelevant in buying a car. I own a car with 6 keepers. My Grandad, Mum, Dad, Mum, Uncle, Me.

Its been in the family, done 18k since 1972, and in perfect condition, but the amount of owners is completely irrelevant. Very much so on vans too. Service History, Mileage, Cambelt, MOT, thats whats important on a vehicle imo

Spill the beans, I reckon mg