Are Car Sales People Universally Useless?

[Biggriff]

Having contacted a number of dealers about buying a Hot Hatch I can conclusively say that so far my low opinion of sales people has declined further. No call back, no follow up, trying to sell you what you don't want, not listening to what you say, just being rude, staff turning over faster than you can sort a sale and generally being as much use as an Ashtray on a Motorbike.

Whats going on? No wonder online sales are taking off. From my experience good riddance.

The quality, premium brands are no better and in many cases worse than the bread and butter providers.

Is this others experience?

[sevensfun]

Biggriff said:

Having contacted a number of dealers about buying a Hot Hatch I can conclusively say that so far my low opinion of sales people has declined further. No call back, no follow up, trying to sell you what you don't want, not listening to what you say, just being rude, staff turning over faster than you can sort a sale and generally being as much use as an Ashtray on a Motorbike.

Whats going on? No wonder online sales are taking off. From my experience good riddance.

The quality, premium brands are no better and in many cases worse than the bread and butter providers.

Is this others experience?

No

[Pit Pony]

Not my experience.

Identify car that I want. Arrange test drive.

Decide if I like it.

Discuss price.

Place deposit or walk away.

Go and pick up car.

Ring up salesman about an hour later to arrange to have it returned due to brake fade due to sticking caliper.

Have courtesy car delivered whilst they fix brakes, and have salesman deliver car back to my home.

Ring up salesman to thank him for his assistance, and write an email to his head of business, explaining what a star he is.

That's the last car I bought. From Bristol Street Motors Vauxhall Macclesfield.

The only bit I didn't like was the price discussion. But we eventually got a fair deal.

[A Winner Is You]

Not bothering to respond to online chat is another one, I have been car shopping and ruled out some potential purchases based just on the initial communication. My logic is if they can't be bothered when you're trying to give them money, how interested will they be if you're coming back with a warranty issue?

[MYOB]

Not my experience either. I do wish they start using emails though.

[Xenoous]

Nope. Purchased an approved used BMW last year and it was a great buying experience. Partners parents just purchased a used Kuga from an independent and they had a great experience.

[Pit Pony]

MYOB said:

Not my experience either. I do wish they start using emails though.

I've found that picking up the phone, and talking to someone, is quicker and more effective. In all walks of life.

[vikingaero]

MYOB said:

Not my experience either. I do wish they start using emails though.

Emails have the lowest sales conversion rate. That's why salespeeps don't like wasting their time with them. More often than not the emails are mandated by the manufacturer who does not have a scooby about selling.

[MYOB]

Pit Pony said:

MYOB said:

Not my experience either. I do wish they start using emails though.

I've found that picking up the phone, and talking to someone, is quicker and more effective. In all walks of life.

And what about those that are deaf and can't use the phone?

[TheLuke]

I had a cracker of an experience at the weekend.

I have been looking to buy a Megane RS 250/265 CUP.

Found one at an Indy about an hour away had the nice recaros, low-ish mileage and of course "full service history" , phoned the day before to make sure it was still available and if was, so went down Saturday to view with my brother.

Turned up and the chap opened the car for me, usually they give you the keys, but this was near Manchester so I figured it was to stop thefts. No problem and we looked around the car, seemed like a good example, so I enquired about the service history etc and he brought the booklet out.

Turns out it only has 5 stamps over 11 years and has not had a change of cambelt yet despite the mileage alone, let along age requiring one. So I spoke to the chap about it being included in the sale price and he advised if I wanted it doing it would be £400 extra, I advised its in his best interest to have this done as it could quite literally snap at any minute being 11 years old and would give them piece of mind regarding having a potential engine failure. No joy, I had to pay extra. At that point I had decided (in my head) to not buy the car as better cared for examples were not a huge amount more.

I did then ask for a test drive as I have not driven a Megane RS before and he said yes that's fine, wait for another chap to get back blah blah blah.

The other chap comes back and advises me I cannot test drive it until "we are at the buying stage" and that I can pootle it around the yard at which I replied that we are at the buying stage, hence the discussion about wether the cambelt would be included. Turns out "the buying stage" is leaving a deposit, you test drive it, if something is wrong with the car, then you can back out. I was gobsmacked, we had a 10 minute disagreement over this which ended with me leaving. It seems they just wanted morons to walk in, cash in hand and drive away without even driving the car. Or maybe I was asking too many questions/eating into their margin too much with the cambelt thing, who knows.

Put a deposit on a different one on Sunday, from a well known Megane guy who gave me the polar opposite experience and couldn't be more happier to be collecting an RS265 at the weekend.

Edited by TheLuke on Tuesday 25th May 15:13

[Pit Pony]

MYOB said:

And what about those that are deaf and can't use the phone?

Perhaps the exception to the rule.

[Torquey]

If it makes a difference I'm currently looking to buy a new build house and finding their sales staff similar to some of the most useless car salesmen ive met.

I'm almost asking them to take my money and they just can't negotiate a deal. Or arrange meetings, answer their phone or answer the questions im asking.

[A Winner Is You]

One premium (as in 3 Series and A4s, not supercars) dealer near me wanted a £100 "viewing deposit". Am I just out of the loop in never having heard of such a thing?

[Save Ferris]

TheLuke said:

At that point I had decided (in my head) to not buy the car as better cared for examples were not a huge amount more.

I did then ask for a test drive as I have not driven a Megane RS before and he said yes that's fine, wait for another chap to get back blah blah blah.

The other chap comes back and advises me I cannot test drive it until "we are at the buying stage" and that I can pootle it around the yard at which I replied that we are at the buying stage, hence the discussion about wether the cambelt would be included. Turns out "the buying stage" is leaving a deposit, you test drive it, if something is wrong with the car, then you can back out. I was gobsmacked, we had a 10 minute disagreement over this which ended with me leaving. It seems they just wanted morons to walk in, cash in hand and drive away without even driving the car. Or maybe I was asking too many questions/eating into their margin too much with the cambelt thing, who knows.

Edited by TheLuke on Tuesday 25th May 15:13

I’d guess they knew you weren’t going to buy their car, so offering you a test drive would have been a waste of everyone’s time.

[TurboHatchback]

I've had more good experiences than bad. The most memorable jokers included:

• A bloke who had an awful manner from the outset, wouldn't let us test drive it more than 1/2 a mile at 2nd gear speed and seemed extremely put out when we wouldn't buy the car as a consequence.
• A chap at a traders in croydon seeming surprised when I pointed out that the jeep he was trying to sell me was hemorrhaging oil from multiple places, had a ruined turbo that sounded like a drag tractor and was generally a total shed.
• A bloke who genuinely seemed to think I might not have noticed that the Landcruiser Amazon I was test driving had no power, couldn't top 40mph and was billowing black smoke from under the bonnet.

On the other hand I've had plenty of decent ones. To me a decent used car salesperson should more or less just give you the key, copy your licence and not be seen again until you walk back into the office and announce whether you want it or not. Some experiences I've had have been exactly that, in most of them I bought the car. What I don't want is them hovering over me, trying to tell me facts about the car (I know more than they ever will as I will have researched the purchase for months beforehand) or insisting on short test drives at low speeds that give no opportunity to properly assess the car.

[av185]

Used cars vanilla and high end are flying out the door due to unprecedented demand due to stock and parts shortages etc which have raised prices to all time highs with more expected well into next year.

Hardly surprising sales guys sit back and do nothing because if a car doesn't sell it will only sell for more money next week next month and next year come to that.

[Johnnytheboy]

Without expressing a strong opinion either way, I suppose being a car salesperson doesn't require any specific qualifications or technical skills.

So a bit like people that decide they can be pub landlords, you get quite a few people doing it because it seems like easy money and they don't have any other specific marketable skills.

[BrettMRC]

Depends where you go/brand...

Lexus have been superb, even with sale being done remote recently due to covid. (as have Toyota who offered to drop off a new Highlander for me to drive for 48 hours, didn't take up the offer in the end - but still great service)

Polar opposite to the likes of Peugeot who couldn't even be bothered to bring a car to the local dealership.

Worst so far has been the Land Rover subscription farce - they basically don't have any cars...when they get one in you have about 20secs to decide if you want it or not, otherwise "sorry sir, its gone". Waste of time.

[darren f]

I had similar several years back with a BMW main dealer who had a nice used Clio Williams for sale (... shows how long ago it was). After making me wait 30 mins before seeing me, Mr Shiny Suit gave me a long spiel about “we do things differently here”, which amounted to ‘you’re not even going to sit in it, let alone drive it unless you agree to buy it first” I.e. agree financial terms and put down a deposit. My obvious comment being “how do I know if I like it unless I sit in it and drive it?”. After determining (apparently) that most of his customers bought cars before actually driving them first (appropriate aspersions were made about BMW’s customers) I took my custom elsewhere. It’s not as if I was a spotty oik just looking for a joy-ride, I was late 20s, driving a 2 year old Clio 16v, a prime sales opportunity I would have thought.

Edited by darren f on Tuesday 25th May 16:58

[Sheepshanks]

TheLuke said:

The other chap comes back and advises me I cannot test drive it until "we are at the buying stage" and that I can pootle it around the yard at which I replied that we are at the buying stage, hence the discussion about wether the cambelt would be included. Turns out "the buying stage" is leaving a deposit, you test drive it, if something is wrong with the car, then you can back out. I was gobsmacked,....

That's an approach that's been adopted by many independent used car dealers. They don't want people test driving cars to see whether they like it or not as you would with a new car, you're supposed to already know that and simply to be checking to see if it has any faults, and they'll fix them.