The Car Salesman's Thread

[Butter Face]

The lovely Cornish sunshine has bought a few people out this week, 5 new and 7 used. Very happy with myself.

Renault doing an extra 200-400 off new cars ordered before 6th of June has helped a smidge too.

[MissChief]

Butter Face said:

daemon said:

Butter Face said:

daemon said:

Fox- said:

Jon999 said:

When negotating the mini we went to 3 dealerships within a 10 mile radius. Car was stock from another dealer so was going to get pulled up north anyway. Played the dealers off each other (includinf the dealer down south) til there was no more money to be had. Saleswoman from one dealership called up a day later going mental at my girlfriend because we had wasted her time. Absolutely no need for that IMO and totally out of order.

You just don't get this sort of thing in any other trade, do you? I don't get tyre shops calling me up to give me abuse after I've called 5 of them, worked out a price and picked the one I wanted. You don't get the guy from Comet phoning you up because you spent 15 minutes listening to him sell you a fridge only to find Currys had the same one cheaper next door, etc.

Business is business. Sales staff do not have the 'honour' they expect from the customers (and neither should they, to be fair!).

Very true. Though i recall getting a 'strongly worded letter' from a solicitor when i phoned him for a conveyancing quote and then didnt use his services. Apparently i should have called back (or written?) to let him know - imagine doing that with car insurance quotes...

Very much so RE: honour / loyalty. Theres really no such thing any more when it comes to sales, and a car sales person should be well aware...

But it is also not standard procedure to go 'mental' at someone for purchsing elsewhere. The girl is a bad example. I certainly don't do it.

No, and i never said it was.

Sorry mate, was meant to be quoting Fox when he said 'You just don't get this sort of thing in any other trade, do you?'

What she obviously forgets is that if your in a position to buy again and have a choice of dealing with her or someone else you will surely go somewhere else because of her attitude.

[AshCos]

Customer rings me up Friday,saying he's spoken to other dealers and is ready to buy a car over the telephone for the right price. I match part exchange price and he's happy with the price for the car he's buying. Says he will leave a deposit if the deal is right...and it was. He then decides he wants a breakdown of the figures via e-mail?! Does he think I'm stupid,I emailed the cost to change and assured once he's in the showroom I will give him a breakdown. That evening he fails to call me. Saturday I call twice and leave a voicemail,he calls back 5:45pm
"we are going to put the search on hold now as my wife's not sure"
All buyers are liars

[Zwolf]

MissChief said:

What she obviously forgets is that if your in a position to buy again and have a choice of dealing with her or someone else you will surely go somewhere else because of her attitude.

Absolutely, but many salespeople don't think beyond the next three months, because that's roughly how long they can rely on having a job (a bad week - it happens, a bad month - not good but if the next month is back to normal/better to offset it, no problem, but a bad quarter and it's P45 time). Very few think they'll be around for the repeat business several years hence when dealing with a customer that they may or may not sell to today.

Partly self-fulfilling if they behave as described above, admittedly. Do bear in mind though that car salespeople are expected to follow up on every single lead that presents itself to them, even to the point of the person telling them to fk off (after that person has ignored many voicemails from the salesperson asking for conclusion).

If you buy something else, we don't actually take it personally or mind too much, so long as we can give an answer when asked why we didn't sell you/you didn't buy a car from us - because manufacturers and sales managers naturally assume that everybody who contacts a business with a sales enquiry will conclude in a sale. We know the reality is that's not the case, but there's a weird sort of doublethink that has to occur.

Instead of "getting on the be-back bus", it would be preferable to most salespeople I can think of if once having decided to buy something else, whether our product from a rival supplier or a competitor product, just let us know so we can answer the daily question that we will get asked until we do definitively know why we didn't sell you/you didn't buy a car from us/our business/our manufacturer. That's the feedback that is most necessary to change how a particular business operates and deals with its prospective buyers, however it's often the hardest to obtain.

In my experience, roughly a third buy, another third will give closure - eventually, following persistent follow-up and the final third will just peter out into nothing and no further contact/satisfactory conclusion in the eyes of the business.

It's really not a problem to hear "we went with another dealer's offer as it was better than yours when it came down to it/they had stock available where you didn't/we preferred another product/we decided to postpone our purchase for the foreseeable future". More people DON'T buy from us than DO, so we've heard it all before, many times and just want to get on with the next more viable prospect.

[CatJ]

Do we have anyone on here who deals with Vauxhall or Peugeot?

I'm replacing my Honda this year because of a promotion resulting in me having to upgrade to something along the lines of an Insignia or 508.

I had an absolutely fantastic sales experience yesterday at Volvo and the worst you can ever imagine at a Citroen dealer.

Edited by CatJ on Sunday 27th May 18:43

[markcoznottz]

daemon said:

No, and i never said it was.

Most car sales people think they are something special, maybe because they sell high value items. Sorry if that offends some , but anyone who has worked in the motor trade knows where I'm coming from. Arrogance is endemic, despite most being mostly uneducated.

[kentmotorcompany]

markcoznottz said:

Most car sales people think they are something special, maybe because they sell high value items. Sorry if that offends some , but anyone who has worked in the motor trade knows where I'm coming from. Arrogance is endemic, despite most being mostly uneducated.

So does being "educated" make you more special than others?

Sorry but the whole education snobbery thing offends me.


Besides that I actually agree with a lot of what is being said about the arrogant attitude displayed by a lot of car sales staff.

I like to think when I was there myself I wasn't arrogant at all. However I am human and I'm sure I slipped from time to time, and I do understand it. I certainly did not gel with everyone I met.
When all your best efforts, politeness, and charm are mostly rejected its human nature to develop a guard against this daily rejection. A lot of good salespeople (educated or not) manage to understand this process and remain professional most of the time, although none are perfect.

I'm on the other side of the fence now when buying trade cars from main dealers, and getting cars serviced. I find this attitude in a lot of places, but find it easy to bring the best out in people by the way I act when dealing with them, but still remain professional and get the best deal for me and my business.

It takes two to tango, and if you walk into a dealership with your defences up very few salespeople will manage to turn you around.

THe quickest way to lose any negotiation is to treat it as a confrontation. That goes for the buyer and seller.

[daemon]

markcoznottz said:

daemon said:

No, and i never said it was.

Most car sales people think they are something special, maybe because they sell high value items. Sorry if that offends some , but anyone who has worked in the motor trade knows where I'm coming from. Arrogance is endemic, despite most being mostly uneducated.

I'm a motor trader, with a degree in IT. Maybe its because i dont work in a shiny showroom i dont think like that.

FWIW i dont treat my customers with arrogance, being self employed i'm glad of every one i get.

[Lakeland9]

I don't care whether the car salesman's got a PhD or a GCSE Woodwork. What matters is being treated fairly and responding. I've been in the buying process twice just recently, for me and the O/H. Forgive me if I share experiences of them:

1. Audi A1 for O/H. Visit local dealer and all fine except she wants one with leather interior. Wants to see material samples to make up her mind. Cue confusion "we dont have samples, but there's a picture in the brochure". Eventually they say they'll get samples from Audi. We chase after a week and then again after two. Nothing. Ring dealer 2 20 miles away. He doesn't have the samples but says he'll get them. After ten days he has them. We go over and she orders one. Job done.

2 Range Rover Sport. I get in touch with dealer and have a few civilised chats with salesman. I email him with my spec and he says he'll let me know of any he has coming in to that spec. Email him again, asking for details. He has one or two coming but not perfect .Can I be flexible? Yes, I say and give him details of five colours/specs that would be ok. No response after two chasing emails and three phone messages left. Ring dealer 2, this time 80 miles away. Within 24 hours details of three vehicles supplied. One has just come out of build. Dealer supplies a very good price without being pursued about it. I order it and pick it up in 2 weeks.

So, buyers aren't all tits and time wasters, but some customer service does the trick. I don't doubt most successful salespeople know this ,but obviously some don't!

[Ari]

Hope it's ok to post a cross link to another post in here, but since you're the guys most likely to know, any chance you could have a look and drop a comment on this one for me?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Could have posted it straight in here but didn't want to clutter your thread with it.

[Fox-]

daemon said:

I'm a motor trader, with a degree in IT. Maybe its because i dont work in a shiny showroom i dont think like that.

FWIW i dont treat my customers with arrogance, being self employed i'm glad of every one i get.

Because you run your own business. You understand and care about more than simply how much commission there will be at the end of the month and whether the sales manager thinks you are awesome.

[daemon]

Fox- said:

daemon said:

I'm a motor trader, with a degree in IT. Maybe its because i dont work in a shiny showroom i dont think like that.

FWIW i dont treat my customers with arrogance, being self employed i'm glad of every one i get.

Because you run your own business. You understand and care about more than simply how much commission there will be at the end of the month and whether the sales manager thinks you are awesome.

Probably true.

[Balmoral]

The Crack Fox said:

AshCos said:

All buyers are liars

I have no idea why salesman often have such a bad reputation with an attitude like that, do you ?

It's broadly true though. People who ordinarily would not lie do not see any problem at all in lying like hell to a car salesman, it's considered perfectly acceptable. Ditto with after sales issues too, it's staggering.

[markmullen]

Balmoral said:

The Crack Fox said:

AshCos said:

All buyers are liars

I have no idea why salesman often have such a bad reputation with an attitude like that, do you ?

It's broadly true though. People who ordinarily would not lie do not see any problem at all in lying like hell to a car salesman, it's considered perfectly acceptable. Ditto with after sales issues too, it's staggering.

The number of people who'd "forgotten" they'd removed the spare wheel and tools from their part exchanges always puzzled me, did they have a garage full?

[lawrence567]

I've just put a deposit down today on a new, well new to me, car, a Smart Forfour Brabus, i've bought it completely blind, not test driven it, i've gone on the salesmans word & the keen eye of a local PH'er who i bribed with beer to check it over for me!
To say i'm nervous is an understatement! In the screen price i've managed to get 12 months MOT, 6 months Tax, an alloy wheel refurb, theres a few small scratches which're also getting sorted & a cam-belt change, the seller is also delivering it to South Devon from North Wales.
He did say i was extremely hard to do a deal with, whether that's a good thing or not, i don't know

[lawrence567]

I've just put a deposit down today on a new, well new to me, car, a Smart Forfour Brabus, i've bought it completely blind, not test driven it, i've gone on the salesmans word & the keen eye of a local PH'er who i bribed with beer to check it over for me!
To say i'm nervous is an understatement! In the screen price i've managed to get 12 months MOT, 6 months Tax, an alloy wheel refurb, theres a few small scratches which're also getting sorted & a cam-belt change, the seller is also delivering it to South Devon from North Wales.
He did say i was extremely hard to do a deal with, whether that's a good thing or not, i don't know

[LHD]

markmullen said:

Balmoral said:

The Crack Fox said:

AshCos said:

All buyers are liars

I have no idea why salesman often have such a bad reputation with an attitude like that, do you ?

It's broadly true though. People who ordinarily would not lie do not see any problem at all in lying like hell to a car salesman, it's considered perfectly acceptable. Ditto with after sales issues too, it's staggering.

The number of people who'd "forgotten" they'd removed the spare wheel and tools from their part exchanges always puzzled me, did they have a garage full?

Had a cracker this week.

Guy trading in a 2 year old RR Sport which was valued with its kosher Overfinch 22" wheels.

Handover day arrives and the car is running on an old set of 19" wheels with fked tyres.

Customer says 'You never priced it with them on'

Oh really - Lets look at your P/X appraisal form that you've signed...

'Oh'

And i'll have the road tax that has also mysteriously vanished off the screen too...

Why do people think it's ok to try and rip-off the motor trade? Would you try and shaft Comet when you're buying a fridge/freezer?

[Zwolf]

LHD said:

Oh really - Lets look at your P/X appraisal form that you've signed...

'Oh'

And i'll have the road tax that has also mysteriously vanished off the screen too...

The favourite lie IME is the "full service history" claimed at appraisal (but the books are at home, of course) and the PX valued accordingly. Deal done, new car ordered, a couple of months pass and...

Do people think we won't check that it actually does have the claimed and valued history when handover day arrives? What's the difference in value to you of an 8 year old, 60k mile FFRR both with - and without - full service history. *Slightly* different number on the invoice isn't it?

[LHD]

Zwolf said:

LHD said:

Oh really - Lets look at your P/X appraisal form that you've signed...

'Oh'

And i'll have the road tax that has also mysteriously vanished off the screen too...

The favourite lie IME is the "full service history" claimed at appraisal (but the books are at home, of course) and the PX valued accordingly. Deal done, new car ordered, a couple of months pass and...

Do people think we won't check that it actually does have the claimed and valued history when handover day arrives? What's the difference in value to you of an 8 year old, 60k mile FFRR both with - and without - full service history. *Slightly* different number on the invoice isn't it?

Very much so.

Thing is, if a customer is straight with me, i'll be straight back.

Try and drop my pants and see how far you get...

[Butter Face]

Zwolf said:

LHD said:

Oh really - Lets look at your P/X appraisal form that you've signed...

'Oh'

And i'll have the road tax that has also mysteriously vanished off the screen too...

The favourite lie IME is the "full service history" claimed at appraisal (but the books are at home, of course) and the PX valued accordingly. Deal done, new car ordered, a couple of months pass and...

Do people think we won't check that it actually does have the claimed and valued history when handover day arrives? What's the difference in value to you of an 8 year old, 60k mile FFRR both with - and without - full service history. *Slightly* different number on the invoice isn't it?

I've now taken to getting everything up front. Waiting until handover date has caused me nothing but hassle.

I say I need all paperwork at least 7 days before collection of the new car or no handover.

Sold a cracking car to an old school friend of mine today, doing very well for himself too!