The Car Salesman's Thread
Discussion
Deva Link said:
I wish I'd have been able to walk out of the Golf purchase but I was buying it for my daughter, although she was at least as pissed off with the salesman as I was.
MB Direct, although the sales guy was very good with the car, we came a cropper when we got the finance bit. They'd included StarShield in the invoice price without previously mentioning it and I asked them to take it out. They refused. So I refused to sign the StarShield docs.
We reached a bit of stand off. My leased company car had just been collected from outside the showroom (and they knew that) and I was 100 miles from home. In the end they said if I signed they'd give me the phone system cradle (it's a click-in thing in a Merc and costs £150ish) FOC. So I signed.
So, what you are saying is that the first time you actually knew what you had paid for the car was at point of pick up? No purchase order beforehand? No idea what/wasnt included? MB Direct, although the sales guy was very good with the car, we came a cropper when we got the finance bit. They'd included StarShield in the invoice price without previously mentioning it and I asked them to take it out. They refused. So I refused to sign the StarShield docs.
We reached a bit of stand off. My leased company car had just been collected from outside the showroom (and they knew that) and I was 100 miles from home. In the end they said if I signed they'd give me the phone system cradle (it's a click-in thing in a Merc and costs £150ish) FOC. So I signed.
Oh and what are these starshield 'documents' that you refused to sign?
Utter made up rubbish again Deva.
Nite.
Edited by TVR1 on Friday 12th October 00:33
LHD said:
If the StarGuard was included at the price you had agreed then what's the issue?
You had agreed a price to change, does it matter what the dealer has included?
I also don't believe they had actually treated the car - their 'proof' was giving me the take away pack. They told me they treat all the cars as they're prepped for sale. Maybe they do, but I didn't believe them and I've put similar stuff on cars myself.You had agreed a price to change, does it matter what the dealer has included?
Deva Link said:
45p is the standard mileage allowance allowed by HMRC without it attracting tax.
It is. For the first 10k miles. 25p per mile thereafter, so you get £7k back for 20k miles, rather than £9k and £9.5k for 30k miles rather than £13.5k. Out of which you need to cover buying the car, accounting for depreciation, insurance, VED and maintenance before you even get to fuelling the thing. Unless of course it's a company owned vehicle upon which you pay BIK instead of all of that stuff and reclaim your mileage instead of having a fuel card and pay a flat amount of Company Car Fuel Benefit that's irrespective of mileage covered.
Zwolf said:
Deva Link said:
45p is the standard mileage allowance allowed by HMRC without it attracting tax.
It is. For the first 10k miles. 25p per mile thereafter, so you get £7k back for 20k miles, rather than £9k and £9.5k for 30k miles rather than £13.5k. Out of which you need to cover buying the car, accounting for depreciation, insurance, VED and maintenance before you even get to fuelling the thing. $1000 (we operate and report in USD) a day sounds a lot but if you work out what an employee actually costs in salary, expenses, bonus, pension, training etc etc it's easy to get to that figure. In fact thinking about it, it's probably more than that.
My clients are usually not in driving distance, but spread across Germany/Europe.
It costs roughly 1000 GBP/EUR to meet a client for us, and that is excluding cost of opportunity/share of overheads, only direct out-of-pocket expenses.
Trip to London: 300-600 EUR for ticket (Econonomy, booked 2 weeks ahead, fly in-and-out on same day), 2x 40 EUR Taxi Frankfurt City-Airport-City, 2 x 80 GBP Healthrow-SW1-Heathrow...
It costs roughly 1000 GBP/EUR to meet a client for us, and that is excluding cost of opportunity/share of overheads, only direct out-of-pocket expenses.
Trip to London: 300-600 EUR for ticket (Econonomy, booked 2 weeks ahead, fly in-and-out on same day), 2x 40 EUR Taxi Frankfurt City-Airport-City, 2 x 80 GBP Healthrow-SW1-Heathrow...
TVR1 said:
Twaddle.
Why didnt you just buy it then?
'unhelpful' dealership can often be translated as 'they wouldn't give me the discount I wanted'.
Twaddle? What, you were there?Why didnt you just buy it then?
'unhelpful' dealership can often be translated as 'they wouldn't give me the discount I wanted'.
Edited by TVR1 on Thursday 11th October 23:22
I was utterly frustrated, and had, I thought, agreed a price. I was then wheeled through a series of hoops, and lost patience. There are plenty of Mercedes out there, and, after being told that paperwork would take far longer to process than I'd originally been promised (which meant I'd get the car almost a week later than agreed), I simply cancelled the order and asked for my deposit back. Which took an age to get, by the way.
There are many Mercedes out there, and I simply bought elsewhere. Customers are a funny bunch, and I can't bear being messed about. Irrationally, I'll simply not put up with that and am quite prepared, as in this case, to give up the time invested thus far simply because I hate the feeling of being taken advantage of.
TVR1 said:
Others have been been polite Deva but i have no need to be. Really. In your B2B sales, do you declare your mark up and commission? Of course you don't. You are once again being a cock. And a troll of the worst order, in that you see no merit in what any of us do for a living but only choose to criticise whilst knowing that we have a bloody good time doing it and are jealous of both the income we have and the fun.
If you are so unhappy with your life Deva, perhaps look for something else.
But in the mean time, please take your misery and negativity somewhere else on PH. You are not welcome on thus thread anymore.
Seriously.
As the big man said "Ignore him he's from Barcelona" (Deva that is he likes an audience}If you are so unhappy with your life Deva, perhaps look for something else.
But in the mean time, please take your misery and negativity somewhere else on PH. You are not welcome on thus thread anymore.
Seriously.
Edited by AtticusFinch on Friday 12th October 07:58
longblackcoat said:
TVR1 said:
Twaddle.
Why didnt you just buy it then?
'unhelpful' dealership can often be translated as 'they wouldn't give me the discount I wanted'.
Twaddle? What, you were there?Why didnt you just buy it then?
'unhelpful' dealership can often be translated as 'they wouldn't give me the discount I wanted'.
Edited by TVR1 on Thursday 11th October 23:22
I was utterly frustrated, and had, I thought, agreed a price. I was then wheeled through a series of hoops, and lost patience. There are plenty of Mercedes out there, and, after being told that paperwork would take far longer to process than I'd originally been promised (which meant I'd get the car almost a week later than agreed), I simply cancelled the order and asked for my deposit back. Which took an age to get, by the way.
There are many Mercedes out there, and I simply bought elsewhere. Customers are a funny bunch, and I can't bear being messed about. Irrationally, I'll simply not put up with that and am quite prepared, as in this case, to give up the time invested thus far simply because I hate the feeling of being taken advantage of.
Our F&I pen was the lowest in the group ( we are the smallest dealer). Last year the MD moved one of the high achievers from a nearby inner city dealer to us in an attempt to improve things.
In the first month he had 2 customers walk away from deals because he wouldn't accept that when they said "I DONT WANT THAT" they meant it, and continued to try and and push F&I down there throats.
He lasted 6 months before the MD moved him back again, as his figures all round had dropped to such a low level he could hardly earn a living.
The dealership that I work in is small and in small town in an extremely wealthy part of the UK, many footballers and "celebs" live here, our finance penetration on anything but new on 0% or commercials is rubbish, our customers just glaze over when the subject of finance is raised, they will take GAP and paint protection, particularly the paint protection but any kind of finance with interest is a no no.
Rushmore said:
What is this "paint protection" anyway? I assume some mechanic rubbing some sort of wax onto the paintwork - how long does it take to do that? One hour? Two?
There are many different brands about, but in essance they are a glaze that is applied to paintwork to give it a long lasting shine which will require little maintance. Most systems also include an interior stain guard for the seats carpets etc. Most are backed by a guarantee, and cost from £300 - £600.They are applied in most cases by the valeters as they prepare a car for sale. Takes an extra hour tops.
As has been said elsewere you are probably better saving your money and have a decent detailer come round and clean the car properly, and correct all the paint swirls that the dealers valater has put into your new P&J with his gritty sponge. Most detailers will put a glaze on after polish anyway and will probably cost you about £250 ish.
Edited by oldnbold on Friday 12th October 13:27
Rushmore said:
Fully trained as in....MSc in Automotive Exterior Maintenance Engineering? 60k GBP / Year?
So, to cut it short, 5 GBP lotion, 100 GBP for grease monkey - still quite a good margin for the dealer.
Fully trained in as in off dole, 1/2 day training, £6.50 per hour type person and between £25 and £50 worth of product.So, to cut it short, 5 GBP lotion, 100 GBP for grease monkey - still quite a good margin for the dealer.
But don't forget dealer has to pay for premises and other business costs 7 days a week, so although it looks like a huge margin its not as big as you think.
I have to say that I retired early a couple of months ago at 51, but in my time selling cars "paint protection" was the one item I hated selling.
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