Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
Sheepshanks said:
Why would a salesmen leave a Skoda dealership to work at a Honda one?
Wandering around a Honda showroom this morning while daughter's Jazz was being fettled, a salesman approached. Bit of a chat and he mentioned he'd recently moved which seems odd to me - Honda is absolutely on its arse and Skoda seems to be doing pretty well.
All kinds of reasons, whilst Skoda are doing better than Honda it may be a better package over all. Large groups can be awful to work for, late nights, hardly any weekend time off, constant changes to pay plans and lots of pressure for prospecting/appointments/add ons etcWandering around a Honda showroom this morning while daughter's Jazz was being fettled, a salesman approached. Bit of a chat and he mentioned he'd recently moved which seems odd to me - Honda is absolutely on its arse and Skoda seems to be doing pretty well.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Friday 23 February 16:20
When I started in retail I was allowed 4 Saturdays off a year and worked every other Sunday. A 2 week holiday could wipe out three quarters of your Saturdays.
Sales people move all the time from dealership and franchises, I would say the majority of us don't care what cars we sell its usually a balance between the money and time off.
Could care less if I work for Dacia or VW all cars at the end of the day
Only benefit would be a nice demo depending on the franchise but at my age that's not really a care
Could care less if I work for Dacia or VW all cars at the end of the day
Only benefit would be a nice demo depending on the franchise but at my age that's not really a care
Dan W. said:
Only benefit would be a nice demo depending on the franchise but at my age that's not really a care
Even that novelty wears off after a while. I'm more concerned about work/life balance and bank balance than what demo I have. Although I've always had my own car as well which helps
Fast Bug said:
All kinds of reasons, whilst Skoda are doing better than Honda it may be a better package over all. Large groups can be awful to work for, late nights, hardly any weekend time off, constant changes to pay plans and lots of pressure for prospecting/appointments/add ons etc
When I started in retail I was allowed 4 Saturdays off a year and worked every other Sunday. A 2 week holiday could wipe out three quarters of your Saturdays.
If he left the local Skoda dealer it's part of a tiny group and doesn't open on Sundays.When I started in retail I was allowed 4 Saturdays off a year and worked every other Sunday. A 2 week holiday could wipe out three quarters of your Saturdays.
I wanted to ask him, but he wandered off as his "tea was getting cold".
I never cease to be amazed - OK, perhaps he sussed us out as never wanting to buy another Honda again, but my wife (who was with me) has had two Jazz's and now has a Tiguan coming up to 3yrs old. We told him this while saying "oh look, CR-V has 3 isofox points in the back and the boot is bigger". His response was that CR-V is being replaced later this year!
Fun Bus said:
You can do Liverpool - Nottingham / Nottingham - Peterborough without changes can’t you?
I’ll suss it, going next Friday - really nice buying from an independent BMW dealer you can really tell the difference the sales guy is quite relaxed and they have been quite flexible. papa3 said:
I got to experience the customer perspective of our industry recently. I have never been so deluded that I thought there were no issues with customer service and transparency in the industry but I have also never bought a car from a dealership as a retail customer.
I had a requirement for 3 vans for one of our group businesses. They are tools bought to be used and abused so there is no emotion in the purchase. We had a preferred brand as we hold the authorised repair franchise making warranty and repair issues easy to manage.
A well known Scottish group had advertised on their website "Generic diesel van, brand new, only £7999+VAT"
Our normal supplier could not even come close, they were over £1,000 per van more expensive, and so I called the number on the web site. After a very friendly greeting the call handler (it was a central number for all inquiries) started upon the data capture spiel wanting 3 phone numbers and an email address, before I had even asked a question.
Once given a chance to speak I told the call handler I wanted to buy 3 of the vans on their website. She then started to try to set an appointment for me to see the vans at a local branch. I told her again I just wanted to buy 3, pay in full and arrange collection or delivery. This seemed to cause confusion. I was then transferred to their "Commercial sales team" who went through the whole process again. Again I let him know it was an outright purchase and we would pay the invoice in full. After another attempt to arrange an appointment to view the vans I was transferred to our local branch and spoke to the "Commercial manager"
No prizes for guessing but we had another crack at setting an appointment before I repeated the same request to be told, "Sorry, they've all sold, we do have some pre owned vehicles of the same model though." By this point I had lost the will to live but asked for the details of the used vehicles. They were 12 months old, average 10k on them and selling for.........£9999+VAT. 2 weeks later and the £7,999 vans were still on the website.
If this is indicative of the buying experience from a large group then the whole industry needs to have a serious look at itself. I have been away from the big group motor trade for a long time and have no desire to go back to it. By the time I got off the call I was thoroughly pissed off, and I knew what to expect from this type of organisation. As is often the case an entire industry gets tarred with one brush despite there being thousands of reputable dealers trying to offer a good service.
That's one side of the down side, but far from the only one. There are definitely good guys & girls out there, but too many lazy shysters out there in my recent-ish experience. They colour the picture far more than maybe they should & it will eventually pay dividends/ cause suffering.I had a requirement for 3 vans for one of our group businesses. They are tools bought to be used and abused so there is no emotion in the purchase. We had a preferred brand as we hold the authorised repair franchise making warranty and repair issues easy to manage.
A well known Scottish group had advertised on their website "Generic diesel van, brand new, only £7999+VAT"
Our normal supplier could not even come close, they were over £1,000 per van more expensive, and so I called the number on the web site. After a very friendly greeting the call handler (it was a central number for all inquiries) started upon the data capture spiel wanting 3 phone numbers and an email address, before I had even asked a question.
Once given a chance to speak I told the call handler I wanted to buy 3 of the vans on their website. She then started to try to set an appointment for me to see the vans at a local branch. I told her again I just wanted to buy 3, pay in full and arrange collection or delivery. This seemed to cause confusion. I was then transferred to their "Commercial sales team" who went through the whole process again. Again I let him know it was an outright purchase and we would pay the invoice in full. After another attempt to arrange an appointment to view the vans I was transferred to our local branch and spoke to the "Commercial manager"
No prizes for guessing but we had another crack at setting an appointment before I repeated the same request to be told, "Sorry, they've all sold, we do have some pre owned vehicles of the same model though." By this point I had lost the will to live but asked for the details of the used vehicles. They were 12 months old, average 10k on them and selling for.........£9999+VAT. 2 weeks later and the £7,999 vans were still on the website.
If this is indicative of the buying experience from a large group then the whole industry needs to have a serious look at itself. I have been away from the big group motor trade for a long time and have no desire to go back to it. By the time I got off the call I was thoroughly pissed off, and I knew what to expect from this type of organisation. As is often the case an entire industry gets tarred with one brush despite there being thousands of reputable dealers trying to offer a good service.
Fast Bug said:
Dan W. said:
Only benefit would be a nice demo depending on the franchise but at my age that's not really a care
Even that novelty wears off after a while. I'm more concerned about work/life balance and bank balance than what demo I have. Although I've always had my own car as well which helps
Phil37 said:
On adverts the term "Participating Dealers Only" is often mooted.
Under what circumstances would a dealer not be participating?
As mentioned earlier, some of the offers are oart funded by the dealer and they may not wish to do that. A manufacturer cannot force a dealer to comply with these offers, although I'm sure any dealers that didn't comply wouldn't be looked on too favourably Under what circumstances would a dealer not be participating?
Dan W. said:
Grahamdub said:
Grahamdub said:
Is it normal to arrive to collect your new (used) car from a main dealer to find the jobs you requested be done before sale not done. Then keep you waiting for 2 hours while they were done (it wasn't exactly local, so not worth returning later). It was at the lower end of their price range admittedly, but I was shocked at how bad the overall experience was. Do main dealers now only care about leasing the latest models and just tolerate used car buyers ?
Update on my above post - I sent an email to the garage after I received a letter from them asking about my experience. After a few emails back and forward, they are collecting the car on Monday and leaving me with a new loan car while they sort out the jobs on mine. Saves me a 180 mile round trip and I get an XC60 to play with for a few days.Grahamdub said:
Update on my above post - I sent an email to the garage after I received a letter from them asking about my experience. After a few emails back and forward, they are collecting the car on Monday and leaving me with a new loan car while they sort out the jobs on mine. Saves me a 180 mile round trip and I get an XC60 to play with for a few days.
If I understand you correctly - while your car is being sorted, you have to drive around in a ovlov?That's not so good, is it?
Deerfoot said:
Wills2 said:
Sounds like great service to me, customer has an issue and they are solving it.
Great service would've been completing the jobs prior to handover as requested.My guess is the dealer realised the distance the customer was away from them and chanced their arm..
Eyersey1234 said:
What percentage of sales are on some kind of finance (PCP, HP, lease etc) as opposed to a cash sale?
As a punter, I'm going to take a guess at 8/10 or there abouts for new/nearly new cars. The salesman I was dealing with re a Civic Type-R purchase this month said I was the first to buy one from him that wasn't on PCP or otherwise financed. (That might be because he hasn't sold many tho and the no-finance route for me is just that it suits me better in this case, not an anti-finance thing) Eyersey1234 said:
What percentage of sales are on some kind of finance (PCP, HP, lease etc) as opposed to a cash sale?
Every dealer will report slightly different figures but typically:Retail New Cars; 70% funded by dealer arranged finance
Used Cars: 50% by dealer arranged finance
Of course we don't know how many of those "Cash" Buyers have sorted out personal finance elsewhere rather than robbing the piggy bank.
Bear in mind that Retail is only half of the total market. If you include Corporate and Fleet in the New Car figures, including those businesses that lease company vehicles in dozens or hundreds at a time then only a tiny proportion of brand new cars are paid for "cash".
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