Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.

[Mercury00]

Butter Face said:

The penis photos would be a nice touch.

Gift card maybe, but could be a bit condescending if you get the wrong ones, flowers are always a safe bet, or just a bottle of wine, pretty universal.

I know nothing about wine tbh, I think I'd probably cause offence by buying something terrible like white wine vinegar.

[spreadsheet monkey]

Butter Face said:

The Mad Monk said:

Mr Car Salesman, I have a question, please.

Would you recommend buying a LandRover Freelander?

My colleague has just bought a Freelander 2 (retail from another dealer) I think it’s a 13 plate HSE Lux (maybe) and it’s a nice wagon and he’s changed from a 420d GC and thinks he’s got a good car.

OK, to slightly rephrase the question, how keen would you be on a high spec 6 year old Freelander coming in as a p/x?

I'd love a brand new LR or RR with full warranty backup, and I'd quite enjoy having an old LR that I could mend with a hammer and a penknife, but I'm not sure I fancy the middle ground of LRs where they're new enough to have all the latest electric toys but old enough for them to start going wrong.

[toasty]

Here's a question - Is it commonplace to advertise a car as "Coming Soon" with a certain price and then bump up the price if interest is shown before it actually is made available for sale?

I'm looking at M5s and saw one up for £36.5k, registered interest but it wasn't yet available, the next day it was up for just over £37k. Is this likely to be due to unexpected costs in preparation for sale or just a ploy to squeeze a bit more from the customer?

[4941cc]

silentbrown said:

Question for used sales guys: If I buy a car advertised by a dealer as "two previous owners", will I be the third owner, or the fourth...?

In other words, do you advertise it based on what the V5 says...

Hopefully not as silly as it sounds.

Two previous owners, plus the current RK, so you would become the fourth, is what I'd assume it translates as.

Phone and ask them, rather than ponder it aimlessly on the internet, they can clear it up in a few seconds. Or carry out your own HPI check (which also shows previous RKs, so you have to add the current).

It *could* mean two including the current, but always assume the worst of two possibilities if there are more than one, when it comes to used vehicles.

[4941cc]

toasty said:

Here's a question - Is it commonplace to advertise a car as "Coming Soon" with a certain price and then bump up the price if interest is shown before it actually is made available for sale?

I'm looking at M5s and saw one up for £36.5k, registered interest but it wasn't yet available, the next day it was up for just over £37k. Is this likely to be due to unexpected costs in preparation for sale or just a ploy to squeeze a bit more from the customer?

A little from column A...

[Mercury00]

An update on the gift conundrum: I decided against the penis pics and bought some spanish wine that had a nice picture on the bottle. She seemed to like it.

[HTP99]

Mercury00 said:

An update on the gift conundrum: I decided against the penis pics and bought some spanish wine that had a nice picture on the bottle. She seemed to like it.

Shame, I wanted to hear all about her reaction upon seeing a few pics of your old boy!!

[anonymous-user]

HTP99 said:

Shame, I wanted to hear all about her reaction upon seeing a few pics of your old boy!!

'hey girl, have a look whats under the hood'

[silentbrown]

Mercury00 said:

An update on the gift conundrum: I decided against the penis pics and bought some spanish wine that had a nice picture on the bottle. She seemed to like it.

You could have printed your own labels and hit both targets...

Or, a bottle of Tezhi Sanbian Jiu?

[anonymous-user]

Is this a sales technique or just a poor salesman.

Discussions over phone and email and figures roughly discussed. Go in following chats and the figures for a PCP now 22% more a month than discussed on the phone. When pointed out, they then do the mental maths similar to Peter Kay doing the Greggs lady and start trying to confuse me with numbers by doing nonsense calculations and making up numbers and figures.

Felt it was all done to confuse me, while having me look at the shiny thing I might buy.

Ultimately it didnt work, but interested if this is a technique or a muppet? (If a technique I can understand the types of psychological triggers they are attempted to manipulate on the assumption they had read one pop sci book.

[4941cc]

Bit of a monkey.

I'd wager that the extra monthlies were due to the addition of a full package of add-on products, none of which carry any benefit to the GMFV/Optional Purchase Payment - usually good for an extra £50pm.

[anonymous-user]

4941cc said:

Bit of a monkey.

I'd wager that the extra monthlies were due to the addition of a full package of add-on products, none of which carry any benefit to the GMFV/Optional Purchase Payment - usually good for an extra £50pm.

The only additional pack was a £600 pack, but that would not explain the near £4600 difference in quotes

[anonymous-user]

Rolling in negative equity from the p/x?

[silentbrown]

euphoricmess said:

The only additional pack was a £600 pack, but that would not explain the near £4600 difference in quotes

The monthly figure depends on just three things: How much you're borrowing, the interest rate, and the size of the balloon.

[anonymous-user]

Simonium said:

Rolling in negative equity from the p/x?

My car not included in deal.

I also get how it's worked out. The math is very simple. The issue is how they have come to two so varied figures. One to get me in the showroom then another once I'm in.

There was none of the usual we can get the payment down if you pay X more upfront.

The change from on the phone to in was the monthlies changed. Nothing else.

Feels a con. Would hope it's just the guy being a Muppet and getting the numbers wrong or chancing his arm, rather than a common tactic.

[Butter Face]

Sounds like a fk up to me.

[TopGear7]

Received incredibly good service from my local Jaguar dealership last week:

Walked in and greeted by a lovely old lady at reception desk, asked me to take a seat and offered me a coffee while she found an available salesman who could deal with me.

Take a seat at the sales guys desk, tell him which car I've come to view, he gets the key, brings it around the front and tells me to go have a nose around. He's back at his desk, so I have the car to myself to check as I please with no pressure tactics or someone breathing down my neck.

I come back in and he's got all the details up on the screen. Tells me its full service history record, where it's been serviced, the fact they replaced a tyre on it when it came in. Was honest about how long that car had been sitting at the dealership for and not selling due to the unusual colour. Had a good chat about Jags in general. Told him I did not want to test drive or discuss numbers at this point as I'm not 100% sure and need to sell my car first.

I received a text message a few days ago from the sales man advising me the car had now been sold but if he could help with anything else to let him know.

Ideal dealership experience.

[4941cc]

TopGear7 said:

Ideal dealership experience.

Not from the dealership's point of view...

[talksthetorque]

4941cc said:

Not from the dealership's point of view...

They sold one car and impressed a tyre kicker possible future client who also praised them on Social Media.
Oh hang on they didn't get named.

They sold a car.

[4941cc]

talksthetorque said:

4941cc said:

Not from the dealership's point of view...

They sold one car and impressed a tyre kicker possible future client who also praised them on Social Media.
Oh hang on they didn't get named.

They sold a car.

They didn't sell a car from the interaction though. Try paying your bills with social media praise...