Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
Rewe said:
Have you ever felt so unsafe on a test drive that you made the customer pull over?
Porsche dealership I worked at had a customer event a few years before I joined with some more professional drivers than us sales people. We had a police driving instructor as one of the drivers and he was killed when the customer came off the road and killed them both.On a slightly fmdifferent note, one of my colleagues was threatened at knifepoint on a demo whilst selling Range Rovers. He pulled over and got out and let the bloke drive off keeping my colleagues phone. Colleague flagged a passing car down and rang the dealership who called the police and activated the tracker, thief was caught in a few hours.
Q
Mark Mullens formally of this parish had a bad accident on a demo as well. From memory I think the customer got confused and hit the accelerator and went through a set of lights collecting another car. Fairly sure Mark's back was knackered for a while after that.
Luckily I've never been involved in an accident on demo, I've had a few scary ones and stopped 2. Luckily I don't do demos anymore
Luckily I've never been involved in an accident on demo, I've had a few scary ones and stopped 2. Luckily I don't do demos anymore
It's amazing how you subconsciously criticize other people's standards of driving on demos.
I know people are driving cars they are perhaps not used to, or are maybe a little nervous, but the driving standards I witness every day on demos is downright terrible.
Slipping clutches I can understand to a point, but whenever I jump into a different car as I do hundreds of times a month, I never have a problem guaging a cars clutch after the first 10 seconds.
But customers?, After they have ridden the clutch for 5 miles constantly, they will then pipe up and say ' there's something wrong with this clutch' or my favourite 'whats wrong with this clutch'?,
How the fook do I know,? your the one driving it!
Say there is 'nothing wrong with the clutch' and you just get stupid silence and they continue on slipping and riding it for the rest of the drive.
Occasionally, I will swap over and me drive it for a few miles, to prove a point, but it's frustrating when they should be able to drive adequately themselves. I'm not a driving instructor.
I have had people answering mobiles on test drives, pulling out on people, ignoring traffic lights, meandering all over the road, the list goes on.
You do risk your life on probably a good 30 per cent of demos at some point of other.
I know people are driving cars they are perhaps not used to, or are maybe a little nervous, but the driving standards I witness every day on demos is downright terrible.
Slipping clutches I can understand to a point, but whenever I jump into a different car as I do hundreds of times a month, I never have a problem guaging a cars clutch after the first 10 seconds.
But customers?, After they have ridden the clutch for 5 miles constantly, they will then pipe up and say ' there's something wrong with this clutch' or my favourite 'whats wrong with this clutch'?,
How the fook do I know,? your the one driving it!
Say there is 'nothing wrong with the clutch' and you just get stupid silence and they continue on slipping and riding it for the rest of the drive.
Occasionally, I will swap over and me drive it for a few miles, to prove a point, but it's frustrating when they should be able to drive adequately themselves. I'm not a driving instructor.
I have had people answering mobiles on test drives, pulling out on people, ignoring traffic lights, meandering all over the road, the list goes on.
You do risk your life on probably a good 30 per cent of demos at some point of other.
Edited by Mexman on Tuesday 14th May 21:14
Edited by Mexman on Tuesday 14th May 21:17
CharlesdeGaulle said:
Butter Face said:
CharlesdeGaulle said:
Fast Bug said:
Mark Mullens formally of this parish ...
What happened to him? I liked his posts. 
Mexman said:
You do risk your life on probably a good 30 per cent of demos at some point of other.
Sounds scarily improbable but most likely true. There were no real safety standards on cars either, when I was selling cars all those yonks ago.I got properly frightened on many test drives and ended up letting people go out by themselves, after they signed a disclaimer and a time sheet in case they got caught by the speed camera down the road.
How some of these people ever passed a driving test is beyond me.
Not a scary example, just a Darwin's theory candidate:
I was out on a run with a woman in an old Renault, can't remember which model, probably a 5. When we came to a roundabout, I asked her to go right ie take the third exit at 3 o'clock.
She indicated right. As old Renaults used to do, both the left & right green direction arrows started flashing on the dashboard in front of her. She freaked out.
"This is ridiculous! How am I supposed to know which way to go? This car is dangerous!"
Breathtaking. These people can vote, too.
Perhaps there’s a TV programme here in the making... how good a car salesman/woman/person are you? Pitch wannabe ‘professionals’ against each other in a dealership and see how they do. Actually, I’m sure this has been done already. If not, contact me for bank account details for the royalty payments.
HTP99 said:
Just the other day I was closing on a "cash" deal, I explained our policy on requiring a bank transfer for the final payment, they guy said "I can't be bothered with that hassle", lets go for the PCP.
True story!
It’s probably much easier just to take your finance then ring the finance company and pay it off over the phone with his debit card True story!
w1bbles said:
Perhaps there’s a TV programme here in the making... how good a car salesman/woman/person are you? Pitch wannabe ‘professionals’ against each other in a dealership and see how they do. Actually, I’m sure this has been done already. If not, contact me for bank account details for the royalty payments.
Looks like there’s a spot free in the ITV schedules 
Rewe said:
Have you ever felt so unsafe on a test drive that you made the customer pull over?
Twice in fact. One was a motability Granny Gribble in an EGC Bipper, and the second was a bloke (in his forties) who test drove a 208 GTi. The first was fully aware her reflexes had not just waned but vanished entirely, which resulted in an even 25mph everywhere, but an even 25mph with no observation. At all. . The second because he had channelled his inner McRae and was frothingly dangerous. Having thought about it, his driving was so bad he just have been a techie. [quote=buyer&seller]
Utter tripe, instead of remembering what used to happen I suggest you find out what is happening now in 2019, you will find that debit cards are now charged as a percentage.
[/quote]
I’m happy to be corrected. However unless it’s an Amex amount, there is still no good grounds for refusing card transactions. If your business model needs that percentage to remain profitable, it’s not a very good model. Also I do apologise for remembering all the way back to December 2018.
Utter tripe, instead of remembering what used to happen I suggest you find out what is happening now in 2019, you will find that debit cards are now charged as a percentage.
[/quote]
I’m happy to be corrected. However unless it’s an Amex amount, there is still no good grounds for refusing card transactions. If your business model needs that percentage to remain profitable, it’s not a very good model. Also I do apologise for remembering all the way back to December 2018.
Simonium said:
I’m happy to be corrected. However unless it’s an Amex amount, there is still no good grounds for refusing card transactions. If your business model needs that percentage to remain profitable, it’s not a very good model. Also I do apologise for remembering all the way back to December 2018.
1.9% of a whole car is a lot of money. 1.9% of a £500 TV with a 30% mark-up is one thing, but £190 out of a £10k car with £1000 profit in it is a big deal, especially as the customer can easily solve the problem by paying bank transfer at no cost to themselves.
Could easily be costing you 20% of your gross profit. Ouch.
You won't get an £80 tank of fuel any more, or even a £40 half-tank usually, so expecting the garage to happily throw £190 away is somewhat wishful.
Whats the best way to haggle down price?
On average - what kind of reduction can someone see if they haggle well?
Why do they always ask me on the phone - how are you looking to pay for the car? This is again, something i've been told is a huge part of the dance between you and salesmen in terms of how much you can get off a car?
In my head, if you are a cash buyer, you should be valued, but according to 'the internet', the people most valued are the ones who are going to pay finance. I want to be able to haggle down price, but not at the cost of getting finance that makes the total price just as expensive/more expensive than the original price. I dont see any benefit in someone knocking the cars price down from 18k to 17k, just to put me on finance that results in me paying back £18.2k
Is it true that you should ALWAYS come to an agreement on price before discussing how it will be paid for?
On average - what kind of reduction can someone see if they haggle well?
Why do they always ask me on the phone - how are you looking to pay for the car? This is again, something i've been told is a huge part of the dance between you and salesmen in terms of how much you can get off a car?
In my head, if you are a cash buyer, you should be valued, but according to 'the internet', the people most valued are the ones who are going to pay finance. I want to be able to haggle down price, but not at the cost of getting finance that makes the total price just as expensive/more expensive than the original price. I dont see any benefit in someone knocking the cars price down from 18k to 17k, just to put me on finance that results in me paying back £18.2k
Is it true that you should ALWAYS come to an agreement on price before discussing how it will be paid for?
Finance is king. Nice commission earner for the dealer and the sales guy.
Cash?....Meh.
If you are not buying the car on finance, what is the alternative to cash?.....Chocolate buttons?
As regards how much discount, impossible to answer.
Why should you even get a discount?
Type of car, rare car, priced well, just in stock, phone melting with enquiries?
Cannot answer that question, no-one can.
Cash?....Meh.
If you are not buying the car on finance, what is the alternative to cash?.....Chocolate buttons?
As regards how much discount, impossible to answer.
Why should you even get a discount?
Type of car, rare car, priced well, just in stock, phone melting with enquiries?
Cannot answer that question, no-one can.
Edited by Mexman on Wednesday 15th May 13:21
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