Advice on car windscreen issue with main dealer needed
Discussion
Mexman said:
Clearly indeed, I have no mechanical knowledge or tools to perform multi point checks, I have a team of techies to do that and get paid for it.
My techies do not come out on to the pitch and sell cars, or value part exchanges or propose finance or do test drives funnily enough.
The last salesman I dealt with (in October) gave a sMy techies do not come out on to the pitch and sell cars, or value part exchanges or propose finance or do test drives funnily enough.
t what happened in his workshop.He made sure my car was right.
The guy was superb - main dealer franchise.
You allude to the fact that you don't give a s
t what happens in your workshop - not my problem Guv, not my area of expertise, blah blah ...pass the buck.Good salesmen take an interest. That doesn't mean they get their hands dirty.
Good salesmen get repeat business.
And a nice case of wine.
[
Edited by Red 4 on Saturday 20th January 18:14
Red 4 said:
The last salesman I dealt with (in October) gave a st what happened in his workshop.
He made sure my car was right.
The guy was superb - main dealer franchise.
You allude to the fact that you don't - not my problem Guv, not my area of expertise, blah blah ...pass the buck.
Good salesmen take an interest.
They get repeat business.
And a nice case of wine.
Well, he persuaded you that he did...t what happened in his workshop.He made sure my car was right.
The guy was superb - main dealer franchise.
You allude to the fact that you don't - not my problem Guv, not my area of expertise, blah blah ...pass the buck.
Good salesmen take an interest.
They get repeat business.
And a nice case of wine.
THAT's how good a salesman he was. Or how gullible a punter you were.
Mexman said:
Clearly indeed, I have no mechanical knowledge or tools to perform multi point checks, I have a team of techies to do that and get paid for it.
My techies do not come out on to the pitch and sell cars, or value part exchanges or propose finance or do test drives funnily enough.
No-one expects you to, but in my long experience of working in main dealers, the salesmen who engaged with the service dept and the parts guys to ensure their sales were properly prepared with all the correct accessories fitted etc, sold more vehicles than those who just expect it all served up on a plate and actually attracted repeat business.My techies do not come out on to the pitch and sell cars, or value part exchanges or propose finance or do test drives funnily enough.
Techs do sell cars, maybe not directly, but by their actions/attitude/attention to detail etc they do. Same as all the employees in the dealership, regardless of job title.
sasha320 said:
The windscreen has HUD, traffic sign monitoring, active cruise control and lane keeping assist - all factors that make the screen (or fitting it) higher cost possibly?
I very much doubt any of that other than possibly the HUD makes any difference to the windscreen. The HUD might need a reflective area on the screen, or it might be there as standard. The ACC will be radar in the grille somewhere, the rest will just be a camera.Personally in your situation I'd just have thought "oh fair enough, that area's been repaired before, that's bad luck but it's probably taken another stone and it can't be repaired so stump up the excess and fit a new screen". Maybe I'm soft, but I wouldn't have thought about going back to the dealer for that on a used car. Life's too short for the sake of an excess, a windscreen replacement really isn't a big deal, most of them have got sensors/cameras/heating elements on them these days. YMMV.
OP - Glassman knows his stuff (the clue's in the username
), so I'd give him the info he wants as he can probably help you out way more than anyone else on here.I don’t believe you guys would have behaved like you’re suggesting.
Let me elaborate - you collect an expensive million point checked used car.
You drive it home 40 Miles, collect the kids from school the next day 10 Miles and go for a meeting 50 Miles. You park the car up and now you notice you have spider cracks across your windscreen because of a failed previous repair you didn’t do....
My business deals with customers (I personally don’t, because I don’t have the required patience and take everything to heart) and on my experience there is no way most of my clients would say “ah well, don’t worry - mustn’t grumble - one of them things guv. I’ll buy a new screen”... wouldn’t happen. Most of them want to violate me because the courier was four minutes late or because their ten pound gadget failed after six years of use - never mind this.
Let me elaborate - you collect an expensive million point checked used car.
You drive it home 40 Miles, collect the kids from school the next day 10 Miles and go for a meeting 50 Miles. You park the car up and now you notice you have spider cracks across your windscreen because of a failed previous repair you didn’t do....
My business deals with customers (I personally don’t, because I don’t have the required patience and take everything to heart) and on my experience there is no way most of my clients would say “ah well, don’t worry - mustn’t grumble - one of them things guv. I’ll buy a new screen”... wouldn’t happen. Most of them want to violate me because the courier was four minutes late or because their ten pound gadget failed after six years of use - never mind this.
2CV gets it.
I am not even allowed to set foot inside the workshop bays, let alone have any desire to want to go in there.
That is a techies domain and the workshop controllers job to staff and quality/time control.
Even if I wanted to venture in there, it does not help me sell cars, standing over a techie watching him/telling him his job.
I would get told to fk off pretty quickly.
I cannot sell cars and earn a living sitting in the workshop drinking tea with techies.
You obviously have no idea what a sales persons job is, let me educate you, it is to sell cars, no more, no less, and that is what is expected of us, or we are very quickly shown the door.
The salesman may be your best friend when you are buying, but trust me, a salesman will not want you as a new bezzy mate and a busy salesman certainly will not be interested in listening to a customer dribble on about a chipped windscreen on a car he has sold and delivered and ultimately been paid for.
All he is interested in is the next deal.
Harsh but true.
I am not even allowed to set foot inside the workshop bays, let alone have any desire to want to go in there.
That is a techies domain and the workshop controllers job to staff and quality/time control.
Even if I wanted to venture in there, it does not help me sell cars, standing over a techie watching him/telling him his job.
I would get told to f
k off pretty quickly.I cannot sell cars and earn a living sitting in the workshop drinking tea with techies.
You obviously have no idea what a sales persons job is, let me educate you, it is to sell cars, no more, no less, and that is what is expected of us, or we are very quickly shown the door.
The salesman may be your best friend when you are buying, but trust me, a salesman will not want you as a new bezzy mate and a busy salesman certainly will not be interested in listening to a customer dribble on about a chipped windscreen on a car he has sold and delivered and ultimately been paid for.
All he is interested in is the next deal.
Harsh but true.
Mexman said:
Julian Thompson said:
Come on that’s hardly fair - he’s done 100 Miles and the repair has failed. If that had been any other kind of repair that had lasted 100 Miles the dealer would have been expected to sort it. If the screen was marginal for a repair in the first instance the dealer should have changed it.
I’m all for buying new because many used cars are rubbish - but the dealers need to start actually doing what they say they do in their nonsense:
“Buy a used XYZ approved used car with two million point check and perfect history. We hand select only the best cars blah blah blah.” It’s utter bollards and they sell anything they can get their hands on and cross their fingers. If they did start inspecting cars and properly evaluating them and bidding on quality and condition rather than that stupid “cap book” then the used car buying experience would be much better.
Yeah, its all bollards isn't it? Bloody dealers, blah, blah, and I suppose you would have been over the moon wouldn't you if this was your car that you took in to be appraised at part exchange time and the nasty salesman told you he was going to chip you £300 on the part exchange price, because the windscreen had a chip in it??I’m all for buying new because many used cars are rubbish - but the dealers need to start actually doing what they say they do in their nonsense:
“Buy a used XYZ approved used car with two million point check and perfect history. We hand select only the best cars blah blah blah.” It’s utter bollards and they sell anything they can get their hands on and cross their fingers. If they did start inspecting cars and properly evaluating them and bidding on quality and condition rather than that stupid “cap book” then the used car buying experience would be much better.
You would be on here moaning that you got offered a s
t part exchange price and the chip could be repaired for £20 blah, blah.We cannot win can we, damned if we do, damned if we don't.
Bloody customers, go buy a new one if you don't want used condition.
Edited by Mexman on Saturday 20th January 17:03
Edited by Mexman on Saturday 20th January 17:04
No - the issue at play is that I am perfectly prepared to pay above the odds for a beautifully prepared and carefully rectified used car.
Just don’t try to sell me a piece of cack with covered up issues at that above the odds price. Instead - reject some cars. Tell the truth - stand firm - not every used car is any good. Some deals are toxic and you need to stay away from them and not pass the toxicity on to the next customer in the hope he won’t notice....
Julian Thompson said:
I...and now you notice you have spider cracks across your windscreen...
Spiders that are <40mm, maybe even <10mm.Julian Thompson said:
...because of a failed previous repair you didn’t do...
Which you don't even know about until the guy who comes to "repair" them points it out to you.Mexman said:
2CV gets it.
I cannot sell cars and earn a living sitting in the workshop drinking tea with techies.
You obviously have no idea what a sales persons job is, let me educate you, it is to sell cars, no more, no less, and that is what is expected of us, or we are very quickly shown the door.
The salesman may be your best friend when you are buying, but trust me, a salesman will not want you as a new bezzy mate and a busy salesman certainly will not be interested in listening to a customer dribble on about a chipped windscreen on a car he has sold and delivered and ultimately been paid for.
All he is interested in is the next deal.
Harsh but true.
And wrong, on many levels. I cannot sell cars and earn a living sitting in the workshop drinking tea with techies.
You obviously have no idea what a sales persons job is, let me educate you, it is to sell cars, no more, no less, and that is what is expected of us, or we are very quickly shown the door.
The salesman may be your best friend when you are buying, but trust me, a salesman will not want you as a new bezzy mate and a busy salesman certainly will not be interested in listening to a customer dribble on about a chipped windscreen on a car he has sold and delivered and ultimately been paid for.
All he is interested in is the next deal.
Harsh but true.
The best salesman I encountered in my old job viewed the service reception area as the best place to sell cars. He would demand, and get, an advance copy of the workshop diary for each days service work. He would go through it and identify customers who may, potentially, be due to replace their car. He would take particular interest in those customers he had dealt with previously.
He would then mark on the diary and ask the Service Advisors to call him when these customers arrived. When they did he would pop through and start a conversation with them and occasionally, take stick from unhappy ones. That didn't bother him and he always tried to help if he could.
His success rate was impressive and he would regularly buy cases of beer for the Service Advisors and always headed the performance charts.
He did all this whilst the other salesmen were perched at an empty desk drinking the free coffee meant for customers.
Most used cars out there start off as cack, as you put it.
Ever been to Manheim auction or BCA?
Cars do not arrive at a dealers fully prepared and repaired and cleaned to within an inch of there lives.
Most stuff in part exchange or from auction is ropey to start with.
If a dealer hung out and just cherry picked the cleanest nicest stock, a) he would not have much stock, b) he would be paying a fortune for it.
Auction prices at the moment are crazy, even grade 3 and 4 stuff is making £400+ over cap clean plus fees.
Ever been to Manheim auction or BCA?
Cars do not arrive at a dealers fully prepared and repaired and cleaned to within an inch of there lives.
Most stuff in part exchange or from auction is ropey to start with.
If a dealer hung out and just cherry picked the cleanest nicest stock, a) he would not have much stock, b) he would be paying a fortune for it.
Auction prices at the moment are crazy, even grade 3 and 4 stuff is making £400+ over cap clean plus fees.
Mexman - you have not educated me at all.
I've bought lots of cars (for family and friends too, because I always get roped in).
The best salesmen are the ones who take an interest in their customer and their product.
The interest in the customer may be fake but that is irrelevant.
I'm not interested in being best buddies with the salesman - I just want him to make sure things are done right/ I am happy/ any issues are addressed at the sales stage.
I want him to be professional and not act like he is doing me a favour by selling me a car.
If I've got problems after that I know the salesman will not be my point of contact.
I've happily walked from deals, even though the car was good, because I didn't like the salesman.
There are plenty of idiots in your game - I think some may be on day release from an institution somewhere. The motor trade does seem to attract these types - no offence.
Perhaps you deal at the lower end of the market.
Your attitude would not attract me to buy from you.
I've bought lots of cars (for family and friends too, because I always get roped in).
The best salesmen are the ones who take an interest in their customer and their product.
The interest in the customer may be fake but that is irrelevant.
I'm not interested in being best buddies with the salesman - I just want him to make sure things are done right/ I am happy/ any issues are addressed at the sales stage.
I want him to be professional and not act like he is doing me a favour by selling me a car.
If I've got problems after that I know the salesman will not be my point of contact.
I've happily walked from deals, even though the car was good, because I didn't like the salesman.
There are plenty of idiots in your game - I think some may be on day release from an institution somewhere. The motor trade does seem to attract these types - no offence.
Perhaps you deal at the lower end of the market.
Your attitude would not attract me to buy from you.
TooMany2cvs said:
Julian Thompson said:
I...and now you notice you have spider cracks across your windscreen...
Spiders that are <40mm, maybe even <10mm.Julian Thompson said:
...because of a failed previous repair you didn’t do...
Which you don't even know about until the guy who comes to "repair" them points it out to you.Mexman said:
Most used cars out there start off as cack, as you put it.
Ever been to Manheim auction or BCA?
Cars do not arrive at a dealers fully prepared and repaired and cleaned to within an inch of there lives.
Most stuff in part exchange or from auction is ropey to start with.
If a dealer hung out and just cherry picked the cleanest nicest stock, a) he would not have much stock, b) he would be paying a fortune for it.
Auction prices at the moment are crazy, even grade 3 and 4 stuff is making £400+ over cap clean plus fees.
Yes - I know that - and that’s what I’m taking exception to. It’s not your fault - you’re selling what you have to sell. I’m saying that the system they use is rubbish and that mechanically aware people should be buying stock on condition and scaling their used business accordingly, rather than selling cars that, frankly, have no business being “used cars like new” or whatever the latest slogan is.Ever been to Manheim auction or BCA?
Cars do not arrive at a dealers fully prepared and repaired and cleaned to within an inch of there lives.
Most stuff in part exchange or from auction is ropey to start with.
If a dealer hung out and just cherry picked the cleanest nicest stock, a) he would not have much stock, b) he would be paying a fortune for it.
Auction prices at the moment are crazy, even grade 3 and 4 stuff is making £400+ over cap clean plus fees.
Hammer67 said:
And wrong, on many levels.
The best salesman I encountered in my old job viewed the service reception area as the best place to sell cars. He would demand, and get, an advance copy of the workshop diary for each days service work. He would go through it and identify customers who may, potentially, be due to replace their car. He would take particular interest in those customers he had dealt with previously.
He would then mark on the diary and ask the Service Advisors to call him when these customers arrived. When they did he would pop through and start a conversation with them and occasionally, take stick from unhappy ones. That didn't bother him and he always tried to help if he could.
His success rate was impressive and he would regularly buy cases of beer for the Service Advisors and always headed the performance charts.
He did all this whilst the other salesmen were perched at an empty desk drinking the free coffee meant for customers.
Very admirable, but I bet he didn't want to meet up with any of them on a Friday night for a quick pint, or be interested when one of these cases went wrong.The best salesman I encountered in my old job viewed the service reception area as the best place to sell cars. He would demand, and get, an advance copy of the workshop diary for each days service work. He would go through it and identify customers who may, potentially, be due to replace their car. He would take particular interest in those customers he had dealt with previously.
He would then mark on the diary and ask the Service Advisors to call him when these customers arrived. When they did he would pop through and start a conversation with them and occasionally, take stick from unhappy ones. That didn't bother him and he always tried to help if he could.
His success rate was impressive and he would regularly buy cases of beer for the Service Advisors and always headed the performance charts.
He did all this whilst the other salesmen were perched at an empty desk drinking the free coffee meant for customers.
Exactly my point, he is interested in doing the next deal, not making friends.
For example I bought a 3000 mile old 1 year old M4 which was thus described (verbatim) :
“Julian you will never find a used car like this one”
...upon collection (500 Miles from home) I noted some dents in the bonnet, wear on the seat bolster and some evidence of paintwork around the rear quarter. I put up with it, after making it clear that it wasn’t acceptable to talk up stock like this. After one month of ownership the car required £4000 of new brakes due to corrosion (which BMW refused to pay for and the poor dealer had to cough up).
Which ever way you look at it someone bought a car there that should have been politely refused entry to the “bmw used cars but so good you’ll swear they were new” brigade.
After the brakes issue I got fed up and replaced it with a new M4 and I’ve looked after it properly.
“Julian you will never find a used car like this one”
...upon collection (500 Miles from home) I noted some dents in the bonnet, wear on the seat bolster and some evidence of paintwork around the rear quarter. I put up with it, after making it clear that it wasn’t acceptable to talk up stock like this. After one month of ownership the car required £4000 of new brakes due to corrosion (which BMW refused to pay for and the poor dealer had to cough up).
Which ever way you look at it someone bought a car there that should have been politely refused entry to the “bmw used cars but so good you’ll swear they were new” brigade.
After the brakes issue I got fed up and replaced it with a new M4 and I’ve looked after it properly.
Julian Thompson said:
I see where you’re going with it but I can’t agree. The previous repair to my million point check car has failed within 100 Miles and now can’t be fixed because it’s aready been repaired. In what way is that different than sticking a sock in a noisy gearbox and getting away with it for 100 Miles?
So every tiny windscreen chip should just see the screen replaced, just in case?Or should the dealership put a few hundred miles on every used car, just in case?
Even the OP said he'd rather have the original screen repaired than replaced...
Mexman said:
Hammer67 said:
And wrong, on many levels.
The best salesman I encountered in my old job viewed the service reception area as the best place to sell cars. He would demand, and get, an advance copy of the workshop diary for each days service work. He would go through it and identify customers who may, potentially, be due to replace their car. He would take particular interest in those customers he had dealt with previously.
He would then mark on the diary and ask the Service Advisors to call him when these customers arrived. When they did he would pop through and start a conversation with them and occasionally, take stick from unhappy ones. That didn't bother him and he always tried to help if he could.
His success rate was impressive and he would regularly buy cases of beer for the Service Advisors and always headed the performance charts.
He did all this whilst the other salesmen were perched at an empty desk drinking the free coffee meant for customers.
Very admirable, but I bet he didn't want to meet up with any of them on a Friday night for a quick pint, or be interested when one of these cases went wrong.The best salesman I encountered in my old job viewed the service reception area as the best place to sell cars. He would demand, and get, an advance copy of the workshop diary for each days service work. He would go through it and identify customers who may, potentially, be due to replace their car. He would take particular interest in those customers he had dealt with previously.
He would then mark on the diary and ask the Service Advisors to call him when these customers arrived. When they did he would pop through and start a conversation with them and occasionally, take stick from unhappy ones. That didn't bother him and he always tried to help if he could.
His success rate was impressive and he would regularly buy cases of beer for the Service Advisors and always headed the performance charts.
He did all this whilst the other salesmen were perched at an empty desk drinking the free coffee meant for customers.
Exactly my point, he is interested in doing the next deal, not making friends.
He took a genuine interest in his customers and their cars, and was prepared to front up to unhappy customers if need be.
No,he didn't want to go out drinking with them, never said he did.
Yes, he was interested in doing the next deal. He was just better at it than every other salesmen I encountered.
Why was he the best?
See above.
Red 4 said:
Mexman - you have not educated me at all.
I've bought lots of cars (for family and friends too, because I always get roped in).
The best salesmen are the ones who take an interest in their customer and their product.
The interest in the customer may be fake but that is irrelevant.
I'm not interested in being best buddies with the salesman - I just want him to make sure things are done right/ I am happy/ any issues are addressed at the sales stage.
I want him to be professional and not act like he is doing me a favour by selling me a car.
If I've got problems after that I know the salesman will not be my point of contact.
I've happily walked from deals, even though the car was good, because I didn't like the salesman.
There are plenty of idiots in your game - I think some may be on day release from an institution somewhere. The motor trade does seem to attract these types - no offence.
Perhaps you deal at the lower end of the market.
Your attitude would not attract me to buy from you.
I agree with you, I take an interest in my customers when they are buying a car and i will make sure it's clean and fuelled (mostly by myself) and all the paperwork is in order. Anything after that, complaint, breakdown, warranty issues, chip in the screen that no one has noticed because it hasnt stopped raining for a month is another department that someone else can deal with, because that is what they are employed to do.I've bought lots of cars (for family and friends too, because I always get roped in).
The best salesmen are the ones who take an interest in their customer and their product.
The interest in the customer may be fake but that is irrelevant.
I'm not interested in being best buddies with the salesman - I just want him to make sure things are done right/ I am happy/ any issues are addressed at the sales stage.
I want him to be professional and not act like he is doing me a favour by selling me a car.
If I've got problems after that I know the salesman will not be my point of contact.
I've happily walked from deals, even though the car was good, because I didn't like the salesman.
There are plenty of idiots in your game - I think some may be on day release from an institution somewhere. The motor trade does seem to attract these types - no offence.
Perhaps you deal at the lower end of the market.
Your attitude would not attract me to buy from you.
Unfortunately, you cannot get on with everyone, personality clashes, unrealistic demands etc, and sometimes the salesman would rather walk away from the deal but has to put on a pretend, false smile because you are the service industry.
There are idiots in every job, but there are more idiot customers out there also who think they know everything about nothing and will try and pull your pants down at every opportunity and want everything for nothing.
My attitude sells me cars and I dont pretend to like some people when they are screaming and shouting or trying to tell me how to do my job.
I am straight down the line with my customers and if they don't like it, then tough, I will decide what deals I do that make a profit and ultimately pay my mortgage.
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