Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all (Vol. 2).
Discussion
OnTheBreadline said:
Here, car dealer, please do me a massive favour and sell me a car? 
I called a Kia dealer a couple of weeks ago regarding a new car and it felt pretty much like that. He couldn't guarantee the price, couldn't guarantee the current dealer contribution and had no idea when it might turn up. Basically you pay the price they are asking when the car arrives.I would imagine being a new car salesman is just taking orders now, I can't imagine they actually have to chase anyone to make a sale. If you don't want it, ten other people will.
I had a call off BMW this week, to see if I was in the market for another vehicle. First call from them in Three years
As a side note, I sold the car to WBAC for £19,100 in Feb. It only lost £200 over 3 years, 30k miles.
It eventually reappeared on the BMW site at £23k, then £22k. I can't imagine there's much margin there, after prepping it and putting a warranty on.
As a side note, I sold the car to WBAC for £19,100 in Feb. It only lost £200 over 3 years, 30k miles.
It eventually reappeared on the BMW site at £23k, then £22k. I can't imagine there's much margin there, after prepping it and putting a warranty on.
mfmman said:
If this was recently then maybe if you didn't want/need finance then they didn't want you as a customer. Limited availability of cars at the moment, so sell what you do have to those you can make the highest overall margin from.
This is the current state of play. Almost everybody pays full price, but there are still more customers than cars. So dealers will prefer to sell to people who take the finance deal, and/or have a good quality part exchange that the dealer can resell easily and make good money on.Paying cash and having no part exchange was a strong negotiating position back in the 1990s when we were still coming out of a recession and there were airfields full of unsold cars. But that was a long time ago.
Question to the salespeople on here - have the dealers changed the salary/bonus structure in light of recent supply problems affecting the industry, and has this been a positive or negative change for you?
spreadsheet monkey said:
Question to the salespeople on here - have the dealers changed the salary/bonus structure in light of recent supply problems affecting the industry, and has this been a positive or negative change for you?
It is being worked on currently, us who have been here many years it isn't so much of an issue as we generally have a healthy order bank with a good spread of when the cars are coming through, plus Renault and Dacia lead times aren't that bad when compared to other marques, typically we are running at approx 6m.It is the newer sales staff members that it is more of an issue for as they don't have the order banks to fall back on, and don't have the experience also there is SEAT the lead times are far longer, so even the more seasoned members of the SEAT/Cupra brand are finding it tough. SEAT also have an issue as their approved used scheme is pretty much dead at the moment as the cars just aren't available, they have had it away the last few years on the approved used and we had a good relationship with the SEAT UK approved scheme.
OnTheBreadline said:
mfmman said:
If this was recently then maybe if you didn't want/need finance then they didn't want you as a customer. Limited availability of cars at the moment, so sell what you do have to those you can make the highest overall margin from.
Here, car dealer, please do me a massive favour and sell me a car? Or, if you think I'm a car dealer. I'm not.
It was a just a potential explanation as to why the dealer in Mr Stiglitz's case didn't seem to want to discuss anything with him unless finance was part of the discussion. A couple of subsequent posts appear to think that this could well be the case
spreadsheet monkey said:
Question to the salespeople on here - have the dealers changed the salary/bonus structure in light of recent supply problems affecting the industry, and has this been a positive or negative change for you?
I've revised everyone's targets this week and played around with their pay plans to compensateThe mythical story of the man who buys elsewhere and rubs the original salesman’s nose in it does remind me of an incident that happened when I worked at an Alfa franchise.
Our MD had an 8C Competizione coupe, one he had ordered new. The car was in our showroom for a few years as a little centrepiece. We had a particular customer who had been trying to persuade MD for some time to sell the 8C, but it fell on deaf ears. He had another go at trying to buy the car around about the time of the launch of the 4C. Again, the answer remained no, not for sale.
The customer by this point had become frustrated his attempts were continually rebuffed, and loudly declared he would be buying a 4C, and from elsewhere. True enough, a couple of months later, the customer drove into our yard in his new 4C purchased from a different Alfa dealer, drove round the car park without stopping and then drove back out (at a fair speed).
Unfortunately for him, what he neglected to realise is that on the exit, the speed bump was not only slightly more raised, but one of the bollard covers was also sat a little more proud than the others. In most normal cars this was no problem, but the customer hit this speed bump at twice the speed a normal car would be going, and proceeded to tear his carbon front splitter off. He was too embarrassed to get out of the car to retrieve it, and sped off having probably cost himself £1,500 in parts.
Our MD had an 8C Competizione coupe, one he had ordered new. The car was in our showroom for a few years as a little centrepiece. We had a particular customer who had been trying to persuade MD for some time to sell the 8C, but it fell on deaf ears. He had another go at trying to buy the car around about the time of the launch of the 4C. Again, the answer remained no, not for sale.
The customer by this point had become frustrated his attempts were continually rebuffed, and loudly declared he would be buying a 4C, and from elsewhere. True enough, a couple of months later, the customer drove into our yard in his new 4C purchased from a different Alfa dealer, drove round the car park without stopping and then drove back out (at a fair speed).
Unfortunately for him, what he neglected to realise is that on the exit, the speed bump was not only slightly more raised, but one of the bollard covers was also sat a little more proud than the others. In most normal cars this was no problem, but the customer hit this speed bump at twice the speed a normal car would be going, and proceeded to tear his carbon front splitter off. He was too embarrassed to get out of the car to retrieve it, and sped off having probably cost himself £1,500 in parts.
[quote=buyer&seller]
So you just walked in, asked for a test drive and drove off for an hour?
A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
[/quote]
Maybe it did, I know of an independent dealer that lost an X5 a couple of years back and he could only recall the bloke was called Mark.
So you just walked in, asked for a test drive and drove off for an hour?
A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
[/quote]
Maybe it did, I know of an independent dealer that lost an X5 a couple of years back and he could only recall the bloke was called Mark.
[quote=buyer&seller]
A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
No I called in advance to book an appointment, they took a copy of my DL and I left a mx5 there which ultimately ended up partexd against the 540c I purchased after the test drive.bennno said:
McLaren garage just gave me a set of keys and said be back within an hour.....
So you just walked in, asked for a test drive and drove off for an hour?A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
HTP99 said:
quinny100 said:
I sold my car to Cazoo at the weekend. It was a very simple process and I'd happily recommend it/do it again.
I dropped it off at one of their Customer Service Centres was was very like a car showroom, but without any cars on sale to view. In an out in less than 20 minutes, with cash in the bank instantly. We could have been done quicker that that really, the 2 guys in the showroom seemed to appreciate having a chat - I got the impression they hadn't seen many other customers on Sunday. They are now offering servicing from these locations to drive some revenue but their costs must be little different to any other dealership which seems to be the antithesis of the do it cheaper online model.
I suspect they'll retail my car and it'll be interesting to see how quick they turn it around, and how much they have across it. They paid decent money for it, £1500 more than WBAC and £2000 more than a Mercedes dealer was willing to pay.
My overall impression is they burning investor cash experimenting to try and find a model that works.
What do similar cars to yours, retail for and how does that stack up with what they gave you for yours?I dropped it off at one of their Customer Service Centres was was very like a car showroom, but without any cars on sale to view. In an out in less than 20 minutes, with cash in the bank instantly. We could have been done quicker that that really, the 2 guys in the showroom seemed to appreciate having a chat - I got the impression they hadn't seen many other customers on Sunday. They are now offering servicing from these locations to drive some revenue but their costs must be little different to any other dealership which seems to be the antithesis of the do it cheaper online model.
I suspect they'll retail my car and it'll be interesting to see how quick they turn it around, and how much they have across it. They paid decent money for it, £1500 more than WBAC and £2000 more than a Mercedes dealer was willing to pay.
My overall impression is they burning investor cash experimenting to try and find a model that works.
My car has taken a £4k hit on trade-in value in just 2 months whilst I have been looking for a replacement. Yet dealers aren't moving their 2nd hand stock prices downwards in comparison. What gives, are dealers just inundated with stock at the moment and don't want any more? Seems a bit 'have your cake and eat it' to me.
cadmunkey said:
My car has taken a £4k hit on trade-in value in just 2 months whilst I have been looking for a replacement. Yet dealers aren't moving their 2nd hand stock prices downwards in comparison. What gives, are dealers just inundated with stock at the moment and don't want any more? Seems a bit 'have your cake and eat it' to me.
Varies by make, model etc.We still can't buy sufficient volumes of our core stock, so prices are strong. They have come down this year but you need to remember that whilst your price has dropped in the last 2 months it is still worth more than it was 18 months ago.
Covid caused an over correction downwards in value. Demand and supply caused an over correction upwards. Things are just settling.
Dealers don't see the need to chop prices as demand is still high. We do have to opportunity to buy slightly cheaper (relatively) than last year
buyerseller said:
bennno said:
McLaren garage just gave me a set of keys and said be back within an hour.....
So you just walked in, asked for a test drive and drove off for an hour?A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
It probably helped that a: my O/H was with me, and b: the car we'd arrived in and left on their forecourt was worth a fair bit more than the car we were testing...
We didn't buy, but the level of trust left a very positive impression.
Edited by silentbrown on Sunday 8th May 13:03
silentbrown said:
buyerseller said:
bennno said:
McLaren garage just gave me a set of keys and said be back within an hour.....
So you just walked in, asked for a test drive and drove off for an hour?A likely story, they didn't know you, check your driving licence or verify who you were, it never happened.
It probably helped that a: my O/H was with me, and b: the car we'd arrived in and left on their forecourt was worth a fair bit more than the car we were testing...
We didn't buy, but the level of trust left a very positive impression.
Edited by silentbrown on Sunday 8th May 13:03
papa3 said:
Varies by make, model etc.
We still can't buy sufficient volumes of our core stock, so prices are strong. They have come down this year but you need to remember that whilst your price has dropped in the last 2 months it is still worth more than it was 18 months ago.
Covid caused an over correction downwards in value. Demand and supply caused an over correction upwards. Things are just settling.
Dealers don't see the need to chop prices as demand is still high. We do have to opportunity to buy slightly cheaper (relatively) than last year
That's a good explanation, thanks.We still can't buy sufficient volumes of our core stock, so prices are strong. They have come down this year but you need to remember that whilst your price has dropped in the last 2 months it is still worth more than it was 18 months ago.
Covid caused an over correction downwards in value. Demand and supply caused an over correction upwards. Things are just settling.
Dealers don't see the need to chop prices as demand is still high. We do have to opportunity to buy slightly cheaper (relatively) than last year
Toyoda said:
Previous owner of a car I'm looking at is "ALD Automotive" a contract hire company. Do they just hire to companies and so it's likely to have been a multi user vehicle or do they lease to private individuals?
Think it's part of a French bank (Soc Gen), so it could be either.. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff