Saturday Viewing Cars - It Would Appear Not!!

[B.J.W]

Having just sold my car I am in the market for a new purchase. The amount I am prepared to spend is fairly significant.

I have to admit to being a little bit confused at the moment. My previous understanding was that if you contacted a dealer and expressed an interest in viewing a car, explained that you had the cash sitting in the bank, and confirmed that you were happy to make the journey to the dealership this weekend with the intention of placing a deposit and buying the car, that your enthusiasm would be reciprocated by the salesperson.....

I have made contact with a number of specialist dealers over the past week or so, and whilst one or two have deemed me worthy of a returned call..... the rest simply have not bothered. I wanted to check with the PH collective that I was not being unreasonable in my request that the specification of the vehicle is confirmed before I make (in one case) what would be the best part of a 300 mile round trip (and £100 in fuel). Equally, if after having a conversation and confirming that I am definitely in the market, is it unreasonable for me to expect the dealer to call me back when they have said they will?

I have to admit to feeling a little downhearted at the moment. I had hoped that Saturday might involve me making a car purchase. As it stands, it will likely involve some left messages (which I doubt will be returned) and clicking on PH classified pictures (which whilst nice, is a poor substitute for the real thing)

Am I doing something wrong....?

[djt100]

Don't tell then you are paying cash, tell then you want to talk about finance.

[iain1970]

You're doing nothing wrong, just suffering the same reaction many dealers seem to have these days when selling any kind of vehicle, not just fancy sports cars or whatnot that siply fly off out of the showroom. They are half arsed at the best of times and plain insulting when you try to do a deal with them.

It amazes me that they have sales staff that can't actually make a sale, instead having to refer constantly to a manager in order to get authority to do a deal. The worst example I saw when trying to buy a car was a £49 "admin charge" for the dealer to fill in the V5C on a second hand car and put it in the post. I walked out.

[deltashad]

Give them another phone call. Tell them roughly what time you'll be visiting them and what cars you are interested in.

[crazy about cars]

djt100 said:

Don't tell then you are paying cash, tell then you want to talk about finance.

This...they get more commissions. Tell them you will put a nice cash deposit and then rest by long term finance.

[Dr G]

The dealers in question are idiots. When a sales enquiry is put in my hand I phone them back there and then

[Major Fallout]

It must be coming too easy for them. When I was in the market for my last daly, I phoned up a local Mercedes dealer and nearly bought an SL500 they had over the phone.
I said I was coming over to finalise everything and have a look at the car, and i would be with them in about an hour.

I arrived and the salesman I was dealing with had gone home "Oh he only works mornings", and they couldn't find the car. When they found the car they had to jump it, it was also a total tip and hadn't been touched since the last owner had dropped it off. I walked away!


I'm also still waiting for a porsche salesman to call me back about a new 911, that was nearly 4 years ago now.


In comparison the jaguar salesman was like a puppy, ever so happy to please! Im surprised I wasn't offered the receptionist as a sweetener. And the BMW salesman acted as you would expect a salesperson to act, he called me back and had the car ready and clean when handed my money over.

[B.J.W]

deltashad said:

Give them another phone call. Tell them roughly what time you'll be visiting them and what cars you are interested in.

So I am to make a 300 mile round trip to view a car that might not be specced correctly, because the dealer can't be bothered to take the 5 minutes required to check for himself and call me back? Ok, clear on that

Eqaually, I need to say I want to take out finance on a car when I don't need or want it.... Hmmmmm, I was under the impression that taking out finance on a car meant that you paid more than the list price. I get it now, in order for a dealer to show interest, I have to be prepared to give them more money than I need to! Righto!

[Garvin]

You are not being unreasonable. I emailed a dealer about a car last week requesting specific additional information. My email was returned the next day with the information required and on the basis of that I emailed back my interest asking for a viewing and test drive - couldn't make last Saturday but could make this Saturday was that OK. Email by return stating that was perfectly OK so I emailed back saying I would ring him later this week to confirm. This morning the dealer rang me to confirm arrangements, we agreed a time and he confirmed the car would be ready and waiting.

So far, so (very) good.

[davepoth]

B.J.W said:

So I am to make a 300 mile round trip to view a car that might not be specced correctly, because the dealer can't be bothered to take the 5 minutes required to check for himself and call me back? Ok, clear on that

Eqaually, I need to say I want to take out finance on a car when I don't need or want it.... Hmmmmm, I was under the impression that taking out finance on a car meant that you paid more than the list price. I get it now, in order for a dealer to show interest, I have to be prepared to give them more money than I need to! Righto!

Working on the assumption that he's going to tell you some porkies about the car, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't tell him a few.

[B.J.W]

davepoth said:

B.J.W said:

So I am to make a 300 mile round trip to view a car that might not be specced correctly, because the dealer can't be bothered to take the 5 minutes required to check for himself and call me back? Ok, clear on that

Eqaually, I need to say I want to take out finance on a car when I don't need or want it.... Hmmmmm, I was under the impression that taking out finance on a car meant that you paid more than the list price. I get it now, in order for a dealer to show interest, I have to be prepared to give them more money than I need to! Righto!

Working on the assumption that he's going to tell you some porkies about the car, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't tell him a few.

You make an interesting point here. As well as making allowances for a lack of common courtesy, I now have to assume that the dealer is also going to lie to me.... and in return for this dishonesty I will reward him/her with the contents of my bank account. This is getting better.....

[minghis]

Frustrating, isn't it.

I had the same problem. Buying a car is one of those times when you get to indulge yourself and paying out a load of money should feel good at these times but unfortunately some (and I stress just some, not all) car salespeople seem to have no interest in taking your money or indulging you just a little.

It's something I have never really been able to understand, especially having traded a few myself with some success a few years ago. I enjoyed taking peoples money and made them feel very good about doing it.

I think it's just that quite simply your average car sales person just doesn't cere, they get used to operating at a level of contempt and bluff their way into keeping their jobs with just enough effort to keep them employed. Untill a decent sales manager comes along and catches them out they seem to stay at it for some time. For the independent car lots when it's the owner of the business that can't be bothered, well I fail to understand how they stay in business. When they don't I never feel sorry for them.

You are not alone, trust me.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

You know what? I can only assume that, despite the recession, car dealers have leads and sales coming in easy, and don't have to go the extra mile.

Annoying - I've been in two sales related jobs in the last 5 years within the print industry - which has been battered by not only the recession, but online advertising and web based providers, undercutting margins horrendously.

The jobs were in Print Sales, and Print recruitment. I spent most of my day in these roles either on the phone or visiting potential clients trying to develop business - I was absolutely dedicated to the task of illustrating to potential clients how I could bend over backwards to help them, and hence get their business.

If an enquiry ever came inbound (which was as rare as rocking horse teeth, I reckon I was lucky to get one inbound enquiry a week) - then I would jump all over it like a tramp on chips, to make sure that following the enquiry, the potential new client was called back almost immediately and their needs qualified in the best way I possibly could, and I had all the time in the world for them, no matter how small the initial order was.

In those jobs I would have given my eye teeth to have people calling or emailing me with a sales enquiry!

Car dealers? Easy life!!!!

[Butter Face]

Obviously taking that as the sarcasm that was intended Ray


Anyway, it's tough at the moment, obviously the bloke is just a lazy bd.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Butter Face said:

Obviously taking that as the sarcasm that was intended Ray


Anyway, it's tough at the moment, obviously the bloke is just a lazy bd.

Heheh, of course mate I know it's tough for everyone right now.

And for what it's worth - I found it hard enough to deal with people in Print Sales - all of whom were industry professionals too.

When I started my own business in retail, I had the unique joy of dealing with Joe Public as my sales prospects - and as you know, they are great fun! Most of my punters were spending maybe £50 quid, so the figures were quite small, and hence any difficult punters or lost sales were not a big deal to the business overall.

I cannot imagine doing your job - mixing Joe Public in with the emotive and much-commented upon arena of 'used car sales', and the icing on the cake being having to convince them to part with a 'huge' sum of money!

And then to offer a warranty on something that, despite your best intentions, might well go bananas and heinously break down in a week's time!

Must be murder mate