Car Sales Men (People)

[Jasey]

As far as I can tell approx 75% of people are or can be complete w*****s.

Customers, salesmen everyone.

Chances are at least one of the people in the transaction is going to be a w****r - Quite possibly both of them

I think that your estimate is on the low side.

I'd initially typed 90% but thought that was harsh

 

[rhys4]

Having bought 70 new cars,the thing that really gets me is the huddling in the back office to agree a deal.I have met just a handful of these sales managers who agree the figures.I often ask to be introduced,but that rarely happens.He is far too busy to want to see me,but he is very happy to take my money.Sometimes I have walked away when this happens,but they don't seem to get it.I do understand that they need to keep an eye on the overall budget,but they need to invest more training into the sales executives, to do the complete deal.They don't do this and then the sales staff move on.The turn over in some garages is incredible.

 

[domsz4]

We called into a BMW dealership last year to look for a 335xd for my wife - they were "busy" that day but were granted a 15minute audiance with a gum chewing mid twenties fella with no tie and rolled up sleeves. we were asked to come back another day. Very professional!!!
I should say that we were dressed decently and I would say that we looked the part - The same dealership services our E89 and the service dept know us by name.

We did go back another day - but to another dealership down the country - The little gum chewer wasn't happy when he realised that he had lost his commission on a £49k car - nor was his sales manager when I told him what a cheeky little fella he has on the sales floor.

Like in all walks of life, there are good and bad and the sales staff at the garage that we bought from were very good.

shouldn't matter how you dress. jeans and t shirt or suit. a good sales man will be able to sniff out the liar. or should be able to. its one of those things that really pisses me off. i wear a suit all week at the weekend i want to slob it i dont want to shave but i will want to spend.

ironically my mrs and bro see the other way. they fly a lot and see that upgrades are based on airmiles and loyalty points. they both have their flying clothes which are mostly hoodies and comfy warm clothes. she takes great pleasure getting the upgrade over the pompus person in the sports jacket moaning about it all.

i suspect the biggest issue with a sales person and the people who come over the worse are the sales guys who are s**t at managing people expectations. a customer will want rock bottom you lose money prices, a sales person is out to get highest price highest profit and commission(its their job after all) so a good salesman will be able to manage their expectations into a realistic compromise.

 

[Popey]

I take great pride in customer satisfaction and all my customer have my personal mobile number, which they never need to use but it's reassurance for them.

One issue I think is miss-handled is when a customer get back from test drive and says:

"Thanks you have been great, love the car. I just need your best deal so we can go home and think about it"

Mmmmm how do expect the best deal when your not in a position to buy the car? No negotiations can take place and chances are the deal will be lost as the customer will take the offer away, drive round to next dealer and go "can you beat this?". They throw in a tank of fuel and get an easy deal.

I will never give anyone figures unless they are there to get the best deal and do business now, however I won't pressure them into that position and often it happens naturally.

Before you all kill me consider this, I would never present or test drive a car that was not in the budget set by the customer. So they know they can afford the car.

 

[Popey]

With regards to add on products...

The main product I see been mentioned is GAP. I'am required (legally might be a push but its very important) to present GAP to a customer and I always do. I keep it brief, concise and informative, once the presentation is over I then give them a quote, make sure they know the protection is available from other companies and ask them to let me know if they want to go ahead with it once they have done there homework.

Even if they say they know what it is I will still do this as a lot of the time its never been explained to them correctly before.

 

[ronk]

You obviously take a good attitude to your customer - just as the dealer /sales woman we bought from - I said that we had been treated shabbily and that we would not be doing any horse trading. We did the deal on the day.

I would agree with the non judgement by dress of the customer it shouldn't matter but I would expect a dealership selling a premium brand might be dressed in a decent manner!

 

[Taz]

i was looking at buying a car last weekend, the sales guy offered me a test drive, personally i can't see the point of a test drive until i have done a deal

his first figure was too high, he then said let me see if i can do any better, at that point he'd lost his sale

 

[Marlon]

i was looking at buying a car last weekend, . . . . .

Another one!

 

[Popey]

i was looking at buying a car last weekend, the sales guy offered me a test drive, personally i can't see the point of a test drive until i have done a deal

his first figure was too high, he then said let me see if i can do any better, at that point he'd lost his sale

So he offered to try and help get a deal you maybe happy with, why not at least give him the chance?

It makes sense to me to drive it first, if you don't like it the deal becomes irrelevant.

 

[Jasey]

i was looking at buying a car last weekend, the sales guy offered me a test drive, personally i can't see the point of a test drive until i have done a deal

his first figure was too high, he then said let me see if i can do any better, at that point he'd lost his sale

So he offered to try and help get a deal you maybe happy with, why not at least give him the chance?

It makes sense to me to drive it first, if you don't like it the deal becomes irrelevant.

Some people don't need a test drive.

I've never had a test drive

For me it's all about the deal

 

[mmm-five]

For me it's all about the deal

So you'd be happy being sold any car, as long as you thought you'd got a good deal

I'm the opposite. I spend the time finding the car I want (usually an uncommon model), get a short test drive in a couple so I get an idea of what they should feel like (all the while telling the salesperson my plans), and then narrow down the options before I arrange to speak to a salesman about doing the deal.

It's not about being the cheapest, as invariably the prices of the cars I'm looking at will vary due to spec levels (i.e. sepang bronze Z4MC with 20,000 miles, flimper spec was £22k, alpine white Z4MC with CSLs and lots of options was £32k, ruby black individual with 9,000 miles at £26k, etc.).

Some salesmen might think I'm playing one dealer against the other for the exact same car, but it's not like I'm buying a new/nearly new car where you can just shop around for the best price.

In my case, I bought the first car I started to negotiate on (the ruby black one above), as I loved the extended test drive and the salesman was great - until he started pushing the add-ons - and I wasn't asking for much discount/freebies. I still bought it though, but if I was in that same position today, and knowing how they'd be, I'd have gone for the sepang and saved myself some cash for the same/less hassle.

 

[Jasey]

For me it's all about the deal

So you'd be happy being sold any car, as long as you thought you'd got a good deal

... but it's not like I'm buying a new/nearly new car where you can just shop around for the best price.

I buy new every couple of years (or sooner if an itch arrives).

 

[Taz]

i was looking at buying a car last weekend, the sales guy offered me a test drive, personally i can't see the point of a test drive until i have done a deal

his first figure was too high, he then said let me see if i can do any better, at that point he'd lost his sale

So he offered to try and help get a deal you maybe happy with, why not at least give him the chance?

It makes sense to me to drive it first, if you don't like it the deal becomes irrelevant.

I was looking at a golf so I know it will drive like any other golf or for that matter it will drive like any other modern car. It just as to get me from a to b. The guy had his chance a blew it by trying to charge me 2k plus with his first offer. That told me he was trying to rip me off

 

[bluestreak56]

For me it's all about the deal

So you'd be happy being sold any car, as long as you thought you'd got a good deal

I'm the opposite. I spend the time finding the car I want (usually an uncommon model), get a short test drive in a couple so I get an idea of what they should feel like (all the while telling the salesperson my plans), and then narrow down the options before I arrange to speak to a salesman about doing the deal.

It's not about being the cheapest

+1 as I've never bought new its all about the right car at the right value.

I always know exactly what spec I want before I buy the car. I test drive the same model (not necessarily the same spec) first to ensure its fit for purpose, usually at the nearest sellers location.

I then launch my search. There are usually few and far between matching my requirements and never one that holds 100% of what I'm looking for. Once I find one at 90% or more I book to see it (usually before the dealer has fully advertised it as I'm checking daily).

Before I go to see it, I've worked out what its really worth using my own calculations. Test drive it, check the history, condition, etc and make clear my value intentions.

We then work to get as close to that as possible and if it is, close the deal, if not, walk away (taking into consideration it may be months before another of what I want comes along).

 

[synthedup]

I for one don't tend to get on with car "salesman", in my experience they are pratts (no offence to you lol ), they think there are gods gift to selling and are smug fu*kers who don't know how to do business.

I purchased a car for my mother last month, a little fiat 500 as a surprise as I knew she wanted one. Anyway the first woman who came to talk to me got my back up straight away. She said I had to make am appointment to test drive the car, there was no other customers in sight and 3/4 sale staff stood around. Anyway I made am appointment for 2 days later for a 9am test drive :x I woke up that morning and it had snowed over night and was snowing heavy, with me only having the Zed I deicide not to take it out so called the office with no answer. 20 minutes later I get a call back to ask where i was, I explained I had tried to call but there was no answer, I explained I only have the z4 and didn't like taking it out in the snow and they were 13 miles away, I got a snappy reply saying it wasn't even that bad :thumbsdown: I was like F*ck you silly cow.

Anyway few days later she calls back and asked if I would like to come test drive the car, I said I would later that day and could we have a discussion about a discount for a cash buy. She said come in and we can talk about it and sort out a deal.

I arrived with £8k Cash and sat down with the sales women, I had already test drove a few first 500s so knew how they drive and this was look in excellent condition. I asked about a deal for cash, she said we can no deal and the price is the price. :thumbsdown: She wouldn't even speak to anyone senior. I said I would leave it at that then and I left. I didn't even test drive it.

Anyway a couple of weeks pasted and they still have the car, (i drive past it on my way to work) and one day I noticed the price had been dropped £300. I only wanted £200 off prior so called in on my way home, I did buy the car but refused to deal with that Saleswomen and said I would not buy the car is she had anything to do with the sale as her service was shocking, I made it clear that I had asked for a £200 discount 3 weeks earlier so which the guy who sold me the car said if i has spoken to him he would have made the deal there and then.

She had no business sense which seems to be a common from experience.

 

[stuartC]

[post]1274149[/post] As far as I can tell approx 75% of people are or can be complete w*****s. Customers, salesmen everyone.

You're definitely on the low side and, with all due respect to Popey, it's a higher percentage in the car selling game I'm afraid.

 

[Jasey]

Once had the misfortune of walking into an VW / Audi dealership.

Plonker introduces himself and I ask what sort of discount is available on the Polo.

Reply was "We don't offer discount as we find these cars sell themselves".

Said thanks and walked out ...

 

[Mad Professor]

What i dont like is the bit where said sales person goes off to the manager for 5-10 min pretending that he's going to do you a special deal on your trade in . Surely they know the bottom book of your px and they know what their car stands them in at ,so the doing the math is quite simple really . Id prefer to cut to the chase straight away without dancing the dance as it were .

 

[RayM]

It really is down to individual sales people.

I was on my third or 4th BMW and was looking for a new one. I had my eye on downsizing from a F10 5 series 528i down to a 3 series 328i M Sport. However, getting on a bit now I was a little concerned about the ride quality of the 3 series in M sport guise so enquired with the dealer about the adjustable suspension option as I had the VDC (Variable damper control) on my current car.

Well...... to cut a very long story short they could not get me anything with the adjustable suspension to test drive, apparently nobody specs it so I ended up walking away in the end and buying an A6.

The previous BMW sales lady at the same dealership went to the trouble of getting me an F10 with the engine I wanted (2.0 twin scroll 245hp model, very rare at the time) to test and I ordered the car. This prat wasn't interested although as a company we had taken 4 or 5 cars from them in as many years.

I found out later that if BMW get a car in from the national fleet they have to pay a few hundred pounds to get a specific car for a few days, which is obviously why the new salesman couldn't or wouldn't get one in with the suspension I wanted to try. So this cost him a £40K sale on my car and anther £25K sales on one I bought for a colleague a month later, for the sake of a couple of hundred pounds.

He only had to look back at their records to see what we had bought previously. The final clincher was when he contacted me a few days later and said " Can you tell me what colour you want so that I can order it before I go on holiday"...... Prat !!

Incidentally although they are nearer I also buy all my "Z" related parts form another BMW dealer too.

 

[gov]

Had similar experiences as previously described - when we were looking for a new Fiesta a few years ago I initially went to the main Ford dealer - whilst the salesman was polite he tried the usual trick of offering me a poor part exchange price for our 3 year old Ka and to add insult to injury wanted £300 more for the new car than was advertised nationally on discount - when I didn't show much enthusiasm he changed tack and suddenly found he could offer a bit more for my car and would see what he could do to match the discount - I couldn't be arsed to take him up on why he couldn't have offered the better deal from the beginning and just walked away. I went to the only other main Ford dealer on the Island ( family run but smaller ) - he offered another £300 on the part ex and honoured the discount price - all offered on the spot - and threw in quality mats and flaps for free . He has a very good reputation and I can see why - needless to say we bought the car from them.

The BMW garage down here are a branch of Snows - their Parts Dept are very helpful but I wouldn't buy a car from them either new or second hand - whilst I could afford it I couldn't bring myself to spend so much money on a new BMW and their second hand cars are so expensive