Tweet
The Dos and Don'ts of Car Shopping
[There is some strong language here. Sorry, sometimes I get carried away, but I tried to hold back.]
I've constructed a little list (well, now a big list). Based on prior experience, I have put together some things that really annoy myself, and my co-workers. I am not going to pick on people who negotiate price. I'm a car salesman, it's expected. Besides, I'm used to it, even when I'm at an electronics store or furniture store, where you deal with a salesman... I try to negotiate price. Sometimes they budge, sometimes they don't, I usually end up buying it anyways.
However, there are other pet peeves I have about the auto consumer that I wanted to vent, and this is the perfect board for it. I please encourage anyone else in the sales business (of any kind) to chime in with pet peeves about SC's that you deal with on a daily basis.
1. Please don't bring the whole family. Your spouse/significant other is fine. Most of the time it's necessary. Your kids, okay, I can understand...sometimes. But not if they are those terror kids that just want to run around, scream like maniacs, and jump in and out of our showroom cars all the while you don't do ANYTHING to stop them. Also there's no need for cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, friends, etc... unless they are there to co-sign with you.
2. Say Hello. Talk to me like a human being. I wake up and put on my pants one leg at a time like you. I know you may already have a preconceived notion about car salesman, and I understand, I deal with it daily. But that's no reason to be rude, to ignore me, and to talk to me like you're better than me. I can deal with someone who doesn't like me, I cannot deal with disrespect.
3. Don't try to impress me. This is mostly for people who pull up in a '93 Honda Accord, and try telling me about how they've got a new BMW and an Escalade at home... this is just a day-to-day car they're driving for now. I don't care, nor do I believe you. Also for people who DO pull up in the new BMW or Escalade, and try to act like they're above me. Please. I'm not impressed, I've seen better.
4. I don't care what the dealer down the street is offering. This doesn't necessarily have to do with pricing, but the other things. There's one dealer that offers "Free tires for life", however their restriction is you must do all your service at their dealer, must get the oil changed every 3,000 miles, and your tires must be beyond reasonable wear for the dealer to replace them. We don't rely on tricky gimmicks like that to sell cars.
5. If I'm being straightforward and honest with you, please do me a favor and be the same way back. If you don't like the car, tell me. If it's too expensive, tell me. If you don't like me, tell me. If you've got an offer down the street that's better than mine, tell me. I know 90% of people don't have the balls to say these things, and I'll explain more in rule #8.
6. I understand you're shopping. That's fine, shop. But don't waste my time by test driving every car on the lot if you have no intentions of buying any time soon. The internet is a beautiful thing, because you can do all the research about every kind of car in the United States and beyond. You can find which has the features you want, and find which fits your price range. We can answer your questions if you have more concerns, we can provide brochures, and we can take you for a test drive. Another alternative is to rent the car you're interested in for a day or two. But just because you have an afternoon to kill, don't go and waste ours if you aren't prepared to buy for another 6-12 months.
7. Get off your damn cell phone. I've begun to just ignore people until they're done. Nothing pisses me off more than standing near a customer who has been on their phone since they got out their car.. sees me standing there, keeps talking, then finally tells them to hold on while they yell at me "HOW MUCH?". Come back when you've got more time.
8. Whatever excuse you have, we've heard it. Whether you need to "think about it", "sleep on it", or "this is the first place we've been", "I need to bring in my wife/husband", "I'm refinancing, so my money is tied up", "I'm waiting on a big settlement check", etc etc... I'm not saying some people aren't telling the truth. But if I had a nickel for every person who told me one of these excuses, and ended up buying somewhere else, I'd retire a rich man.
9. To the elderly: While I've had numerous encounters with you, and some of you are just soo soo sweet and kind, the majority are stuck-up pains in the asses. Get off your high-horse. Us young whipper-snappers are not going away. Also, you're not intimidating me by telling me how many cars you've bought. I've sold more in 3 months than you've bought in your entire life.
10. To the elderly again: Cars are more expensive than they were "back in your day". Get over it. It's called inflation.
11. Please learn to do math. If you're looking at a $40,000 vehicle, and you want to finance for 60 months (5 years), with no money down... Don't expect payments around the "$400 range". Take $40,000 and divide by 60. You get $666.67. That does not include interest. Or tax.
12. Speaking of tax, this is the only thing I'll say about pricing and negotiating: Taxes are not negotiable. You pay us taxes, those taxes go directly to Uncle Sam. That's life. Also, the dealer fee is not negotiable. Believe it or not, there are alot of things behind the scenes that you don't see or even bother to consider. When you buy a car, there are about 10 people involved in that one transaction. They have to get paid. Don't bitch about a few hundred dollars.
13. Why lie about your credit? If all goes through, I'm going to check it anyways. Don't tell me you have excellent credit outside, then when we run it and find a repo 2 years ago and 5 collection accounts... then act surprised. "Oh, but that was forever ago"
14. I don't care how good your credit is, no you cannot have 0% financing on a brand new model that just got released to the public. No bank is going to lend you $30,000 to make $0 profit for themselves.
15. Yes, we will need to look at and drive your car before giving you a trade-in value. Of course it's worth more to you than it is to us, because you've been driving it! Don't try to describe it to us, because most people won't be 100% honest about the condition. There's always a reason why you want to get rid of the car.
16. So you used to sell cars. Whoopty doo!! Now you're buying one. Let us do our job. If you really sold cars, then you know how much of a pain in the ass it is dealing with arrogant people like you. Be respectful, do your research at home, then come in and be straight up with us. Believe it or not, we prefer dealing with someone who knows what they want, and already have a set price in mind. It makes the whole process alot smoother and easier on everyone.
17. It seems that alot of people don't understand how monthly payments are calculated. Please don't ask me within 5 minutes of us meeting, how much a monthly payment on a car would be. There are so many factors that go in to answering that question: How much down payment, how long, how good your credit is, how much your trade-in is worth, how much you still owe on your trade-in, etc... Find a car you like, and then we can talk payment.
18. I know some of you are just making conversation, but don't grill me about why my auto manufacturer stopped making a certain model, or why they stopped making certain feature. I can give you an educated guess, but I honestly don't know. I don't make the cars, I don't make the decisions about what cars get made. I just sell what I have.
I'm starting to reach here, so I'm gonna stop. If I come up with any more, I'll add to it. But like I said at the beginning, feel free to add your own, or comment on mine. Later!
I've constructed a little list (well, now a big list). Based on prior experience, I have put together some things that really annoy myself, and my co-workers. I am not going to pick on people who negotiate price. I'm a car salesman, it's expected. Besides, I'm used to it, even when I'm at an electronics store or furniture store, where you deal with a salesman... I try to negotiate price. Sometimes they budge, sometimes they don't, I usually end up buying it anyways.
However, there are other pet peeves I have about the auto consumer that I wanted to vent, and this is the perfect board for it. I please encourage anyone else in the sales business (of any kind) to chime in with pet peeves about SC's that you deal with on a daily basis.
1. Please don't bring the whole family. Your spouse/significant other is fine. Most of the time it's necessary. Your kids, okay, I can understand...sometimes. But not if they are those terror kids that just want to run around, scream like maniacs, and jump in and out of our showroom cars all the while you don't do ANYTHING to stop them. Also there's no need for cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, friends, etc... unless they are there to co-sign with you.
2. Say Hello. Talk to me like a human being. I wake up and put on my pants one leg at a time like you. I know you may already have a preconceived notion about car salesman, and I understand, I deal with it daily. But that's no reason to be rude, to ignore me, and to talk to me like you're better than me. I can deal with someone who doesn't like me, I cannot deal with disrespect.
3. Don't try to impress me. This is mostly for people who pull up in a '93 Honda Accord, and try telling me about how they've got a new BMW and an Escalade at home... this is just a day-to-day car they're driving for now. I don't care, nor do I believe you. Also for people who DO pull up in the new BMW or Escalade, and try to act like they're above me. Please. I'm not impressed, I've seen better.
4. I don't care what the dealer down the street is offering. This doesn't necessarily have to do with pricing, but the other things. There's one dealer that offers "Free tires for life", however their restriction is you must do all your service at their dealer, must get the oil changed every 3,000 miles, and your tires must be beyond reasonable wear for the dealer to replace them. We don't rely on tricky gimmicks like that to sell cars.
5. If I'm being straightforward and honest with you, please do me a favor and be the same way back. If you don't like the car, tell me. If it's too expensive, tell me. If you don't like me, tell me. If you've got an offer down the street that's better than mine, tell me. I know 90% of people don't have the balls to say these things, and I'll explain more in rule #8.
6. I understand you're shopping. That's fine, shop. But don't waste my time by test driving every car on the lot if you have no intentions of buying any time soon. The internet is a beautiful thing, because you can do all the research about every kind of car in the United States and beyond. You can find which has the features you want, and find which fits your price range. We can answer your questions if you have more concerns, we can provide brochures, and we can take you for a test drive. Another alternative is to rent the car you're interested in for a day or two. But just because you have an afternoon to kill, don't go and waste ours if you aren't prepared to buy for another 6-12 months.
7. Get off your damn cell phone. I've begun to just ignore people until they're done. Nothing pisses me off more than standing near a customer who has been on their phone since they got out their car.. sees me standing there, keeps talking, then finally tells them to hold on while they yell at me "HOW MUCH?". Come back when you've got more time.
8. Whatever excuse you have, we've heard it. Whether you need to "think about it", "sleep on it", or "this is the first place we've been", "I need to bring in my wife/husband", "I'm refinancing, so my money is tied up", "I'm waiting on a big settlement check", etc etc... I'm not saying some people aren't telling the truth. But if I had a nickel for every person who told me one of these excuses, and ended up buying somewhere else, I'd retire a rich man.
9. To the elderly: While I've had numerous encounters with you, and some of you are just soo soo sweet and kind, the majority are stuck-up pains in the asses. Get off your high-horse. Us young whipper-snappers are not going away. Also, you're not intimidating me by telling me how many cars you've bought. I've sold more in 3 months than you've bought in your entire life.
10. To the elderly again: Cars are more expensive than they were "back in your day". Get over it. It's called inflation.
11. Please learn to do math. If you're looking at a $40,000 vehicle, and you want to finance for 60 months (5 years), with no money down... Don't expect payments around the "$400 range". Take $40,000 and divide by 60. You get $666.67. That does not include interest. Or tax.
12. Speaking of tax, this is the only thing I'll say about pricing and negotiating: Taxes are not negotiable. You pay us taxes, those taxes go directly to Uncle Sam. That's life. Also, the dealer fee is not negotiable. Believe it or not, there are alot of things behind the scenes that you don't see or even bother to consider. When you buy a car, there are about 10 people involved in that one transaction. They have to get paid. Don't bitch about a few hundred dollars.
13. Why lie about your credit? If all goes through, I'm going to check it anyways. Don't tell me you have excellent credit outside, then when we run it and find a repo 2 years ago and 5 collection accounts... then act surprised. "Oh, but that was forever ago"
14. I don't care how good your credit is, no you cannot have 0% financing on a brand new model that just got released to the public. No bank is going to lend you $30,000 to make $0 profit for themselves.
15. Yes, we will need to look at and drive your car before giving you a trade-in value. Of course it's worth more to you than it is to us, because you've been driving it! Don't try to describe it to us, because most people won't be 100% honest about the condition. There's always a reason why you want to get rid of the car.
16. So you used to sell cars. Whoopty doo!! Now you're buying one. Let us do our job. If you really sold cars, then you know how much of a pain in the ass it is dealing with arrogant people like you. Be respectful, do your research at home, then come in and be straight up with us. Believe it or not, we prefer dealing with someone who knows what they want, and already have a set price in mind. It makes the whole process alot smoother and easier on everyone.
17. It seems that alot of people don't understand how monthly payments are calculated. Please don't ask me within 5 minutes of us meeting, how much a monthly payment on a car would be. There are so many factors that go in to answering that question: How much down payment, how long, how good your credit is, how much your trade-in is worth, how much you still owe on your trade-in, etc... Find a car you like, and then we can talk payment.
18. I know some of you are just making conversation, but don't grill me about why my auto manufacturer stopped making a certain model, or why they stopped making certain feature. I can give you an educated guess, but I honestly don't know. I don't make the cars, I don't make the decisions about what cars get made. I just sell what I have.
I'm starting to reach here, so I'm gonna stop. If I come up with any more, I'll add to it. But like I said at the beginning, feel free to add your own, or comment on mine. Later!
That's why I always say "I enjoyed a highly unsuccessful career in selling cars."
I just recently got my license (yes, at 30)... and I'm about to enter the market for my first car. I have a pretty good idea what I want, but I suck with money, so I'm bringing my aunt (who is very skilled with money, cars, and mechanics). I was thinking I could do it alone, but I've recently changed my mind.... wonder why 
So I can beat him down, huh? Joking
Comment