Car Sales.....

[Pimento]

My first post, so be gentle.

Im a car salesman, 4 months ago I worked as a welder, not a very customer oriented business, but with the economy crash trade jobs here took a dive, and i decided to try something new, I now wear a suit and tie to work every day and managed to astound my managers with my verbal ability so much that within the first month i got a signed contract for life. The only way ill loose this job is if i quit, which is great security!

Sorry for the long intro! Ill start to ramble about the things that over the months constantly annoy me about my job.

Joy Riders: They take an hour of your time to explain the vehicle, talk about the car, sit down and price out the vehicle, and then take it for an hour and a half "test drive" come in and say theyre not interested.

Phone pricers: They phone and ask for your "best price" when they do this i quote them the price of the vehicle. I sell Honda, we dont need to give you thousands off a vehicle, i dont make much money on the sales as it is, Honda and Toyota keep their margins short so that you ownt see your neighbor pay $4000 less for a vehicle than you did. The sticker price is basically the price. We dont jack it up so we can play with numbers, and even though i can move on the price i wont tell you just so you can call the next city over and get $50 better to do me in.

Appraisals: short and sweet, no i wont estimate a number, one of two things happen when i pull a number out of my rear, either i low ball you andy ou get offended and buy elsewhere, or i give you one thats too high, so when we appraise it, the price ends up lower so you get offended and buy elsewhere. Guess what, the other guy quoted you more for your vehicle because they took that money off of the extra they add to their sticker price.

But all in all its a pretty good gig, we have a standard salary which once we break it in sales, we can keep the extra (so after 3-4 vehicles its all gravey) and my sales manager sticks to a "honesty and integrity" system so we dont have to lie or swindle, we put everything on the table.

[EricKei]

First off, to !

The is in the corner, there's cold and hot at the table, and I'm sure someone will be along with cookies soon enough ^_^


I can definitely see where some of that -- especially the JoyRiders -- would get really really annoying >_>

Good job on the , er, job tho!

[Primer]

My ex-husband sold cars for quite a long time. He would come home and vent. I don't know how you can do it. I know I could not. Heck, I can't sell anything! I do appreciate that you work for an honest dealer--that's extremely difficult to find. By any chance are you in the central Texas area? I'm in the market, but have not seen anything yet that passes my minimum requirements: 4 wheel drive, towing package, and full sized, preferably an SUV or 4-door crew cabin pick-up. Everything else is negotiable.

[MergedLoki]

well as others said, welcome to the CS boards .

I got a buddy that sells cars and he complains about similar things.

the worst he gets (so far, hes only been doing this for about... 5 or 6 months I think). is people wil come in ask for the 'best price' on a car and say stuff like.

'you give me th ebest price, and i'll think about it and come back later'

now seeing as my friend isn't an idiot he doesn't give them the 'best price' as all these people will do is leave his dealership, go down teh block to a different one and say 'I got this car quoted for 'X' up there. can you beat it?' and just keep doing that until they get the amount off the sticker price they want.

so then they leave all pissy that he won't quote them a price different then the sticker price :P

[calulu]

Most dealerships will fire you if you quote anything other than the sticker price over the phone or to people coming in demanding to know the lowest price. You also cannot put the pricing in writing for those 'casual' customers.

I sold cars back in college and about five years ago I went back to selling cars for six months. Good for you if you can do it but the places I worked at were somewhat less than honest with their endlessly repackaging of supposed 'sales' and 'discounts'. There's all sorts of sucky customer things that can trip you up in auto sales, like the dreaded 'upside down' or the 'I want to test drive every car on the lot' You have to have the hide of an alligator and the verbal abilities of a bullshit artiste in most places. Where I worked at there was petty jealousies and rivalries between sales staff too along with management telling us each and every month if you don't make sales quota your ass would be immediately gone. High stress.

[Pimento]

Sorry Primer, im in Canada lol, Alberta specifically. But the Honda Pilot or Ridgeline might suit your needs if you dont need to tow much than 4500-5000lbs.

Yeah its a rough gig, theres a group of dealerships here that use bully tactics and underhanded schemes to get sales, and it makes it hard for a dealership like the one im in to break the mould. For example, customer had a scratch in their vehicle, i pointed it out to them instead of moving the vehicle outside to where they wouldnt see it, now they wont leave me alone, ill type that experience up later today lol.

[sirwired]

When I shop for cars, I have a little system that I think is fair to the dealers, and gets me a good price:

I pick the car I am interested and go to the dealer for a test drive. Assuming I like the car, I ask them for a price quote for an "out-the-door" price (all fees included.) Written down, or not, makes no difference to me.

I then contact other dealers in the area and request a faxed or e-mailed quote (virtually all of them will do this by contacting via the web.) I do not reveal the price quoted by the other dealer(s). Naturally, I request an "out-the-door" price there also.

I take the lowest quote, and if it didn't come from the dealer that provided the test drive, the test-driving dealer gets an opportunity to match the quote, or at least come close. (I'm not going to dump a good test-driving dealer over $50.)

This system rewards the dealer that spent the most time by giving them preference for the sale, while also getting me a good price.

SirWired

[LillFilly]

I have a Toyota, can you quote me a price on a trade-in? Nah, I love my old junker.

And welcome! Do you have any welding horror stories? Strange requests, odd events, etc?

[Pimento]

Were all a team at my dealership, nobody will steal your deals on a day off or anything of the sort, we have eachtohers backs.

The problem with selling honda, and i would imagine that toyota has the same issue, is that we only have about $500 to move on any given price (sometimes a bit more on larger vehicles) because the sticker price only has enough margin to make me a little profit and keep a dealership running, but it also allows the Sunday and night time "i dont want to talk to a salesman" buyer an opportunity to get a good idea of our "lowest price"

[mandaliz8704]

Ahh, yes. I worked at various dealers over a 10 year span... Lexus, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Mazda...etc. None of them were any fun. lol

Thankfully, I was never in sales... but I did do Lease Returns for awhile. That was about as fun as a combination root canal and bikini wax.

[Pimento]

Ive never had a root canal or bikini wax, but ill take your word for it.

[ta2ooed1]

Ahh, yes. I worked at various dealers over a 10 year span... Lexus, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Dodge, Mazda...etc. None of them were any fun. lol

Thankfully, I was never in sales... but I did do Lease Returns for awhile. That was about as fun as a combination root canal and bikini wax.

Don't say that! I'm about to turn in my leased Mini Cooper and get another

Here's a question for all you that have had experience selling cars, I have the option to order my new Mini off the website. Do you think I can get a better deal picking one off the lot or ordering exactly what I want? Pretty much I guess I'm asking if the 'packages' like supped up suspension and such get a price cut once they hit the floor?

[Pimento]

The car will be the same price on the floor, and you can drive it to see if the difference in the packages is worth the money! Plus i always support sales people, theyre able to bargain (but dont take em for everything!!) and we need to eat too :P

[ta2ooed1]

Oh no worries on that account, I can't bargain for crap! Also I became friends with the girl that sold me the original, hell I even took her to a NIN concert because I had an extra ticket :P

[Pimento]

I wish my custies would take me to a NIN concert

Or the Slayer concert that just came and went in the next city! Arghhh 6 days a week sucks sometimes