Car salesman mistakes

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by BA Waggn

There has been and always will be the arguement "Who's got the biggest" and I'm not talking about a man's appendage!

EDIT: Uh Oh, shhh, I better watch what I say, Daniel (big brother) is watching me ;)

lol, big brother I wish!!

We sell value and try to work with people so they're more profitable. Just remember Cat has guys going to the big mines to increase these guys production. It is huge.


On the note of GET using the incorrect GET can actually significantly decrease your production. But I mean customers know better until they're machine's productivity drops 40% and then they cant work out why their $8000 a yr saving is costing them $17000 a month.

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by Rodp

It can be done aftermarket and they would probably get one shipped and then get it done aftermarket as part of the delivery. There is definitely no cruise control in an XR5. It's also a deal breaker for me and I didn't want an aftermarket cruise control system.

My mate got a dealer fitted system on his then new 2001 TS Astra City. The factory cruise wasn't an option on that model and the dealer fitted one was really bad. It would surge and then back off, then repeat - creating a 10km/h variance on flat road. He had to have it removed eventually. The system had issues with the electronic throttle. Surely a dealer fitted product would use a system that is proven?

[ck11]

Sorry to say but you obviously have not bought many new cars before, I could be wrong though..

Firstly, it seems as though you had a trainee who was not 100% with the product. It's best he says "I'm not sure" etc rather than making something up hoping you won't notice.

There are two critical things when a customer takes a car for a test drive.

1: For safety reasons, it's wise a dealer has a pre-organised test drive route. Why? Lets say the car breaks down, or customer pulls a knife on the salesperson and there is no phone reception or the phone is stolen. If they aren't back within a reasonable time, someone will head out to find them. Now considering the route is set, it will be easy to find someone.

2: Speeding. It is just not on. I don't care who you think you are or the fact that the license was given. That is beyond the point here. As a dealer they have a duty of care as well. You should not drive at excesive speeds on a test drive, whether it's 10 or 50km/h over, it is NOT ON.

Some dealers may offer overnight test drives, and there is a procedure for that too. A Loan car agreement is filled out and that covers both you and the dealer legally, putting the onis on you to not get caught speading etc.

I can't see how this is infuriating.

Some very good points. Unfortunately the guy who took the mazda cx9 seems like he has some serious attitude problems, so wouldnt expect him to comprehend. I dont like dealing with some car salesman, but i feel sorry for the car salesman who have to deal with the arrogance and behaviour of some supposed customers (e.g hannem).

[schnoods]

When looking for a Statesman a couple of years ago (WH) I was having a look at a holden dealer.

I asked if they had any statesmans and he replied "oh we have 2, both are supercharged V8's". Now being a dealership that also do alot of HSV's i thought i might have a look at them, even though i smelt the BS a mile away.

Low and Behold one was a Gen3 and the other ones was a supercharged V6. I looked at him and said "are you kidding" to which he replied "about what?".

I test drove the Gen3 and Although it was overpriced it was good to have a drive of another. When we got out He asked "well?" and i replied...

"How much can you do it for with out the Supercharger as it doesnt have one?" I ended up walking away smug, i honestly didnt know if he was dumb or thought I was...

[68XTFairmont]

2002 I spied a nice looking EF XR8 in a car yard north of adelaide, I didn't have time to stop on the day so I rang them the next day to have a look at it and set an appointment. In the end it took 4 appointments before I got to have a good look at it and even then that was in the detailers getting cleaned out. While I was there I grabbed the sales sheet and took down the previous owners details.

Gave the old owner a ring and had a good chat, He was a bloke in his early 50's, told me all the service history and how he babied it everywhere etc etc also told me it had 71k on the clock when he traded it 2 weeks earlier.

Finally got to take it for a drive a couple of days later and noticed 79k on the clock. Being the way I am I told the Salesman that I would like a longer than normal drive and that I may possibly drive a little harder than his average customer which was no problem as far as he was concerned. About an hour later we are on the Highway heading back to the dealership when he tells me to give it a bit of curry, being just under the speed limit I threw it back to 3rd and accelerated upto the 110 limit and then popped it back into 5th and cruised. Was almost dead set going to buy it when this Salesman starts to tell me that he had the same car off the clock on that stretch of road 2 nights ago, Also told me that he has been driving the car home for the last 2 weeks.................. DEAL BUSTED

[benoxr]

Stopped at a Ford dealer to have my first look at a 2004 BA XR6 brand new. This was early afternoon on a Friday. The salesman said “come into the showroom and check out the colour of the dash lights.” I’m thinking What! Do I look like a 16yr old ( I’m 47 ) He asks when am I looking at buying one ( common question but really, the answer is when I find the right car at the right price) I replied I wont be buying until next week. This salesman then brings out another salesman so they can both sit down and put the pressure on to buy one today which peeved me off . In the end, they said the price is $38,000 but that price wont be available on Monday, its today only. Yeah right! Looked around over the weekend a bit, went to another dealer on the Monday, they had exactly what I wanted, no trade, did the deal and picked it up 2 days later. Absolutely no hassles whatsoever. And yes, this salesman had to get permission from the dealer principal to offer that price but it was the going price from any Ford dealer. Funnily enough, someone else from the first dealer rang me on the Wednesday to follow up if I was still interested. He wanted to know why I had bought one from somewhere else. I explained what the salesman had said and seeing as their “special price” was for last week only, I bought from somewhere else. He wasnt a happy chap.
Some salesman are their own worst enemy....

[Yellow_Festiva]

Went to look at the new Corolla with a friend. Sales person was impressing us with the fact that the new 1.8l had 100kw, which was a big jump from the last models 93kw...

I said, geeze, only 93? How come? He replied.. well they have always been pretty low, but some 'new engine technology' made the new 1.8l able to make 100kw.

The way he was talking... was like the older Corolla's had lower outputs, and the 100kw was at the peak of the 1.8's power...

In the general chit chat, he said that before the 93kw, corolla was "probably around 88kw" So you could see how Toyota was investing in better engine technology yah di yah di yah.....

I said... actually i'm sure the old pre 93kw was also 100kw?? The 93kw was caus they had to de-tune them to pass emissions...

I think the subject of conversation quickly changed to colour and safety options after that...

[robjh80]

I was in the process of buying a new Fiesta Zetec a couple of years back at a large Ford Dealership, salesman was doing his thing, telling us all about the car etc, bear in mind I was a genuine buyer with cash to part with ... and he knew this.

Next thing I know "he just dissapears", didn't think much of it, thought he must have ducked off to the toilet or something, after about half an hour or so had passed I asked one of ladies who worked there if she knew where the salesman had gone?

Turns out he lived not too far away and ..... "HAD GONE HOME FOR LUNCH" ... right in the middle of a deal to a genuine buyer! ... who he left just standing there in the middle of the sales floor!

Honestly some salespeople are their own worst enemies, ...... "I wonder if he made his sales target for the month?" .... "good work champ!"

[big-e]

2 months ago mum needed a new car, so I checked some out on the net. She wanted one model only BA/BAII Fairmont Ghia - any colour.
Found one at a Ford dealer 5 minutes away, so went down to check it out.

Went in the TS and cash to buy it on the spot.

The dealer comes out eating a chicken wing and saying looks like you are a Ford fan.

True, my whole family ONLY drive FORDS. I am looking at the Ghia that you have on the net, saw it 5 minutes ago.

Nah mate, sold................ wait for it........................wait...............
I have a Holden Berlina that you would be interested in.

Drove off, went to a Holden Dealer and bought a Fairmont Ghia that afternoon.

[Spanrz]

Forgot to mention before, when we bought the wife's Toyota, we played with 2 dealers, as you do.

One said, we can't drop below said amount.
Fair enough, had another cracked dropped it down a few dollars, used the tactics of "Here, this is new price", showing us the pricesheet on said paper.

It got to the point we had Sales Manager on our back, but we explained, we want it at a certain price.
They didn't drop down to that, but then they added things on top of the car (added value). That's when you know you have hit their % of profit in the deal.

So we huddled in a corner again, discussed points, they wouldn't drop the price.
They did everything in their power to sway us with added features (which wasn't worth anything to us really).
We are only talkng about $400 price drop in a $19,000 car (inc on Road and fee's). Which was originaly going to cost us $21,000 On Road (inc fee's)

So we said, sorry, we can buy cheaper. If you won't drop the price, we won't buy. They were begging us to come up. Nope. Sorry.

Anyways, drove 30 minutes to another Dealer, who said, we can sell you at your price.
40 minutes later, signed a new car at our price with extra features But got the normal speil about Car tint, weathershields etc etc, said no, too much markup there.

A $19,000 deal (inc onroad and dealer fee's) hinged on $400 bucks. The first dealer lost. Very very happy with the car.
I didn't tell the first dealer that the guy that sold the BA to me, his wife worked at the 2nd dealer.

[290v]

I was taking one of the works cars to a dealer for its first service as i waited i walked around the car yard as you do saw an EL fairmont started reading the writing on the window noticed it was fitted with a V6 said to the salesman thats rare, this was a Ford /Hyun. dealer he said why i said a V6 in an EL? i walked off left him there

[paule11]

I know of a bloke went in to ford dealer wanted to buy an xr8 said to the salesman I want an xr8 ute salesman replies there hard to get and walks off same thing next week but he then rings up and leaves his details no replyafter a few weeks gives up on Ford . Went to Brisbane paid $70000 cash and brought a Maloo hsv ute

[TE50 027]

The day the BF came out, I went and took an XR6 in Rapid for a test drive. Absolutely loved it and was in the process of filling out the paperwork when the salesman asked me what colour I'd like. I said I love rapid now I've driven it. The salesman's mood changed immediately and said he couldn't sell me one in that colour. When I asked why he replied "because the yellow is an aggressive colour and Ford doesn't want a load of young drivers (I was 24) getting around in XR's driving aggressively." I asked if he was serious, he stuck to his guns and tried to sell me a silver one instead. Was the last time I ever visited that dealer.
Then last year, my wife and I were looking at a new Lancer station wagon. Again went to a local dealership and asked to take one for a drive. The young salesman told us that unless we had a cheque for $20k with us and planned to buy one that day we couldn't drive one. Got the same response from his manager, apparently they've had a lot of young people take Lancers for test drives and just flog the guts out of them. Ended up buying one from a Mitsubishi dealer on the other side of Brisbane and got a massive discount, after he let us take one for a test drive for the whole day.

[ORSM-XT]

WHOA WHOA WHOA

HOLD UP!!!!

guys I'm 17, I'm a sales cadet at a country dealership and been there since January this year (16 at the time).

Sorry to say but you guys are giving us a bad name (not that we haven't already got one). but not all Car Salesman are like as what your explaining. theres a Holden dealership up the road and they give the worst service discount every car and you pick it up absolutly filthy.

Where I am we have just won a service excellence award which goes through the whole region. we are the only car dealership to win this award and we have won it twice!!

haha but I have had a bad experince...

I was flat out looking to buy a falcon 3 months ago, i couldn't get one through work as I am pretty fussy with what I wanted..I wanted a BA XT Man in Merc Silver. In the end I settled for an Auto, But anways I was at the ford dealership looking at an 03' XR6 in Merc Silver the sales rep straight out asked how old I was and what my price range is, I told him I was looking to spend up to $16,000 and the XR6 was $17,990, he said if I could get this car to $16,000 will you buy it. (I have learned to ask this) BUT I HAVEN'T OPENED THE DOOR OF THE CAR!!!!!!! so i left there and got mt XT through work...Really wanted some cogs though.

Cheers,

[FPV8U]

In 2006 was at a Random Perth Ford Dealer, looking for 2nd hand BA XR8's MK, Around 18 years old.

Mandarin, Manual 2004 Model, Decent price, but not that good compared to an XR8 i had sourced in Vic (Which was MKII 6 Speed!), asked if he could atleast match the price of $**,*** "No way, can't do this cant do that.. blah blah..." so i think alright, "What can you do then?"

Comes back with a decent price so i start taking a closer look at the car , then he throws out the line "Öh it's been owned by a young bloke so atleast you know it hasn't been flogged..." I just looked at him as if to say did you seriously just say that to me...?

Ended up at Dealer two finding the perfect car (One in my Sig) and being quite an easy sale for them as it was exactly what i wanted..

[GasoLane]

Not really a "How they got it wrong" post but I hope Flappist wont mind....

A member on another car forum a while ago was telling us how his Dad, a Farmer in the Wimmera (Vic), was going to get a new 4wd for the farm as the old Land Rover was getting on.

Son takes Dad to Melb to look at a Japanese 4wd dealer and listens intently whilst salesman went through the features such as CD player, Carpets throughout, Leather seats, Polished Bullbar, Polished Aluminium steps etc etc...

It seems the look on the salesmans face was priceless when Dad said.

"I wouldn't buy a 4wd that I couldn't open the doors and hose out"!

[20focus05]

I know some people that are fully loaded. They went to a porsche dealer but in some daggy clothes got totally ignored, they asked about one of the top of the line models got basiclly told to off. well they when off and bought a Lambo cash and I mean cash.
Well when back to the porsche dealer and had him almost stumbling to get to them when they drove in the driveway, then they jumped out of the car and spun the dealer out and told him he lost a sale.
So you can not always read a book by its cover!!

[Penelope Pitstop]

A couple of weeks ago Lynton and I went to a new BMW dealership on the other side of town as we need a family car (ie one with 4 doors). The salesman leached on to us within seconds of entering the dealership and proceeded to show us his wares. No problem there.

We wanted to check out the amount of leg room in the back of the 135 sports (yeah I know its only got 2 doors_) but the salesman wouldn't let us walk past the new M3 convertible he had right beside the front doors even though we clearly said we were not interested.

So we patiently waited and watched as he went through his spiel not wanting to be rude and interrupt him as he was really on a roll. He then went on to show us how the hard top roof slipped effortlessly away making the coupe into a convertible - Ta Dah - as he did this I noted that the electronic sliding doors of the dealership were opening and closing due to the movements of the car.

Me, being my normally witty self said "Wow, looks like the M3 will open doors for you" and without skipping a beat the salesman responded with "Yep and it will open legs as well" smirking at my fiancé.

I just walked away, disgusted and Lynton laughed at the Salesman and said to him “You really didn’t read that one well”

Fancy saying such a sleazy comment to a couple - whom I might add are holding hands and have already told him they are looking for a car with more leg room for their 11 year old child.

I couldn't get out of their fast enough after that - I will never go back to that dealership and will instead deal with the lovely professional woman at my local BMW dealership. I know for a fact that she would never be that crass.

[schuldiner]

was snobbed off by many dealers with the "i'll call you within the week" wheni was lookin for my new car just over a year ago. more of a funny story story that happened to my boss. he was at a little rural ford dealer test driving an explorer as his in laws were looking at buying one. sales lady says "these are really good you wouldn't even look at buying a BMW X5 or a Porsche" my boss pulls out the keys to his X5 and rattles them. sales lady just goes "oh " not always a good idea to rip on other manufacturers and my boss does not look the type to drive an X5. they ended up buying the explorer by the way.

[20focus05]

My uncle came back from europe a few years ago and he said in france if you want to give a put down to someone call them a CAR SALESMAN

LOL

[benoxr]

guys I'm 17, I'm a sales cadet at a country dealership and been there since January this year (16 at the time).

Sorry to say but you guys are giving us a bad name

Sorry to tell you Wh!tey, but the car salesman have done that job all on their own and had the bad reputation long before you and I were born. And we know they aren't all bad, hence the evidence we all bought a car in the end.

cheers mate :

[BPXR6T]

Went to a dealer to look at a boxster to be told its a "poor mans porsche" and only people who can't afford a 911 buy a boxster. I figured he was trying to get me into a 911. Epic fail for the salesman. I wanted a mid engined roadster and he obviously didn't want to sell me one. Opening his smart a$$ mouth was his mistake. I walked out.

[deathlucky]

ok so i was after a motorcycle was looking at a nice honda cb1300 took it for a spin got back every thing was good i was about to go and speak to there finance department but i had one more question... i asked "whats with these after market handle bars has the bike fallen over?" and he came back with this "no no no never the previous owner used it as a stunt bike and did alot of wheeles endos and stopies..." at this point i was thinking mate you just didnt say that did you and walked away

[jd dad]

we went looking for a Landcruiser about 12 months ago. Went into a yard in Geelong that was selling a private sale one on consignment (had spoken to the owner). Got there before they had opened (as the slick seller was late) and walked in with SWMBO to check it out. Got ignored for a bit even when standing at his office door, then finally can I help you mate? Said can I have the keys for the Criser please, no probs. Open it up and having a look when he sashays over. Asks the usual are you looking for anything specific, trade in etc. Said yes one of these Turbo Diesel, cash sale no trade, can we take it for a test drive. He says are you going to buy it today? I say have a few to look at but am def looking for one as we have sold our other car. He says they all drive the same come back when your ready to buy it??? Just looked at him and walked out, what a tool! Ended up buying one private in Melb that day, was tempted to go and visit said tool and then phone the owner and let him know what he was dealing with.

[geckoGT]

Originally Posted by jd dad

we went looking for a Landcruiser about 12 months ago. Went into a yard in Geelong that was selling a private sale one on consignment (had spoken to the owner). Got there before they had opened (as the slick seller was late) and walked in with SWMBO to check it out. Got ignored for a bit even when standing at his office door, then finally can I help you mate? Said can I have the keys for the Criser please, no probs. Open it up and having a look when he sashays over. Asks the usual are you looking for anything specific, trade in etc. Said yes one of these Turbo Diesel, cash sale no trade, can we take it for a test drive. He says are you going to buy it today? I say have a few to look at but am def looking for one as we have sold our other car. He says they all drive the same come back when your ready to buy it??? Just looked at him and walked out, what a tool! Ended up buying one private in Melb that day, was tempted to go and visit said tool and then phone the owner and let him know what he was dealing with.

You should have taken it back to see what the salesman thought of your new cruiser.

I would have also told the owner what sort of treatment you got, if he really wants to sell it he will care.

[Buzz Box]

All I can say guys you want to try buying a new car when your under 25!!

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Buzz Box

All I can say guys you want to try buying a new car when your under 25!!

When I was 25 I couldn't afford a new car

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by Penelope Pitstop

A couple of weeks ago Lynton and I went to a new BMW dealership on the other side of town as we need a family car (ie one with 4 doors). The salesman leached on to us within seconds of entering the dealership and proceeded to show us his wares. No problem there.

*snip*

Stupid thing to say in mixed company while trying to sell a car..... but I think its pretty good call

[flappist]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

When I was 25 I couldn't afford a new car

Neither can most of the people buying them now......

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by flappist

Neither can most of the people buying them now......

true!

The difference was when we were that age we bought cars we could afford to pay cash for....