Why are some used car dealers so rude?
Discussion
Pit Pony said:
I'm.a chartered engineer, in the automotive industry.
Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
I have never worked for another dealer so what I do is a very different thing. The main dealer environment is very script driven and formulaic. I wouldn't be able to work in that environment but for the guys that can do it it can bet very lucrative. Sales guys in the German dealerships can be earning 60k or more. its extremely high pressure at times and it is not a job for everyone for sure. Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
bern said:
Contrary to this, I've just gone thought the painful process of buying another car. Painful because of the standard of cars being offered for sale, there is some utter s
te out there. All the dealers I interacted with were actually really nice, but the quality of the stock was very poor.
Bought private in the end but only because the car was better than anything I'd seen in the trade.
Poor quality stock in what way? Bodywork, unclean, damaged interior, mechanical faults, warning lights, service history gaps?te out there. All the dealers I interacted with were actually really nice, but the quality of the stock was very poor. Bought private in the end but only because the car was better than anything I'd seen in the trade.
Pit Pony said:
I'm.a chartered engineer, in the automotive industry.
Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
In a typical main dealer environment the main job is to sell finance (and other related products, paint protection etc - used to be GAP but that’s been stamped on). The car itself is almost incidental.Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
You can test this - ask them why you should buy this C Class Merc rather than a 3 Series BMW and they’ll look like a fish gasping for air. Ask them why you should use PCP rather than cash and you won’t be able to stop them talking.
Sheepshanks said:
Pit Pony said:
I'm.a chartered engineer, in the automotive industry.
Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
In a typical main dealer environment the main job is to sell finance (and other related products, paint protection etc - used to be GAP but that’s been stamped on). The car itself is almost incidental.Once, whilst waiting for a redundancy decision, I applied to the local Merc Dealership for a junior sales position.
I wanted a new challenge.
Is the job of the salesman, one of helping people to actually understand what they want and need, and point them.to the options?
Mostly, I know what I want, but I need a test drive to confirm that I'm right, in my decision.
You can test this - ask them why you should buy this C Class Merc rather than a 3 Series BMW and they’ll look like a fish gasping for air. Ask them why you should use PCP rather than cash and you won’t be able to stop them talking.
When expressing one of my talents as knowledge about their cars, they said knowing about cars was a drawback as it would interrupt my ability to sell it as a product. Yes really!
Reason #1 as to why never to darken a main dealer’s door for
a sale, unless its a niche product like Lotus or Caterham.
BMW dealer told me that Harman/Kardon was not better than their base stereo in the 3 series and it was all just mind games. Useless t
t, just another lying turd trying desperately to trick someone into buying what they had available. I hated all car salespeople with a passion until I met a very good, friendly, non-pushy one selling a Golf GTI MK7 Performance and we talked for hours about the pros of the performance pack and the history of the GTI. Didn’t even buy the car but he was such a gent I left him a good review and someone I knew ended up buying a car from him on my recommendation. The Toyota dealer near my work also has a star who knows everything there is about cars, drives a GR86 himself, great guy.
Edited by V 02 on Sunday 30th June 12:59
It can be a case of blame the game not the player. The main dealer world is a very different to independents you are just dealing with white goods at the end of the day even Porsche are very much like this many of their sales staff lack any kind of deep product knowledge outside of the world of speccing cars of course.
It's a tough job some people will do it better than others of course. Some guys I know in the trade are absolutely brilliant at what they do going way above and beyond. We are all tarred with the same brush of course but then they have to deal with liars/timewasters/idiots/showoffs/know it alls/dreamers etc all day long so its definitely a two way street. In my business I'm lucky its my domain I'm the boss and I pick and choose who I want to deal with but for big dealers that just have to deal with "Joe Public" that are geared up for war and confrontation at the first possible moment it must be a pretty crap job and you have to be mentally extremely robust to deal with it all. For the small and medium dealers like myself we are also dealing with the after sales and buying etc so it's not at all easy. I've only very recently seperated out my personal phone from work as it was literally 24 hours a day and these days people don't have any boundaries in terms of messaging or even calling at absolute unacceptable times of the day and on weekends. Mad! To be fair for me I deal with nice people so it's only really been the out of hours messaging thing that got to me in the end. I mean people calling you at 10pm on a Sunday can you believe people do this? They do!
It's a tough job some people will do it better than others of course. Some guys I know in the trade are absolutely brilliant at what they do going way above and beyond. We are all tarred with the same brush of course but then they have to deal with liars/timewasters/idiots/showoffs/know it alls/dreamers etc all day long so its definitely a two way street. In my business I'm lucky its my domain I'm the boss and I pick and choose who I want to deal with but for big dealers that just have to deal with "Joe Public" that are geared up for war and confrontation at the first possible moment it must be a pretty crap job and you have to be mentally extremely robust to deal with it all. For the small and medium dealers like myself we are also dealing with the after sales and buying etc so it's not at all easy. I've only very recently seperated out my personal phone from work as it was literally 24 hours a day and these days people don't have any boundaries in terms of messaging or even calling at absolute unacceptable times of the day and on weekends. Mad! To be fair for me I deal with nice people so it's only really been the out of hours messaging thing that got to me in the end. I mean people calling you at 10pm on a Sunday can you believe people do this? They do!
Edited by fridaypassion on Sunday 30th June 16:34
This was many years ago now and the dealer no longer exists but I still remember being absolutely bemused by the bloke’s attitude. It was a classic car place and I had been looking at a few examples of the car I was after. Anyway, the colour I really wanted was at this dealership and I’d saved it until last as I was thinking I’d rule out the others first and then settle on this one.
It was more expensive than the others I’d seen but it was advertised as “immaculate”. It wasn’t and I was a bit disappointed. When the dealer spoke to me I said that I was a bit disappointed as the condition was not as good as I had hoped. I said that I’d seen a better one yesterday that was several thousand pounds less. He told me I was lying.
I wasn’t.
I went and bought the other one
It was more expensive than the others I’d seen but it was advertised as “immaculate”. It wasn’t and I was a bit disappointed. When the dealer spoke to me I said that I was a bit disappointed as the condition was not as good as I had hoped. I said that I’d seen a better one yesterday that was several thousand pounds less. He told me I was lying.
I wasn’t.
I went and bought the other one
M4cruiser said:
M4cruiser said:
I just checked his web site again, 2 weeks on, and it hasn't sold, and he's reduced the price by £100.
So he was indeed talking rubbish. If he phones me back I'll laugh at him, no way am I buying any car from him!
Expecting him to call me any moment ...So he was indeed talking rubbish. If he phones me back I'll laugh at him, no way am I buying any car from him!
Closest thing to rude I've experienced was the elderly dealer I bought the Mrs Qashqai from who flat out said he couldn't be bothered to move a few cars to let me have a test drive on a Saturday morning. I jokingly told him to stop being lazy and he'd make a sale, which in fairness warmed him up somewhat, after which I test drove the car and I bought it. Nice bloke as it turns out actually, bit of an enthusiast close to retirement.
Personally bought from about 10 other dealers in as many years, and helped friends purchase from several more. Generally they've all been polite and helpful. The worst ones were adequate, and some were outright legends. Guys I bought my last car from delivered it for free after I politely asked them if they would, had a quick chat on delivery and they told me to be sure to call them if I get any problems. Never needed to, car was excellent.
Worth noting perhaps that these are all sub £6k purchases, but in my book used dealers go in the section marked "decent folk", unlike some car repair places on the other hand, in which I've experienced plenty of rudeness.
Personally bought from about 10 other dealers in as many years, and helped friends purchase from several more. Generally they've all been polite and helpful. The worst ones were adequate, and some were outright legends. Guys I bought my last car from delivered it for free after I politely asked them if they would, had a quick chat on delivery and they told me to be sure to call them if I get any problems. Never needed to, car was excellent.
Worth noting perhaps that these are all sub £6k purchases, but in my book used dealers go in the section marked "decent folk", unlike some car repair places on the other hand, in which I've experienced plenty of rudeness.
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