Following a comment by No Dosh on another thread on the attitude and salary of car salesmen ( its very rarely a saleswoman if at all) my question today is whats you're worst experience of these guys. Not the Arthur Daley type but Main Dealers.
When SWMBO wanted to replace her car her cash actually went to the (male)Toyota dealer who took a bit of time out to show her a selection of various Yari? ( Yarises) , agreed a good deal on the extras she wanted , allowed an immediate no strings test drive on a busy Saturday and didn't try to stitch her up on the finance... Mind you he didn't get the chance because she'd done all her homework and was prepared with the right questions.
The loser was the dealer who persisted in ignoring her and talking to me as if she didn't exist.
When I told him the car was for her and to talk too her ,he was very condescending and within 30 seconds was back talking to me.
She was out the door within five minutes.It was her cash and her choice.
Was she a threat to his masculinity I wonder ?
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Car salesmen nearly always get the buyer wrong when male/female couple go in and the female is buying
Examples
Female friend of family wanted a new big estate car. So I say MB E class is biggest and best. So we go to MB dealer TO BUY and despite the fact I kept telling the salesman "talk to her she is buying not me" he kept coming back to me - Se we left and she got a SAAB 9-5 estate where the salesman imediately asked who was buying and concentrated on the buyer.
My mum wanted a new small auto. I said a VW golf - cant go wrong. We go to VW dealer where he again he tried to sell to me, and when I kept pointing him to my mum, he went all cold and left us hanging around. We walked out and bought a new Pug 205.
The best salesmen always sell to the woman. Even if the man is paying/buying, sell it to the female partner and you are more than halfway there. Salesmen are reminded of this often but male piggishness gets in the way.
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Worst experience? An MG-Rover dealer. I wanted to buy a ZR so asked about finance. This guy said he wasn't a salesman but the business manager, so I'd asked the 'right man'. (His words).
He worked it all out and I could afford the monthly drip on their demonstrator, so we arranged to finalise the following week. Took my wife in a couple of days later to see the car. 'Finance Wizard' said he'd made a slight error and the monthly payments would be a bit more. We went though it and it was a bit tight but we reckoned we could just about manage. (I really wanted this car!)
The day before I was due to sign he called me and said he'd made another mistake and it was a little bit more. Huh? Signing day was fun. I went in and he met me with a big grin and all the paperwork. His face was a picture when I said I wasn't going to sign because the payments had changed twice. I honestly thought he was going to cry!
Half a mile down the road I found the same model but brand new for over 2 grand less at an importer. I'm very grateful - if he hadn't been stupid I wouldn't have saved all that cash.
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When I was in the motor trade, in my experience it was the man who decided the model, the woman who said the "we can/cannot afford it" and the final decision was, more often than not the lady's,
Mind you I was selling Ladas & Protons, so cost for our customers was probably the main factor
Roger.
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Following a comment by No Dosh on another thread on the attitude and salary of car salesmen ( its very rarely a saleswoman if at all) my question today is whats you're worst experience of these guys. Not the Arthur Daley type but Main Dealers. When SWMBO wanted to replace her car her cash actually went to the (male)Toyota dealer who took a bit of time out to show her a selection of various Yari? ( Yarises) , agreed a good deal on the extras she wanted , allowed an immediate no strings test drive on a busy Saturday and didn't try to stitch her up on the finance... Mind you he didn't get the chance because she'd done all her homework and was prepared with the right questions. The loser was the dealer who persisted in ignoring her and talking to me as if she didn't exist. When I told him the car was for her and to talk too her ,he was very condescending and within 30 seconds was back talking to me. She was out the door within five minutes.It was her cash and her choice. Was she a threat to his masculinity I wonder ?
That was exactly the story in all dealers we went to except 1...
They got the sale.
Simple really....
I'll even name and shame... Perry's of Amersham.. Top dealer, know their cars and are reliable as well... not unlike the car we bought which has proved to be a evry reliable car as well.
JaB
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Bad practice and poor selling technique it may be but I think it's quite often just another form of stereotyping. It's the same on the numerous occasions I take my youngest to hospital - initially, the female nurses, receptionists and even doctors all tend to treat me as if I know nothing about him and are looking over my shoulder for his mum to appear.
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Thankyou people, these are excellent points that will prove very useful soon enough... :-)
Blue
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I understand your points, but I wouldnt change my mind if I wanted a specific car because of a poor salesman. I would go to another dealer of the same marque if possible.
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Thankyou people, these are excellent points that will prove very useful soon enough... :-) Blue
Come on, Blue, spill the beans....
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Oops, just realised how my post that looked! :-)
No, I haven't had an offer yet, I've got some applications in, but hopefully I'll know more by the end of this week.
Watch this space ;-)
Blue
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I wish I could post this anonymously.....
....always sell to the woman, whether overtly or covertly, she makes the decisions.
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IIRC Many years ago Mike Hailwood and a fellow GP driver went into the MB dealer on the A4 at Brentford to buy a couple of their finest sports cars. The sales people did not respond to two fellows in jeans so the business went to Citroen in the form of an SM or two.
Some years later an unhappy customer drove his MB through the front showroom windows.
Who said service aint what it used to be?
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When i worked at a Vauxhall dealers a few years ago i heard some pretty funny and pretty sad stories.
traditional heard before story but totally true - tramp looking guy walks in (later turns out to be a gipsy) and asks how much the top of the range Carlton is. snobby salesman directs him to receptionist to get price list as he cant be bothered. other eager young salesman takes over and talks to him shows him round the car. guy walks out. all other salesmen snigger and laugh at \'waste of time\'. Gypsy guy came back 2 hours later with tesco carrier bag full of money. bought showroom demonstrator in full (fully loaded). One very happy young salesman. Got a bit nervous though and locked himself in directors office when he had to count the cash :-)...
Another salesman - good salesman, but not very moralistic, 2 tales:
Sold a guy 2 Vauxhall Monetereys for his business - £28k new. Worth £15k one year later. depreciation nightmare. Laughed his head off when he sold them as he got a £750 allowance bonus for each one from Vauxhall. Same salesman also dealt with a guy who came into buy a second hand cavalier for £4k and walked out with a £16k brand new Vauxhall Astra 2.0 16v Sport Estate - probably worth about £3k now. So depressing when you see this go on and realise that salesman will sell a car not for the goodness of the client, but for himself and the deal. After all how often does a salesman talk you down to a lower, cheaper model?! I had to leave after 4 months because it was bad.
However there are the client revenge stories!:
Salesman thought he got the deal of all deals buy selling a fully loaded at Omega Elite at list price. Took a mint \'fsh\' BMW 735i in part ex cash. Garage sold BMW to a trader. Trader came back 3 days later. \'this BMW\'s not right\' says the trader. \'whats not right says salesman\'. Trader proceeds to show Salesman service history book. \'its fully stamped\' says salesman. \'yes, but this is a full service history with a stamp by a BMW garage that went out of business 20 years ago...\' says trader. Salesman loses £3500 out of his deal and actually owes the company money on overpaid bonus.
And the best of all:
Salesman actually tells customer to \'PFD off\' when the client had gone in 5 times about buying car but never did. Customer complains to sales manager. works out which car is Salesman own demonstrator - a Vectra 2.5 V6 Touring (white with bodykit one). asks for a solo test drive in that particaular car as thats the one he is thinking of buying car. sales manager of course obliges to make up. Car comes back with 2 hours later with steaming I will let your imagination take over at this point - ND in glovebox..... He never did buy a car.
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And no, it wasn't an angry me in the glovebox, before any wiseguys or gals post to that effect.
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