for later (hounding) of customers
Which dealers do that? Getting any kind of follow up call from a dealership is a rare event indeed.
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Plenty of dealers around - as a customer you don't have to follow any of their processes, that is internal admin crap. My view would be give me a price or I go to the next dealer in the chain.
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Quite so! I have a 'A' to trade in, I want to buy a 'B', what is the cost to change please? Short pause for appraisal of 'A' and a clicking calculator, cost announced. Maybe a bit of haggling. Deal or no Deal?
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 01/03/2009 at 10:56
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>>My view would be give me a price or I go to the next dealer in the chain.
Not always that easy these days as more and more dealers close. Even for some mainstream brands there are now big holes in the networks.
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There's method in the madness, the test drive normally sells the new car very effectively. Getting in a new clean version of the car they want to buy where everything is nice and tight and works is a teriffic selling tool and they often get out wanting to buy.
Also, the process helps weed out timewasters, if they don't even want to give you their name and address then they possibly aren't that serious about buying a car from you.
I appreciate that there will be notable exceptions, but in my experience there weren't many.
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>>I appreciate that there will be notable exceptions, but in my experience there weren't many.
But how would you know? I have declined to go through this kind of treatment and still managed to buy about 15 new cars with my own or employer's money. I didn't bother to go back and tell the timewasters that I'd bought elsewhere (interesting term when applied by a car sales person to a potential customer by the way - I gather you've given it up now?)
I understand perfectly why it is desirable to give the customer the full presentation, but if the customer doesn't want to buy that way it's just stupid to insist.
Edited by Manatee on 01/03/2009 at 12:32
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There's a huge car supermarket some 12 miles from us that goes through all that rubbish, have been doing so for years too, so some must like it.
You turn up at the gateway, are directed where to park and then a lurking salesperson will take you into the showroom area, question you at length whilst filling in forms, and only then are you allowed to view any cars you may want to.
If you can put up with that lot, a test drive will be arranged at great fuss and effort (all designed to make you feel under obligation no doubt as you'll have been there 2 hours by then) which consists of a mile up the dual carriageway and back.
Its a set piece performance and it beats me why anyone would buy anything from them.
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That's how the vast majority of the buying public are happy to make their purchase though, don't forget that the BR is not representative of the motoring public (at all).
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'don't forget that the BR is not representative of the motoring public (at all).'
surely it can't be true.............. ;)
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Never had that trouble - I usually say something along the lines of "I want that one" and worked on from there. They're fiddling whilst Rome burns.
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My father had a similar difficult experience when popped into our local VW dealership the other week.
He took his Meriva down to have a look at the Golf+ in the showroom.
The salesman actually tried to show him some of the nearly new examples they had on the forecourt rather then show him the one they had inside the showroom.
When Dad got round to asking about the px value on his Meriva, he was told "that's nothing to do with me, sir".............. a trip home followed shortly afterwards.
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Thinking about this, I bought my last three cars without driving them or entering into any silly conversations with sales people. The trouble with them is that they have some sort of image of themselves somewhere between estate agents and doctors. They really need to get a grip. They're selling cars - objects, like fridges or stoves just bigger and more expensive. They really need to get a grip of themselves or their going to become extinct through more than economic forces.
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I went into a VW dealership in South Wales last Summer, was approached by a sales guy who gave me all the speel about what discounts they could offer, give me a good price, etc, on the car that I was looking for at the time - a Golf Plus. Even better, they had the model in the colour I wanted sitting out front on the forecourt.
Anyhow, a mate and I listened to about 10 minutes of the sales guy giving his speel and then I appeared to shock him by saying "OK, what is the best deal you can give me on that?" pointing to the Golf.
You would think it was simple enough to answer wouldn't you. No, he could not give me a price. I had no part-ex, was looking to pay cash and simply wanted to know how much it would cost me. Couldn't get an answer out of him.
He wanted me to sit down and go through all this rubbish about giving him my name, address, phone number, etc - so I did and, guess what, I still could not get a price out of him. He then appeared to try and keep dodging my simple question by asking "Are you ready to buy now?". After I had told him 3 or 4 times that I was I simply shrugged my shoulders and me and my mate walked out.
I had a look a few months later at their site online and the car was still advertised.
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... all this rubbish about giving him my name, address, phone number, etc - so I did and, guess what, I still could not get a price out of him. ... >>
in reply to all similar post above:
Why do people put up with that rubbish?
Just like Pugugly, I do not waste my time or their time. I know the car I want to buy, I go and tell them what I want, and if they don't wish to deal there and then without all the nonsense, I walk out. If they offer a test drive. My last purchase was where the dealer insisted that before I signed and paid, I ought to take the car out for a couple of hours to make sure it suited me. I said it did, I didn't want a test drive, and would sign to say that I had refused a test drive - in case that was his worry.
I simply don't understand how any salesperson can force you to do anything against your will. Take the matter further up the "responsibility" chain in the dealership if need be.
"You pays your money and you takes your choice".
p.s. If you don't go back and tell them what you did with your money at another dealership, they will never learn from their mistake, but will continue to inflict their torture on the placid British public.
Edited by jbif on 01/03/2009 at 15:27
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Went to a timeshare presentation once-first question I asked was "How much?";no answer,just carried on with his spiel-wife and I ate our way thro' his plate of ham sandwiches-I asked again"How much?"-still no answer,so we left.
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The Ford dealer I've been dealing with recently has its own routine - it took me about an hours and 40 minutes to place the order for the CC3.
It was the same salesman I dealt with in 2002 and I quite like the guy, although I think he's good at his job which bothers me a bit as that's probably bad news for my wallet.
I think the dealer is doing quite well, which means they deal confidently with the customers.
Not 'take it or leave it' exactly, but they do lay down a few ground rules.
There was an odious poster on here a few weeks ago who referred to salesman as 'monkeys' - that guy would have been shown the door by the Ford place I'm dealing with.
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15 minutes start to finish buying the CRV same with the Roomie, less with the 535d, what's the fuss about ?
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PU,
I was trying to push the job on a little bit, honest.
There was a p/ex which had to be appraised.
I suppose I didn't want to appear too eager and my haggling method was to sit back and hope he would keep coming back with a better price.
With hindsight, I can see they went in pretty hard straight away - the first price quoted wasn't a great deal more than the one we agreed an hour later.
Still not sure where the time went.
All very amicable, though.
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They offered me a part ex on the Skoda and in the same breath said I could expect about 1.5k more private, so I went cash only. I was asked to make an offer - I put a silly bid in, he politely refused and we met in the middle (somewhere) and got a tank of diesel (detailed on the invoice) and a half price dog-guard, that took five minutes, then ten minutes of form filling and deposit taking. It honestly isn't hard. There was more fuss buying a suit an hour later (i.e. trying it on and haggling a discount from a well known chain).
Edited by Pugugly on 01/03/2009 at 16:13
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... It honestly isn't hard...
Try buying a Ford in the North East.:)
My order form was done 'on the computer' which took a little time, but they won't proceed any other way.
PU, were you asked for your date of birth? I was and queried why, which took some more time.
The answer from the dealer administrator was the DVLA want it before they will issue a reg number.
I suppose it could be true.
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I suppose it could be true.
>>
It is true, at least it certainly was when I worked in a large NE Ford dealer.
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" The answer from the dealer administrator was the DVLA want it before they will issue a reg number."
So the DVLA won't issue a registration number for a vehicle unless they know how old the person buying the car is ?
Have I read that right ?
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Good grief, PU, do you haggle about buying a suit? They don't do that on Savile Row, do they?
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No but Debenhams let me haggle over a whistle. More Jimmy Saville than Savile Row.
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There was an odious poster on here a few weeks ago who referred to salesman as 'monkeys' - that guy would have been shown the door by the Ford place I'm dealing with. <<
That'll be me ;-)
The reference was more organ grinder-monkey, than genetic/grooming habits.
Why on earth do I want to spend 45+ minutes to find out "What's the best cash price you can do on X?"
I speak to the dealer principal and he/she either concludes the deal with me, or advises me the best deal and hands me over to a sales exec to complete.
That's how I do it.
This talk of "the dealer wouldn't want to deal with you" is no concern of mine - a straightforward white-goods transaction is all that is looked for/required.
It's not as if salesmen often look at us as walking wallets/sales to be chalked up now, is it ?
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Lygonos,
Fair play for coming back, and I think you apologised for the comment at the time, so no more need be said.
As regards dealing with the dealer principal, the owners of the Renault garage I worked for years ago had no idea how the sales process worked or how to fill in an order form.
They employed, er, monkeys like me to do that. :)
Or to put it in a more traditional way, they didn't believe in having dogs and barking themselves.
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15 minutes start to finish buying the CRV
(Cough)... It is March 1st, I assume you have picked up the CRV by now - can you drop us an email and let us know the dealer and, if poss, what you paid ball-park?
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Tomorrow - yes sorry, busy time wrong computer (usual load of old excuses)
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Thanks Pug, at the very least it will give me something to wave under the nostrils of local dealers.
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He wanted me to sit down and go through all this rubbish about giving him my name address phone number etc - so I did and guess what I still could not get a price out of him. He then appeared to try and keep dodging my simple question by asking "Are you ready to buy now?". After I had told him 3 or 4 times that I was I simply shrugged my shoulders and me and my mate walked out. I had a look a few months later at their site online and the car was still advertised.
Reading this thread it just totally baffles me how on earth these guys sell any cars at all. They are supposed to be providing customer service but it seems like they feel it's more important to follow a 'process' than make the customer feel welcome.
My experiences buying cars here in the US - although people do complain about dealers here too - has been 100% positive. As soon as they see you're not a timewaster - which having done sales I don't begrudge them trying to clarify first - they bend over backwards to help you and get your business.
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