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Local Audi dealership is part of Damon Hills empire. Upon anouncing that I had 30K burning a hole in my pocket the best they could offer me was a "5" minute acompanied test drive down the road and back in a model I wasnt interested in. I explained that the car was not just for me, but for my partner and our two children who were with us so we wanted to go out together, and as the car was a 4 seater (A4 Cabriolet) an acompanied drive wasnt going to work. At this point he decalerd that he couldnt help me as they were really busy, but appeared to think that by telling me over and over again that they were part of the damon hill group I would buy anyway. Tried the dealer in Bath who showed even less intetest in selling me a car, and was (she) quite rude to me. Headed out into the cotswolds where I found a smaller dealer who was most helpful, had time to make me a coffee and have a chat, who then managed to get the exact car I wanted to drive in from another branch and let me have it for a day. Needless to say he couldnt match the best price I had but got close enough to get the deal and the follow up servicing.
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My boss just told me of his experience a few weeks back.
He went into his local VW dealer and was interested in purchasing a Toureg (sp?). As he went into the glass palace a spotty girl sitting at the reception desk glanced up from her magazine and then promptly ignored him and went back to reading said item.
A total of 14 minutes goes by before anyone else in the building takes notice of my boss - eventually someone asks him if they can help. My boss says, in a rather loud voice and in a very sarcastic manner that he wanted to speak to a sales person about a Toureg if it wasn't too much bother. Another 10 minutes goes by before said sales person appears at which point my boss is fuming - so he lets the sales guy have the full force of his anger. He starts by telling the sales person how useless the girl on reception is, how he has been ignored for a total of 24 minutes and how he wants to see the dealer principle. Said principle arrives and also gets the 3rd degree treatment.
Needless to say my boss didn't purchase from that dealership. How difficult can it be to spend £40k or so? Makes me think I ought to go into this line of business could make a killing just by treating people with courtesy & respect.
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He starts by telling the sales person how useless the girl on reception is how he has been ignored for a total of 24 minutes and how he wants to see the dealer principle.
In a different line of business (quite complex high-tech stuff) we get enquiries referred to us that have come through our suppliers websites. It's amazing how often people start off their enquiry with a rant about how all the problems they've had navigating through the website.
When we have customers coming out of ears the last thing we need is an awkward new customers.
Perhaps that's the problem with car dealers - there aren't enough of them and customers go round in circles. Read through this thread - one dealer is a pain, so go to another. Everyone does that, so the business shares itself out without any dealer having to do much.
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>>It's amazing how often people start off their enquiry with a rant about how all the problems they've had navigating through the website.
When we have customers coming out of ears the last thing we need is an awkward new customers.
Perhaps you should redesign your website, employ more people to cope with the greater inflow of new customers thus expanding the business and make more money? ;-)
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Perhaps you should redesign your website employ more people to cope with the greater inflow of new customers thus expanding the business and make more money? ;-)
If you're not already, then you should be a Business Guru. :-)
(They're generally supplier's websites, not ours, and the 'customers' are often people that our business is not designed to work with - ie, they'll be end users, rather than system integrators).
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... Makes me think I ought to go into this line of business could make a killing just by treating people with courtesy & respect.
well you know, there are many ex-dmg (dixons motor group) outlets that are looking for good homes. just phone up the administrators and i am sure they will be very keen to hear your offers.
all the tales above miss some obvious (to me) points. some thoughts:
if you find a dealership that is short of its sales targets and "run-rate", you will get a good reception.
if a dealership is busy, it means they already have too many customers than they want and won't be too bothered about chasing one individual sale.
if you go to a salesman at the right time of the day, week, or month, or quarter-end, you amy probably get a better result.
if a sales organisation has achieved its months/quarters target, there is not much more to be gained by eating in to the next month's/quarter's sales this month/quarter. (the way sales incentives work means that the sales team will be holding back on excess sales once they have gone beyond their magic maximum commission point). it is a bit like the night-watchman at a cricket match, or when a team is trying desperately to stretch out the game to force a draw, their aim is not to maximise run-rate, instead they will play safe.
to a sales organisation, all that matters is targets - whether they are selling baked-beans or cars or fighter-jets.
the targets will usually be set to suit the capacity of factories taking account of holiday-shutdowns and maintenance outages) so that no more cars are sold than the production lines can cope with.
when you go back to a dealer and show off that you bought 10 brand new cars from a competitor because the other dealer treated you better, this has absolutely no effect on the "losing dealer". they "feel" no loss. they will have made their targets and couldn't care less whether you buy a differend brand or from a different dealer. in fact they will think you are the loser for having gone elsewhere!
finally, most of the people you meet in a dealership will have no brand loyalty, and probably many sales people just see it just as any sales job - they could just as well be selling sweets, kitchens, or cars.
and yes, when the dealers such as dixons fail or manufacturers such as rover and their dealers fail - what happens? after a few weeks or months pain, all the parties involved move on and get on with their lives. what happens to all the sales staff. they find other jobs, some will go on to sell kitchens in diy shops, but then theyare sales people.
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The muppets that really bug me, are the ones that as soon as you start to speak to a salesman, they get their questionnaire forms out and think they can start market researching you!
Quote me : "I'm interested in a new Golf 2.0 Tdi SE, can you give me a price please?".
Quote salesman : "OK, of course. I'll just need to take some details? Can I have your name and address?"
Quote me : "no, can you just give me a price please? I know what I'm after - it's a Golf 2.0 Tdi SE with metallic silver"
Quote salesman : "Right, so what will you mainly be using the car for?"
Quote me : "To drive. I know what I'm looking for! It's a Golf 2.0 Tdi. Can I have a price please?".
Quote salesman : "And what do you currently drive?"
Quote me : "Whats that got to do with anything? I'm interested in a Golf. Can I have a price please?"
Quote salesman : "I just need to take these details" (points towards 3 page questionnaire)
Quote me : "bye bye".
Or the idiots that think they can bluff you with your part ex by saying that it's worth less than it is. Out 22,000 mile c-max was valued at £1000 less than Glass's trade value. When I asked why they were undervaluing my car, they said we're not - thats what the guide says. When I challenged him, he went and got the book and said "here, look" and proceeded to point out the price of a 57,000 mile car. When I told him he was looking at the wrong mileage, he insisted that the mileage difference would only work out at about £50 difference. Muppet! Bye bye.
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>>>> Quote salesman : "Right so what will you mainly be using the car for?"Quote me : "To drive. I know what I'm looking for! It's a Golf 2.0
Lol, that really made my day!! It's so true, what pointless questions!
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I've had this when pretending to trade in my car in order to blag a test drive. I'm aware of exactly what Glass's books my car at and most offers were a good £1500 less. Upon being asked why, they said 'Oh we use CAP for cars like that'.
Hmmm.
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I was taught in business that first appearances and meetings are VITAL to give the right impression. So the ophone must be answered promptly, and visitors greeted and offered refreshments/paper if they have to wait.
I understand tests show we make our initial impressions in the first 3 to 10 seconds of meeting.
Obviously UK car dealers are rolling in high margin customers and making loadsofmoney to judge by my experiences: phone calls unreturned, lack of interest of hearing you want a car/colour not in stock / denying a mdoel exists (yes a 1.6TDCI Fiesta.. Ford dealers are IGNORANT)... etc etc etc..
They must be in general the worst buying experience of any consumer organisation (altho when I bought a sh BMW from our local dealer, the experience was GOOD).
As for pricing and part exchanges, Attila the Hun was an amateur raper and pillager compared to some I have met.. who have been rude insulting and arrogant.
Most of the UK dealerships deserve the hardship coming in the next 3 years when economies slow and consumer indebtness bites.
madf
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madf, I think you're absolutely right... but... no amount of better salesmanship would prevent melt down. If people have the money, they buy the car. If they don't, they don't.
And salesmen get fed up with people like MichaelR coming in for a test drive for the fun of it - not realising that after twenty years of such test drives he really will buy that X-type.
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It makes me feel much better that many have the same experiances I've had.
Why it matters two hoots what clothes you are wearing when looking at cars, I thought the world had moved on. As long as you are polite and 'normal' what else really matters.
Yes I agree with the other poster, in that it doesn't matter what they sell be it wiggets, jelly beans or cotton socks, it's all the same to them. But when you are wanting to part with mostly hard earned money possibly £20k+, a bit more thought should I think be put into the whole process.
I am always aware that the whole transaction taking place under their roof is for their benefit, not mine. I must admit the original purchase of the A4 was more personal as I managed to get the salesman away from the Glossy showroom at my home address (In the drive) and found him to be human after all. Admittedly we had to go through the 'Pendulum effect' Fantastic expression.
By the time I've ranted on about this, my car will have lost another £500 of the trade in value.
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If you really want a lesson on how well dealerships can treat you - odds are you will experience far better at Lexus. (You just might not like the cars though).
I know a couple of people who own Lexii and the lengths the delaers sometimes go to is quite extraordinary at times.
A colleague of mine left his 5 series at a delaer for the weekend while he test drove the GS - when he got back his 5 series was fully valeted - and when they handed back his keys they did not even mention it.
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This may be a feature of Lexus / Toyota dealerships: Octagon Bracknell valeted my B-class when I had a 24-hour test drive of a Verso.
This dealer's service (elder daughter has had two 1.3 Yarises from them: cars and service have been faultless) nearly persuaded me to go for a Verso: it was just a little too ponderous to drive compared with the Golf estate.
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Can't help but notice all these tales of woe are from supposedly "premium" brands. Why oh why then do people continue to buy the cars?? Would get the message pretty damn quick if people just went elsewhere
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Yes, but that's because we prefer the "premium" brands, and have to put up with shoddy service to get what we consider to be a better car.
Surely the point is that it takes a good salesman to sell a poor product but a rubbish salesman can sell a good product. I guess that, if I want what I consider to be a good product, I just have to put up with poor service. Not happy about that, but it seems to be the way it is!
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Surely the point is that it takes a good salesman to sell a poor product but a rubbish salesman can sell a good product.
How many new car buyers need to be "sold" a car? When I'm buying a new car I know exactly what I want before I even talk to a salesperson. I've researched it's specification, features and performance from magazines and I've sat in cars in the showroom. All I need a salesperson for is to arrange a test drive, agree a p/x value, order the car from the manufacturer, and arrange formalities such as registration etc.
--
L\'escargot.
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>>all these tales of woe are from supposedly "premium" brands. Why oh why then do people continue to buy the cars?
Because if you want a Lexus would you really be happy with a Daewoo? Probably because you only spend an hour with the dealer, but several years with the car, so the car matters more than the dealer.
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"Having purchased a new A4 4 years ago from local Audi dealer, I am looking to replace upgrade the car."
If I were you tryitandsee I just wouldn't bother to change it anyway. Mine's 3 years old now and after some dithering I decided I'd probably keep what I've got as IMHO it can't be sensibly improved for what I want. My 3 hour test drive of a new one on Wednesday absolutely confirmed my view. I'm not buying a new one but keeping this one for a good while longer.
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...if you want a Lexus would you really be happy with a Daewoo?
Probably not, but if you want an Audi or BMW (to use two examples quoted earlier) you might be perfectly happy with a Lexus.
FiL called by "his" BMW dealer over the weekend to look at a 520. He was quoted ?2000 less for his automatic 318 as a trade-in than the book price for an equivalent manual because autos don't sell as well as manuals at 6 years old, according to the salesman.
Strange, then, that the autos on the forecourt are all at a ?5000 (!) premium over their manual counterparts.
Why the difference? Could it be because this will be his third BMW car (he's also had two BMW bikes) and they're full sure he won't swap for another brand or dealership?
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Brilliant, WhoopWhoop!
I find the best reason to go into a car dealership is to listen to snigger at the antics of the swagering, braying young salesmen trying to chat the pretty girls behind the desk (and, once, even my wife who had gone ahead of me Grrr!)
AA
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A certain VW dealer tried to patronise Mrs P when she bought the Golf...I wonder whether he's slept since..?
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