I went into local Vauxhall main dealers - looking for either a new Vectra Estate or possibly the new Zafira. They gave me a brochure for he Vectra but didn't have one for the Zafira. Said they'd get one and post it out. Phoned them back three times to remind them. Nothing. Went on to Vauxhall website - order 5 times - nothing. Test drive in the Zafira? We only have an automatic in stock, but we can get you a manual in a couple of weeks.
Bought a Toyota from the garage next door..................
Previous experiences - Saab - which model would you like? It's full of fuel - keep it for the weekend. Citroen - same story. Volvo - we can give you the car for 30 minutes. Ford - you can have the car for an hour but you can't go further than 3 miles from the showroom - and sorry, we only have the Ghia available. Honda - which weekend would you like the car for, sir?
Worst was Volkswagen - because I was in jeans & T-Shirt, assumed I wanted a second hand car. I walked out.
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I remember accompanying a mate for something to do one Sunday as he went around test driving various candidates for his new (generous) car allowance.
Went to Toyota, Alfa, Ford and VW dealers. Toyota were great, as were Alfa. Ford dealer salesman outright denied the forthcoming existence of a new model that was common knowledge in the press at the time in order to try and sell a currently available model there and then (new model arrived a month later!). VW dealer just couldn't be bothered - kind of like "we'll sell cars anyway, so take it or leave it"
Brand new Celica 190 ordered a week later.
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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It's the lack of product knowledge that gets me, but it's not fair to blame only sellers of cars either.
"How wide's the boot?"
"Let me show you."
"No, I mean how many incher. Is it wider than an XYZ [main competing car]."
"No idea about them."
Why the pink fluffy dice not. How on earth is he going to persuade me to but [say] a 3 series over a C class? Worse, many don't even know the various BHP put out by the engines in their own ranges. What DO they do all day in there? Why is there more expertise on HJ than in a car showroom?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 13/11/2007 at 10:27
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Ha!
I wish I'd had time to sit and memorise dimensions of boot apertures etc. whilst I was working in sales, if someone asked a question like that I'd get a brochure out and find out for them. I would never dream of spending valuable time memorising figures like that when I would likely never need them, in my whole time working in car sales I think only 3 customers asked about dimensions, a far more common question was BHP which I did take the time to remember, in fact I knew most of what there was to know about our engines.
Blue
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Having been through the process recently (I rather enjoy it) I thought it might help to list some dealers in my area which let you go out for a test run on your own.
If a salesman insisted on accompanying me for a test drive, the chances of him selling a car to me would be pretty low.
Am I unusual?
And if not, do dealers not realize this?
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>> Having been through the process recently (I rather enjoy it) I thought it might help to list some dealers in my area which let you go out for a test run on your own. If a salesman insisted on accompanying me for a test drive the chances of him selling a car to me would be pretty low. Am I unusual?
I've had 3 test drives, and only went on my own for one drive (from one of the dealers listed above)! It didn't bother me at all, why would a salesman worry me? If it was a 2nd hand car then I would prefer to go on my own, but I wouldn't keen on buying a car that had potentially had been used by people for a joy-ride. Although salesmen don't seem to mind people abusing the cars, there is probably a limit and some people would be more gentle.
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If a salesman insisted on accompanying me for a test drive the chances of him selling a car to me would be pretty low. Am I unusual? And if not do dealers not realize this?
Depends on the car. Locally, the salesman will go out with you for 3 miles or so, and will explain any idiosyncracies in the vehicle, and just talk you through any queries you have, then send you on your merry way for an hour or so.
Especially useful if you are driving something new, with a different gearbox (auto or paddle shifter), or window controls etc etc etc
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Blue, surely a good car salesperson will know about the competitors' cars in order to put the brand they were selling in a positive light?
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yes, the purveyor of sunderlands' finest looks like he'll be winning.
off down there in a mo to check it out in the dark and then, if all well we'll see what can be done
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Blue surely a good car salesperson will know about the competitors' cars in order to put the brand they were selling in a positive light?
Not really, you need to have a basic knowledge of the competition, but ultimately your job is to make the car that you are selling seem magnificent, you need to make it appear to fit their wants and needs exactly, this involves slagging off the competition a lot less than you may think!
We got to go on competitor analysis days where more practical aspects of the competitions failings were shown to us, for example the appalling handling of the new Astra in an emergency situation, I graphically illustrated that by crashing the one they lent me into a hedge backwards, customers tended to laugh along at stories like that which was always good to win them round to your side.
Also, another small point, but what sort of person could memorise the dimensions and specifications in precise detail of all of their competition, have you thought about the sheer volume of data that you would need to store in your head? I couldn't do it for my own product range never mind the competitors! :-) Besides, nobody's really interested in dimensions etc. admitedly with the odd exception, and when that happens you can whip the brochure out!
The only facts that concerned people a lot were BHP figures, fuel economy and insurance groups, you could remember those easily enough (especially for Ford insurance groups, they only went on engine size, not spec) and you could make up any realistic figure for fuel consumption on the spot as the ones printed in the manual are ludicrous more often than not!
Remember, you're selling yourself to most buyers as much as you're selling a car, not many people come car shopping in a totally objective and scientific manner (I'm one of those that do), and I think this is illustrated by the number of posters on here who have claimed not to have bought a certain brand of car because they felt the salesman was no good. If you can make them your mate and put them at ease you will often get a sale.
Blue
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If you can make them your mate and put them at ease you will often get a sale.
Yes quite right, but I'm amazed that people (or punters) enter business premises with the idea that 'liking' the seller (or vice versa) has anything whatsoever to do with it. I always fix the idea that the person on the other side of the desk is trying to extract as much money as is humanly possible from me the that confection of steel & plastic & would be 'happy' for me to eat baked beans for a year to pay for it.
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Imo anyone who buys a car before doing their research first is just asking for it.
I take the cynical view that all salesmen are incompetents and charlatans.. even though they are often neither - so do all my research first before I see a showroom.
So all I'm looking for is:
what does it drive like?
Is it comfortable and meets my needs?
How much will it cost to run?
How little can I buy the total package for?
All the rest is irrelevant...
I do listen to salespeople... sometimes they do add to my knowledge.. but rely on one?
Mind you I used to purchase professionally for a while...
It's like buying on ebay... do your research first and be hard nosed and buy at the right time.. when everyone else is selling... or like trading shares: buy at support sell at resistance or at the appropriate cycle time...
I'm waiting for a secondhand Diesel Subaru estate: another 5 years or a C8 estate..
All things come to those who have time to wait...
madf
Edited by madf on 14/11/2007 at 11:32
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I'm doing the rounds at the moment - the reviews on the net give an idea, but no more.
Hyundai, Renault, Kia, Skoda: take the car for an hour by yourself.
Honda, Citroen, Volvo, Fiat, Vauxhall, Mini, Ford, Toyota: take the salesperson for a drive.
Low points:
Toyota salesperson 'let me show you how the air vents work' (as part of a 15 min pre-drive briefing. I started to dream of my holidays)
Ford person: ' If I were you, I'd only test drive 3 or 4 cars - just go to a showroom and have a look at the rest' (so how am I supposed know how they drive?)
Me: 'Can we go on a stretch of dual carriageway or motorway, as I do a lot of Mway driving?'
Ford person: 'No'. Might be a pointer for my decision concerning that dealer.
The rest have been pretty good, not pushy, usually helpful and knowledgeable, although I sometimes get the sense that a test drive for them means a break from being in the showroom!
Peanut
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 14/11/2007 at 20:59
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Oh! I spelled Ford with the 'r' and the 'o' swapped around, and it seems to have been asterisked out. I didn't realise that a mis spelled 'Ford' was obscene. I had a Ford and it was great.
Anyway 'F***' refers to Ford; there is no car manufacturer that I know of called the other four letter word beginning with F, although if you read some readers reviews of Citroen and Peugeot, they might disagree.
Peanut.
I was trying to figure out how you managed to activate the swear filter It's probably because some people would spell it that way to make it sound like "Fraud"
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 14/11/2007 at 21:00
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I am looking for a car but on lease (through my employer) but the dealers don't know that when I walk in.
Went into a Volvo dealer yesterday to look at a V50 (the small diesel has very low Co figures), dealer was surprisingly small as was the boot of the V50.
On arrival nowhere to park (no signed customer parking visible) so parked on the yellow hatched area outside a roller shutter door. They should have fewer second hand cars on the lot and leave some space for customers to park!
In showroom no-one in to speak to apart from a receptionist that looked hassled (there were three people in the showroom including her and me). She eventually found a brochure but no price list. While I was looking at the car one of the workshop guys came in and asked whose the Honda was so I went out to move it. I asked him where I should park and the response after he looked around and thought for a few seconds was . . .
" . . . . . . er . . . . ."
I left, it won't be a Volvo then!
Skoda very helpful last week when I dropped in to pick up a brochure. Car in showroom was a saloon and I wanted to look at an estate. Even after I told him it was a lease car and the lease company decides who the supplier would be he was still happy to find keys to a car outside to show me how big the boot was, and I arrived at 18:45, 15 minutes before they closed.
It does make a difference.
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I left it won't be a Volvo then!
As bad as that experience obviously was I can't understand how it won't be a Volvo, surely if you like the car you could just go to another dealer? I normally pretty much know what car I like (and hence want) when I go looking, if I had a really bad dealership experience I would simply go to the next one and buy it there instead.
Each to their own I suppose!
Blue
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>> I left it won't be a Volvo then! As bad as that experience obviously was I can't understand how it won't be a Volvo surely if you like the car you could just go to another dealer?
I agree with first post for two reasons; it's a bad sign if a manufacturer allows one of their franchise dealerships to be so useless, and, if it's your local dealer, then it doesn't bode well for future service and maint work.
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I agree with first post for two reasons; it's a bad sign if a manufacturer allows one of their franchise dealerships to be so useless and if it's your local dealer then it doesn't bode well for future service and maint work.
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Yeah but surely basing the choice of car brand based on one anecdotal experience of a single dealer is surely a little extreme? That particular dealership may normally be much better and could have simply been having a bad day, if they're only a small operation and two salesman rang in sick on the same day it would cripple them. If they were like that *all* of the time then Volvo would not allow them to stay open! Mystery shops are carried out and they do get followed up on, I've seen salesmen choose to walk after seeing their hidden camera footage.
I'm not trying to defend the dealership particularly, perhaps I'm unusual in that once I've chosen the type of car that I want I wouldn't be put off so easily!
Just as an afterthought, if the dealership concerned had been a large palace-style affair with plenty of staff there would be someone else posting saying they refused to buy from them and bought something from an old school dealership! :-)
Blue
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Last time round got around to test driving Audi and Honda.
Both offered an unaccompanied test drive unprompted.
Audi recommended a route getting in two junctions of the M5, Honda suggested that I came in at lunchtime and used their demonstrator for the 150 mile trip I had planned that afternoon rather than rushing to get back for a test drive.
Most impressed with both. Bought the Honda.
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I once went on an accompanied test drive - Audi dealer in a town about 15 miles from where I live. I went to college there for a few years, but all I knew was how to get to college from the motorway.
I set off and after ten minutes of driving (with very little fuel) the salesman said he was new to the area and didn't know his way back to the dealership! Eventually I find a sign for the motorway, got on it and found our way back.
I didn't like the car anyway, but this experience didn't help. My local Audi dealership simply gave me the keys and said "bring it back before we close" - they got my business and I do have agood relationship with the salesman - which does help should you have post purchase problems.
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and I do have agood relationship with the salesman - which does help should you have post purchase problems.
I doubt it - most franchised dealerships in my experience might as well have a shark filled moat between the sales and the after sales.
The salesmans job is over once you took delivery - the most you will get is him walking you to the service desk and leaving you to their tender mercies. Oh - until he wants to sell you another car in 12 months time!
Edited by bignick2 on 16/11/2007 at 16:37
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What would you like the salesman to do after you have taken delivery of your new car?
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What would you like the salesman to do after you have taken delivery of your new car?
I assume this was in response to my post preceding it.
I was pointing out that a good relationship with the salesmen will probably mean absolutely nothing in terms of the treatment you receive from the service department.
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Beg to differ on that one, a decent salesman will inevitably have a good relationship with the service department which he can leverage wherever possible. I kept my relationship as healthy as possible by dropping off beers to the controller every so often if he'd done me a favour. That goes a long way.
I agree about the shark filled moat however, that is definitely present in most garages, the only one that I've worked in where it genuinely didn't was a Honda garage, everyone really did work together in there.
Blue
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I bought my wife's car from a garage in the Westcountry 2.5 yrs ago that i'd used a couple of times for servicing on mine and had got my face known....the salesman was spot on, old school, no pressure, someone you could trust and would go back to and buy again.
Shortly afterwards that garage (2 garage outfit, in two Westcountry towns, main dealer) was taken over by a large chain.
3 days ago i rang to speak to that salesman, as i was with a mate who wanted a specific nearly new car of that marque and we'd travelled a 100 miles to look at one and been disappointed....so thought the other chap might be able to source what we were looking for, even though they'd be 240 miles away.
Garage told me he had left under a cloud after a lengthy period of sickness...which was unprofessional of them wasn't it.
Tenner says he didn't get on well with the transformation from providing a quality, trustworthy buying experience in a rural town type environment to the 'sell a warranty at all costs' and 'comply with the monthly targets' mentality of a big chain.
Edited by Westpig on 17/11/2007 at 13:44
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