by "KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei)
Published 09/11/2017 at 18:00
by "KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei)
Published 09/11/2017 at 18:00
No Tags
STARS: 3
So you may remember from the last time I dealt with dealers that one of the dealers I visited had the car I wanted (But it wasn’t there) , but was incredibly pushy, and ultimately I placed a custom order with a different dealer . I got a call from the pushy dealer on Friday evening...
The car was in. He wanted me to come sign paperwork and take delivery right then.
Wait, what?
I told him that I would come by Saturday afternoon to look at the car and get a quote. Saturday morning at 7:45(!) AM, he’s already calling me on the phone. Then he calls at 10:15, again at 11:45, etc.
I don’t respond well to people being pushy. Against my better judgement, I went in anyway (I’m not disclosing the dealer on purpose).
I was driving my truck as I was on my way to my grandfather’s 86th birthday party this weekend in Charlotte. We exchanged pleasantries and he showed me the car (the color is gorgeous, just saying). Then he wants to start the process to get financing to buy the car today, which to me was red flag #1.
Takeaway: Always get the price of the car fixed first so you know what you are dealing with. Also, the process only moves forward when *YOU* are ready. If you are not ready (or the little voice says something is off), immediately thank them for their time, and walk.
He calls over the sales manager. The sales manager and I start talking about what he’s willing to do, etc. He tells me that he will sell me the car for sticker.
I have a trump card: My to-be-produced order. I pull it out. I point out to him that I’m getting supplier pricing on the order, so that should be his reference point.
He gives me a quote with my trade in on it, and then says that I should call him when I am ready to buy, since they are a no-pressure dealership. I should have said nothing, but I blurt out what was on my mind:
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
You can’t call yourself “no-pressure” when your guy wants to sell a car that he doesn’t even know he has on the lot! There is also a big difference between “working on commission” and being a pushy jerk (I get it, it’s stressful and you don’t want to spend time on non-sales. I had the same thing with billability percentages being monitored as a metric of my performance).
I don’t buy cars by making a snap decision in 20 minutes on a Saturday while I’m on my way out of town for the weekend. If you don’t want to be taken for a ride, then I’d recommend the same to you.
The sales manager finally admitted to me that “I’m not your typical Chevrolet customer.” You’re right. If this car didn’t exist, I’d likely be buying a Benz or a Lexus, if only for the way better dealership experience.
So the leave the dealer Saturday saying that I will have a decision on Monday afternoon. The guy calls me at 12:01PM. Ugh.
“I’ve decided not to move forward with the process.”
The guy laughs at me because I’m walking. But the reason their dealer didn’t get a sale, and I continue to wait for my order to be produced?
Their salesman.
A salesman can make or break a sale. This one broke a sale by not working with his customer, and instead worked against him. I’d never buy a car from them, ever.
"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
09/11/2017 at 18:08, STARS: 2
I tend to not link a product and its peddlers to closely but my wife sure does. I don’t think she’ll even be able to buy a subaru based on her last dealer experience.
"KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei)
09/11/2017 at 18:14, STARS: 1
I’m still going to buy the Camaro, just not from them.
The dealer I ordered at also sells Maserati, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Audi, etc. They also sell Mazda, VW, Hyundai, etc, as well. Their Chevrolet sales staff is as nice and pleasant as the Audi and Porsche sales staff. They aren’t pushy, so hence why they are one of the larger dealer groups in Atlanta (Atlanta people will likely already know who it is).
"xyzabc" (stackofoldwood)
09/11/2017 at 19:57, STARS: 0
You’re way better spending 80% of your time with Service Manager than the Sales folks. Anyone can sell you a car. Few can work the magic to get it fixed correctly and ahead of promised dates.
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/11/2017 at 21:32, STARS: 0
It’s amazing what a difference management makes. It all comes from the top, because they decide how to train their staff. I’ve found usually if the sales staff is crappy, usually the service department sucks too.
"KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei)
09/12/2017 at 10:38, STARS: 0
Bad sales staff has a strong correlation with bad service staff, from my experience.
"Gerry197" (Gerry197)
09/28/2017 at 14:04, STARS: 0
I stop dealing with salesmen, I just call the fleet manager directly, I give him the specs and ask him for his best out the door price. This works best if you buy with what they have in stock, there is a lot more incentive to move that metal.
I usually do this near the end of the month, they are more inclined to move product and pass on any remaining discounts and hold-backs.
Dealerships make money either on the price of the vehicle, trade-in, back-end of financing and additional services/accessories Or all 4 if you are not careful. I prefer to negotiate strongly on the price of the vehicle and sell my trade-in online. That leaves them the back-end on my loan or whatever hold-back the manufacturer is giving them. I still usually get very very low APR since my credit is strong. I don’t add any extras except gap insurance if the dealership is cheaper than my own car insurance’s gap coverage.