"flying lap" (flyinglap)
01/19/2015 at 12:05 • Filed to: None
4
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"flying lap" (flyinglap)
01/19/2015 at 12:05 • Filed to: None | 4
| 10 |
Robert De Niro is a gangster. He’s been in every gangster movie that matters. He’s killed every gangster you wanted dead. He’s had sex with every gangsters wife. And, he’s masterminded more hits than any gangster in real life. If there was such a thing as a gangster hall of fame, he’d be inducted before Al Capone. You get the point. He was also a car salesman, for 2 minutes....
I’ve never seen Analyze That a 2002 box office dud co-starring Billy Crystal. But, I’ve seen this clip 700 times. It pumps me up on Saturday’s, the most tire kicker infested day of the week. One day I’ll grow a pair, morph into De Niro, and recite these lines verbatim to one of my tire-kicking compadres.
I sell Audi’s, so this particular scene speaks to me. If you’ve never sold cars you might not understand the gravity De Niro’s rant. Tire kickers really do ask a million questions. “So, can we build 2015 A8L W12, just to see how much it costs?” “Can I drive the new RS7, my 3 series comes off lease in 9 months and I’m getting a raise”. Or my favorite, “I know I can get a TDI with manual transmission and quattro, I’ve seen one”.
Tire Kickers waste endless amounts of time, brag about their salaries, flaunt cars they used to own, and for the most part don’t buy anything. They walk around the showroom with the arrogance of Donald Trump minus the check-writing ability, then act like you murdered their first born when you call the next day for a follow-up.
The entire dealership buying experience is flawed. I know it’s been discussed ad nauseam, but something’s gotta change. There are in fact a couple honest-to-goodness car guys left in this business, like me, who love selling cars to people who love buying them. If you know the difference between a B6 and B7, we’ll probably get along.
Next time you wanna test drive an R8 but you know you’re ten grand flipped in your Camry, take a minute and think. Wasting someone’s time is foolish. I work with some cool people that aren’t scumbags a nd we don’t usually resort to scumbagness until tire kickers initiate the process. If you’re cool, and most importantly up-front with me, we’ll go flog an R8.
The dynamic could change but it’s gonna take effort from both dealership staff and customer. Fixed pricing is a huge step in the right direction, a la Tesla. There’s no reason why two people pay different amounts for the same product. It ain’t right and it leads potential clients to wonder if they’re being butt raped or just gently fondled. Even I feel that way after a buying a car, and I know the business. I can only imagine how you feel.
Flyinglap aka Joe knows more useless car information than anybody. He owns every Car & Driver since 1986. His 11 year old son knows the difference between an E24 and E28. His 7 year old son says “gai-ar-doh” not “gah-lar-doh” .
R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> flying lap
01/22/2015 at 15:00 |
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I would say I am reasonably connected with the retail car sales business. My father was a wholesaler, I sold retail and wholesale for a short time, I have family that work in the automotive finance arena and a close friend who is a manager for an Acura dealer. And yet when I acquired outstanding financing, had over 5k in cash for a down payment, and a vehicle worth at least 5k in trade, Toyota was unwilling to bump from 10k OVER MSRP.
I will say that again 10k OVER MSRP, and 6k over book value. All in the name to get you the buyer with good credit and options to forgo your own financing, that if it comes from a credit union, applies all the interest gained for the life of the loan to the initial loan total, and accept their own companies financing which permits them to sell their vehicle above market value, thereby causing you to need GAP insurance int he event of a total loss accident. But they also screw you with compound interest that causes you the buyer to stretch your terms and life of the loan.
Retail dealers are doing shady shit in regards to these fixed price sales. Especially when you armed with the knowledge that the dealer doesn;t just make whatever money above invoice that they sell it for, but also make money on monthly/quarterly/yearly/model specific quota'd manufacturer incentives.
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flying lap
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
01/22/2015 at 15:25 |
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No question, dealers do shady shit. But so do other businesses?.
Why should someone in Texas pay more a 2015 Audi S3, than somebody in Virginia? Apple doesn't haggle on the Iphone, or charge differing amounts based on geographic location. The car biz, is one of the only industries, where people haggle over 1 - 2 % profit margins.
It certainly needs cleaning up. But, like I said, it's gonna take effort from both parties....
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> flying lap
01/22/2015 at 15:34 |
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Because the Republic of Texas has a lower sales tax rate than the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Your argument for fixed retail pricing regarding cars is geared toward making the dealership the maximum amount of money for an oft times substandard product. The mystery in true market value of retail goods has been dwindling and dwindling with the internet age as information has become more available to consumers. Fixed price sales are geared toward selling to "low-information buyers" aka typical CarMax buyers. CarMax has fixed prices and do not negotiate, haggle, or "re-assign trade-in credit". These sales are for the kind of socially timid individuals who shy away from the challenge of ensuring their fate when having to go through another human being.
Every good that is sold in America should be open to negotiation. We the general populace have gotten used to being told how much something is, and not how much we are willing to pay for an object.
The seller dictates the price whereas the market should dictate the value. Case in point, used cars are so ludicrously over valued because of irresponsible buyers with bad credit. I remember when I was a teenager working at the lot as a lot boy (porter) the beat ass Hondas, Toyotas, etc that are selling now for more than 10k to a sub-prime borrower would have sold for the less than 2-3k they were worth.
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flying lap
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
01/22/2015 at 15:36 |
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Banking is an entirely different argument. It's the reason for our last recession.
I agree with you, everything should be negotiable. But, it's not. And, won't be.
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flying lap
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
01/22/2015 at 15:38 |
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I was using Texas and Virginia arbitrarily.
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> flying lap
01/22/2015 at 15:45 |
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Well, I guess I showed you. :-) Kidding man, best of luck selling a brand i do not care for in the least, but my wife does.
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flying lap
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
01/22/2015 at 15:47 |
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In full disclosure. I own a BMW
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R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
> flying lap
01/22/2015 at 15:53 |
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And I own a Land Rover, does this tell you the lengths i would go to avoid being bored to death by and understeery mess of a car.?
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flying lap
> R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet
01/22/2015 at 16:00 |
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Land Rover? That's like fumunda cheese?
CG
> flying lap
05/19/2016 at 09:51 |
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i just found this article and it made me laugh. When I was in college I was a “tire kicker” I pulled the same bullshit you mentioned and got to test drive and not buy some pretty nice cars. But, the ethical dilemna I had was that I felt like a dirt bag afterwards. I always answered the follow up calls but gave more bullshit excuses. After I got out of college and became a more responsible adult I stopped wasting peoples by realizing that I was. But I also missed the random Saturday test driving cars I couldn’t afford. So I changed my strategy from bullshit to absolute truth. Instead of,” just got a promotion and thinking of trading in my Jetta in for a r8" to “I’m bored on a beautiful day and looking at cars, dont want to waste your time but if you’ve got some free time I would love to test drive the s5 around the block”. It worked a lot easier that way.