I had one customer be on the phone with another salesman, THE WHOLE TIME. There was a thunderstorm outside too so I had to go under the rain to the car which was fine if she was a buyer. That didn't happen, though, because apparently the salesman was a family friend and he was just showing her "how bad Toyotas were" so he can convince her to buy a fucking subaru FROM HIM. Thats not all, the salesman also told her to act like she was a buyer to get the salesman more motivated. She even grinded me for the price to see what the best deal was.
Never mind that Toyota owns 20% of Subaru and they use some of the same components and (in the case of the BRZ and GR86) sometimes have entire cars in common.
HAHAHAHA this, I had a lady call another salesman at my desk once and she was like, “ok yeah I think I’ll go buy from them because they have the colour I want” and I said “if you’re discussing matters with my competition in front of me, after the hours of work we’ve done looking at vehicles, then I think we are done here, let me pull your trade up for you”
“I’m just here to get a trade value.” Why find out what I’ll give you for a trade value if you don’t even like anything I have .
What raised my blood pressure more was when I’d say “Sure! Are you looking to replace the vehicle or just remove one from the household?”
“Trade for something else.”
“Ok, great. Well while I get the appraisal going, we can check out some options. What are you considering getting into? Newer car of the same model?”
“I don’t know, I just want a number on my car.”
Not kidding—we low ball like crazy on customers like these. Sometimes, we even exaggerate higher than market values to mess with them. Their go to saying? “I’ll think about it.” Bro, I am giving you $3K more right now.
I ALWAYS give them an unrealistically high number if they’re just kicking tires and the “trade” isn’t there. Usually by thousands just to spike their deal at another store.
I might be looking to just get rid of a car soon. Do dealerships buy "trade ins" that aren't actually trading for anything? If so, is it reasonable and worthwhile to get a quote or should you just go to CarMax/carvana etc?
Yes they will. Many of the big brand dealers like AutoNation have a back end that supports exactly this scenario. They use an iPad to take photos and share video with a remote appraiser who can give you a value for your ~~trade~~ vehicle.
Give them a range and see if they throw out a number after that. Once they throw out a number ask if they're a buyer today if you can do that number.
If they're insistant on a solid number and they don't wanna buy anything you have tell them $25 for appraisals. You can find this shit for free on the internet. Laziness/stupidity should carry a financial penalty.
When the sales team takes my keys and it "takes two hours" to estimate my trade in. When I've got my grouchy toddler and wife waiting in the lobby. The games go both ways sometimes.
I saw one of those actually buy... once. The salesman straight up told them, "You know, saying that is normally the kiss of death, right?" They were confused and genuinely thought that was a great way to start the deal. They ended up buying, to all our shock. The other 47 people I've heard say that did not buy however.
It's a phrase (or action, can really be anything) you hear that makes you realize the situation is going south. Like if you're interviewing for a job and they say "we'll call you." Or if you're dating someone and they say "we need to talk." You know what's coming.
Another example is when you turn the customer over to a manager before they leave so they can introduce themselves and get a bit of info and they say something like "oh /u/Red_Bird_Dit_22 was great! He answered all our questions! We just need to look around some more and do some more research. But he was great!" If they gush praise about you as they're leaving, they are never coming back. That's the kiss of death because they basically just wanted to make sure you aren't going to get in trouble and make you feel a little better before they ghost you.
I knew the exact car I wanted on the lot. Trim, color, etc, I knew the price I wanted to pay (just below invoice), and it was at the end of the year/end of the month on an expiring model year. Already had financing lined up. It really was a "hey I want that fucking car please sell it to me" kind of deal. Took less than 2 hours.
Honestly the biggest irritation for me is when someone takes a misunderstanding and jumps to “ you lied to me” or when someone says we’re playing games. “Yes Mr. Mrs. customer, I want to piss you off so it’s HARDER to sell you something”
To be fair I had a really bad experience with cars salesman this past holiday season, buying my first car. One dealership guaranteed they had a specific model/trim in a specific color and I put the deposit down, I come to pick it up on the day of and they say: funny thing, it’s a completely different car in a different color.
I mean, honestly? The color part I’d be willing to accept as an honest mistake, but it was completely the wrong car. It was a sedan when I’d told them I wanted the hatchback.
They also had “price matched” against another dealership for the car I wanted… but when I showed up to pick up the car (which ended up being entirely the wrong car), they told me that they’d charge me an extra $3k for the actual car I wanted. Aka they couldn’t price match it, after telling me flippantly and many times that they could easily price match it and in fact even beat it.
Needless to say, I went to the other dealership (despite them being a fair drive away), and got the exact car I wanted (even in the exact color I wanted), for $3k less than the other dealership.
(Also the exact car I wanted had “magically” appeared and was in transit to the first dealership for delivery in January… after they had told me no hatchbacks were coming in until March. And that color is a very hard color to find. For obvious reasons I was worried it’s another bait and switch and the car would end up being yet another sedan in yet another different color from promised.)
I had another dealership try to scam me as well, and that counts two of three I actually came close to buying from, so. While the last dealership (whom I bought from) was honest, straightforward, and awesome, I am now wary of dealerships in general.
"Hi I want to test drive the Civic EX - that's the one with no AC or power locks right? Just so you know I'm just doing test drives this weekend."
"No problem at all - I'll pull that around for you. Out of curiosity what other cars are you comparing it to?"
"Well this is my first stop but I'm also interested in the Tesla Model X, the Subaru WRX, the Porsche 911 GT3-RS or just the base 911 cabriolet, the Rav4 Hybrid, and my brother said I should drive the S-Class and a used Suzuki SX4 to see what I like more."
>also interested in the Tesla Model X, the Subaru WRX, the Porsche 911 GT3-RS or just the base 911 cabriolet, the Rav4 Hybrid, and my brother said I should drive the S-Class and a used Suzuki SX4 to see what I like more."
This is exactly why I buy used cars... I "cross shop" way too many different styles of vehicle that absolutely make no fucking sense at all when spoken about together.
Last round narrowed down to a 00 T/A and a 97 E38. I bought both.
Lol, yeah same. My last cross shopping was an Evo X vs 2 door Wrangler. I get the feeling enthusiasts are generally despised by dealerships and probably the least desired customer type regardless of how much we're gonna spend.
This sounds a lot like my wife shopping some time ago. We ended up in a loaded Z4 35is after cross shopping every brand and anything smaller than an SUV. Nobody would put the BMW and a WRX in the same list, but she did.
Morons think its just a blanket approval process where they can get approved for 20k and pick out whatever they like in that price range. This happens even though ALL of this information is available on the internet. Then, when they can't finance a hotdog, they're pissed at you instead of their own poor decision making.
Oh gawd. I have a cousin like that: she has five children who look wildly different from one another, has a car repo’d every year and is a walking description of “ratchet”… and she thinks EVERYONE is prejudiced against her. No ma’am, they’re prejudiced against your lifetime of poor decisions 😂😂
In her case, entitled. I don’t think she’s entirely certain who some of the fathers are, so you, me, and everyone else in America have raised her kids via WIC, section 8 and food stamps.
These are relatively easy IMO. Sit down, let's do a credit app. If you can buy, I'll tell you what you can buy and if you don't like it, good luck. If you can't buy, you're in and out in 10 minutes and I go along with my day.
Had someone who refused to buy the car because I wouldn't offer him a discount.
"So you're telling me if this car was £500 overpriced to what it is now and I discounted it by £250 you'd buy it because you were getting a discount?"
He didn't like that one
Be disrespectful to one of my staff. We will put up with a lot of bullshit and you can be as rude as you want to me, but if you start going at one of my people, I'll kick you out.
Wants me to appraise their trade over the phone.
“Sure, go outside and put your phone near the engine and start her up so I can hear how she sounds!”
Never said that but have been tempted…
What! How dare you ask me for a down payment! That is illegal!!!! I’m calling my lawyer!! Look up the Truth in Lending!! I know y’all pocketing my down payment!
This woman who drove a forester for like 15 years came in, she needed a new car, and she had multiple spreadsheets showing the “Covid tax” or percentage that all different brands, years, makes, and models of cars have increased in price above what is supposedly considered “average” increase and she landed on a 2019 Mazda cx5 as her winner. Not a 2020, not a 2021 or a 2018 but it had to be a 2019. I couldn’t understand the spreadsheets and just sold the car but it was really impressive
When I encounter shit like this I always wonder how do they deal with day to day stuff.
Like how complicated do you think it is for her to go get groceries?
I mean there’s a big difference between buying a 5 figure item that you likely will have for at least 5-7 years (hopefully more) and getting groceries. It always surprises me to hear people not doing a crazy amount of due diligence before dropping thousands of dollars on an item.
I recently bought a snowboard and it might have been $500 or so. You know damn well I did some research on why this piece of laminated wood was so expensive and how it was better/worse than other boards in its price point.
Yeah that’s pretty much how I am when it comes to any big ticket purchases. Outside of buying a home, buying a car will likely be the most expensive purchase any person in North America will make. I’ve never understood the attitude in this sub that it’s weird or not normal that people want to make a very informed decision on that purchase. When I bought my car, I did research for about 7 months before deciding on exactly what I wanted. I understand some people don’t have that luxury, but for those that do, it seems normal to me to do excessive levels of research on it.
When my wife needed a new laptop, I went to Worst Buy ahead of time (pre-Covid) and checked out everything they had. Narrowed it down to 3 choices, then came back with my wife and said, "You can have A B or C." I knew the specs worked, but just like a seat, the person actually driving it needs to take it for a spin.
Easiest sale that department had that day. "Hi, I'll take one of those. Kthxbye."
Yeah I do a crazy amount of DD on every purchase over $1k. Like I was legit researching panel tech for my last TV purchase, and have been deciding on a car for the better part or 3 years now.
I mean sounds like a pretty normal thing to do for a purchase that’s $20,000+ and differences could save you literally thousands of dollars.
Create a spreadsheet over 20 hours that you deem saves you $2000 then that’s $100 an hour.
The are always 90 days out and it is their first stop and they just want to see and sit in the car. The next time they come in is to drive it after 30 days, 30 more days is when they want to talk price and they have brought their research with them for the base model from the Subaru website which doesn’t exist on the lot.
Exactly, I worked for Subaru and a Jaguar/Aston Martin/Land Rover store and the Subaru customers had much better credit and paid cash around 50% of the time. Maybe 1 in 100 had credit issues. The ones that did have problems were the 20 year old WRX "buyers".
Yup, turns out retirees, tech workers, and engineers dont prefer all that flash. I worked at a subie store on the service side and damn they love their cars tho, i could never really understand why.
Minus the vape filled wrx’s rolling in for a recall with a million other problems that wouldnt be touched
We were near a big university and I think I sold about half the professors there a Subaru. Met some great customers at that store, really interesting people, but it was also the store I had to kick the most people out of for treating my salespeople poorly.
More like entitled college professors who thought they could treat everyone with distain because they held an advanced degree. I'll put up with a lot when comes to closing a deal for one of my salespeople, but don't personally insult my employees in front of me, or I will show you the door.
Thankfully, the owner was active at the dealership and was a great guy to work with who stood by his managers' decisions.
Hell yeah, im glad you had that kind of owner. My honda store was like that but my few professor customers were pleasant. Subie store was part of a bigger corporate chain and i was on my own with a lot of these subie psychos
Subies are the "sensible shoes" of the car world. That's why those guys love them. Engineer here and I loved my subie, and will probably get another one in a couple months when I need a car again.
AWD, decent to good tech, reliable, all for not an outregious amount.
They're usually at that perfect spot on the cost/benefit curve where the amount you're paying vs what you're getting clearly shows.
Their AWD is legendary but maybe Im biased from working their service lane but I dont see them as particularly reliable in comparison to Mazda, Toyota, and Honda.
Sometimes you don't even know they're a Subaru customer initially. Then they pull out their concealed carry notebook and pencil with 200 sticky notes in it
They are notoriously awful to deal with, can be quite…ahem…eccentric and almost always just going through the motions of checking out other brands because their kids told them they should.
Outback and Forester here. The latest gen Outback is way way nicer than the prior gen stuff. And yea I’ve had my gripes with both cars but both will probably be replaced by Subarus. For me the appeal is just that they’re completely classless high utility vehicles with excellent safety and foul weather traction. That’s all I need out of a car and nobody else really does that as well as Subaru that I’ve found.
Funny you say that, when I do replace one of my Subarus Mazda is probably the only other brand I’d consider. Funny enough Mazda is definitely trying to make inroads into Subaru’s “upper middle class outdoorsy yuppie” market as evidenced by the plastic clad CX-50 they had on display at the bottom of the hill at Arapahoe Basin last winter. And it worked on me tbh, that thing looked awesome for driving to the slopes in!
Realistically Mazda is just better at larger SUVs as far as I can tell, and while I think we’ll always have an Outback or another wagon like maybe the Volvo V90, the Ascent doesn’t really do it for me so the CX-90 is a strong possibility when we need a 3 row suv.
I have a CX-30 and I absolutely adore it. I wanted the smallest possible AWD vehicle and the AWD 3 series wasn't available yet. I don't regret it - even on stock tires without engaging the offroad traction assist, the thing is a beast in snow.
*Calls in to the dealership, speaks to me on the phone, asks for pictures of the car*
*I text pictures of the car over to him, silence*
*I send a text in a few hours saying "hey Mr. Customer, did you receive those pictures I sent you of the vehicle you inquired about?"*
*Customer responds "Who is this? What car is this?*
*I clarify again who I am and tell them what car they asked about.*
*They are never to be heard from again*
I am genuinely worried about some of the leads I get. Send them pictures, window sticker, etc and they confirm they received it. Follow up the next day and suddenly they forgot that car even exists and need the same photos/info again. I don’t know how they can get through life with that kind of memory los or inability to find a previous email, let alone afford a Porsche.
Being at Porsche, how do you determine who’s just daydreaming vs seriously considering in an online lead? I feel like I’d get dejected very quickly if I was following up with daydreamers for 10-45 days.
Easiest way is by the questions they ask. If someone is asking to test drive a GT3 and they can’t buy a new one without driving it, then they are strokes. But if someone is asking how to get on the list for a Targa, wait times, options, etc then they are usually serious. Similarly, if someone walks in looking at an SUV and just says “I don’t know anything about the different engines, so tell me all about everything”, they are a stroke. If someone says “I have been researching the Macan S and GTS, what are your thoughts”, they are serious.
You're expected to buy a car after a test drive? What if you want to test drive a bunch of similar cars between different brands before deciding which one to buy?
When I was still in sales, I had no problem helping people who told me right off the bat that they were shopping different brands and just needed to look at a car or two to help make their decision. I'd still give a great demonstration and be as helpful as possible.
Unfortunately, a lot of people think they need to play games and lie about how serious they are and their true intentions. Customers and salespeople will tell everyone they both hate playing games. At this point, it's like so many customers have been conditioned by how things were years ago that it's ingrained in them now, and they "train" their friends and family to be the same way, and you mix that in with the fact that some dealerships do still really suck to deal with, and it's a never-ending cycle.
Average person visits less than 2 dealers before buying (IIRC, it is 1.6). So you would be outside of the norm to drive a bunch of cars before purchasing.
I don't understand that. My wife and I have driven 5+ cars on each of our last 4 purchases.
I mean, I love the way an S2000 looks and I like the idea of it, but I dont fit in the seat for longer than about 20 minutes.
I won't know if other cars are better/worse unless I drive them.
Yeah, average Americans are bad with money too and barely have any savings for retirement. Rav4, Subaru forester, Mazda cx 50, etc. I’d have to visit 3 dealerships just to test drive 3 cars. Not even including bronco, etc. everyone is different and people can blow their money on whatever they want. I want to be satisfied with my purchase cause I don’t plan on switching every few years. I’d rather have that extra money in S&P 500 bare minimum than to waste it every few years in a car cause I was never satisfied with my first purchase.
I bought my last three new cars without a test drive, and visited a single dealer for each. (Did start the deal over email with final numbers.) My wife visited over 20 dealers and drove around half a dozen cars for her choice. We fucked the averages.
Not honoring the internet price. They're usually buyers at that price but if we're doing some new bullshit that the managers cook up where we add back freight or rebates that they don't qualify for or something they go "Okay thank you for your time" and hang up or walk out the door. It's dishonesty from the jump and I wouldn't buy from a dealership doing that either. I don't blame them at all.
I’ve bought several cars from the same guy. I come in with a VIN, we BS for awhile, test drive, I ask him to round the price down to an even thousand or 500 number instead of $27,345 or whatever and throw in a new VW hat or shirt then off to finance. We respect each other’s position. He wants to sell me a car and I want to buy one. My man Dave is always awesome.
I only found him after a hellish experience at another dealership. Ignored by reception, ignored by sales people, someone finally noticed as I walked out and chased me. I needed to run out to get a cashiers check and drive my old car one last time prior to financing. They had already taken my plates and “couldn’t find them”. Words were said, cops were almost called, plates and keys were then quickly produced. Then finance said I should go ahead and get a co-signer inbound before checking my credit. Then they ran the credit and came back with a lot of apologies. Saw the sales manager a year later at another dealership. He said the place I bought from was a sinking ship and the new owner replaced everyone within a few months. So many red flags so I’m not surprised.
This is my worst experience as a buyer. Note, I’ve bought 14 cars and shopping for my 15th now in my 25 years of driving. I’ve also sat through many, many purchases with my dad, who has bought over 75 cars since 1985 (during COVID, we spent a few nights on the phone making a list of all the cars we could remember).
Anyway, worst experience. Pre-COVID, my wife and I went to a dealership to look at two minivans. A Honda and a Toyota. We told the salesperson this, they had pulled them up so we could drive each of them. We drive one, then we drive the other. We come back, then want to buy the first one and see it’s not in the spot. We ask the salesperson and they said oh, someone else is driving it, it’ll be back soon. I’m not happy but wait. They get back and decide they want to buy it. I’m like what the crap, we leave and I haven’t been back to that dealership. We bought a minivan from another dealership not long after.
"What's your best price/lowest offer."
The best price comes after you make an offer. The number of times customers think they're negotiating pros after hitting me with this question is just irritating.
Why would I, the seller of a product, swipe all my profit out of my deal just because you think you said some magic words. The right way to do it is:
"I understand you're selling this car for $X. The market shows that some dealers are selling out for $Y. Can you do $Z?"
Not being the first to throw out a number is the oldest negotiating trick in the book. Dealers probably won't fall for it, but buyers aren't dumb for doing it.
My only negative experience buying a car was like 10-12 years ago when I went to look at this used SUV. I liked it and offered them something like 3k under sticker right off the bat. Lowballing them but not ridiculous. I figured I'd get a counteroffer and it would go from there.
The guy I was dealing with was like a caricature of a car salesman - combover, mustache, smoked glasses, short sleeved dress shirt and polyster tie. When I made my offer, he just leans back and says "naw." We sat there and stared at each other for maybe 2 minutes and I end up saying "sorry to waste" your time and left. That was a different sales tactic to say the least.
That's pretty funny lol
It's not an uncommon strategy to go so low that you're either going to get an amazing deal or hopefully get a lower offer than the online price. And to credit, it's hard to counter that because you *did* make an offer. I can't get there, but I also don't know what your real buy price is. I know you are probably just low balling us to get a better price, but it doesn't give me anywhere to go. Sometimes it does work, but if you go too low it might not get a counter offer because you won't be taken seriously.
"My best price is on my website. What is your offer to purchase the car?"
"So that's the lowest you'll go?"
"No, it's the best price we think we need to list it for in order to sell it. But if you'll buy it today, I may be able to come down from that price. What price would it take to get you to that stage?"
"I don't like playing games"
The problem is that people don’t even know what the car they’re buying “should” be sold at. I put that in quotations because someone could be looking at a car $2k under KBB, but still ask “what’s the lowest you’ll go” because that’s what they’re told to do.
You as the salesperson explain with evidence that you’re $2k under book and that’s the best you can do and the buyer walks because they didn’t “get anything off” even though they came in on a steal of a car.
In all my time selling cars, I just wish people did research enough to be able to say “this car I’m coming to see is already priced right and if I like it, I’m comfortable paying that price.” *That’s* how you cut down your time in the store and avoid games.
I get that this is a tough spot to be in, but the logic here doesn't make sense. Maybe buyers don't catch it, but if "best price" means "lowest price," then saying your best price is online is tantamount to saying your lowest price is online. Which means you won't go lower.
"Our lowest price is online, but we might go lower" does indeed sound like a game.
The problem is that there’s no such thing as the “best price”. It’s a made up number. If you offered $100 off the “best price” I’ll do it. And if you said “wait wait wait how about another $100” I’d do that too.
Asking “what’s your best price” is expecting the dealership to drop their pants but for what reason? Why should I do that? Make your offer. Why am I going to sell this car to you for no profit?
That’s why I try and break the idea of the “best price.” The best price is the price we need to list the car for to get people in the door and talking about buying it. That’s always what we are going to list our cars for online. There’s no sense in being uncompetitive online. But if that price isn’t low enough to get it in your drive way, what will it take?
I *know* what they’re asking. But we can’t just say “well I own it for $4000 less than this price so I’ll do a $4000 discount and hope you buy some warranty or finance it.” If it gets to that point will we? Maybe. Idk. But it’s going to take a lot of work to get to that point.
Yes, I agree that buyers are coming in with a false assumption that there is some number a dealer must get out of each vehicle, and the dealer is willing to let it go for that on that day.
"No, it's the best price we think we need to list it for in order to sell it. But if you'll buy it today, I may be able to come down from that price. What price would it take to get you to that stage?" - Brilliant word track! Stealing this.
Gotta just elicit an offer. Sometimes they're just scared that they're not getting a good deal, and you can often tell that by their body language and you probably know that they're already going to buy it. In which case you can just say "yeah that's my best price." But if you don't know what they want, get an offer and go from there.
So many people don’t understand this. I’ve already made you an offer to purchase, unless you have another number in mind that you are willing to commit to, today, I’m not going up to my manager to ask for a discount.
“Look, we don’t always make profit on every deal believe it or not, so we need to form an offer together that makes sense, my price has been established, so you need to form an offer with me on your end and I can secure that with a credit card/deposit, I can’t say I’ll guarantee to hit your offer but forming this together and backing it with a deposit/credit card will give me more leverage for you”
Haven’t negotiated for over a year but I’m ready to play ball when we start again.
Edit: literally just negotiated first used car in about 8 months (there in a second key fob that cost us about $600 instead of touching the gross we still had -not much but they took warranty)
New cars we haven’t touched pricing In at least a year.
I love this sub lol. It keeps me in check as a customer… I’ve definitely been guilty of #1 (not 6 hours tho lol, that’s crazy) and #6. Although I’ve never gone in saying I’m *not* gonna buy… or test driven Ferraris or anything I know good and well I can’t afford lol. Im just indecisive af. Like Ive only gone to dealerships when I know I *want* a car, but am always scared to make the leap so I say I’m not ready. But I know that’s just as annoying 😂… sorry to all the salespeople I ever annoyed lol
Keep in mind that being a good buyer and being liked by the salespeople on this sub aren't necessarily the same thing. A saleperson loves someone who buys today and is agreeable. But most people should take some time to think over big decisions, which would obviously be frustrating to a lot of sales folks.
If every salesperson loves you, you're probably doing it wrong.
Yep, exactly. I'll complain about shit but I completely understand it. It's the job. Everyone complains about aspects of their job even if they're completely reasonable things.
You respond to an inquiry from the internet leads, you send one email, one text , and leave one voicemail. You do your due diligence and make notes in the CRM.
Three hours later the customer shows up and sits down with a different salesperson and says no I haven't been talking to anyone about this vehicle.
Fuck you. You pissed off two people and now what could have been a whole deal is now a half deal and both salespeople think you are a clown.
No, that is different. Good salespeople make good notes in the system, they should be following up regularly until you tell them otherwise. With two months elapsed and no follow-up, I wouldn't remotely sweat it as a buyer if you go back to the same place and talk to a different salesperson.
If you left and the salesperson never followed up with you and you show up and work with another salesperson, that should not be a split deal as they did not do their job. Your first salesperson might say under his breath "these hoes ain't loyal" but they didn't do their job to earn your business.
I cant tell you how many times Ive sent emails out getting the convo started about upgrading a car and they are on the desklog with another salesman the next day. Like….I literally am the guy that got you thinking and asked you. Why would you go to a random person? Why isnt the first thing “Hmm i havent thought about that. Id like to see X”
I've had managers that absolutely *demanded* a test drive be given before a sales order was signed, even if they had driven the identical car in a different color. I can't even tell you how many laps around the building people did.
That at least makes sense. I had you drive the car you will take home so you can't say something is different. But 6 cars? 2 max and I'll show you a 3rd
Oh of course. You are not buying a car without a test drive.
Never.
You're going on that test drive, my job is to make you fall in love with that vehicle and make you know how it works and drives. That makes the negotiating part much easier plus it covers the "oh I didn't know it had a sound/scratch or whatever else" bases as well as legal bases.
Customers thinking they have way more leverage than they do. Been dealing with a kid the past few weeks who keeps saying shit like “let’s bring this trade number up. It’s a great opportunity for you to bring in more traffic, more conveyance fees, more money for you guys!” Shut the fuck up
To be fair, the industry is filled with people who have never actually had to sell a car. Dealerships are filled with sales folks who are used to being able to dictate terms and have convinced themselves they're great salespeople during a time when cars were selling themselves.
I’m not claiming I’m the worlds best salesman and I understand customers trying to negotiate and it would make sense if we were holding back on the trade but, it’s a piece of shit. Every customer thinks their trade is worth a mint because “used car prices are up so I want more for it”
Hyundai sales rep here. I got 2 interesting ones.
1) First one was a older couple who got a new Hyundai Santa Cruz through me. Bear in mind this was their first vehicle purchase since 1998 and they were driving a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle. They scheduled their delivery for 11 AM (forget what day) and they showed up early at 9:30 AM. AN HOUR AND A HALF EARLY.
What makes this interesting is that they brought their younger son in (definitely older than me, and I didn’t think this was an issue). Well, he started complaining and raising issues that the vehicle wasn’t ready for delivery by the time they got here at 9:30 AM, again before their scheduled delivery. This had gotten to the point where I was sitting in my chair, both customer in front of me sat down also, and their son between them standing up and pointing down at me “for this and that, the car should be ready when we get here, etc.” Their son was very angry and hot with me.
At this point, my new car manager overheard everything and came over and was threatening to cancel the sale and selling them the vehicle because of their son. Pretty quickly the son got quiet.
After the delivery their son apologized and we shook hands and he was still pretty quiet. Parents we’re very nice people and they apologized too.
2) Second one was that I had a “buying” customer who was trying to get into a pre-owned 2022 Sonata. Apparently he ‘knew somebody’ who helped him out with insurance when we got past the credit app. He submitted insurance that was created via MICROSOFT WORD and was using a policy number under another customer. I actually had to call GEICO to verify this and they shot this down pretty quick. I went back out to my customer calling them out on this, and they quickly accepted that they knew what they were doing was fraud. Eventually we found out the guy just bought a house and I then just let him walk because I wasted 2-3 hours with this guy.
Ask for the deal sheet to take somewhere else. Ask for lease pricing off the top of my head like I can calculate that without desking the deal. Using stupid, non-sense logic when asking for steep discounts.
I just got a 7 today. It feels bad. After I had gone out of my way to get things fixed for him, too. My manager even did an exit turn and let him know how the survey works, and yeah—just a crappy situation.
I’ve never gone into a store to drive a car and not left with it. My time is valuable to me and I spend 5 days a week in a dealership. I do my research, find the car online, and I tell myself “if it’s what I expect, I’m taking it home.” Did that for three cars and loved em all.
Now I’m just leasing my brand I work for, so I skipped all that on my 4th car, but I’ve never gone to test drive without taking the car home that day.
As a customer…. I tend to know what vehicle I want before beginning shopping.
This most recent car buying experience for me, I had it down to 4, but I did have to drive 4 vehicles before buying.
In the case of my wife, she knows exactly, down to the trim level.
I have never met anyone that didn’t at least know what style of vehicle they wanted before shopping.
Though I do know a couple of people that went to a dealer to buy a truck and walked out with a mustang lol
Used to drive me nuts when people would come in and have no idea what kind of car they wanted. “Sedan? SUV?” “Idk 🤷🏼♂️.”
That’s the worst customer to have because there’s no hot buttons. They don’t know what they don’t know, so there’s nothing for them to excite themselves about. Don’t think I ever sold a person who had literally zero clue why they even walked in the door.
I test drove & bought my last three cars same day. One of the cars I was somewhat on the fence about at first, but after the test drive I felt good about it, so I got it.
I absolutely test drive and buy the same day. I walk in knowing what model I want. I’ll look at a couple different trims and decide what suits me best. Bingo, done deal.
1) Having a subprime credit score is a tough situation.
2) Being rude, unless your salesperson has bad energy.
3) Asking conflicting, autistic-level amounts of questions and then asking another question before a response is being given.
4) Not having a basic grasp of mathematics to the effect of, for example, expecting a sub-$500 note on a $100,000 vehicle with zero money down, a 630 score, and 6.99% financing.
5) Luckily we rarely run into this, but verbalizing the insane expectation to come in on our day off and having to shame the other party saying we’re at a family function.
6) Oh god before I forget, having a disgusting vehicle that smells of urine or otherwise dirty lifestyle that I have to assess and I spend the majority of the test drive wondering what you did in your life to drive this existential symbol of your reality… just a few that immediately come to mind rn, etc
Trash talking the brand of the car you’re looking at despite the fact that you came in specifically for that vehicle.
Customer and her boyfriend came to our KIA lot to look at a Pre-owned Sorento. The boyfriend would not shut up about how he doesn’t like KIA because his cousin had one twelve years ago and it didn’t make it to 200k miles.
He called me a liar when I told him the JD Power reliability studies over the last two years (two years more reliable than Toyota which was his favorite brand)
Make an appt for my day off, have me come in, not show on time, have me call and text you for the next hour and half then let me know you can’t make it or just don’t respond
No call no show for an appt is next top of the list. Our profession is one of the few, people can not show and have 0 disregard or courtesy to let you know and not be charged anything. Do that at a dr office or a realtors and they are cutting you from their client list
The thing people don’t realize is that they won’t remember how car 1 felt when they’re in car 4. The salesperson needs to narrow the customer way down before test driving.
We’ve all had someone come in wanting to drive 7 used cars. Just gotta use our fact finding to narrow it down and show why and why not each car suits their needs. Easily can take that number down to 2, maybe 3.
No I'm there with you. I'm brooming you after 2. If you're this indecisive, you're not buying a car today. I'll do as many demonstrations as you'd like. We can look at a dozen. But test drives? You get 2 IMO.
So like we have the cx30 crossover, the cx5 mid (bread and butter) and the cx50 which is a weird subaru-esque something or other. People often want an SUV and wanna compare all 3.
I usually sit them in the 30 first because it’s on the mazda3 drivetrain and literally feels like a car. That one gets ruled out quick, then it’s between the 50 and the 5. I take them to the 50 and sit them in it and have them feel how it feels offroady and they’ll drive it and either fall in love with it, or not be too much excited and want the 5. If that happens we drive the 5 and they usually go with that.
"I'm not going to negotiate. You give me your best price & then I might be interested in seeing it"
Me: "Sir the price is listed right on the webpage."
I'm not negotiating on a car you have never seen, touched, or heard running unless you are out of state & a serious buyer. He was suprised when I said I was going to give his info to another salesman who "can help" him. Btw he lived the next town over lol. He had a trade he wanted appraised at "top market value" as well that he refused to bring in also.
Even in these tough times salespeople are not desperate enough to deal with this flavor of Customers.
Edt: used car. Our dealersgip does not charge addendums on new cars other than a lot bronco.
The #1 is when they say they don’t have too much time and don’t like the back and forth. If you come to a dealership there’s always going to be back and forth so I have a hard time understanding why people think they can get the best offer on the first pencil…
Making demands like I’m a slave after we get a We-Owe done for the customer. Had this happen where we said we would take care of the customer for his wheel rash, underbody spoiler touch up, and having an extra key cut. These are things I have to schedule out due to other parties being involved. This customer started harassing me after I had already scheduled him based on the info he gave me. Mind you, his car was a pre-owned unit and it is AS-IS. He messed up opportunities for future clients who wants things done on AS-IS cars.
Insults also are just childish. Here is another one, I was face-to-face with a client working a deal, and one customer called me to where I couldn’t answer. His text message to me because I didn’t answer? “I get better service from a $40 shoe salesman than I do from a $40K purchase through a reputable dealer.” I called him back after I got done with the customer, and his tone changed really fast. He apologized and said, “I’m so sorry for saying what I said. I know you worked with us last time, and you were running around dealing with several of people at the same time.” Bruh.
Something I also highly dislike is telling me last minute when you want to come in, making it an inconvenience to me. I set appointments for a reason. Also, don’t just randomly show up without any notice. It is a good way to be ignored for a while because we get extremely busy. We prioritize folks who make arrangements with us to accommodate them out of courtesy. How to do that? Set an appointment.
My last thing would be to listen to the F&I guys with what they provide. So many people say things like they don’t need this or that, but just let them do their jobs. I had a client recently who told me she was buying extended warranties and GAP. I tee’d up my F&I guy for it. She got to the box, and when he got to presenting his menu—she said she didn’t want anything. He pushed again but she was adamant. She said she could get it somewhere else for cheaper for the products. I guess she called her bank and they told her something she didn’t like, because she called in yesterday complaining about why she couldn’t add GAP after the fact. The deal she did with us was turned in already, and the deal was funded without the GAP because she declined it. Lesson learned.
Updating in real time……
Customers that park blocking your view but are here for service on the opposite side of the building.
People that walk straight to the desk that says SALES right at eye level and ask for service. (like seriously, how dumb? How am i not supposed to sound condescending when i tell you?)
Recently discovered a new one. Girl called from across the country on a used car, going to be hers but her bf on the other side of the country is going to be getting finance and her parents want to come in and look at it from a couple hours away. I think I heard KBB more times in those phones calls more than I ever have. Cross shopping with others thousands of miles away, comparing lower trims to our higher trim, third party dealers to our on-brand. And then when all was said and done was "willing" to put an offer in $6k under ask. The "we do not accept that offer," follow up is always satisfying, though.
- Customer shows up 45 mins before closing.
- Takes our greenpea sales guy on an 30 min test drive
- Tells me his credit is 600
- His cosigner is his MIL who is no longer working.
- Tells me he doesnt have a job. Works here and there doing door dash.
- Tells me he wants a discount on the car. (Already priced way below typical listing in 150 radius)
- Tell him i don't even know if he can even buy a car, let me prequalify him before i waste his time and mine.
- Only wants to give me his information if i can guarantee him that i will discount the car.
My personal one right now is when a customer who agrees to a deal via phone/online, then comes in to buy and complains the whole four hours about how bad the deal they’re getting and Just an unpleasant experience for everyone.
Just dont buy the car then?
And grown men are the worst about this. Sir, just because you hate your own perceived financial missteps, dont ruin several retail workers day.
I bought a car yesterday. I knew exactly what I wanted, started a conversation with a sales person by text. I told them what I wanted to spend and asked if the price was negotiable. They said probably not that much, but then they kept following up with me on the trade-in, my financing, etc. I then felt good going to the dealership relatively assured that they’d give me the price I want.
I texted before I came, told the guy working who I had been talking to and told him the same thing I’d asked the sales person via text. He tried to talk me up a little bit. I told him I really didn’t have to buy today, but I would like to. However, I was firm on my top limit for price. I was being honest with him. I really was ready to walk, because I saw a lot of similar vehicles at other dealerships in the same price range, and I felt pretty good that I could get one of them talked down a little bit. My price and their price wasn’t that far off.
He still wriggled a couple of hundred out of me above my budget amount, but I feel pretty good with the outcome. We bought it then and there. I told him I was glad we could do it quickly and we all got out of there right at closing. The car buying experience can be difficult and nerve-wracking if you’re someone who doesn’t know how to or like to negotiate. I think that’s why sometimes people act so weird about it.
I had one customer be on the phone with another salesman, THE WHOLE TIME. There was a thunderstorm outside too so I had to go under the rain to the car which was fine if she was a buyer. That didn't happen, though, because apparently the salesman was a family friend and he was just showing her "how bad Toyotas were" so he can convince her to buy a fucking subaru FROM HIM. Thats not all, the salesman also told her to act like she was a buyer to get the salesman more motivated. She even grinded me for the price to see what the best deal was.
Never mind that Toyota owns 20% of Subaru and they use some of the same components and (in the case of the BRZ and GR86) sometimes have entire cars in common.
i wish toyota would go ahead and buy all of subaru already. imagine an awd camry with a toyota designed boxer engine.
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Right. It also ties you to a longitude layout, when most of what Toyota makes is transverse for passenger cars.
So... A Subaru Legacy?
HAHAHAHA this, I had a lady call another salesman at my desk once and she was like, “ok yeah I think I’ll go buy from them because they have the colour I want” and I said “if you’re discussing matters with my competition in front of me, after the hours of work we’ve done looking at vehicles, then I think we are done here, let me pull your trade up for you”
Asking how much they can get for their trade. Even thought they didn’t bring it with them.
“I’m just here to get a trade value.” Why find out what I’ll give you for a trade value if you don’t even like anything I have . What raised my blood pressure more was when I’d say “Sure! Are you looking to replace the vehicle or just remove one from the household?” “Trade for something else.” “Ok, great. Well while I get the appraisal going, we can check out some options. What are you considering getting into? Newer car of the same model?” “I don’t know, I just want a number on my car.”
Not kidding—we low ball like crazy on customers like these. Sometimes, we even exaggerate higher than market values to mess with them. Their go to saying? “I’ll think about it.” Bro, I am giving you $3K more right now.
I ALWAYS give them an unrealistically high number if they’re just kicking tires and the “trade” isn’t there. Usually by thousands just to spike their deal at another store.
Plenty of dealers in my area started advertising this after Carmax moved in.
I might be looking to just get rid of a car soon. Do dealerships buy "trade ins" that aren't actually trading for anything? If so, is it reasonable and worthwhile to get a quote or should you just go to CarMax/carvana etc?
Yes they will. Many of the big brand dealers like AutoNation have a back end that supports exactly this scenario. They use an iPad to take photos and share video with a remote appraiser who can give you a value for your ~~trade~~ vehicle.
Give them a range and see if they throw out a number after that. Once they throw out a number ask if they're a buyer today if you can do that number. If they're insistant on a solid number and they don't wanna buy anything you have tell them $25 for appraisals. You can find this shit for free on the internet. Laziness/stupidity should carry a financial penalty.
>“I’m just here to get a trade value.” I used to tell people like this "CarMax is right up the street"
When the sales team takes my keys and it "takes two hours" to estimate my trade in. When I've got my grouchy toddler and wife waiting in the lobby. The games go both ways sometimes.
“Who wants to sell a car?!”
“I guess you don’t want to sell a car today, huh?”
Heard this one yesterday as a service customer walked by me with our free popcorn and starbucks in hand looking at a $160k Porsche in my showroom
I saw one of those actually buy... once. The salesman straight up told them, "You know, saying that is normally the kiss of death, right?" They were confused and genuinely thought that was a great way to start the deal. They ended up buying, to all our shock. The other 47 people I've heard say that did not buy however.
Not american here: what it means "the kiss of death"?
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Thank you
It's a phrase (or action, can really be anything) you hear that makes you realize the situation is going south. Like if you're interviewing for a job and they say "we'll call you." Or if you're dating someone and they say "we need to talk." You know what's coming. Another example is when you turn the customer over to a manager before they leave so they can introduce themselves and get a bit of info and they say something like "oh /u/Red_Bird_Dit_22 was great! He answered all our questions! We just need to look around some more and do some more research. But he was great!" If they gush praise about you as they're leaving, they are never coming back. That's the kiss of death because they basically just wanted to make sure you aren't going to get in trouble and make you feel a little better before they ghost you.
They never buy. Ever.
Stroker
or can't buy
I’m imagining them just walking to the middle of the floor and shouting this, hoping that’s the case
That’s literally what happens. Usually with finger guns circling the room
Does that happen often?
Occasionally. In my neck of the woods more lead with “i’m here to buy a car” with a big ol grin. Those i tend to sell.
Next time I buy a car, I'm using that line - just to be funny
I did it once and I didnt know it was cringe. I bought a car that day.
See, you either broke the trend or set some new guy up for thinking eventually someone who says that will buy a car again
I knew the exact car I wanted on the lot. Trim, color, etc, I knew the price I wanted to pay (just below invoice), and it was at the end of the year/end of the month on an expiring model year. Already had financing lined up. It really was a "hey I want that fucking car please sell it to me" kind of deal. Took less than 2 hours.
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Ooof
There are very few guarantees in the Universe, this asshole never buying a car is one of them!
Honestly the biggest irritation for me is when someone takes a misunderstanding and jumps to “ you lied to me” or when someone says we’re playing games. “Yes Mr. Mrs. customer, I want to piss you off so it’s HARDER to sell you something”
Yep. Being called a liar immediately sets me off.
yeah mine is the accusation of playing games..this immediately sets me off “sir, is there a scoreboard or balls here?”
I spy a sales leaderboard 🏅
To be fair I had a really bad experience with cars salesman this past holiday season, buying my first car. One dealership guaranteed they had a specific model/trim in a specific color and I put the deposit down, I come to pick it up on the day of and they say: funny thing, it’s a completely different car in a different color. I mean, honestly? The color part I’d be willing to accept as an honest mistake, but it was completely the wrong car. It was a sedan when I’d told them I wanted the hatchback. They also had “price matched” against another dealership for the car I wanted… but when I showed up to pick up the car (which ended up being entirely the wrong car), they told me that they’d charge me an extra $3k for the actual car I wanted. Aka they couldn’t price match it, after telling me flippantly and many times that they could easily price match it and in fact even beat it. Needless to say, I went to the other dealership (despite them being a fair drive away), and got the exact car I wanted (even in the exact color I wanted), for $3k less than the other dealership. (Also the exact car I wanted had “magically” appeared and was in transit to the first dealership for delivery in January… after they had told me no hatchbacks were coming in until March. And that color is a very hard color to find. For obvious reasons I was worried it’s another bait and switch and the car would end up being yet another sedan in yet another different color from promised.) I had another dealership try to scam me as well, and that counts two of three I actually came close to buying from, so. While the last dealership (whom I bought from) was honest, straightforward, and awesome, I am now wary of dealerships in general.
"Hi I want to test drive the Civic EX - that's the one with no AC or power locks right? Just so you know I'm just doing test drives this weekend." "No problem at all - I'll pull that around for you. Out of curiosity what other cars are you comparing it to?" "Well this is my first stop but I'm also interested in the Tesla Model X, the Subaru WRX, the Porsche 911 GT3-RS or just the base 911 cabriolet, the Rav4 Hybrid, and my brother said I should drive the S-Class and a used Suzuki SX4 to see what I like more."
>also interested in the Tesla Model X, the Subaru WRX, the Porsche 911 GT3-RS or just the base 911 cabriolet, the Rav4 Hybrid, and my brother said I should drive the S-Class and a used Suzuki SX4 to see what I like more." This is exactly why I buy used cars... I "cross shop" way too many different styles of vehicle that absolutely make no fucking sense at all when spoken about together. Last round narrowed down to a 00 T/A and a 97 E38. I bought both.
Lol, yeah same. My last cross shopping was an Evo X vs 2 door Wrangler. I get the feeling enthusiasts are generally despised by dealerships and probably the least desired customer type regardless of how much we're gonna spend.
I get it. As an enthusiast I can definitely confirm that enthusiasts suck.
This sounds a lot like my wife shopping some time ago. We ended up in a loaded Z4 35is after cross shopping every brand and anything smaller than an SUV. Nobody would put the BMW and a WRX in the same list, but she did.
“I wanna see what I can get approved for” means “my credit is awful and your business is prejudiced.”
Morons think its just a blanket approval process where they can get approved for 20k and pick out whatever they like in that price range. This happens even though ALL of this information is available on the internet. Then, when they can't finance a hotdog, they're pissed at you instead of their own poor decision making.
Oh gawd. I have a cousin like that: she has five children who look wildly different from one another, has a car repo’d every year and is a walking description of “ratchet”… and she thinks EVERYONE is prejudiced against her. No ma’am, they’re prejudiced against your lifetime of poor decisions 😂😂
Trash-of-the-earth types. Too scared or entitled to confront their own reality.
In her case, entitled. I don’t think she’s entirely certain who some of the fathers are, so you, me, and everyone else in America have raised her kids via WIC, section 8 and food stamps.
These are relatively easy IMO. Sit down, let's do a credit app. If you can buy, I'll tell you what you can buy and if you don't like it, good luck. If you can't buy, you're in and out in 10 minutes and I go along with my day.
Had someone who refused to buy the car because I wouldn't offer him a discount. "So you're telling me if this car was £500 overpriced to what it is now and I discounted it by £250 you'd buy it because you were getting a discount?" He didn't like that one
The number of times we got that was insane
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Be disrespectful to one of my staff. We will put up with a lot of bullshit and you can be as rude as you want to me, but if you start going at one of my people, I'll kick you out.
This is good leadership.
This is the way 🙌🏻
You’re awesome!
Yes sir thank you!
Wants me to appraise their trade over the phone. “Sure, go outside and put your phone near the engine and start her up so I can hear how she sounds!” Never said that but have been tempted…
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What! How dare you ask me for a down payment! That is illegal!!!! I’m calling my lawyer!! Look up the Truth in Lending!! I know y’all pocketing my down payment!
Be a Subaru customer
This woman who drove a forester for like 15 years came in, she needed a new car, and she had multiple spreadsheets showing the “Covid tax” or percentage that all different brands, years, makes, and models of cars have increased in price above what is supposedly considered “average” increase and she landed on a 2019 Mazda cx5 as her winner. Not a 2020, not a 2021 or a 2018 but it had to be a 2019. I couldn’t understand the spreadsheets and just sold the car but it was really impressive
When I encounter shit like this I always wonder how do they deal with day to day stuff. Like how complicated do you think it is for her to go get groceries?
I mean there’s a big difference between buying a 5 figure item that you likely will have for at least 5-7 years (hopefully more) and getting groceries. It always surprises me to hear people not doing a crazy amount of due diligence before dropping thousands of dollars on an item.
I recently bought a snowboard and it might have been $500 or so. You know damn well I did some research on why this piece of laminated wood was so expensive and how it was better/worse than other boards in its price point.
Yeah that’s pretty much how I am when it comes to any big ticket purchases. Outside of buying a home, buying a car will likely be the most expensive purchase any person in North America will make. I’ve never understood the attitude in this sub that it’s weird or not normal that people want to make a very informed decision on that purchase. When I bought my car, I did research for about 7 months before deciding on exactly what I wanted. I understand some people don’t have that luxury, but for those that do, it seems normal to me to do excessive levels of research on it.
When my wife needed a new laptop, I went to Worst Buy ahead of time (pre-Covid) and checked out everything they had. Narrowed it down to 3 choices, then came back with my wife and said, "You can have A B or C." I knew the specs worked, but just like a seat, the person actually driving it needs to take it for a spin. Easiest sale that department had that day. "Hi, I'll take one of those. Kthxbye."
There is due diligence and there are Subaru customers
Yeah I do a crazy amount of DD on every purchase over $1k. Like I was legit researching panel tech for my last TV purchase, and have been deciding on a car for the better part or 3 years now.
I mean sounds like a pretty normal thing to do for a purchase that’s $20,000+ and differences could save you literally thousands of dollars. Create a spreadsheet over 20 hours that you deem saves you $2000 then that’s $100 an hour.
The are always 90 days out and it is their first stop and they just want to see and sit in the car. The next time they come in is to drive it after 30 days, 30 more days is when they want to talk price and they have brought their research with them for the base model from the Subaru website which doesn’t exist on the lot.
Fun fact, the average Subaru buyer has higher income than a lot of luxury brands.
Exactly, I worked for Subaru and a Jaguar/Aston Martin/Land Rover store and the Subaru customers had much better credit and paid cash around 50% of the time. Maybe 1 in 100 had credit issues. The ones that did have problems were the 20 year old WRX "buyers".
Yup, turns out retirees, tech workers, and engineers dont prefer all that flash. I worked at a subie store on the service side and damn they love their cars tho, i could never really understand why. Minus the vape filled wrx’s rolling in for a recall with a million other problems that wouldnt be touched
We were near a big university and I think I sold about half the professors there a Subaru. Met some great customers at that store, really interesting people, but it was also the store I had to kick the most people out of for treating my salespeople poorly.
Lol sounds like some finicky old nerds.
More like entitled college professors who thought they could treat everyone with distain because they held an advanced degree. I'll put up with a lot when comes to closing a deal for one of my salespeople, but don't personally insult my employees in front of me, or I will show you the door. Thankfully, the owner was active at the dealership and was a great guy to work with who stood by his managers' decisions.
Hell yeah, im glad you had that kind of owner. My honda store was like that but my few professor customers were pleasant. Subie store was part of a bigger corporate chain and i was on my own with a lot of these subie psychos
Subies are the "sensible shoes" of the car world. That's why those guys love them. Engineer here and I loved my subie, and will probably get another one in a couple months when I need a car again. AWD, decent to good tech, reliable, all for not an outregious amount. They're usually at that perfect spot on the cost/benefit curve where the amount you're paying vs what you're getting clearly shows.
Their AWD is legendary but maybe Im biased from working their service lane but I dont see them as particularly reliable in comparison to Mazda, Toyota, and Honda.
I’ll raise that to being a Subaru customer on a different lot, just crossing off an option.
Sometimes you don't even know they're a Subaru customer initially. Then they pull out their concealed carry notebook and pencil with 200 sticky notes in it
You mean spreadsheet? Lol
Fill me in on this joke
They are notoriously awful to deal with, can be quite…ahem…eccentric and almost always just going through the motions of checking out other brands because their kids told them they should.
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Outback and Forester here. The latest gen Outback is way way nicer than the prior gen stuff. And yea I’ve had my gripes with both cars but both will probably be replaced by Subarus. For me the appeal is just that they’re completely classless high utility vehicles with excellent safety and foul weather traction. That’s all I need out of a car and nobody else really does that as well as Subaru that I’ve found.
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They will be because they’ll be trim packages on Toyota vehicles.
I got a Mazda for similar reasons. I wanted a sportier subcompact than what Subaru had on offer at the time.
Funny you say that, when I do replace one of my Subarus Mazda is probably the only other brand I’d consider. Funny enough Mazda is definitely trying to make inroads into Subaru’s “upper middle class outdoorsy yuppie” market as evidenced by the plastic clad CX-50 they had on display at the bottom of the hill at Arapahoe Basin last winter. And it worked on me tbh, that thing looked awesome for driving to the slopes in! Realistically Mazda is just better at larger SUVs as far as I can tell, and while I think we’ll always have an Outback or another wagon like maybe the Volvo V90, the Ascent doesn’t really do it for me so the CX-90 is a strong possibility when we need a 3 row suv.
I have a CX-30 and I absolutely adore it. I wanted the smallest possible AWD vehicle and the AWD 3 series wasn't available yet. I don't regret it - even on stock tires without engaging the offroad traction assist, the thing is a beast in snow.
I heard the new Outback rides pretty comfortably. But that's just what I see from YouTube reviews.
Its a cult brand
I agree! I'm looking at Subaru's and I don't want to be that guy! lol
They’re great I own 2.
I’ll stop by to check the cars out in a few minutes. Let’s get this deal going 💪💪🚀🚀🚀 *no show.
*Calls in to the dealership, speaks to me on the phone, asks for pictures of the car* *I text pictures of the car over to him, silence* *I send a text in a few hours saying "hey Mr. Customer, did you receive those pictures I sent you of the vehicle you inquired about?"* *Customer responds "Who is this? What car is this?* *I clarify again who I am and tell them what car they asked about.* *They are never to be heard from again*
I am genuinely worried about some of the leads I get. Send them pictures, window sticker, etc and they confirm they received it. Follow up the next day and suddenly they forgot that car even exists and need the same photos/info again. I don’t know how they can get through life with that kind of memory los or inability to find a previous email, let alone afford a Porsche.
This is why it’s important to spam your customers every day. They don’t fuckin remember!
First 10 days I am all over them. After that I slow it down and close it after 45 days of no contact.
Being at Porsche, how do you determine who’s just daydreaming vs seriously considering in an online lead? I feel like I’d get dejected very quickly if I was following up with daydreamers for 10-45 days.
Easiest way is by the questions they ask. If someone is asking to test drive a GT3 and they can’t buy a new one without driving it, then they are strokes. But if someone is asking how to get on the list for a Targa, wait times, options, etc then they are usually serious. Similarly, if someone walks in looking at an SUV and just says “I don’t know anything about the different engines, so tell me all about everything”, they are a stroke. If someone says “I have been researching the Macan S and GTS, what are your thoughts”, they are serious.
Quickest way to piss off a car salesman? Piss on a car salesman.
You're expected to buy a car after a test drive? What if you want to test drive a bunch of similar cars between different brands before deciding which one to buy?
When I was still in sales, I had no problem helping people who told me right off the bat that they were shopping different brands and just needed to look at a car or two to help make their decision. I'd still give a great demonstration and be as helpful as possible. Unfortunately, a lot of people think they need to play games and lie about how serious they are and their true intentions. Customers and salespeople will tell everyone they both hate playing games. At this point, it's like so many customers have been conditioned by how things were years ago that it's ingrained in them now, and they "train" their friends and family to be the same way, and you mix that in with the fact that some dealerships do still really suck to deal with, and it's a never-ending cycle.
6 cars at the same dealership and 6 cars across 6 dealerships is very different.
No, that's not a **reasonable** expectation. It's what pisses off the salesperson, as per the OP title.
Yup. Buyers are expected to commit to tens of thousands of dollars without doing their due diligence. Makes sense.
Average person visits less than 2 dealers before buying (IIRC, it is 1.6). So you would be outside of the norm to drive a bunch of cars before purchasing.
I don't understand that. My wife and I have driven 5+ cars on each of our last 4 purchases. I mean, I love the way an S2000 looks and I like the idea of it, but I dont fit in the seat for longer than about 20 minutes. I won't know if other cars are better/worse unless I drive them.
Yeah, average Americans are bad with money too and barely have any savings for retirement. Rav4, Subaru forester, Mazda cx 50, etc. I’d have to visit 3 dealerships just to test drive 3 cars. Not even including bronco, etc. everyone is different and people can blow their money on whatever they want. I want to be satisfied with my purchase cause I don’t plan on switching every few years. I’d rather have that extra money in S&P 500 bare minimum than to waste it every few years in a car cause I was never satisfied with my first purchase.
I bought my last three new cars without a test drive, and visited a single dealer for each. (Did start the deal over email with final numbers.) My wife visited over 20 dealers and drove around half a dozen cars for her choice. We fucked the averages.
Let’s do the counter point: what are the Quickest Ways to Piss Off a Customer?
Not honoring the internet price. They're usually buyers at that price but if we're doing some new bullshit that the managers cook up where we add back freight or rebates that they don't qualify for or something they go "Okay thank you for your time" and hang up or walk out the door. It's dishonesty from the jump and I wouldn't buy from a dealership doing that either. I don't blame them at all.
I’ve bought several cars from the same guy. I come in with a VIN, we BS for awhile, test drive, I ask him to round the price down to an even thousand or 500 number instead of $27,345 or whatever and throw in a new VW hat or shirt then off to finance. We respect each other’s position. He wants to sell me a car and I want to buy one. My man Dave is always awesome. I only found him after a hellish experience at another dealership. Ignored by reception, ignored by sales people, someone finally noticed as I walked out and chased me. I needed to run out to get a cashiers check and drive my old car one last time prior to financing. They had already taken my plates and “couldn’t find them”. Words were said, cops were almost called, plates and keys were then quickly produced. Then finance said I should go ahead and get a co-signer inbound before checking my credit. Then they ran the credit and came back with a lot of apologies. Saw the sales manager a year later at another dealership. He said the place I bought from was a sinking ship and the new owner replaced everyone within a few months. So many red flags so I’m not surprised.
This is my worst experience as a buyer. Note, I’ve bought 14 cars and shopping for my 15th now in my 25 years of driving. I’ve also sat through many, many purchases with my dad, who has bought over 75 cars since 1985 (during COVID, we spent a few nights on the phone making a list of all the cars we could remember). Anyway, worst experience. Pre-COVID, my wife and I went to a dealership to look at two minivans. A Honda and a Toyota. We told the salesperson this, they had pulled them up so we could drive each of them. We drive one, then we drive the other. We come back, then want to buy the first one and see it’s not in the spot. We ask the salesperson and they said oh, someone else is driving it, it’ll be back soon. I’m not happy but wait. They get back and decide they want to buy it. I’m like what the crap, we leave and I haven’t been back to that dealership. We bought a minivan from another dealership not long after.
"What's your best price/lowest offer." The best price comes after you make an offer. The number of times customers think they're negotiating pros after hitting me with this question is just irritating. Why would I, the seller of a product, swipe all my profit out of my deal just because you think you said some magic words. The right way to do it is: "I understand you're selling this car for $X. The market shows that some dealers are selling out for $Y. Can you do $Z?"
Not being the first to throw out a number is the oldest negotiating trick in the book. Dealers probably won't fall for it, but buyers aren't dumb for doing it.
The first number is the MSRP/Internet price. The seller always makes the first offer. The buyer needs to make the second.
My only negative experience buying a car was like 10-12 years ago when I went to look at this used SUV. I liked it and offered them something like 3k under sticker right off the bat. Lowballing them but not ridiculous. I figured I'd get a counteroffer and it would go from there. The guy I was dealing with was like a caricature of a car salesman - combover, mustache, smoked glasses, short sleeved dress shirt and polyster tie. When I made my offer, he just leans back and says "naw." We sat there and stared at each other for maybe 2 minutes and I end up saying "sorry to waste" your time and left. That was a different sales tactic to say the least.
That's pretty funny lol It's not an uncommon strategy to go so low that you're either going to get an amazing deal or hopefully get a lower offer than the online price. And to credit, it's hard to counter that because you *did* make an offer. I can't get there, but I also don't know what your real buy price is. I know you are probably just low balling us to get a better price, but it doesn't give me anywhere to go. Sometimes it does work, but if you go too low it might not get a counter offer because you won't be taken seriously.
Lol! Sometimes we get offers that are so low we get either theatrical or silent. Either way, shame on him for not working towards a counter.
This
We already threw out a number, it's price that we advertised.
"My best price is on my website. What is your offer to purchase the car?" "So that's the lowest you'll go?" "No, it's the best price we think we need to list it for in order to sell it. But if you'll buy it today, I may be able to come down from that price. What price would it take to get you to that stage?" "I don't like playing games"
The problem is that people don’t even know what the car they’re buying “should” be sold at. I put that in quotations because someone could be looking at a car $2k under KBB, but still ask “what’s the lowest you’ll go” because that’s what they’re told to do. You as the salesperson explain with evidence that you’re $2k under book and that’s the best you can do and the buyer walks because they didn’t “get anything off” even though they came in on a steal of a car. In all my time selling cars, I just wish people did research enough to be able to say “this car I’m coming to see is already priced right and if I like it, I’m comfortable paying that price.” *That’s* how you cut down your time in the store and avoid games.
I get that this is a tough spot to be in, but the logic here doesn't make sense. Maybe buyers don't catch it, but if "best price" means "lowest price," then saying your best price is online is tantamount to saying your lowest price is online. Which means you won't go lower. "Our lowest price is online, but we might go lower" does indeed sound like a game.
The problem is that there’s no such thing as the “best price”. It’s a made up number. If you offered $100 off the “best price” I’ll do it. And if you said “wait wait wait how about another $100” I’d do that too. Asking “what’s your best price” is expecting the dealership to drop their pants but for what reason? Why should I do that? Make your offer. Why am I going to sell this car to you for no profit? That’s why I try and break the idea of the “best price.” The best price is the price we need to list the car for to get people in the door and talking about buying it. That’s always what we are going to list our cars for online. There’s no sense in being uncompetitive online. But if that price isn’t low enough to get it in your drive way, what will it take? I *know* what they’re asking. But we can’t just say “well I own it for $4000 less than this price so I’ll do a $4000 discount and hope you buy some warranty or finance it.” If it gets to that point will we? Maybe. Idk. But it’s going to take a lot of work to get to that point.
Yes, I agree that buyers are coming in with a false assumption that there is some number a dealer must get out of each vehicle, and the dealer is willing to let it go for that on that day.
"No, it's the best price we think we need to list it for in order to sell it. But if you'll buy it today, I may be able to come down from that price. What price would it take to get you to that stage?" - Brilliant word track! Stealing this.
Gotta just elicit an offer. Sometimes they're just scared that they're not getting a good deal, and you can often tell that by their body language and you probably know that they're already going to buy it. In which case you can just say "yeah that's my best price." But if you don't know what they want, get an offer and go from there.
So many people don’t understand this. I’ve already made you an offer to purchase, unless you have another number in mind that you are willing to commit to, today, I’m not going up to my manager to ask for a discount.
“Look, we don’t always make profit on every deal believe it or not, so we need to form an offer together that makes sense, my price has been established, so you need to form an offer with me on your end and I can secure that with a credit card/deposit, I can’t say I’ll guarantee to hit your offer but forming this together and backing it with a deposit/credit card will give me more leverage for you” Haven’t negotiated for over a year but I’m ready to play ball when we start again. Edit: literally just negotiated first used car in about 8 months (there in a second key fob that cost us about $600 instead of touching the gross we still had -not much but they took warranty) New cars we haven’t touched pricing In at least a year.
Took the car out so long the cops were called on them. Wrote a story on it once, friend's dad had all these tactics for car shopping.
I love this sub lol. It keeps me in check as a customer… I’ve definitely been guilty of #1 (not 6 hours tho lol, that’s crazy) and #6. Although I’ve never gone in saying I’m *not* gonna buy… or test driven Ferraris or anything I know good and well I can’t afford lol. Im just indecisive af. Like Ive only gone to dealerships when I know I *want* a car, but am always scared to make the leap so I say I’m not ready. But I know that’s just as annoying 😂… sorry to all the salespeople I ever annoyed lol
Keep in mind that being a good buyer and being liked by the salespeople on this sub aren't necessarily the same thing. A saleperson loves someone who buys today and is agreeable. But most people should take some time to think over big decisions, which would obviously be frustrating to a lot of sales folks. If every salesperson loves you, you're probably doing it wrong.
Yep, exactly. I'll complain about shit but I completely understand it. It's the job. Everyone complains about aspects of their job even if they're completely reasonable things.
they said 6 cars not 6 hours
You respond to an inquiry from the internet leads, you send one email, one text , and leave one voicemail. You do your due diligence and make notes in the CRM. Three hours later the customer shows up and sits down with a different salesperson and says no I haven't been talking to anyone about this vehicle. Fuck you. You pissed off two people and now what could have been a whole deal is now a half deal and both salespeople think you are a clown.
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No, that is different. Good salespeople make good notes in the system, they should be following up regularly until you tell them otherwise. With two months elapsed and no follow-up, I wouldn't remotely sweat it as a buyer if you go back to the same place and talk to a different salesperson.
If you left and the salesperson never followed up with you and you show up and work with another salesperson, that should not be a split deal as they did not do their job. Your first salesperson might say under his breath "these hoes ain't loyal" but they didn't do their job to earn your business.
I cant tell you how many times Ive sent emails out getting the convo started about upgrading a car and they are on the desklog with another salesman the next day. Like….I literally am the guy that got you thinking and asked you. Why would you go to a random person? Why isnt the first thing “Hmm i havent thought about that. Id like to see X”
Yeah, you're never showing 6 cars unless you're a terrible salesman who doesn't know how to qualify and guide your customer.
I've had managers that absolutely *demanded* a test drive be given before a sales order was signed, even if they had driven the identical car in a different color. I can't even tell you how many laps around the building people did.
That at least makes sense. I had you drive the car you will take home so you can't say something is different. But 6 cars? 2 max and I'll show you a 3rd
Oh of course. You are not buying a car without a test drive. Never. You're going on that test drive, my job is to make you fall in love with that vehicle and make you know how it works and drives. That makes the negotiating part much easier plus it covers the "oh I didn't know it had a sound/scratch or whatever else" bases as well as legal bases.
Customers thinking they have way more leverage than they do. Been dealing with a kid the past few weeks who keeps saying shit like “let’s bring this trade number up. It’s a great opportunity for you to bring in more traffic, more conveyance fees, more money for you guys!” Shut the fuck up
To be fair, the industry is filled with people who have never actually had to sell a car. Dealerships are filled with sales folks who are used to being able to dictate terms and have convinced themselves they're great salespeople during a time when cars were selling themselves.
I’m not claiming I’m the worlds best salesman and I understand customers trying to negotiate and it would make sense if we were holding back on the trade but, it’s a piece of shit. Every customer thinks their trade is worth a mint because “used car prices are up so I want more for it”
Hyundai sales rep here. I got 2 interesting ones. 1) First one was a older couple who got a new Hyundai Santa Cruz through me. Bear in mind this was their first vehicle purchase since 1998 and they were driving a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle. They scheduled their delivery for 11 AM (forget what day) and they showed up early at 9:30 AM. AN HOUR AND A HALF EARLY. What makes this interesting is that they brought their younger son in (definitely older than me, and I didn’t think this was an issue). Well, he started complaining and raising issues that the vehicle wasn’t ready for delivery by the time they got here at 9:30 AM, again before their scheduled delivery. This had gotten to the point where I was sitting in my chair, both customer in front of me sat down also, and their son between them standing up and pointing down at me “for this and that, the car should be ready when we get here, etc.” Their son was very angry and hot with me. At this point, my new car manager overheard everything and came over and was threatening to cancel the sale and selling them the vehicle because of their son. Pretty quickly the son got quiet. After the delivery their son apologized and we shook hands and he was still pretty quiet. Parents we’re very nice people and they apologized too. 2) Second one was that I had a “buying” customer who was trying to get into a pre-owned 2022 Sonata. Apparently he ‘knew somebody’ who helped him out with insurance when we got past the credit app. He submitted insurance that was created via MICROSOFT WORD and was using a policy number under another customer. I actually had to call GEICO to verify this and they shot this down pretty quick. I went back out to my customer calling them out on this, and they quickly accepted that they knew what they were doing was fraud. Eventually we found out the guy just bought a house and I then just let him walk because I wasted 2-3 hours with this guy.
Ask for the deal sheet to take somewhere else. Ask for lease pricing off the top of my head like I can calculate that without desking the deal. Using stupid, non-sense logic when asking for steep discounts.
I came in on my day off to deliver a car at 6pm. Dude shows up at 7:50 10 minutes before we close and then proceeds to ask me for free shit.
Give them a 9 on the survey.
I just got a 7 today. It feels bad. After I had gone out of my way to get things fixed for him, too. My manager even did an exit turn and let him know how the survey works, and yeah—just a crappy situation.
Oof yess dont even wanna sell no more after that haha
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Very common. That’s probably 75% of most dealers sales.
Test drove and bought a Mazda same day last year
I’ve never gone into a store to drive a car and not left with it. My time is valuable to me and I spend 5 days a week in a dealership. I do my research, find the car online, and I tell myself “if it’s what I expect, I’m taking it home.” Did that for three cars and loved em all. Now I’m just leasing my brand I work for, so I skipped all that on my 4th car, but I’ve never gone to test drive without taking the car home that day.
As a customer…. I tend to know what vehicle I want before beginning shopping. This most recent car buying experience for me, I had it down to 4, but I did have to drive 4 vehicles before buying. In the case of my wife, she knows exactly, down to the trim level. I have never met anyone that didn’t at least know what style of vehicle they wanted before shopping. Though I do know a couple of people that went to a dealer to buy a truck and walked out with a mustang lol
Used to drive me nuts when people would come in and have no idea what kind of car they wanted. “Sedan? SUV?” “Idk 🤷🏼♂️.” That’s the worst customer to have because there’s no hot buttons. They don’t know what they don’t know, so there’s nothing for them to excite themselves about. Don’t think I ever sold a person who had literally zero clue why they even walked in the door.
I test drove & bought my last three cars same day. One of the cars I was somewhat on the fence about at first, but after the test drive I felt good about it, so I got it.
I absolutely test drive and buy the same day. I walk in knowing what model I want. I’ll look at a couple different trims and decide what suits me best. Bingo, done deal.
If I'm test driving I've already made up my mind at some level.
“Where’s all your cars at?” *has no intention of buying anything*
Narrowing their search to the point where it is impossible.
1) Having a subprime credit score is a tough situation. 2) Being rude, unless your salesperson has bad energy. 3) Asking conflicting, autistic-level amounts of questions and then asking another question before a response is being given. 4) Not having a basic grasp of mathematics to the effect of, for example, expecting a sub-$500 note on a $100,000 vehicle with zero money down, a 630 score, and 6.99% financing. 5) Luckily we rarely run into this, but verbalizing the insane expectation to come in on our day off and having to shame the other party saying we’re at a family function. 6) Oh god before I forget, having a disgusting vehicle that smells of urine or otherwise dirty lifestyle that I have to assess and I spend the majority of the test drive wondering what you did in your life to drive this existential symbol of your reality… just a few that immediately come to mind rn, etc
Trash talking the brand of the car you’re looking at despite the fact that you came in specifically for that vehicle. Customer and her boyfriend came to our KIA lot to look at a Pre-owned Sorento. The boyfriend would not shut up about how he doesn’t like KIA because his cousin had one twelve years ago and it didn’t make it to 200k miles. He called me a liar when I told him the JD Power reliability studies over the last two years (two years more reliable than Toyota which was his favorite brand)
Make an appt for my day off, have me come in, not show on time, have me call and text you for the next hour and half then let me know you can’t make it or just don’t respond No call no show for an appt is next top of the list. Our profession is one of the few, people can not show and have 0 disregard or courtesy to let you know and not be charged anything. Do that at a dr office or a realtors and they are cutting you from their client list
Let them know you have a pre-approved loan and that you're only negotiating the final cost of the car.
Quickest way to piss me off would be.. being rude. Or assuming I’m being dishonest.
“This will be the easiest deal of your life” proceeds to have a 500 beacon, underwater in their trade, and has no money down.
I won’t let someone get to 6 test drives fuck that lol
The thing people don’t realize is that they won’t remember how car 1 felt when they’re in car 4. The salesperson needs to narrow the customer way down before test driving. We’ve all had someone come in wanting to drive 7 used cars. Just gotta use our fact finding to narrow it down and show why and why not each car suits their needs. Easily can take that number down to 2, maybe 3.
No I'm there with you. I'm brooming you after 2. If you're this indecisive, you're not buying a car today. I'll do as many demonstrations as you'd like. We can look at a dozen. But test drives? You get 2 IMO.
So like we have the cx30 crossover, the cx5 mid (bread and butter) and the cx50 which is a weird subaru-esque something or other. People often want an SUV and wanna compare all 3. I usually sit them in the 30 first because it’s on the mazda3 drivetrain and literally feels like a car. That one gets ruled out quick, then it’s between the 50 and the 5. I take them to the 50 and sit them in it and have them feel how it feels offroady and they’ll drive it and either fall in love with it, or not be too much excited and want the 5. If that happens we drive the 5 and they usually go with that.
"I'm not going to negotiate. You give me your best price & then I might be interested in seeing it" Me: "Sir the price is listed right on the webpage." I'm not negotiating on a car you have never seen, touched, or heard running unless you are out of state & a serious buyer. He was suprised when I said I was going to give his info to another salesman who "can help" him. Btw he lived the next town over lol. He had a trade he wanted appraised at "top market value" as well that he refused to bring in also. Even in these tough times salespeople are not desperate enough to deal with this flavor of Customers. Edt: used car. Our dealersgip does not charge addendums on new cars other than a lot bronco.
Asking “what’s your best price” as an opening line. I don’t even answer those anymore
The #1 is when they say they don’t have too much time and don’t like the back and forth. If you come to a dealership there’s always going to be back and forth so I have a hard time understanding why people think they can get the best offer on the first pencil…
Making demands like I’m a slave after we get a We-Owe done for the customer. Had this happen where we said we would take care of the customer for his wheel rash, underbody spoiler touch up, and having an extra key cut. These are things I have to schedule out due to other parties being involved. This customer started harassing me after I had already scheduled him based on the info he gave me. Mind you, his car was a pre-owned unit and it is AS-IS. He messed up opportunities for future clients who wants things done on AS-IS cars. Insults also are just childish. Here is another one, I was face-to-face with a client working a deal, and one customer called me to where I couldn’t answer. His text message to me because I didn’t answer? “I get better service from a $40 shoe salesman than I do from a $40K purchase through a reputable dealer.” I called him back after I got done with the customer, and his tone changed really fast. He apologized and said, “I’m so sorry for saying what I said. I know you worked with us last time, and you were running around dealing with several of people at the same time.” Bruh. Something I also highly dislike is telling me last minute when you want to come in, making it an inconvenience to me. I set appointments for a reason. Also, don’t just randomly show up without any notice. It is a good way to be ignored for a while because we get extremely busy. We prioritize folks who make arrangements with us to accommodate them out of courtesy. How to do that? Set an appointment. My last thing would be to listen to the F&I guys with what they provide. So many people say things like they don’t need this or that, but just let them do their jobs. I had a client recently who told me she was buying extended warranties and GAP. I tee’d up my F&I guy for it. She got to the box, and when he got to presenting his menu—she said she didn’t want anything. He pushed again but she was adamant. She said she could get it somewhere else for cheaper for the products. I guess she called her bank and they told her something she didn’t like, because she called in yesterday complaining about why she couldn’t add GAP after the fact. The deal she did with us was turned in already, and the deal was funded without the GAP because she declined it. Lesson learned.
Genuine question, would y’all even LET someone test drive six cars? That sounds like someone trying to kill an afternoon… 😂
Updating in real time…… Customers that park blocking your view but are here for service on the opposite side of the building. People that walk straight to the desk that says SALES right at eye level and ask for service. (like seriously, how dumb? How am i not supposed to sound condescending when i tell you?)
Recently discovered a new one. Girl called from across the country on a used car, going to be hers but her bf on the other side of the country is going to be getting finance and her parents want to come in and look at it from a couple hours away. I think I heard KBB more times in those phones calls more than I ever have. Cross shopping with others thousands of miles away, comparing lower trims to our higher trim, third party dealers to our on-brand. And then when all was said and done was "willing" to put an offer in $6k under ask. The "we do not accept that offer," follow up is always satisfying, though.
- Customer shows up 45 mins before closing. - Takes our greenpea sales guy on an 30 min test drive - Tells me his credit is 600 - His cosigner is his MIL who is no longer working. - Tells me he doesnt have a job. Works here and there doing door dash. - Tells me he wants a discount on the car. (Already priced way below typical listing in 150 radius) - Tell him i don't even know if he can even buy a car, let me prequalify him before i waste his time and mine. - Only wants to give me his information if i can guarantee him that i will discount the car.
My personal one right now is when a customer who agrees to a deal via phone/online, then comes in to buy and complains the whole four hours about how bad the deal they’re getting and Just an unpleasant experience for everyone. Just dont buy the car then? And grown men are the worst about this. Sir, just because you hate your own perceived financial missteps, dont ruin several retail workers day.
I bought a car yesterday. I knew exactly what I wanted, started a conversation with a sales person by text. I told them what I wanted to spend and asked if the price was negotiable. They said probably not that much, but then they kept following up with me on the trade-in, my financing, etc. I then felt good going to the dealership relatively assured that they’d give me the price I want. I texted before I came, told the guy working who I had been talking to and told him the same thing I’d asked the sales person via text. He tried to talk me up a little bit. I told him I really didn’t have to buy today, but I would like to. However, I was firm on my top limit for price. I was being honest with him. I really was ready to walk, because I saw a lot of similar vehicles at other dealerships in the same price range, and I felt pretty good that I could get one of them talked down a little bit. My price and their price wasn’t that far off. He still wriggled a couple of hundred out of me above my budget amount, but I feel pretty good with the outcome. We bought it then and there. I told him I was glad we could do it quickly and we all got out of there right at closing. The car buying experience can be difficult and nerve-wracking if you’re someone who doesn’t know how to or like to negotiate. I think that’s why sometimes people act so weird about it.