Dealer tactics

GREGL · 05-01-2013, 10:42 PM

Had a pleasant experience at a dealer today (not). Mr salesman was asked for a driveaway price on a new car, this required a sit down interview as to what our intentions were. Fair enough I thought next came the hardsell, if you sign up today only then will we give you a trade in price for your car.
All I wanted was a ballpark figure then walk outside and have a chat with my boss and way up our options. No go, sign up before and then we deal he says. Really not comfortable with that idea. Asked about other options (demos/used) was not forthcoming at all. Ok thanks any way mate, didn't waste his time no test drive, anything. Arrogant ***** just walked off after giving us his best FU look.
Last laugh on him though, off to another dealer and presto deal done and dusted. Why do these jokers persist with the high pressure tactics,and above all it doesn't take much to be civil to a potential buyer even if you don't sign up then and there. The atitude he displayed not only cost him a sale but turned us off going to their yard across the road where we were considering a used car.
By the way it was the same brand and colour as what the idiot had on the lot,

jmac · 05-01-2013, 10:48 PM

Sounds to be the norm. I usually just bail on them and chat to one of their mates. Im careful to let them know what stage im at in the process up front though.

The nice ones get my business.

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FGII-XR6 · 05-01-2013, 10:58 PM

A bit unfair to call it dealer tactics, it is the tactics of a salesman with poor customer skills

DDXR6T · 05-01-2013, 11:02 PM

I hate car yards for this reason. Just a bunch of cheesy desperates.

FGII-XR6 · 05-01-2013, 11:12 PM

Dan not all car yards are the same. I used to work for A large Toyota dealership which is owned by a good ethical family. I found the biggest thieves and crooks were the buyers

Matt5933 · 05-01-2013, 11:20 PM

When I bought my bf xr6 a year ago from a ford dealer ship I experienced all the old school tactics. I feel that due to my age and gender (21 year old male) that I was an idiot and easily misled. I was very clear as to what I was looking for (clean, good service history privite owner etc) He first began by showing me xr6's with 250,000+ kms on them where the body was three different colours with bad service history and was given the old 'mate with these things service history doesnt matter, nah mate she had a small bump nothing to worry about.. and my favorite was one xr6 with the milkshake in the coolent (gear box failure) and when mentioned this 'nah mate no such thing, never heard of the gear box failing naaah people are telling you lies..

Finally found a nice clean bf, privite owner and good service history. Once it was time to talk money I got the old hard sell. first one was 'mate im losing money on it at that price cant do better' 'there isnt any money in this car for me im doing you a brilliant deal'. My favorite was when the manager poked his head through the door and went 'Has he bought that Xr6 yet? no ? well there is a man on the phone right now who is ready to put a deposit on it.... it just made me shake my head.

I'm not an idiot or irresponsible young person who will throw my money into a car because woooow shiny wheels. If the car wasn't exactly what I was looking for I would have told him to shove it. Of course I got the whole 'cracking deal champion and I wouldn't normally do a deal like that. when the difference between what he would have paid for it and what i payed for it means there was plenty of money in it for him.

On a side not a mate of mine was recently talked into buying a 1996 Hyundai excel in average condition and base spec for $7999. my jaw dropped when i heard this (he knows nothing about cars) apparently the car salesmen did him a good deal because he was a nice young man.....

GREGL · 05-01-2013, 11:27 PM

Agree with you there, did not mean to make it "all dealers are sussed" argument. However the person in queustion was a employee of the dealership and is required to follow company policy. If management has no issue with the way he acted thier bad. I have come across this scenario before and walked away and bought eslewhere.
Obviously these tactics must work but I wonder how many sales they miss out on. While I was waiting outside after signing up at the other dealership I had a conversation with a salesman completely unrelated to the deal. His words, "When I want to buy something I don't want the runaround I want yes or no, if no I walk out ". Simple really.

SM1DY · 05-01-2013, 11:31 PM

This is a good video regarding purchasing a car that I came across this afternoon, which I only found because I plan to buy a replacement mid-year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNrLfylgHE0

If you've got time, check out some of the other videos on this channel.

In Focus · 05-01-2013, 11:33 PM

During my recent buying experience, I visited five yards (2x Hyundai, 2x Skoda, 1x Toyota, 1x Chrysler/Jeep), and I didn't have a problem with any of them. Salesmen in every yard let me look at/drive a car and spent up to half an hour on me. The one who got my business was the only one who could match the price I had in my head that I wanted as a change-over on my Focus*. None of the ones I didn't deal with gave me the FU look when I departed (they probably thought it, of course) as I shook hands and thanked them for their time.

Of course, it could be that they could all tell I was open to a deal if the numbers panned out right, but maybe the lesson is slowly sinking in about how to go about business. Even though I didn't make a deal at four yards, I'd happily recommend them to someone else as places to go if looking for a car.

* Naturally, they tried to sell me tinting, paint protection, insurance etc etc, but that's another thing, and I had no trouble saying no to the hotty in the mini-skirt...

Matt5933 · 05-01-2013, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GREGL

Agree with you there, did not mean to make it "all dealers are sussed" argument. However the person in queustion was a employee of the dealership and is required to follow company policy. If management has no issue with the way he acted thier bad. I have come across this scenario before and walked away and bought eslewhere.
Obviously these tactics must work but I wonder how many sales they miss out on. While I was waiting outside after signing up at the other dealership I had a conversation with a salesman completely unrelated to the deal. His words, "When I want to buy something I don't want the runaround I want yes or no, if no I walk out ". Simple really.

I'm in the same boat there are very good salesmen out there. I was dissapointed because my experience happened at a large ford dealership. The first irritant was the salesmen really not knowing alot about the car. ''Nah mate bf xr6 only came with a 5 speed manual or 5 speed automatic... uhhhh''. As well as being treated like an idiot who is suckered in and easily fooled. Treat me with respect, don't lie to me and be genuine and I will happily do business with you.

In saying that I had a good experiance at Bremer ford (QLD) the salesmen I spoke to there was very knowledgeable, polite and honest. He listened to what I was looking for and only showed me vehicles that matched, was honest about the cars minor drawbacks and genuinely treated me with respect and has followed up with other vehicles he has found that fit my needs. Unfortunately circumstances changed and I am no longer in the car market, however I have said that when I am in the market again I will be visiting that dealership first and happily do business with that particular salesmen.

GREGL · 05-01-2013, 11:52 PM

Having thought about a bit more I worked out what my problem is. When I'm getting ripped a new one I at least expect to be treated nicely, History tells me I appreciate a no BS salesperson who listens AND doesn't try and pressure you. Just makes me feel better about the whole experience.

flappist · 06-01-2013, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SM1DY

This is a good video regarding purchasing a car that I came across this afternoon, which I only found because I plan to buy a replacement mid-year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNrLfylgHE0

If you've got time, check out some of the other videos on this channel.

Unfortunately that is an american video and the car buying culture is a bit different over there.

Note that he mentioned CASH not mucking about with finance.
There was no trade involved.
The car was NEW, not used, not demo, not last year plate, not ex dealer principal's wife's dog groomer's ....NEW.

That video has nothing to do with 99.99% of cars bought in Australia.

F6E · 06-01-2013, 12:26 AM

haha...some things never change...I reckon the sales yard hardsell has been around as long as cars have, surely they all go to the same sales school ?

My current purchase (F6E) was a new experience, being a wholly on-line affair, mainly due to the lack of locally available "E"'s

It came down to 2 cars, the Sensation in WA and a Black (with Red leather) in Vic'
Vic car had more K's, no Sat Nav and more $'s, they wouldnt drop to match WA price..(I really wanted black but red leather.....Mmmmm, that was my bargaining chip, so I thought ) If they had matched $'s, as per my offer, I would have gone the Vic car..

Vic guys hounded me 3 - 5 times a day, using different #'s and silent #'s, WA guy , told him my price, came back to me once, I countered, he accepted - deal done. Told the Vic guys , they went ballistic, told me resale on Sensation was nowhere, etc, etc

Everything went smooth, WA to Briz, in the end it was less stressfull than buying in person..

Kudos to Lane Ford in Mandurah (bizarely enuff, 5km from where my folks live !)

**Papa Smurf** · 06-01-2013, 12:27 AM

What GregL mentioned is truly salesmen techniques the dealer tactics start after you BUY the car.

XD ESP! XELR8 · 06-01-2013, 12:33 AM

Is just ford boys? Lol

Had this happen to me 2 times over the years, salesman not able to tell you a good price..(only if you sign now)

Most Other dealers tho can tell you one, maybe carcity didn't 20 years ago lol

xisled · 06-01-2013, 01:51 AM

The thing with these sales tatics the OP posted is this will get the sale. If he did not go about selling the product that way he would lose more sales. Only reason the OP did not buy was, he knew what he wanted. End of the day if the salesman does not sells cars then he does not get paid.

ultvict · 06-01-2013, 02:25 AM

I have found the pushy or bad experiences more common with Ford dealers.

I visited a Toyota dealer, a lovely old man assisted me in letting me test drive and sit in any car I wanted. He wasn't pushy, he would politely tell me about the features, but didn't bring up price or signing of contracts, knew I only wanted to drive it to compare to a Falcon and respected that. I really appreciated his laid back and non confronting approach, I would have been happy to buy from him.

Ford dealers on the other hand, very sneaky. I was looking at cheap G6E, to me it looked ok. Next day brought my dad and spotted a bunch of things that looked suss. We asked about these he had no clue, obviously avoiding the topic, then basically laughed at us and said it was still good value at $20,000 despite a leak from the diff and several panels paint looking resprayed.

I hate how they need to take your keys to do a valuation on your car, what for? I sat with another Ford dealer (Elsternwick) with a salesmen who knew nothing about cars. He kept mentioning various small features like leather seats, all of which I know inside out. But when asked questions about the rearview mirrow he had no idea what I was talking about.
Dealing with him was a joke, when I told him I had leather and 18' rims on my G6 he looked so surprised despite me telling him it was a limited edition. He had never heard of one.
But most of all the fake maths the pull to try and make it look like you are getting the car at the price you want. On that particular G6E he said his best price was $19,990. When I told him that wasn't my price he started bringing all numbers in to make it look like I was buying it close to my price of $18,000. I was getting rego worth $750, fix the grill $350 and fix a small in the leather $250. so somehow he tried to convince me I was getting the car at my price, despite I repeatidly told him, no I'm still paying $19,990. Rego was included at $21,000....
I hated it when he would call me on a weekly basis checking on my car status... what a waste of setting up voice mail to find it was that clown....

When I bought my G6 LE early last year was my first experience buying from a dealer, intense. The amount of times I heard "but its got leather and 18's" really did my head in! That was their only selling point, and because of that they were reluctant to budge, even when telling them what would get me to buy was price not the leather or rims...

I think I'll hold onto the G6 LE for a while so I don't have to deal with those idiots again any time soon.

**Mechan1k** · 06-01-2013, 02:27 AM

Best thing to do .... go back to that first salesman ... and show them your NEW car ... and ask if he likes it ... then drive out.

SM1DY · 06-01-2013, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

Unfortunately that is an american video and the car buying culture is a bit different over there.

Note that he mentioned CASH not mucking about with finance.
There was no trade involved.
The car was NEW, not used, not demo, not last year plate, not ex dealer principal's wife's dog groomer's ....NEW.

That video has nothing to do with 99.99% of cars bought in Australia.

Do you think that the skills can't be extrapolated to fit the circumstances? There is going to obvious differences between regions, but that doesn't mean that the "simple solution, to a simple problem" philosophy can't be applied.

BOOSTEDGAZ · 06-01-2013, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Best thing to do .... go back to that first salesman ... and show them your NEW car ... and ask if he likes it ... then drive out.

Did exactly that recently. May last year i was looking to Trade my BF GTP for a new FG GT. Rang round a variety of dealerships looking for quotes etc and approx trade in deals etc. Being that i am in NZ and don't mind travelling i wasnt worried about purchasing outside of town. 5 out of 6 dealerships were good to deal with. The worst one being my local dealership in Wellington. Drove in there the first time happened to be driving my work car. Walked into the showroom nice Black GT sitting there. Wondered around looking for a salesman no one even looked at me. Eventually found a salesman who basically looked at me like you cant' afford this. Explained that i had a low km BF GTP that i was looking to trade plus cash and would like to test drive the GT and if he could give me a price. Next thing i know he is bringing out the "we can't let you test drive it until you are approved finance or pay a non-refundable deposit" i explained that i was not interested in finance and was not going to put money down on a car i had not driven yet. Then came the oh well we have someone else interested in the car but perhaps if you bring your car in we could work out a trade price. This dealership had a rep for dodgey sales tactics - had been warned by another Ford (non-FPV) dealership and spoken to a few people. The guy was arrogant as like he was going to be doing me a favour letting me buy the car.
Came back the following day in my GTP the trade price they came back with was $10k less than any other dealership had offered me and the price on the new GT was $5k more than any of the other yards had. I explained this too him and told him to sharpen his deal up and come back to me. 2 days later he rings me up with a $2.5 k better deal to which i thanked him but declined and he proceeded to tell me of all the work he had done blah blah to get this deal.

Any way bought my new FG GT from a Dealership in Fielding. Salesman was awesome to deal with gave me a great trade price (same price i was asking for a private sale) and sold my GTP for a $2k profit 2 days later and i am the very proud owner of a Supercharged FG GT.

I can say i truly enjoyed rocking up to the Wellington yard a month or so ago and parking outside went for a wonder around the yard. 2 of there sales guys were outside drooloing over my car within minutes. There black GT still sitting there unsold now as a demo with Km's on the clock. The original salesman strutted out of his office and proceeded to say " ah come to your senses regarding that deal i put together for you have you" to which i replied "nah mate just killing time til i pick the Mrs up thats my Silver GT that your staff are drooling over out there, got a awesome deal on it... oh havn't you sold yours yet" and carried on looking. Lets say the look i got was a mix of FU and a sulky 3 year old.

sprint347dave · 06-01-2013, 07:26 AM

That video has nothing to do with 99.99% of cars bought in Australia,,,yeh rite,,its a transaction of money for goods...,,only happens 00.01% of the time in australia

AndyXR6T · 06-01-2013, 08:05 AM

My local ford uses the best "tactic" when buying one of their cars.
They have a very attractive and persuasive saleswoman selling the optional extras package. After purchasing your car you sit down with her in her office and she becomes your best friend telling you that you need these options.... It was very difficult trying to say no paint protection and headrest DVDs lol

flappist · 06-01-2013, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SM1DY

Do you think that the skills can't be extrapolated to fit the circumstances? There is going to obvious differences between regions, but that doesn't mean that the "simple solution, to a simple problem" philosophy can't be applied.

Yes I do, in fact I have seen it done.

The issue is that you cannot apply that principle unless you have the cash, no trade and are looking at buying a new car.

In USA this is a very common situation, in Australia not so much.

Here almost all cars are financed and in private sales there is almost always a trade.
Also yanks seem to have a much higher level of "pride" in buying a new car and would not prefer to save money buying a demo or other low km "pseudo new" vehicle.

blackf6 · 06-01-2013, 10:16 AM

I think all car yards should display drive away prices on all vehicles to be sold. When I recently bought my Bf GT, the car had no price on it. Asked a salesman what the drive away price was they said $28,000. I was secretly stoked. Next day come to do the deal and no that wasn't the price it was $30,000 drive away. They knew I had a trade(kj series3 laser) so adjusted their price so as my trade was taken for nothing. Lucky I wanted the GT and wasn't interested in any money for my trade, but I made them sweat on it for a bit.

XBROO · 06-01-2013, 10:59 AM

I love how they try the good looking chick in the mini. That's when I get the missus out of the car and tell her to speck to the boss.LOL My missus isn't a bad looking sort herself.

jmac · 06-01-2013, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyXR6T

My local ford uses the best "tactic" when buying one of their cars.
They have a very attractive and persuasive saleswoman selling the optional extras package. After purchasing your car you sit down with her in her office and she becomes your best friend telling you that you need these options.... It was very difficult trying to say no paint protection and headrest DVDs lol

I think thats every dealership in australia..

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T4ME · 06-01-2013, 11:24 AM

I know Jarvis Ford wouldn't do the trade in valuation on our car until we had picked one from the lot.
I said but the car we choose has to do with the amount of trade in we get?????

Needless to say we walked!

Ben73 · 06-01-2013, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyXR6T

My local ford uses the best "tactic" when buying one of their cars.
They have a very attractive and persuasive saleswoman selling the optional extras package. After purchasing your car you sit down with her in her office and she becomes your best friend telling you that you need these options.... It was very difficult trying to say no paint protection and headrest DVDs lol

My sister used to be that person.
She would always brag when she would up sell someone a few grand.

When looking at cars I have had a few pushy salesmen trying all sorts of sneaky tactics. One was trying to get me to sign papers before I even said I wanted to buy the car

But the 2 dealers I have actually bought cars from have been decent people and not pushy at all.

**MercurySilver** · 06-01-2013, 11:48 AM

when we were looking at getting rid of the ba xr8 ute the misses was keen on a 2009 ve wagon in the voodoo blue
so we went to steinborners in gawler
LMFAO
what a ********

they wanted 34 grand for a wagon that had stone chips done to white paint on the doors. had done 3o thousand kms and was the basic model
offered me 11 grand for the ute with under 100 thou on the clock
i said i can get a brand new xr6 sedan for 34 grand on road and get 16 grand change over on the ute (called the bluff, hadnt even been to ford yet)
guy laughed at me and said yeah right, i think you are lying

rightio then
turned around and walked out

got home and we were looking at our current car the G6E turbo on line and thinking of emailing to go have a look

within one hr of leaving steinys and sitting on our couch the phone rang
steinys, saying they will give us 15900 on the trade in but still had to pay the 34 grand (not on road either) for the wagon

laughed and said we are going to look at a G6E turbo
he laughed back saying theyre more expensive than his wagon
i let him know that it was 5 grand cheaper had done 20 thousand more kms granted but was fully optioned not like the boring plastic interior of the wagon that had a smaller screen and less in it than the ba ute 2004 model i offered to trade in.
then hung up
drive past steinys at least twice to three times a week
i always have a chuckle

BadMax · 06-01-2013, 11:48 AM

Two sides to every story, the common catch phrase in sales is 'buyers are liars'.
I'm not saying you did anything wrong, but it's quite common for people to put up brick walls when it comes to buying high priced goods. Wrongly thinking it's the right thing to do, play hard ball, dodge questions etc.

We've just looked at five different cars at five dealerships, we only had one ordinary experience, but still drove all five with no issues at all. I was up front with every one of them, told them what I was looking for and when I'm going to place an order.