Darn car salespeople.....
- Thread starter JDgreen227
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timster2
Platinum Member
A friend asked me to accompany him to the dealer to buy a new minivan. I was there to listen and witness what the salesman was offering. I just observed and listened to the sales pitch and promises. Finally the salesman asked why I was there and I told him to keep him honest. Well the look on his face. I told him in my opinion all car salesmen are professional lairs and he was free to prove me wrong. I asked him to try to do this deal from start to finish without telling a mistruth or outright lie. He was indignant and no longer wanted me around.
Well my friend settled on a particular model of minivan and features and was looking for a specific color. The salesman tells him they have one in inventory and it is at their storage location and he will have it prepped and ready by the end of the week. Well the end of the week comes and the car is no where to be found. The salesman insists that the car is being prepped and will be ready by Monday. Well we asked where the car was so I could put my finger on the hood and see the actual vehicle. He insisted that it was in the shop getting ready. Well as it turns out he never had the color car in stock and was shopping other dealers to get a vehicle. We figured something was up when he could not provide a VIN. All the excuses started to flow, had one but someone else sold it out from under him, inventory sheet was wrong, other dealer in their network had one but sold it, was on order and should have been in this weeks shipment, on and on. He had outright lied when he told us he had one in stock.
As we left the dealer I just smiled and reminded him that he was a lair and proved once again that he could not do a deal without lying. My friend and I just went down the street to another dealer and bought one off the lot, honest salesman, no drama, no lies, perhaps just a little embellishment.
Well my friend settled on a particular model of minivan and features and was looking for a specific color. The salesman tells him they have one in inventory and it is at their storage location and he will have it prepped and ready by the end of the week. Well the end of the week comes and the car is no where to be found. The salesman insists that the car is being prepped and will be ready by Monday. Well we asked where the car was so I could put my finger on the hood and see the actual vehicle. He insisted that it was in the shop getting ready. Well as it turns out he never had the color car in stock and was shopping other dealers to get a vehicle. We figured something was up when he could not provide a VIN. All the excuses started to flow, had one but someone else sold it out from under him, inventory sheet was wrong, other dealer in their network had one but sold it, was on order and should have been in this weeks shipment, on and on. He had outright lied when he told us he had one in stock.
As we left the dealer I just smiled and reminded him that he was a lair and proved once again that he could not do a deal without lying. My friend and I just went down the street to another dealer and bought one off the lot, honest salesman, no drama, no lies, perhaps just a little embellishment.
Bird
Rest in Peace
Cost them nothing? I guess you're right since that lot (land) was given to them for nothing, and they have no taxes to pay, not utilities to pay, no employees to pay, no paperwork to do, right? I'm not sure how long any business would last if they didn't sell things for more than they paid for them.
RollingsFarms
Veteran Member
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- South Carolina
- Tractor
- Few John Deere's and one Ford 3600 diesel.
I just run off a copy of my trade-in value from 3 different sites and hand that to them when they ask how much I'm looking for on my trade-in. They have two options, give me the number I'm asking or however close they get to it, take the difference off the price of the new vehicle. Either way they are going to hit the out the door number I'm wanting or I walk. I don't sit around and dicker back and forth with them. I'm not interested how much they can get for it at auction or anything else. That's their problem not mine.
OP
JDgreen227
Super Member
Bird, my local grocery store collected just under $3900 from me last year for food and drink, and according to the information you read, they make a gross profit of 1.5 to 3 percent on sales. That means they made a range of $58.50 to $117 profit on me last year....now, when a car dealership gives a customer $5000 for a trade in, then turns around and sells it for $6000, don't you agree their profit margin is obscene? Oh yes, the grocery has to pay for the land, for taxes, for utilities, for employees, for paperwork, etc. but why are they happy with getting 1.5 to 3% profit? Yes, I agree that volume may have something to do with it, but....last brand new vehicle I purchased was back in 2004, and I know that in the ten years since then I have spent as much or more at the local grocery store as that car cost. Seems to me dealerships are simply GREEDY.
RollingsFarms
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2007
- Messages
- 2,258
- Location
- South Carolina
- Tractor
- Few John Deere's and one Ford 3600 diesel.
My girlfriend traded in her 2008 Camry with only 49,000 miles on it and can you believe they only offered her $9000 for it?! Would not go any higher to save their life. She went ahead with the deal and next week I went by there to see how much they were asking for her car. $16000!!!!! I played around with the salesman acting like I was interested and said "would you take $11,000 for it? He acted all offended and said "oh no way we have way more then that in it! This is a clean car with low miles!" It was all I could do not to call him a liar. I lose no sleep at night beating up on car salesman when I'm dealing with them. I don't care if their kid needs braces or their wife needs an alimony payment. They are crooks and I treat them as such.
CobyRupert
Super Member
Sort of: It may be worth more to you than someone is willing to pay, if so you get to keep it. Or it may be worth more to you because of the replacement cost.
"A $1000 car ain't even gonna roll,
til you throw at least another thousand in the hole.
Sink your money in it, and there you are
the owner of a 2,000 dollar 1,000 dollar car."
TedBell
Member
Salespeople offer no real added value to the informed consumer. I can do all the research and information gathering on the internet. I just need someone to help with the test drive and handle the transaction. The last time I bought my car the salesperson basically admitted that the internet has limited the number of tricks they can pull.
rwork
Platinum Member
You Know, I enjoy reading this forum every day, but when I see some of this crap, it's all I can do to stay out of it. I'm sick of folks who lump everyone in a particular occupation as underhanded. Amazing!
I've been in auto sales for quite a few years, and I consider myself a professional, just as many of you would.
Is your tractor dealer a crook??
What about your doctor, or plumber??????
I've been in auto sales for quite a few years, and I consider myself a professional, just as many of you would.
Is your tractor dealer a crook??
What about your doctor, or plumber??????
Bird
Rest in Peace
No, I don't agree.
If I don't like their price, whether it's what they give for my trade-in or what they want for the one I'm buying, I'm free to go elsewhere. Several years ago, I traded an Escort sedan in on a Windstar mini-van. One dealer offered me $2,500 trade-in for the Escort. And another offered me $4,600 and said he'd buy it for $4,600 whether I bought his car or not. So yep, that first one intended to make what you call an "obscene" profit. But that's up to him. And of course it was up to me to turn down his offer.