Funny Dealership Experiences for Buying 2016

Sounds like a stereotypical salesman. I would have walked too.

 

I don't know, the cattle guard bumper design should be in the brochure. #MarketingFAIL

 

The bumper is designed to throw them up rather than under the vehicle

 

I understand, but it was just funny to hear him say it in that manner.

 

I emailed the initial salesman that contacted me about them being in stock. I told him since they were coming of MSRP, and that I had good offers from other dealers, that I was no longer interested in buying from them. He called me today and demanded to know what the name of that salesman was. I told him I didn't bother getting it since our conversation was only 2 mins. long. He seemed to be genuinely mad that he told me that, and stated that they would like to keep me as a customer, since I've bought from them before, and they aren't going to let a little thing like cost of the truck stand in the way of doing so. I asked him to quote me a price on what I want, but asked that I come in to do so.

 

Pressure tactic. They don't want you taking your time and doing research.

 

Its easier to sell you a Truck if you actually go into the dealership. He wants you to play his game.

 

Oh yeah, I know. He knows I've had offers for invoice and +500 invoice. If they can't beat or match at least the +500, it'll be a short conversation.

 

I'm prepared to play my game, see above.

 

So the salesman is supposed to tell me what is right for me?



No offense but eliminating salesman from the auto industry would, in my opinion, be orders of magnitude better.

 

My guess is that dealers are afraid to change. They don't want point and click ordering and finance. Worried it will erode profits. But look at it this way, the closest dealer to me is going to lose a sale because they are assholes. Take pre-order sales and backoffice finance out of the picture, and they would have won the business. The car dealership industry is ripe for change. Maybe not to the extent of the travel industry, but I think their days are numbered.

 

Just got a call from the sales guy at the local dealer-told me that his manager just informed him that the only long beds they were making were on the trd sports....jesus. Either:
a) they genuinely have no idea what they're talking about or
b) they were just trying to sell me what they have in stock

Not sure which is more annoying...

 

They are trying to sell you what's in stock. Much easier for them to do.

 

Not a '16 experience, but related.

When I was looking for my '08 DCLB, I showed the local dealer what I wanted in their own brochure (DCLB sport 4x4) and he told me that Toyota didn't make them for our region (PNW) and that there was no way possible to get one and was generally kind of a dick. I said that I really needed the DCLB config, so would have to do some thinking (I wasn't savvy with car-internet shopping then).

Went to the next town over a couple weeks later and dropped by the dealership. They had the exact truck I wanted and gave me a good deal. A week later, I drove by the local lot with my new truck to pick up tube steps (they were shipped)and the guy happened to be out front. I said, "This is what I wanted. Too bad they don't make one". He had the nerve to say, " You should have let me know, I would have transferred it so I could get the sale."

 

What a Dick!
Good for you. I like hearing stories like that.

 

I did the same thing with my 2014 Corvette. They were dicking me around on my order because they wanted to sell more expensive versions to other customers. So I cancelled the order and bought one the next day in Oklahoma City. Showing the salesperson the next day... priceless.

 

I'm not even a hard bargainer. I'm amazed how many salespeople aren't willing to spend an extra 10 minutes to make a guy happy and sell him a 30k truck. The guy in the other town over literally said, "Let me see what we have, and if we don't have it here, we'll get it." How hard is it to have that kind of attitude.

 

Not true, the Costco deal for Ohio (I live in Columbus) is located in Cincinnati, they order what you want and its $300 over invoice. 60-90 day wait.

 

After essentially calling me an idiot for asking for any kind of cash incentive off of MSRP (still not released in Canada) and saying there will be no discounts whatsoever, anywhere. I called another dealer who immediately offered $1200 off, turns out I will now be getting $1000 off the truck I have ordered from the first dealer. Unfortunately for the second dealer (who has now offered me $1500 off an paying for my ferry trip over there, which is about $300), they cannot get me a truck until late November or I would not hesitate to use them.

So many (not all) salespeople are dirty, dishonest people, if I could order a truck online, pay online, and never have to step foot in a dealer, I would without even thinking about it! It's pretty shitty being a female (who knows more than a lot of males about vehicles) and trying to convince a salesperson to treat you with respect and not like you were just born. My salesperson has done nothing more than treat me like crap and write down exactly what I asked for and place the order, pretty easy job! He's lucky they can get the truck first (because I preordered through them) or I wouldn't be dealing with them at all.

 

No, the salesperson is supposed to listen to you and suggest options for you to consider in helping you determine what vehicle might serve you best. A long time ago I sold cars for about 18 months and was pretty good at it. Like some of you have had varying experiences with sales people, I had varying experiences with customers. I did not lie to my customers but plenty lied to me. "I have a job, here is where I work....Ooops, I made a mistake, I gave you my previous employers address, I now work here..." Which they didn't. I have also had customers who walked in so frustrated with their car buying experience that I knew I had a short leash. So I treated them appropriately, calmed them down, took care of them well, only to have the manager act like an ass and drive the customer out the door. Even if a person coming into a dealership knew more than I did about a vehicle, they would still need someone to do the leg work to get all the purchase paperwork in order, make sure the vehicle was prepped correctly and ready and conduct a professional delivery process. There are good, bad and excellent employees in every line of work and car sales is no different. It is long, shitty hours and lots of BS if you really want to be successful and dealerships do not make it easy to be professional. Like most professions, you learn from experience and most sales people do not last long enough in the industry to gain enough experience to become a professional. It is a high stress job with excessive turnover. After 6 months I had seen at least 40 people in and out the door in a dealership that had about 10 sales people in the Toyota-Used building. Even the highly successful sales people will often wear out their welcome at a dealership and move to a different make. An individual manager holds your fate and livelihood in their hands and if you intentionally or unintentionally piss off the wrong manager you can't make a living.

I suspect most people have never had a good salesperson in their life, mostly because the owners of most dealerships truly have no clue how to set up a dealership so that they cultivate a staff of professional sales people. To the owners sales people are expendable and not worth much unless you are selling lots of vehicles. High end dealerships that pay and charge more probably come the closest. My advice? For what it's worth, talk to your friends, post a thread on here and just generally network with other people before you set foot in or even call, email or otherwise contact a dealership. Your goal would be to find and identify a good salesperson at a specific dealership based upon others experiences. Then only deal with them, especially if they are working but not available. Car sales is commission work so even if you do everything to convince someone to buy a car but they have to leave before committing, when they come back if they talk to anyone else and that person works the deal as well then the commission is split. This way you are rewarding the GOOD sales people out there. And yes, there are good ones.