Are Toyota Internet Sales Managers complete idiots or is it just me?

Nothing my end, but seeing everything exactly as I was told through itemization when in the F&I office gives me confidence I can trust them to come back for more business or send my family/loved ones there down the road.

That being said, I having worked at another dealer(s) for years that doesn't sell cars the same way my local Toyota dealer does. And I could only recommend one man selling there (Non-Toyota) as we worked together in the service department before he transferred and he could be trusted. Sold my mom and sister used cars.

I've heard so many salesman speaking and chatting behind the scenes about padding this and that, it's either to make as much on the sale of the unit for total units sold commission or to make as much as possible on accessory sales and get a bonus from the parts department, and not so much the sales department.

What really matters is in the end did you get the vehicle you wanted at what could be called a fair price, fair is subjective though as if I had great amounts of wealth and wanted exactly a TRD Pro 4Runner I wouldn't care so much the cost as long as it's what I wanted.

 

Good for you.

 

Must be differences in our states/regions. Sales orders here basically have Price of vehicle&options, and Admin/doc fee, any upsells such as ext warranty, and deduction for trade, then state tax, title fee, and Georgia lemon law fee. The last three are state-mandated and no room for shenanigans. Extended warranty and trade I keep out of the OTD price discussions. That leaves only the vehicle&options price and the admin/doc fee, which I consider a lump sum and don't care what they load where. If they can pad one side to put more in their pocket and not alter what I'm paying, more power to them. I'd question their intelligence if they didn't structure things to their advantage.

Perhaps the other difference is that I treat every vehicle purchase as an independent transaction and I'm very analytical about it; if I've had a good experience with a particular guy in the past I'll definitely give him a shot, but otherwise it's about the numbers. Though in reality since we don't buy cars very often whomever we'd worked with before likely isn't there any more.

 

Very true,

I'm fortunate the same salesman has sold me my last three trucks, and hopefully next year 1st qtr a new 2017 DCSB TRD OR.

He has been there almost 16+ years I think, started in service and was able to go to sales. This dealer will NOT hire sales folks from the outside. You have to work up through the dealer first. I really believe they are a stand up bunch.

 

I emailed a few to see what kind of response and willingness to "listen" I got.

In the end the guy who won my FJ business has also won my Tacoma business. If anyone is in CO looking to purchase I highly recommend Stapp Toyota.

Further more I can say that when I've talked to some of the after market places that put leather etc on the feedback I got was that Stapp was the most reasonable for customization and other specialties I wanted to do.

Installing lift, leather, remote start, paint, tire and wheel swap -----very accommodating and willing to work with me to get the business. The internet sales guy does go through someone for approval but he seems the same in wanting to win the business for us Tacoworld mod guys. Pm me if anyone wants more info and please tell them Pat Brown (me) sent you.

 

Obviously the truck you want isn't something they have in stock. So they will have to dealer trade for it, or order it for you. You say they are wasting your time, but their time gets wasted everyday as well, with tire kickers that want a price but aren't buying crap. There is a lot that goes into a car deal like credit, trade-ins, etc. Stop wasting BOTH of your time, make an appointment with a salesperson, and go down there and have them see that you are serious, and then they will locate one for you. Sales Managers are super busy, and don't have time to locate vehicles for every yahoo that sends in an internet request. But to answer your question, yes most of them are idiots. There is no money in selling cars anymore, so the smart ones go into management or split after a few months.

 

In general, across all businesses, customer service sucks.

That said, my experience buying my truck was terrific.

 

I work for an independent auto leasing company, and I would say at least half my client's buy from me so they don't have to go to a dealership. They don't give a rip about a lease, they just hate going to a dealership.

 

If the dealer has an internet sales department they should be willing and able to conduct a full sales purchase over the internet with the customer only having to come in to sign papers and drive the truck off. If they are unwilling to do that then don't have an internet sales department and just use an answering machine stating all sales will conducted face to face. I bought my Tacoma over the internet and it took 3 weeks with the same dealer before I guess they felt that I was a serious buyer and we finally settled on a price.
I don't understand why they can't figure a price and then say we can do better face to face. Just trying to get a take it today out the door price was impossible.

 

You would be surprised at how much more accommodating a dealer will be when you actually have a QUOTE from a dealer that you can include in the email. Once you have a quote from one dealer it sends the message that you are a serious buyer and it greatly speeds up the process of getting a serious offer. If you want a very specific truck that you can only get from the factory then you will not receive as great of a discount as trucks that are sitting on a dealers lot. Often the dealer will quote you a price on the truck they have or have coming in that is the closest to what you want. If you can be a little flexible you stand a greater chance of getting a bigger discount. I just told them that I did not want to pay for what was on the truck that I did not want so they could take the extra off the price, take it off the truck or find me another that did not have it. Now, if you settle on a truck and it has extras then you can sell it on TW or Craigslist or enjoy the bonus extras!

And lastly, I am sure it is different for different dealers but the person I spoke to over the internet was paid based upon how many of the people that contacted her actually came into the dealership in person, regardless if they bought something or not.

Patience and politeness will go a LONG way. The idiot and assholes sales people and dealerships will weed themselves out.

 

I used a broker to buy my Tacoma in Colorado. It's no nonsense, and they will order you exactly what you want. I shopped around 4 dealers in the Denver-Metro area and after getting the same responses from the internet sales managers - come on in today, we've got a great automatic for you on the lot ! - it was great to work with the broker who ordered me a manual, explained me the process to get the order picked up and in the build queue (his estimate was right on, it did take about 10 weeks start to finish), and have a no nonsense price quote - $1,000 over dealer invoice and no dealer fees - and 1.9% financing. I used HM Brown, specifically the guy who does most of the Tacomas for them, if you want his info PM me. I will never buy a car from a dealer again (of course the car physically comes through a dealer - in my case it showed up with Groove Toyota paperwork). Oddly enough Groove wanted about $1,700 more for the exact same truck I got through the broker.

 

As an Internet Sales Manager (I take no offense to this thread because OP is right on 95%) It sucks out there. I have done some awesome things for my Tacoma customers hunting down the 1/1000 truck out there and I have had to do some shitty things telling repeat customers no discount (totally sucks) because I don't set the price on Taco's. There is no excuse for just not wanting to work to get figures for someone though (unless they are completely rude and standoffish). And as far as the Pro goes I will give a list of which dealers have the truck you want on the ground nearby to customers so their search is easier but even that its still crazy to try to buy one most of the time. The car business is still got one foot in the past in some respects and its still deciding how it will be in the future.

 

I don't care what the normal expectations are . . . if I'm spending upwards of $35K on something, you bet your ass I'm going to get what I want.

 

You can do better than that in AZ by going straight to the dealer management you just need to know the right folks. Also having the right approach helps. Perhaps I take for granted that my old man was a GM and owner of a dealership for several decades so I do have a certain confidence with working deals.

 

I would be very surprised if you will find a dealership that will do a deal completely over the internet, when you are looking for an vehicle that will either need to be ordered, or dealer traded in from possibly hundreds of miles away. Especially if you have a trade in. Maybe try and find a dealership that has what you want in stock, and engage their internet sales department. Just because they have an "Internet sales department" does not mean they will sell you a car start to finish over the internet. It's really about engaging you on the internet, and attempting to get you to show up at the dealership. People that will spend the time to actually go to a dealership, close at a much higher rate than people that send an email looking for a price. The invoice is the same for every dealership, and they all will work with you if you are reasonable on the price you want to pay. They aren't going to sell high demand vehicles for no profit. Find a dealer that is honest and will work with you, and go see them. From my experience those are dealers that sell a decent volume and are not corporately owned.

 

I bought mine over the internet and after getting down to the final negotiations, the last few details and final price agreement I did via phone, but only because it was just a quicker give and take at that point.

 

I did all my negotiating via text messages. Me or the salesman never spoke until the day of purchase. He gave me exactly what I wanted which was pretty much just a plain jane but none the less it was pretty cool the way we did it.

 

Internet Sales Managers complete idiots

 

I felt this way about my salesman. He should of have an Ipad, going through the Toyota build site with me, he could have gotten way more out of me. But no, focussed on pushing what was on the lot. In fact he pushed and pushed for me to test an auto, even though I clearly started our discussions with I want a manual double cab, these are non negatiable. But no test drive this one so you know how it drives.

Dealers still make money at invoice.

 

Where in Arizona? I think I have the number of the guy I talked to before I bought my truck. I gave him a call, told him exactly what I was looking for, gave him my email, and he emailed me a day or two later with the quote for it with everything I asked. Ended up finding my truck locally shortly after though, I would have definitely made the drive to Arizona to buy from this guy though.