Got a Quick Question for a Car Dealer?

chuckfromli

.......what is the purpose of his CarSpace thing? I accepted yor request. Now some guy from Detroit wants to friend me. I don't understand what it's all about. It doesn't look like a chat forum.

tidester

You can use your CarSpace to post pictures, make comments and friends, exchange information and it comes with an email account. Did I mention it's free?

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

oldfarmer50

"...Did I mention it's free..."

Can't you shave that price a little? (Sorry, I've been reading jipster's book again.)

Kirstie_H

No can do. The holdback is meant for US, not for customers.

jayrider

I prefer to refer to my trousers as full cut with the comfort waistband option not spandex. And the main reason I offered the friend option was to exchange email addresses without posting them in the forums. Will work on that.

snakeweasel

Why not, I have a friend that got it for 10% less.

chuckfromli

I was kidding about the spandex
I have had some of those adjustable, elastic waist slacks my self. Very comfortable.

Did jipster really write a book? If so, what's the title?

fezo

Buy My Book by jipster.....

chuckfromli

My librarian never heard of it

oldfarmer50

"...Did jipster really write a book? If so, what's the title?..."

It's called "The Jipst Method---How to grind their bones to make some bread".

As I recall it's very big in Bulgaria. :P

oldfarmer50

As I've mentioned, I pass by the local Manheim auction several times each day. I see a lot of iron come and go. Today I saw something that got me thinking.

Going in the front gate were two cars. One a domestic (couldn't tell which) with the side smashed in. The other, an older BMW 5 or 7 series with the worst paint I'd ever seen. It had once been black but the hood roof and trunk had worn off to bare metal and was just rust. This car would need a total paint job. It looked like it had sat in a farmer's field for decades.

My question is on vehicles like this how much recon can you do before you have spent more than the car is worth? Do dealers have a set percentage of final asking price?

stickguy

At one point, I was dealing with a guy that would purchase a specific car for you at the auction (volvo's in this case). When he knew something was coming up, he would share the condition report with you, and the pictures.

Man, those thingse (the reporst) were detailed. Oil condition, and every nick and blemish noted. Also had a repair estimate (hours, don't think it converted to $$). I can't recall if this was all stuff that the auction house was going to do, or just their representation of what it needed, so bid accordingly!

I do know there were some really filthy and beat up lease returns, that were going to look like creampuff CPOs a few weeks later on some dealers lot.

I would rather see and get it in it's "native" state at the auction. Kind of like checking out a potential wife in the morning with no makeup, as opposed to at a bar all dolled up!

boomchek

It depends on the wholesale value and retail value.

If an old BMW like that can be bought for $1k as is, and retailed for say $3k, then chances are they won't be buying it as a half decent paint job, body work, and mechanical work can easily exceed the $2k margin.

They key is the wholesale to retail spread, and the amount of work needed to make it sellable and presentable.

oldfarmer50

"...The key is the wholesale to retail spread..."

That's what I thought

Manheim has a body shop and Thursday is auction day. If I see a shiny older BMW rolling out of there I'll let you know.

Mr_Shiftright

I think cars like that go to BHPH houses and are probably repo'd 3-4 times in their cruel, brutal lives.

boomchek

Yup, with the absolute minimum work done to make it pass a road safety test. In reality many of these beaters are throwaway parts cars. Many times though dealership staff will pick them up, tinker with them, put in their own time to make them road worthy and let their kids or family members drive them.

volvomax

Remember that there are many different kinds of Manheim auctions.
There are beater auctions, mass market auctions and hi line auctions. All have different levels of cars and buyers. Most beater cars get little or no recon. You can paint a car for $300. Of course, it will look like crap but it was a beater to begin with. Some stuff just ends up getting sold for scrap.

boomchek

Same thing with our local dealer's auction. They have days where they sell ex lease and fleet returns, they have days where they do beaters only too.

chuckfromli

Is there a specific product that dealers use on new car tires when they detail the car for delivery?

snakeweasel

Back when the Earth was cooling I worked detailing cars at a dealership. We really didn't do anything to the tires since they were new and therefore would look like new.

jayrider

I don't see the shiny tire look as much these days.I hear it's still popular with retirees on Long Island. It's all about the rims. Car washes have their tire dressing in a bottle with a flat sponge thing on the end. Probabably buy it in 50 gallon drums. There must be a dozen tire magic brands at the auto parts store. Back in the mid-60's, my younger brother had an old pos studebaker that ran great but used oil at the rate of 1 GALLON every 100 miles or so. Kept his trunk full of 5 gallon jugs. Getting back to tires -- he would spray paint his tires and wheels different colors -- the car too. It really pissed off my dad. Mission accomplished

chuckfromli

Ha ha, and wide whitewalls are still representin' in the midwest, LOL.

Maybe it was just Black Magic or Armor All. It probably just looked better because the tires were new. It's fading now. Come to think of it, I probably never dressed new tires, that's why it looked better than any product I ever applied to my tires.

I heard some women outside the Lane Bryant store in St. Louis were complaining about a man in spandex pants ogling them

jayrider

You got the situation all wrong as usual chuckfromli, it was me filing harrassment complaints to mall security to keep those babes from hitting on me. Oh yeah, and it wasn't outside of Lane Bryant -- it was outside of Victoria's Secret !!

imidazol97

>women outside the Lane Bryant store in St. Louis were complaining about a man in spandex pants ogling them

Was it a guy in a bathing suit? Grin?

tidester

I don't think we're getting the kinds of questions for car dealers that we expected. Let's make a better effort to stay on topic.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

chuckfromli

Let's face it though, this stuff is way funnier!

Still, not right to post Jayrider's picture. That record was sealed.

jayrider

It's always funny when it's the other guy being subjected to ridicule. That incident happened in manhattan, so someone inside the system was responsible for releasing my photo. Not a problem though -- have to face up to your shortcomings in order to move on. Besides, that incident happened just one day before I got started on valium. Better living through chemistry.

boomchek

Every dealer uses a different brand. I have no idea what they are as they do buy them in huge drums, and refill generic spray bottles with them.

Me personally, when not using the dealer's supplies, I use Meguiar's tire shine I have at home. It's a white cream that comes with a sponge that's shaped to fit a sidewall perfectly. You put the cream on the applicator sponge, and wipe the tire once or twice with the sponge and the tire stays shiny, even after it rains. I tried many products before and I find this one to be the best.

tjc78

Is there a specific product that dealers use on new car tires when they detail the car for delivery?

Probably "Ardex" I believe the name they use "Speedy" or something along those lines. A friend of mine used to get it for me, through a sales rep he knew. Its the best I have ever used.

jayrider

Took a walk around the local mega dealer lot today and things have changed -- big time. These guys always had their vehicles packed with add-ons, sales force was young dudes and dudettes in logoed polos who had memorized scripted sales pitches then turned you over to the CLOSER who was either slick or a bully. All gone -- msrp is all that's on the window and the sales staff were all over 40 with ties. :confuse: Chatted with one gent who was a sales mgr for years at a cadillac dealership that closed. Said last month he was driving a $75k escalade and now he's driving a 04 impala selling kia's. What's going on? [might even consider doing business with them next time]

obyone

What's going on?

Since you were at the lot wouldn't the logical thing to do was to ask them?

boomchek

He drove a $75k Escalade because it was a company demo, and not really a vehicle he had to pay for out of his pocket.

He now drives an 04 Impala because that's what he can afford.

jayrider

I did and they just shrugged their shoulders.They were all new. I figured the professionals in this forum might have some insight and if this trend was common.

jayrider

Hadn't thought of that -- thanks.

stickguy

supply and demand. Works for labor too.

with all the dealweships that have closed (or downsized), that's a lot of sales 9and other) people out on the street. Some are probably short timers that just move on to something else, but there will be the lifer "pros" caught up to.

so, they go to whats left open, displacing the chum at the other stores. Probably a lot of backward moves too (like this guy), but at least they are still working!

boomchek

I've seen guys who even ran dealerships (managers and general mamangers) back on sales floor. Not because of dealership closings, but because it doens't work out for some, or some don't care for the headaches of running a business.

oldfarmer50

"...Was it a guy in a bathing suit?..."

I don't think it was his attire that got him in trouble. It was tricking out his Crown Vic to look like a police car. Otherwise why would there be a real police car inside his garage? :confuse:

verdugo

I don't think it was his attire that got him in trouble. It was tricking out his Crown Vic to look like a police car. Otherwise why would there be a real police car inside his garage?

I've mentioned this story in the past, but it's kind of relevant here and it's slow. My cousin in Mexico City painted his beater car (Chevy Nova, 80-something) like a NYPD police car. He did a pretty good job, the only thing missing are the lights.

The few times that he drove it, he got pulled over every single time. But while it is against the law to pass off your car as a police car, it turns out it's not a crime to pass it off as a patrol car from a foreign police department. :P

fezo

Funny thing - over at the local Costco there is a Subaru and a Hyundai (from the same dealership) on display. The dealer had added protection packages on them!

I know the local Honda place will let me buy without the add ons. Don't know about this guy. Of course any one that wants me to pay a plugged nickel for any of that won't be seeing my money.

jayrider

Do any of you work at dealerships that post cars on any of the big search sites like auto trader or cars.com? If so do you find they result in sales? They must be working for some dealerships because the listings are enormous.

volvomax

Volvo Cars lists our UC inventory on Auto Trader.

I'm sure we get a sale from time to time, but that site isn't our best source of leads. Our own website is.

boomchek

Same here. Although exposure is huge, and may translate into walk-in traffic, the leads were minimal.

Our AutoTrader is different than the US version by the way.

oldfarmer50

"...do you find they result in sales..."

In 2005 I bought a used Chrysler that I found on autotrader. It was at a somewhat local dealer but one I probably would not have considered otherwise. I clicked on the dealer's link off the autotrader site, got the dealer's phone number and confirmed that it was still there. Test drove and bought. Easy peasy.

Much easier than going through dozens of dealer websites.

Mr_Shiftright

I sold my friends 1998 Mercedes 500SL on Autotrader in 3 days....and THAT is not an easy car to sell. I was most impressed.

of course, being somewhat car-savvy, I posted a good, descriptive ad, plenty of photos and a market-correct price.

I really like the Autotrader's "price checker" and the Advanced Search feature. Between those two features, you can pretty much nail the market price for a particular make, model, year with X mileage.

peetert

I'm sometimes finding a bit of a disconnect between the Autotrader site and the dealer's local site. I'm currently shopping for a car for my mother who lives ~ 90 miles away from me so the plan is to narrow the choices down to a few, confrim they are still available and take a day off to test them.

I've found cars on autotrader, cars.com, etc and then go to the dealer's website to look there as well. sometimes I find them and sometimes I don't. I realize that there is updating involved, but it can be frustrating if you find something you like, but it's not anywhere on the dealer site.

I do like that a majority of the cars shown have links to the CarFax reports, not just the record check. I have been able to cross off a few right away. While I know it's not perfect, I just wish that they would all add this feature, unless they have something to hide.

And finally an actual question. I'm looking primarily at CPO cars and have found a few w/ accident reports on CarFax. I though you couldn't have a CPO car w/ a n accident history, or am I mistaken?

Peeter

volvomax

It depends on the manufacturers CPO guidelines.

If the accident was minor and didn't involve frame damage, then it can usually be certified.

Mr_Shiftright

And by the same token, you will find cars on CARFAX that show no accidents, that have in fact had major damage.

oldfarmer50

"...that have in fact had major damage..."

I've always wondered why that is. Does Carfax only get data from certain repair shops (like dealers) and not others (like Joe's garage)?

I may have mentioned my father's Buick which sustained $8K in damages when brand new. Years later I ran the vin# of that car through Carfax and it came back accident free. I don't know where dad had the repairs done but they didn't report to Carfax.

Carfax reports usually have records of the accident if a police report was filed.

Perhaps if you rolled your car into a field and had it towed and fixed at a private shop without reporting it, Carfax would never know. :confuse:

boomchek

Perhaps if you rolled your car into a field and had it towed and fixed at a private shop without reporting it, Carfax would never know

That's exactly the reason why some accidents never show. Carfax is only as good as the agencies that report the accidents to them.

A good professional mechanical inspection is still one of your best "insurances" when buying a used car.

jayrider

Speaking of mechanical inspections, some sites offer to provide that service through an independent inspection company for $99. They don't do engine analysis but look it over-brakes-body-interior etc. Better than nothing but would you opt for it? Actually, you could do it yourself and post the report. Any thoughts.