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Comments
See, my advice is good for both buyers and sellers. It even helps your golf game. Too bad it can't be used to grow hair on my head.
Oh....c'mon, you're pushin it here Bob !!!!
Too bad it can't be used to grow hair on my head.
Fortunately I don't have this problem. However, a little help with the color would be nice.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Just picked up an LR3 and I have a question. The dealership detailed the vehicle before pickup hand waxed full detail to get it ready for winter and there are major swirl marks in my paint. :mad: Should I be concerned? Afterall the vehicle is only a few days old and the paint looks like it is a few years old?
What to do?
Anytime you are dissatisfied with service work you should take it back to the dealership to show them what you are talking about. Being quiet only aggravates you and the dealer isn't aware of the problem.
Taking the car back will give you a good idea what you can expect from this dealer regarding any future work you want them to do.
Swirl marks are a sign of poor detailing and any dealer worth their salt should be able to correct the problem. This should not happen especially when you buy an upscale car.
I hope this didn't happen at 'rover's' store.
Again, give the dealer a chance to correct the problem.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
And thanks I will contact them ASAP.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
No different Land Rover Dealer
I continue to be amazed on a daily basis how some people can be so downright cheap when it comes to buying a car. I'm not talking about "Smart Shoppers". I'm talking about the people who will pull every trick, try to get a number out of me to go shop and spend HOURS grinding me.
I'm losing patience and I think it's beginning to show.
The number of bogus phone numbers continues to grow too. If someone is scared to give me a phone number, I wish they wouldn't just make one up! If they put down 555-1212, that's fine but instead they will give me a number that belongs to someone else!
I just tell them I rather not with a brief explanation why and nearly 100% of the salesmen out there are understanding. Especially since they have other contact info such as a home address and e-mail.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Oh, I send these people a nice email but they rarely respond. I have to wonder about the time these people must have on their hands?
Or sometimes when they do provide me with a phone number, they act like they have no idea why I called them.
" Oh....yeah...I guess I did send in an inquiry"
" Well, are you in the market for a new Civic?"
" Ah...I don't know...maybe....someday...."
So true. Doesn't help my sales either.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
They will hire almost anybody and they typically turn over their sales staff every few months.
They use an "up" system and take turns waiting on customers as they come in. Whether the customer is a serious shopper or a person who just likes to look at cars, that person is their "up" and they are expected to stay with that customer until they buy or leave. They are expected to get a name and phone number. If they fail to do this too many times, they are replaced.
Once the "up" leaves, they go to the end of the line and start over.
Before I got into the business, I would do this too sometimes not realizing what I had done to the person who was unfortunate to "up" me.
And, the majority of stores work this way and it's terrible.
At a nearby large Ford dealer, the salespeople are not allowed inside the store unless they have a customer with them. They stand outside huddled in two gazebos. A few years back, I interviewed a guy who was their second senior salesperson out of I think 25. He had been there eight months.
So, snake, that is why they get upset at you. It's really not their fault but you probably didn't know how the rules are in most stores. I know I didn't.
I'm lucky to work where I do!
Things have been much better since but still need improvement.
One of their top sales guys was taking all the ups saying they were his appointments or be backs, and that gave me practically no chance to get a decent customer until that sales guy left for the day. :mad:
I'm glad to be back at my old store.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
The dealerships where salesmen have gotten upset like I described were also places that I have been left alone at before. So unless they changed their ways I doubt that was the case with them.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
It also probably stripped off half or more of the clearcoat on your paint. (Most colors are now clearcoated.) And if it got down to the paint, it probably lifted a lot of it. A modern car, painted with robotic paint machines, has very, very little color coat on it. I learned this when my brother-in-law, a pretty good paint and body man in years past, 'detailed' a car for us. (His sister, my wife, insisted.) He really had not worked on a newer, never painted car. He knows how to buff, but had always worked on a repaint, with a ton of paint to work with. After he was done, the paint looked better. But what I think happened is all the clearcoat and most of the color was gone. In a few months, the primer was visible all over the car. The remaining paint just seemed to evaporate off the car.
I've not bought anything there in many years, but a local Chevy dealership years ago buffed EVERY new car they sold. They were so proud of this service to their customers. Every car had swirls in a new paint job. I ordered a new car from them and told the salesman and manager if anyone touched the car with a buffer I would not accept it.
Just to scare you some more, I would carefully check the entire car. Get a work light, and use it to get a good look at the paint. If it is not swirled all over, the car might have body damage and just a small part repainted, and this is the swirls you are seeing. You might have even more problems with your new car than just a buff job.
From reading your postings for a number of years here on Town Hall, isellhondas I have learned a lot about the car sales business. I do appreciate all of the helpful advice you give out. You seem like and honest, hard working, straight talking, gentleman. I'd like to be able to do business with you, but I can't so all I can say is Thank-you!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
I wasn't in the best of moods yesterday and I apologize for dumping my bucket.
It does amaze me though at the downright cheapness of some people and the pain they will put themselves through in their frantic zeal to pay the least possible.
I know it's not the money. It is the fear that just maybe, someone else paid less for the same car.
That is the mentality I will never understand.
Regarding sales qualifying, while I'm not a sales person, per se, I've mentioned that I spent a short period of time with my company in the sales field. I'm fortunate enough to be in sales management as part of my duties, now. I interface with our sales people/managers every day, but am not in front of the customer everyday. I am far enough removed that I feel it's an advantage to see the "big picture". I tell the sales people/managers all the time, a qualified prospect is someone who has money and someone who is in the market. Everyone else who has an inquiry should be considered little more than a line in their "propect file"...to be contacted only if there's free time available. If they're giving you a bogus phone number, I wouldn't even consider them a prospect.
You've been doing this long enough that you know who those people are....probably within 5 minutes of them making an inquiry (whether by email, by phone or by walking into your store). Sifting through the "tire kickers" and the real buyers are a part of the job.
On the topic of "swirls", while I'm not a body man, when I was in college, I detailed cars for spending money. The biggest culprits for swirls are automatic car washes (and new car showrooms do use them) and/or a detail guy who doesn't know how to use a power buffer (using dirty pads, or "burning" the paint by applying too much pressure).
I wouldn't be afraid of having a "good" detailer buff out swirls. But, a detailer that knows how/what to do, will take their time to get swirls out. Paint jobs on new cars today are much better than they were even 5 years ago. A paint job has three components....primer, pigment (color) and clear coat (exactly that....a top coat of clear paint). Swirls are normally only in the clear coat (which reflects and refracts light differently than a smooth layer of clear). Cutting the "edges" off those swirls by buffing will get rid of the swirls. Depending on the severity of the swirls, it takes a light hand, a good eye, a clean pad and a very light abbrasive polish to get the job done right. While, technically, you are removing some of the clear coat when buffing, but only the edges, not the clear coat itself.
I agree with you and as both sellers and buyers on this board have said many times, "most people wouldn't know a good deal if it bit them in the ... you know where".
Given your experience, what percentage of customers, once they realize (probably after shopping at countless dealers and spending more time doing it than they spend with their families) you have given them a truly good deal come back and buy from you?
Something tells me that to save face they won't do this, which supports your statement that "it's not the money".
Just my thought's
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Original post
This happened this past saturday. One of our salesman had been working with a guy who wanted a left over 2006 LR3. We have I think five or six left that are fresh with no miles and then a few more that are demos with 5,000 to 7,000 miles.
He hadn't even driven one yet but had been emailing dealers al over new england. We had given him a price on our lowest price no miles LR3 but it took another week of emails to get him to come in and drive one. So he finally drives it and after the drive he pulls out all of these emails from other dealers saying he wants us to beat this prices.
We don't have a fresh LR3 that is priced low enough to beat those prices and after looking at it more closely no one could hit that price point with a fresh LR3.
We tell him that those dealers are quoting him on demos and we thought he wanted a no miles car.
He says he does want a no miles car and that is what these are...
We show him the invoice on a service loaner/demo we have and that even with the marketing support on the left over 2006s we could not meet his price let alone beat it. Then we show him the service loaner program information to let him see how that can get us down to his price point as long as he is ok with 5,000 miles.
He won't hear any of it he calls us liars and tells us to meet his prices...
We tell him we can't meet that price on a no miles car and that we are sorry. He says that he will have to go up to Boston and buy the car there then since we won't deal with him honestly and that he will shop the prices around some more.
Just think that over for a minute.
Instead of believing his local dealer, he only lives 20 minutes away from our dealership, and trusting all of the official Land Rover bulletins that we are showing him he believes a price quote printed out from an email from a dealer over a hundred miles away.
Be interesting to see what happens if he makes the trip all the way up to Boston.
Gotta remember that one when I finally order my new car.
Thanks for the "heads up".
We're $4k off in price difference because dealer won't budge off his profit margain. My Edmunds price diffefence is correct and will stand and I am ready to move on even though I know that poor Vette will suffer all winter out in the snow because I am the only buyer with money and dealer just blew me off and will keep the car over his need for $4k extra profit. That is the mentality I will never understand.
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
Edmunds is a guesstimate, nothing more.
Maybe he does own it for what you think, and wants to hit a homerun.
Maybe he piad more for it and isn't making the profit you think he is.
Bottom line, if the deal isn't right then walk away.
Don't worry about what the dealer is or isn't making.
It is none of your business really.
As has been said many times on this board, “market conditions dictate the price at which a dealer is willing to sell". While Edmunds usually has very good info, they can't be perfect 100% of the time.
I am ready to move on even though I know that poor Vette will suffer all winter out in the snow
Nah it’s just a big piece of plastic, it’ll survive and a lot better than you would under those same conditions.
I am the only buyer with money and dealer just blew me off
I’ll bet not. Remember those market conditions I mentioned above?
Sounds like you have to go farther from where you have been looking to buy a Vette !!!
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
Let's go.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Unless I say the right words I know they won't want to give me the satisfaction of returning to make a sale. They may have lied or they may have been lowballed.
In a lot of cases, lowballing works. They cave in and buy.
I won't do that!
It won't spoil like a head of cabbage either!
I replied to your post mainly because I don't know how to reply to 7145.
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
Find me at kirstie_h@edmunds.com - or send a private message by clicking on my name.
2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
Review your vehicle
With a 5 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warrantee.
I would be surprised if a year older Corvette, with 6,000+ miles would bring $40K. But stranger things have certainly happened . . .
And the last I checked, there were new 2006s in dealer lots.
As well as a ( um ) “robust” inventory of 2007s.
[ edit: I just checked, including Alaska & Hawaii, there are currently over 9,000 2006 Corvette Coupes on lots. ]
So – your offer was $36K?
- Ray
Curious . . .
I wonder who does?
Don't look at me. :sick:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
Modern cars are pretty well protected from the elements.
Paints don't fade like they used to, cars don't rust like they used to.
Dealers aren't stupid. If their investment was in danger by being outside guess what, it wouldn't be outside.
The Bentley dealer accross the street leaves Bentley's outside in the AZ sun. Its no big deal.
If the poster feels that strongly, let him pony up the extra $4 grand and rescuse the poor vette.
Dealers aren't stupid. If their investment was in danger by being outside guess what, it wouldn't be outside.
The Bentley dealer accross the street leaves Bentley's outside in the AZ sun
Yet, local SE Toyota dealers are selling a valuable protection Toyoguard package with paint sealant being major feature in it. So what is it then? :P
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Yet, local SE Toyota dealers are selling a valuable protection Toyoguard package with paint sealant being major feature in it. So what is it then?
Mop and Glo is about making money.
tidester, host
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Maybe we could get Sally Stuthers to do a commercial.
We decided to push the issue a little and request a drivers lic of the end user....they send one over via email and it is such a bad photo shop job that anyone short of stevie wonder could spot the problems...sketchy address, wrong name of sec of state, unusually good looking picture, no seal/logo etc....We documented all the instant messages, and phone calls and have decided to end it all and alert our local police and dealer trade groups.
We have sold & serviced cars to legit folks who need the relay to help them with telephone calls so we tried to help initially...So if anyone gets a call from the relay it could be a scam so, double check and confirm everything.