Just went and Googled for my license plate number. Found a site that you can join... Look for Reverse Records...you can join and possibly get info. Not sure if they have all that info, but I have seen several news stories on just that...most if not all your info can be had on-line, so it might be possible.
Guys, there are no UFO's and there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for how this guy got a phone call.
I agree that there may be a reasonable explanation but it isn’t the one you gave about a For Sale sign being on his car and someone took down a number.
If you think this is reasonable and would expect us to believe this one, it wouldn’t be too much of a reach to ask us to believe in UFO’s.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I look at it this way - If I didn't specifically tell someone that I'm interested in a Ford Fusion, whatever method they used to ascertain that information and then act on it is unwelcome.
If I want someone to contact me regarding any product in which I'm interested, I will certainly let them know.
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
Unreasonable = A salesperson, finishing up some paperwork from Saturday on his day off, sees a car parked on the lot. He notices a man wandering the lot and takes down the number that is on the For Sale sign on the vehicle. He calls the number and leaves a message.
Reasonable = A salesperson, finishing up some paperwork from Saturday on his day off, sees a car parked on the lot. He uses his security camera to zoom in on it and takes the tag number down. Then, he uses a "source" to pull up all the information on the man who is driving the vehicle. Then, he quickly calls the number that he was able to unearth from these private records and call the gentleman before he gets home.
Am I missing something? I have seen salesguys call people's numbers who have For Sale signs in the window. I have NEVER seen someone pull DMV records from a secret source.
Actually, it is worse than that. The guy actually touched a Fusion that was on the lot. A salesman, who we know has no life, lifted the print. He then hacked into the Federal fingerprint database and found a match. The rest was easy.
Damned, sneaky salesmen. They think of everything. He's probably already followed up with the rest of the gentleman's extended family. He e-mailed and left messages with all of them in case they were in the market for a new vehicle.
Personally, if I had this much time on my hands, I would follow up with my previous customers. However, it is apparent that this particular salesperson is a real go-getter and makes the most of all his 'leads'.
Am I missing something? I have seen salesguys call people's numbers who have For Sale signs in the window. I have NEVER seen someone pull DMV records from a secret source.
While it is possible that the poster had a sign in his window it is kind of funny he never mentioned it. If that were the case then "maybe" the dealer would not be a total slime ball for calling the number. Quite honestly I would not be really happy about it. If I want to talk to a dealer then I will let them know.
If the dealer has access to service records or anything else that has my license plate information, and uses this information to personally contact me as home, then that is a major slime ball move in my opinion. If I am there on Sunday then it is pretty obvious that I don't really want to talk to a salesman. I think the gathering and use of personal information as gotten totally out of hand. It is not ok for you to call me, on a Sunday, just because you saw my car parked at your dealership. While it may not be illegal it would pretty much guarantee that I would not ever go to that dealer or service department.
In the olden days, I was under the impression they could use this information to run a credit check while I was on a test drive. I think this isn't so common anymore. If anything, I have noticed dealerships and sales staff being more respectful of my privacy. I think they realize its a hot button right now, or maybe we just have nice dealers.
The discussion at hand is not if he's a slimeball. The discussion is about how he obtained the records. I'm suggesting he obtained it a rather mundane fashion.
A sign in the window, an e-mail forgotten, the gentleman he talked to on the lot and gave his number to....
-Moo
Oh ya, if you don't want people calling you, then don't put your phone number on a For Sale sign. We want to buy your car! We're also assuming that you want to purchase another one. We try to keep it simple for the consumer.
Driver's licenses used to have SSN's on them. I have heard that some dealers used to pull the credit with this information. Illegal, yes. Again, I've never seen it happen at any of the 2 stores I've worked at over the last 4 years.
Dealers face heavy fines for that kind of behavior. If you leave a credit application lying on your desk out in the open, that's a $10,000 fine.
You have nice, aware dealers now. It's not necessary to do that.
"A sign in the window, an e-mail forgotten, the gentleman he talked to on the lot and gave his number to.... "
I'm the original poster, I had no sale sign on my car, it wasn't a work truck with my phone number plastered on it, I didn't talk to anyone on the lot, no emails, it was just a plain sedan (accord) with the usual external identifying features (license plate, registration sticker, inspection sticker).
My best guess is he was inside for whatever reason, saw my plates with his own two eyes (no camera needed) and perhaps looked up my info from service records from another dealership I frequent (maybe owned by the same people?? I don't know).
I think we're talking about some type of alien abduction. :surprise: This salesperson is from another world (aren't most?). When "It" saw psorter pull into the lot it used some type of plasma ray to distort his brain pattern, in essence he would be going into a short term memory loss, in which he would have no memory of that time period. After being zombified, psorter walked into the dealership under the aliens power of suggestion. This alien used a probe(probably an old Ford) to scan psorter's mind and determine his phone number. The alien then sent psorter back onto the lot as if nothing had ever happened. This is the only logically explanation.
Oh ya, if you don't want people calling you, then don't put your phone number on a For Sale sign. We want to buy your car! We're also assuming that you want to purchase another one. We try to keep it simple for the consumer.
Well you could also assume one other thing. If I have a sign in my window I am probably trying to keep from trading it in. I won't deal with an overly aggressive salesman. Anyway it is a mute point. I would just call the dealership and ask them how they got my contact information. If they didn't come up with a damn good story I would never set foot in the dealership again.
I have a question for you Moo. Do you think it is ethical to go threw service records (to me the most likely source of this information) to get personal information?
I don't know about moo, but i have much better things to do with my time. Anyway, we have no license info at all. We slap a 60 day "happy tag" on the car and in Colorado, the customers get their own plates. Service tracks by RO number - no plate info kept, needed, etc.
By the way, even the slam bam stores here cannot access DMV. I don't know why any store would go to that length.
If I have a sign in my window I am probably trying to keep from trading it in. I won't deal with an overly aggressive salesman.
People come on our lot all the time with these and end up trading. It isn't a stretch to think, that with tax savings, that you can get a great trade-in value. At any rate...
Do you think it is ethical to go threw service records
I don't think that 'ethics' play a role in this. I've been wrong before though.
Service records are used when contacting customers on a regular basis. When someone has a high repair bill, they maybe contacted by a sales associate to use money that would be spent on the old vehicle as a downpayment on new.
I don't think there is anything wrong with that. If the consumer is not interested, then they can say "I'm not interested".
Using information that you have shared with a business is done all the time. Car dealerships are no different.
Psorter, why don't you just call the salesman and ask him how he got your number?? Then we can end this silliness. My bet is that it will be a completely reasonable explanation. If it's not, then I'll eat crow.
Ethics? That brings to mind moral decisions. I don't think those play a role here.
Psorter, why don't you just call the salesman and ask him how he got your number??
My thoughts exactly. I can't imagine why he didn't ask intially. My response would have been, "Yes, I was there looking. How did you get my number?" In fact, the more I think about it, the more it would seem weird not to ask.
According to your chart you set a goal of 0(zero) cars to sell for January. You'll never make it in high end with those less than lofty aspirations b.r :P
Nope the goal was zero too although I don't fill in the goals so no idea how they come up with them.
For half of last year we had goals filled in but they never made any sense. Our historicaly slow months had goals equal too if not higher then our historicaly busiest months. :confuse:
I guess I need to go to another Land Rover dealer and steal one car. I am sure someone has a left over 2006 LR3 they don't want. :shades:
Oh god it is horribly out of date and hard to use.
I don't use a quarter of its capbility because the code is so poorly written and inefficient. Loading anything but the most basic features takes several minutes.
For months now we are supposed to be getting new software that actually works and his more capablity but we don't have it yet.
RE; Worst month.
Thanks max that makes me feel better. Last month was my worst month ever as well.
Reasonable = A salesperson, finishing up some paperwork from Saturday on his day off, sees a car parked on the lot. He uses his security camera to zoom in on it and takes the tag number down. Then, he uses a "source" to pull up all the information on the man who is driving the vehicle. Then, he quickly calls the number that he was able to unearth from these private records and call the gentleman before he gets home.
You're the one that called this questionable behavior, "reasonable", not me. :confuse:
I guess I was right about not falling for that "For Sale" sign in the window that turned out to not exist. I wonder how I knew that? :surprise:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
moo....I don't have any issues with someone contacting me based on my service records. Matter of fact, I've had a sales person come "visit" with me while in the service customer lounge asking me if there's anything they can do for me. Usually, they end up the conversation with...."wanna see some of the new models sitting on the floor?"
If I'm interested, I say "yes". If no, I say "no". Same with the scenario where someone contacts me on the phone doing the same thing.
No harm, no foul.
Maybe it's because I've bought a lot of cars, but it seems I get some sort of either e-mail or snail mail communication from many dealers, all the time.
That doesn't bother me either. I can always choose to ignore them.
I've seen dealerships go through their service records and look for specific mileage vehicles to target for mailers. I hate the program, but they think it can work.
We have lease maturity sheets that we use to call up and talk to people who are nearing their maturity. Awesome leads! Most of the time, these people need to get another vehicle.
It's a company using the information available to them to sell more cars. Makes a lot of sense.
If I sold widgets and someone started to have a lot of problems with his widget... wouldn't I be a good salesperson by suggesting he go with the new improved widget!? I would even buy his old widget off him.
ok, possibly it is not within a lawyer's priveleges to access DMV records. they are either public or they are not. if a person at the DMV were to acquire that data for a salesman and share it when the information is not public, like i said, that's grounds for dismissal for the employee and possibly criminal action.
one could argue anything in the dealership's database is far game for use in sales, but i'm thinking on an ethical basis, that would not be the case. it's one thing to temporarily use tag information so car parking, retrieval, servicing, owner notification is facilitated, but quite another for someone to target a particular record for soliciting in the manner we are describing.
it's one thing to temporarily use tag information so car parking, retrieval, servicing, owner notification is facilitated, but quite another for someone to target a particular record for soliciting in the manner we are describing.
I agree. It just seems too fantastic. That's why I wish the original poster would just call that salesman. Ahh well, it will be a mystery till at least tomorow I guess.
He's won a front row seat to the "next" showing of you sitting in a stall... going number 2... and a co-worker snaking a high pressured water hose into your stall and turning it on full blast. But, something tells me jmonroe will pass on the front row seat and go for whats behind door number 2. :sick:
How did this guy get his number?
I'm sure none of us will get any sleep until this mystery is resolved.
I have strange people I've never met calling me on the telephone all the time, without any prompting or motivation from me. They want me to buy things and donate money. They act as though they've known me all their life... friendly and all. Perhaps they to are aliens?
A woman buys a car from our top sales guy back in November.
A couple of weeks later she comes back and says that she just doesn't like it and she wants a different one. We all know what the reply to this is. We are an accomodating group as far as good business practices allow so we agree to buy back her current one at invoice!!! ( less the sales taxes we had to pay to the state The state doesn't want to hear about accomodations, a sale is a sale ). She is OK with this but her credit union tells her that she's being ripped off. ( it probably doesn't want to redo her paperwork either ). After some discussion she sees our pov and takes delivery of an upscale model of what she had.
A couple of weeks later ... ( omigod NO ) ... she returns and says that she doesn't like the leather in this one. She wants to give it back ( a precedent has been set ). She moves up another level to the best model.
We are now 10 weeks into the 'accomodations' and she gets her survey.. 'On No', the sales people are cringing I can feel it. Well she just wants us to know that she gave us 'Excellent' across the board.... 'Whew'
Oh, and during all this...she has sent to us 5 separate buyers all of whom have bought: 3 Toyota's an Acura and a Mazda.
Sounds like you guys did the right thing wihtout losing too much of your shirt. You got a few sales, a great survey, & some excellent referrals...I'd chalk it up as a win!
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
Ok all salesman please read and help me to understand this. First of all I gotta admit I have never really been a Ford fan, hence the fact that I own a Nissan Titan. However due to new interest in camping and not filling 100% comfortable with current Titan while towing I went to a local dealership to look at a used 2000 Ford F250 crew cab LB 4x4 with the V10. After driving this truck and all the smiles I fell in love with the F250, wow the space in this truck. My research showed me that the truck was worth 16,000 due to the mileage and tailgate needing to be replaced. My vehicle was also was valued at 14,100 for trade. We then went the bargain table with the salesguy. He basically said mt Titan was useless to them because it was an xe not a loaded le. He offered me top dollar at 12,100. I told him no, I want payoff, $14,300. He said there was no way they were uping the value, I told him I would pay there asking price of 15,900 with them paying off my trade. They refused and I walked out. I have vowed never to go back to this dealership and never refer anyone, just sent two paying referrals to another dealership. Was my offer really unreasonable?
Comments
I agree that there may be a reasonable explanation but it isn’t the one you gave about a For Sale sign being on his car and someone took down a number.
If you think this is reasonable and would expect us to believe this one, it wouldn’t be too much of a reach to ask us to believe in UFO’s.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
If I want someone to contact me regarding any product in which I'm interested, I will certainly let them know.
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
Unreasonable = A salesperson, finishing up some paperwork from Saturday on his day off, sees a car parked on the lot. He notices a man wandering the lot and takes down the number that is on the For Sale sign on the vehicle. He calls the number and leaves a message.
Reasonable = A salesperson, finishing up some paperwork from Saturday on his day off, sees a car parked on the lot. He uses his security camera to zoom in on it and takes the tag number down. Then, he uses a "source" to pull up all the information on the man who is driving the vehicle. Then, he quickly calls the number that he was able to unearth from these private records and call the gentleman before he gets home.
Am I missing something? I have seen salesguys call people's numbers who have For Sale signs in the window. I have NEVER seen someone pull DMV records from a secret source.
I appreciate the fact that you believe in UFO's.
-Moo
I thought UFO stood for unidentified Fusion Operative
Personally, if I had this much time on my hands, I would follow up with my previous customers. However, it is apparent that this particular salesperson is a real go-getter and makes the most of all his 'leads'.
-Moo
While it is possible that the poster had a sign in his window it is kind of funny he never mentioned it. If that were the case then "maybe" the dealer would not be a total slime ball for calling the number. Quite honestly I would not be really happy about it. If I want to talk to a dealer then I will let them know.
If the dealer has access to service records or anything else that has my license plate information, and uses this information to personally contact me as home, then that is a major slime ball move in my opinion. If I am there on Sunday then it is pretty obvious that I don't really want to talk to a salesman. I think the gathering and use of personal information as gotten totally out of hand. It is not ok for you to call me, on a Sunday, just because you saw my car parked at your dealership. While it may not be illegal it would pretty much guarantee that I would not ever go to that dealer or service department.
A sign in the window, an e-mail forgotten, the gentleman he talked to on the lot and gave his number to....
-Moo
Oh ya, if you don't want people calling you, then don't put your phone number on a For Sale sign. We want to buy your car! We're also assuming that you want to purchase another one. We try to keep it simple for the consumer.
Dealers face heavy fines for that kind of behavior. If you leave a credit application lying on your desk out in the open, that's a $10,000 fine.
You have nice, aware dealers now. It's not necessary to do that.
-Moo
I'm the original poster, I had no sale sign on my car, it wasn't a work truck with my phone number plastered on it, I didn't talk to anyone on the lot, no emails, it was just a plain sedan (accord) with the usual external identifying features (license plate, registration sticker, inspection sticker).
My best guess is he was inside for whatever reason, saw my plates with his own two eyes (no camera needed) and perhaps looked up my info from service records from another dealership I frequent (maybe owned by the same people?? I don't know).
Please don't confuse this situation with facts. I prefer to operate in a fantasy world. K, thx.
-Moo
:P
I guess I owe them a new Car?????????? :confuse:
Well you could also assume one other thing. If I have a sign in my window I am probably trying to keep from trading it in. I won't deal with an overly aggressive salesman. Anyway it is a mute point. I would just call the dealership and ask them how they got my contact information. If they didn't come up with a damn good story I would never set foot in the dealership again.
I have a question for you Moo. Do you think it is ethical to go threw service records (to me the most likely source of this information) to get personal information?
By the way, even the slam bam stores here cannot access DMV. I don't know why any store would go to that length.
People come on our lot all the time with these and end up trading. It isn't a stretch to think, that with tax savings, that you can get a great trade-in value. At any rate...
Do you think it is ethical to go threw service records
I don't think that 'ethics' play a role in this. I've been wrong before though.
Service records are used when contacting customers on a regular basis. When someone has a high repair bill, they maybe contacted by a sales associate to use money that would be spent on the old vehicle as a downpayment on new.
I don't think there is anything wrong with that. If the consumer is not interested, then they can say "I'm not interested".
Using information that you have shared with a business is done all the time. Car dealerships are no different.
Psorter, why don't you just call the salesman and ask him how he got your number?? Then we can end this silliness. My bet is that it will be a completely reasonable explanation. If it's not, then I'll eat crow.
Ethics? That brings to mind moral decisions. I don't think those play a role here.
-Moo
-Moo
January sales data
My thoughts exactly. I can't imagine why he didn't ask intially. My response would have been, "Yes, I was there looking. How did you get my number?" In fact, the more I think about it, the more it would seem weird not to ask.
-Moo
Yes, looks like you lost one somewhere. Looks like the goal was zero sales too, or am I reading it wrong?
For half of last year we had goals filled in but they never made any sense. Our historicaly slow months had goals equal too if not higher then our historicaly busiest months. :confuse:
I guess I need to go to another Land Rover dealer and steal one car. I am sure someone has a left over 2006 LR3 they don't want. :shades:
Already sold more cars in Feb. then I did in Jan.
Ahhhh, the plot thickens... yes? This is beginning to look like a counter conspiracy... no?
Come on people wake up! The man was zombified by an e.t.
I don't use a quarter of its capbility because the code is so poorly written and inefficient. Loading anything but the most basic features takes several minutes.
For months now we are supposed to be getting new software that actually works and his more capablity but we don't have it yet.
RE; Worst month.
Thanks max that makes me feel better. Last month was my worst month ever as well.
You're the one that called this questionable behavior, "reasonable", not me. :confuse:
I guess I was right about not falling for that "For Sale" sign in the window that turned out to not exist. I wonder how I knew that? :surprise:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
tidester, host
If I'm interested, I say "yes". If no, I say "no".
Same with the scenario where someone contacts me on the phone doing the same thing.
No harm, no foul.
Maybe it's because I've bought a lot of cars, but it seems I get some sort of either e-mail or snail mail communication from many dealers, all the time.
That doesn't bother me either. I can always choose to ignore them.
How did you do in high school on your reading aptitude quizzes? I'd like you to reread my post and then edit yours.
You win the prize for being right aabout the "For Sale" sign. Jipster, tell him what he's won!
Ok, so how DID this guy get his number? Why won't the original poster call the blimey salesman? I'd bet 100 to 1 that he didn't get it from his tags.
-Moo
I've seen dealerships go through their service records and look for specific mileage vehicles to target for mailers. I hate the program, but they think it can work.
We have lease maturity sheets that we use to call up and talk to people who are nearing their maturity. Awesome leads! Most of the time, these people need to get another vehicle.
It's a company using the information available to them to sell more cars. Makes a lot of sense.
If I sold widgets and someone started to have a lot of problems with his widget... wouldn't I be a good salesperson by suggesting he go with the new improved widget!? I would even buy his old widget off him.
-Moo
(I like this thread today. I'm having fun.) :P
trust me - it is grounds for possible dis-barment as a lawyer, and probably unlawful otherwise for anybody else.
How can I expect to collect this dollar? Is Paypal ok with you?
Which part do you think is unlawful?
-Moo
Lets see your goal was zero cars, I bought zero cars from you. I helped you make your goal, will you treat me to dinner or something?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
one could argue anything in the dealership's database is far game for use in sales, but i'm thinking on an ethical basis, that would not be the case. it's one thing to temporarily use tag information so car parking, retrieval, servicing, owner notification is facilitated, but quite another for someone to target a particular record for soliciting in the manner we are describing.
I agree. It just seems too fantastic. That's why I wish the original poster would just call that salesman. Ahh well, it will be a mystery till at least tomorow I guess.
-moo
How about I send you some bad chinese food for tax season?
He's won a front row seat to the "next" showing of you sitting in a stall... going number 2... and a co-worker snaking a high pressured water hose into your stall and turning it on full blast. But, something tells me jmonroe will pass on the front row seat and go for whats behind door number 2. :sick:
How did this guy get his number?
I'm sure none of us will get any sleep until this mystery is resolved.
I have strange people I've never met calling me on the telephone all the time, without any prompting or motivation from me. They want me to buy things and donate money. They act as though they've known me all their life... friendly and all. Perhaps they to are aliens?
A woman buys a car from our top sales guy back in November.
A couple of weeks later she comes back and says that she just doesn't like it and she wants a different one. We all know what the reply to this is. We are an accomodating group as far as good business practices allow so we agree to buy back her current one at invoice!!! ( less the sales taxes we had to pay to the state The state doesn't want to hear about accomodations, a sale is a sale ). She is OK with this but her credit union tells her that she's being ripped off. ( it probably doesn't want to redo her paperwork either ). After some discussion she sees our pov and takes delivery of an upscale model of what she had.
A couple of weeks later ... ( omigod NO ) ... she returns and says that she doesn't like the leather in this one. She wants to give it back ( a precedent has been set ). She moves up another level to the best model.
We are now 10 weeks into the 'accomodations' and she gets her survey.. 'On No', the sales people are cringing I can feel it. Well she just wants us to know that she gave us 'Excellent' across the board.... 'Whew'
Oh, and during all this...she has sent to us 5 separate buyers all of whom have bought: 3 Toyota's an Acura and a Mazda.
No thank you we have plenty of bad chinese food around here.
Tax season is going good (15 straight working days and counting), I am collecting some great stories for the end of tax season party :shades: .
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
First of all I gotta admit I have never really been a Ford fan, hence the fact that I own a Nissan Titan. However due to new interest in camping and not filling 100% comfortable with current Titan while towing I went to a local dealership to look at a used 2000 Ford F250 crew cab LB 4x4 with the V10. After driving this truck and all the smiles I fell in love with the F250, wow the space in this truck. My research showed me that the truck was worth 16,000 due to the mileage and tailgate needing to be replaced. My vehicle was also was valued at 14,100 for trade. We then went the bargain table with the salesguy. He basically said mt Titan was useless to them because it was an xe not a loaded le. He offered me top dollar at 12,100. I told him no, I want payoff, $14,300. He said there was no way they were uping the value, I told him I would pay there asking price of 15,900 with them paying off my trade. They refused and I walked out.
I have vowed never to go back to this dealership and never refer anyone, just sent two paying referrals to another dealership.
Was my offer really unreasonable?