Stories from the Sales Frontlines

imidazol97

Option AN3, $300 approx, avail XL and CXL for 6-passenger seating on Lucerne instead of 5 passenger.

perna

That's what I think, "normal" driving. From what I know about him, his version of normal is probably 'high spirited'. But even so, isn't this car supposed to be able to take some high spirited driving? After all, it's roots are in rally cars

I have to imagine Subaru took this into account. I can't imagine the blue hair crowd swarming to the WRX.

Even my Maxima, which I'm guessing does have its older fans, has a pretty heavy-duty drivetrain and suspension. The struts on my car are actually thicker than those I've seen on much larger vehicles.

Well, my wife and I took delivery of her Town and Country on Friday. We left the kids in day care.

It's a LOT of van for the money, BTW. Only Chrysler gives you all three power doors without forcing you to buy the top shelf "limited" model. That was the killer with the Honda and Nissan vans. I'm not going to buy a $35k+ van just to watch it get destroyed over the course of 5+ years.

So, unfortunately I have no "good" sales stories from our experience at the Chrysler dealer. The closest I came is when we stopped in there the previous weekend to check the van out for the first time. My infant (5 MO) daughter spit up as I was holding her on my lap sitting in a brand new van. Thankfully the diaper bag was sitting right outside the van, so I was able to clean up before anything got on the interior.

They must be spiffing the heck out of Chrysler vans right now. We paid bottom-barrel employee pricing, and they still threw in 2 years of oil changes. They also tossed in the Chrysler Sirius hardware and a year of service for no charge(!). The van stickered for $29k, we got about 3k off that for employee pricing, and another 4k off for the normal rebate. Plus considering the freebies, Chrysler HAS to be spiffing them for each minivan sold, Chrysler has got to be losing money on these vehicles. I'm sure the fact that the 08s are imminent has something to do with it, but I'm still thinking they wildly overbuilt these vans for the demand out there.

isellhondas

My parents used to think the same thing.

isellhondas

I really have no desire to see Chrysler or GM go out of business but it pretty sad to see what they have to do price wise to move cars.

The dealer incentives are like heroin at this point.

Too bad...

mark156

Have you noticed any problems with the ignition/key with the new CR-V?? (won't start).

My SIL (2007 CR-V, Glacier Blue), had to have hers towed in because it would not start. Has something to do with the car recognizing the key. They have had the car for three days plus the weekend.

I hope that it's an isolated problem.

Mark156

perna

I really have no desire to see Chrysler or GM go out of business but it pretty sad to see what they have to do price wise to move cars.

The dealer incentives are like heroin at this point.

Too bad...

The long and the short of it is that I live in Michigan, so you could say that we're a LOT more forgiving of the domestic auto industry's past sins than the rest of the country. Our state depends on automotive jobs to keep us all afloat here.

So, I guess you could say that us Michiganders keep a much more open mind to domestic car quality than the rest of the country. We don't *blame* Fred Smith in California who bought a POS Chevy S-10 in 1994 for switching to Toyota, but we just wish people would reconsider recent quality strides and look towards American makes again.

I personally bought a Nissan Maxima because I truly felt it was the best car that suited my needs for the money. My wife and I bought a Town and Country for the exact same reasons.

When people don't keep an open mind and eliminate manufacturers strictly due to country of origin, they are only cheating themselves.

grandtotal

You're asking the wrong person. isellhondas has never heard of any problems with a Honda. You might like to start reading here though.

british_rover

Sounds like the chip in the key was not programed correctly or lost its programming.

I had that happen once with a LR3 I delivered. Before the car was delivered somethign had to be replaced that required a key reprograming and the tech forgot to reprogram the spare key. About a week after the couple picked up the car the husband tried to start the car with the spare key and the car wouldn't start.

That shut the computer down because it though someone was trying to steal the car so the other key wouldn't work either untill several hours had passed. Just a key programming issue that was fixed the next day.

jmonroe

Have you noticed any problems with the ignition/key with the new CR-V?? (won't start).

Honda's don't have any problems. Sooo, this must be 'drivers error'.

jmonroe

grandtotal

...the tech forgot to reprogram the spare key.

Actually, the tech did not program the car to accept the spare key. The key is not programmable as far as I know.

isellhondas

The rules of these forums prevent me from delivering the reply to you that would be fitting.

Why you always have to be so nasty I will never know?

isellhondas

Don't ask me..ask the "experts" who will be quick to direct you to a forum where, sure enough, you will no doubt find someone with a similar problem.

These guys love negatives and love to wring their hands with joy when over anything anti-Honda.

"Problems" forums attract people with problems like a magnet.

But I will answer your question...No, I haven't run into this. Boomcheck? have you?

bobst

"Just a key programming issue that was fixed the next day."

It may seem like a small problem to you, but the car owners were greatly inconvenienced when their vehicle would not recognize the key and the computer shut down. I bet it was a major problem for the owners.

With the problems with keys these days, a competent sales person should test each key to make sure it works.

We got 5 keys with our last new car and I tested each one of them before I drove the car off the lot.

isellhondas

Only five? Are you getting weak on us?

I always check every key too. In 12 years, I have found one that didn't work. It was a valet key.

I hate these new smart keys and the trouble and expense they can be but they have dramatically cut down on car thefts.

lrguy44

I had a Sport that had a VIN specific part replaced. Apparently the spare key did not get reprogramed. The only problem was the remote did not work - the computer did not shut down. 15 minutes and they were on their way. By the way - are you going to LR2 training and if so when?

lokki

I'm not a salesman, but I do know that Land Rover Owners are almost ALL rich kids... if any group of people is going to be voted statistically most likely to have another vehicle around to use when there's a vehicle problem, it's going to be Land Rover owners..... I doubt if they were greatly inconvenienced.

Next, on the cheap shot on Honda quality (and it was a cheap shot).... no car is perfect, but statistics have repeatedly shown that Hondas, Toyotas and Buicks are less likely to have problems than other makes of cars.

Finally, there are other forums for you to comment in regarding the relative quality of vehicles... this forum is for salesmen to regale us with stories of what it's like to work out there....

so can we have some stories please, and just ignore the trolls? :sick:

lrguy44

LR dealers, like most high end dealers, provide service loaners if required. Many of our customers make a good living, but are not "rich". But they appreciate the driving experience and the treatment they receive.

volvomax

Believe it or not, this is a fairly common problem for ALL cars with this kind of chipped key.
It is rare that it occurs on a per car basis,but I have heard of example of this issue with every type of car that has this system.

jmonroe

so can we have some stories please, and just ignore the trolls?

Didn't you get the word.........this is the slow season for car sales, hence the shortage of sales stories. Therefore, we'll have to make due with key stories and Honda bashing.

jmonroe

isellhondas

I wouldn't call it "fairly common" but they can act up.

I've heard dropping them hard enough can caue them to not work but I've never actually seen this happen.

We can thank the car thieves for this I guess.

tidester

Now, now! Let's play nice.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

mark156

I didn't mean to side-track the discussion as my story was related to a sales story.

My salesman tried to get me to buy right away. When I asked his day off, which was 4 days away, he said that every CR-V they had would be gone. I don't doubt that now!

I don't have the Honda just yet as it's on the boat coming over. I just hope that my phone conversation with the salesman develop as he explained it. Arrival to the USA March 1st with arrival at the dealership by March 15th.

I ask him not to add any after-market equipment and he said that he wouldn't add anything unless I wanted it.

It seems that most dealers in my area have added:
-wheel locks
-pin stripe
-mud flaps (the smallest I've ever seen)

I might consider the mud flaps and the fog lights. I do not want a pin-stripe or anything else. I don't think any of my other cars have wheel locks. Are they really needed?

I would say all 10 or so dealers that I called to check on inventory and incoming inventory were very pleasant. Only one salesman acted a little short... when I asked if he had the unit that I wanted available or coming in, he immediately said "No".. I thanked him and called another dealer. Even if the answer is no, there is a diplomatic way to be nice about it.

Mark

nthe

"Your sister in law may be pulling your leg. There is only about 1500.00 of profit in these if sold for MSRP. "

yeah, i find this very hard to believe.

edmunds shows over $2000 in profit for this one, not including holdback. holdback is probably at least 500-600 so don't be fooled into thinking this car is a "great value" at sticker.

my dealership could sell a santa fe limited awd with a nav system for less than this crv (the santa fe is so much nicer and comes with so much more than this over priced crv). honda seems to intentionally makes less than demand on new models just to inflate the price. i have not seen may crvs on the road where i live, yet i have seen them sitting on dealerships lots.

nthe

"Unless the resale values improve on Korean cars, they will never be a good car to lease. Quite the contrary. In order to offer an attractive lease, the car has to have a high residual value in order to keep the lease payments attractive."

so $199 with $999 down for 30 months/ 12K miles a year is not a good lease? you can lease an accord for the same price, but thats with over twice as much down.

nthe

with honda's "great" resale value, why is it that every honda we have had in our used inventory has sat and died there, even after cutting the price to below current wholesale value?

nthe

07 toyotas are selling at auction for 10K less than they sold for new. toyota has always been known for their "great" resale value, yet their reliablity has come down some with the corolla and new camry. the accord V6 has had more problems with its tranny and engine than i could list, which affects its resale value. accords and camrys over 100k miles have better resale value because they have been known to last longer than other makes, but they are known to have problems too.

nthe

"So it's clear: Hyundai's will continue to have the resale value of two day old bread. "

which is still better than GM and ford resale value. hyundai may not be as good in the resale department as honda, but they are better in plenty other areas. you honda snobs really need to get out of your honda dealership more, j/k lol...

nthe

"These guys love negatives and love to wring their hands with joy when over anything anti-Honda. "

just as you do with anythin anti-anymakebuthonda.

nthe

"no car is perfect, but statistics have repeatedly shown that Hondas, Toyotas and Buicks are less likely to have problems than other makes of cars."

then why is buick sucking wind right now? buicks "may" have less problems b/c you have nothing but really old people buying them who take imaculate (sp?) care of them, but they don't hold up under "normal" use.

british_rover

Any car that has an engine emoblizer chip based security system, which is nearly every car built today, has a key that is programmable.

british_rover

Did they actually try and start the car or just use the remote?

The LR3 was in there garage and not locked so they just got in the car and it wouldn't start. They took the husbands car to the party they were going to instead and the car started fine in the morning. Not sure exactly when the computer rebooted or whatever.

Yeah I am going to LR2 training the week of...

I got to look

I have wave 5 which is April 9th-12th.

Are you going?

british_rover

Geeze so now I am incompetent huh?

The tech had both keys but for some reason the progaming did not take on the second key.

Man this reminds me why I hadn't bothered posting on any part of edmunds much recently. This whole board has gotten way to nasty and negative over the past couple of months.

I have been thinking about taking a break from here for a while and just skimming the posts on a couple of threads has made up my mind.

jipster

this is the slow season for car sales

After going thru the last eighty five hundred posts, it appears to be a slow decade thus far. This discussion averages an actual sales story about once every 2 or 3 weeks. :sick:

I actually prefer the current "debate" on what constitutes an investment... over the key stories, Honda bashing and AWD VS 4WD threads.

tidester

been thinking about taking a break

What we need is more stories! Are you up to it?

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

british_rover

I have had lots of stories over the past few weeks but I know they are just goning to start another round of sales person bashing.

Thats why I haven't bothered to share any.

grutza

Rover, I'm a frequent reader, seldom post. I would like to hear some stories, if not from you, someone. Enough of the bickering.

tidester

to start another round of sales person bashing

This is a Forum for salespeople. It's sometimes hard to draw the line but if you (or anyone else) thinks someone has gone too far then please bring it to the attention of one of the hosts.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

snakeweasel

Ok I was waiting for my wife and decided to walk next door to the Mitshubitshi dealership to take a look. Told the salesman I was just looking to burn off time waiting the the wife. But he started talking to me and told me that the Outlander "Came with standard leather and sunroof as an option" :confuse:

And people wonder why I don't listen to car salesmen.

bobst

I should not have used the word "incompetent".

I believe a sales person who delivers a car without testing all of the keys is seriously negligent.

mark156

Maybe I can help bring up a sales story...

As you guys know, I recently put a deposit on a 2007 Honda CR-V. I had to call at least 10 dealerships to find out which dealer had on their lot and what they have coming in.

A couple of salesman told me that they could look on the computer to let me know what is happening in a certain region (Six States). I didn't find that information to be accurate.

One salesman told me that the unit that I wanted (CR-V, EX-L, Navi in Borrego Beige) was not available. Well, after calling around I was able to find one coming into a dealer 350 miles from me (that State is adjacent to my State). I guess the "six state check" didn't work as I have been confirmed that I am getting a unit by March 15th (fingers crossed).

So, we want to hear stories about customers calling and what do you tell customers looking for certain units. What kind of clout do you have for trading between dealerships?

Mark

corvette

I know you were talking about chip-based systems, but I stumbled upon the fact that the latest version of GM's Passkey system doesn't require programming. (The earlier versions measured the resistance of the key, which did have to be programmed into the car.) The newest one incorporates the resistor into the lock cylinder somehow. I think it's a rheostat sort of thing, so that the computer will only clear you for takeoff if the lock cylinder is physically turned to the correct position. If someone tries to hotwire the car, the cylinder isn't turned to the correct position, and it won't go.

Anyway, I've seen keys fail to get recognized--and then miraculously start working again on GM, Volvo, and BMW vehicles. The GMs were especially sensitive to dust and dirt on the key or in the key cylinder.

imidazol97

>latest version of GM's Passkey system doesn't require programming. (The earlier versions measured the resistance of the key, which did have to be programmed into the car

The version called Passkey II which had the black pellet chip in the key I have some knowledge about. The theft deterrent device measured the first key resistance inserted; that is the resistance it expects from thereafter. As I read the manuals it can't be changed. The two contacts that touched the chip inside the ignition lock area sometimes got dirty and key contacts got dirty.

micosilver

Dealer-trade are a pain, they cost money and cause troubles. The other dealership might not be cooperative, the car might be damaged, you put miles on it... And what if the customer backs out? You're stuck with a car with exessive mileage, in a configuration that you didn't want in the first place. Sometimes you lose the holdback or PDI too.
Every dealer can look up inventory at other places, and every dealer will try to use it to make you buy what's in stock, that's the bottom line.

jmonroe

with honda's "great" resale value, why is it that every honda we have had in our used inventory has sat and died there, even after cutting the price to below current wholesale value?

I'm not in the biz and as such I don't have a used car lot, so, I can't answer this.

Why don't you ask a Honda guy (we have a few here), I'm sure they'll have an answer for you.

jmonroe

isellhondas

You must be new in the business if you count holdback as profit because it sure isn't!

You really don't know what you are talking about

kdhspyder

OK from both sides of the fence.

From the seller's perspective:
A person I know well has a vehicle with a special transmission. This transmission is electronically controlled like many now. A warning light comes on indicating a fault. The vehicle is taken in for service and the ECU 'throws a code' which indicates that there is a faulty pump and a controller for the pump that need to be replaced. The repair bill is.....................$4800 for the two parts and about 30 hours of labor ( x $85 ).

There is no Extended Service Contract in place which would have covered this.

What to do? In cold weather it's more cumbersome but when it's warm the vehicle runs fine.
Drive it?
Sell it?
Trade it?

What, if anything, should be disclosed to a potential buyer.

kdhspyder

From the buyer's perspective:

A person I know well tells me that the vehicle he/she is driving has a potentially serious transmission issue that may cost upwards of $5000-$5500 to fix. It drives well at times but it can get stuck in park during cold weather.

What's the vehicle worth? What should be done with it?

Your replies?

ilcgwbt

Hello,

I'm hoping someone who is familiar with California new vehicle purchase laws can enlighten me.

Is is true that it is illegal in California to charge a non-refundable deposit?

I placed an order with a dealer for a car because they didn't have the configuration I wanted on the lot. In order to place a order for a car, they required a deposit check. I was not required to sign anything and when the car comes in, I'm not obligated to buy it. However I'm concerned about my deposit. If I decide against purchasing the car, would I lose my deposit? It's not a strange configuration and the dealer shouldn't have too difficult a time selling the vehicle if I don't buy it.

Any advice or information would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

plekto

How about get a manual next time?

Seriously - it's not hard to learn how and $600-$800 clutch jobs are easy to work into most anyone's budget.

benzserviceguy

Here .. Here

Benz has the same issues as well.

We only allow a MAX of 8 keys after that the owner is SOL or we need the car and ALL remaining keys to know which ones to order and which ones to cancel out.

All for a fee .. of course.

You think a tech's time is free???

(You're killing me Larry)