Stories from the Sales Frontlines

boomchek

No, haven't had this problem on any new Honda yet.

boomchek

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?

Because Hyundai buyers want more for less, and don't care fopr resale value or quality.

boomchek

Customer comes in to buy a car, and grinds me to the last penny. Not a pleasant person to deal with. Then he spends some time picking out a "lucky" VIN number. Then he gives insurance a hard time and spends about 2 hours picking out a "lucky" license plate.

So he finally picks up the car and on the way home he bumps into something and the bumper pops out (clips popped). Returns the same evening and wants his money back cause the car is "unlucky" and defective.

We send him home, and tell him to get his insurance to fix the damage he caused. About a year later he calls me cause he needs advice on buying a car. I ask him what happenned to his Civic. Turns out he totalled it. So much for lucky numbers.

Another customer comes in and makes a deal on a new Accord. We have three examples of the exact trim and color he wants but they're all at our compound about 10 minutes away. He says he needs to sit in them to see which one is lucky. So we drive there and spend about 20 minutes sitting in them to see if they feel lucky. He picks the one that felt lucky, and so we come back to the dealership to finalize the deal. When we return it turns out another saleman sold the "lucky feeling" car to his own customer. So we go back to the compound to feel out the lucky ones again. And we sit in the two available ones again. And we sit. And we sit. And so he picks one.

Upon retunr we finalize the deal, he takes delivery, and everything is good. Until a few months later where he started developing some problems with it. So much for lucky again.

Every time I get cutsomers who go through this kind of trouble, I know they will end up with a jinxed car.

Just a few days ago, my coworker sold a Civic to a customer who was adding up the VIN number to see if it equals a certain total, some kind of specific number. I told him right away that his customer will have major bad luck and he'll be hearing about it.

tidester

I know they will end up with a jinxed car.

It could just be that anyone so hung up on numerology might be a quart low or a couplet short of a sonnet - depending on the model.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

jmonroe

I actually prefer the current "debate" on what constitutes an investment...

I'll never turn my back on a good investment tip. Sooo, whaddya got.

jmonroe

jmonroe

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.

Ahh.....c'mon. You've been around the sales floor a few times. Try us.

Let me remind you, you're in this for the long haul. Furthermore, Edmunds bylaws clearly state that you can't take your ball and go home.

We're waiting.

jmonroe

snakeweasel

So you are saying that one should sit in cars and feel which one is lucky and buy the other one?

jmonroe

Because Hyundai buyers want more for less, and don't care fopr resale value or quality.

I’ll go along with the wanting more for less but I don’t agree with not caring about resale because most people do care about resale, it’s just that they don’t get this with a Hyundai now.

As for quality, I think you’re way off base here. Hyundai is becoming known for their quality and if not on a par with Honda now, it won’t be too long until they are.

jmonroe

jipster

I'll never turn my back on a good investment tip. Sooooo, whaddya got.

Just what our investment experts have already mentioned. Instead of walking to work, you may be better off buying a motor vehicle and driving. If you have a stack of loose leaf papers, instead of letting them fly out your car window...invest in some paper clips. And my favorite, if you want to sustain your own life... invest in some food. Hope this helps.

isellhondas

Amazing, what things cost these days.

These "check engine" lights can mean anything from a loose gas cap to a bad transmission.

The transmission can be "bad" without displaying any symptoms.

An honest person could sell the car while disclosing the problem or they could sell it or trade it in acting dumb about it. " Oh, it's probably a loose wire or something"

Or they can get it fixed or simply drive the car with the light on until something happens.

A otherwise good car can easilly be totalled over the cost of a new transmission.

corvette

What kind of car? How old, how many miles? If it's fairly new, I'd try very hard to get the manufacturer to comp the repair.

I'd understand the owner of the car wanting to get rid of it, especially if there had been other problems with the car.

nthe

"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). "

the regional check may have only been for what was on the ground at local dealerships, not what they have coming in.

oldfarmer50

Leather without having to buy a sunroof? Are you sure this was a Mitsu dealer? Mitsubishi usually bundles every option they have into "packages" so that you can either buy it stripped or buy it loaded. In looking at the Eclipse I found that I couldn't fit into one with a sunroof but there was no way to get any other goodies without the sunroof because they all came in the same package. I know that manufacturers do this to boost profits but I wonder how many like me they lose this way.

isellhondas

When we pull a "locate" we can see "build dates" as well as cars on the ground.

But, just because the other stores have a car on the ground or incoming, it doesn't mean we can get it. Often, especially in the case of CRV's, it has laready been presold. Either that or they just don't want to trade it.

nthe

"
Because Hyundai buyers want more for less, and don't care fopr resale value or quality. "

i've got news for you, hyundais quality rating are every bit as good and honda right now....

nthe

" I know that manufacturers do this to boost profits but I wonder how many like me they lose this "

its not just to boost profits, but also to keep cost lower.

isellhondas

Since you sell them I suppose it's a good thing you feel that way.

qbrozen

Furthermore, Edmunds bylaws clearly state that you can't take your ball and go home.

LOL!! Thanks, jmonroe! That was the best laugh I had in here in weeks!

nthe

and since you sell a competing product, its good you don't feel this way.

by the way, its not what i feel, but rather articles i have read by consumers and by experts that backs my opinion up.

volvomax

I have heard that about CA, but I don't know if it is true or not.
Since you didn't sign anything admitting that the deposit was non refundable, you should be able to get the deposit back if you opt out of the deal.

nthe

have you checked out jdpower.com recently? look at the quality ranking for the sonata and accord, then take a look at hyundai as a brand vs honda. notice anything? seems as though i'm not the only one who "feels" hyundai's quality is every bit as good as honda's.

british_rover

This isn't the Honda VS hyundai board. If you feel the need to discuss that please go find another board.

Go make an Accord VS Sonata thread here for example.

abraindrainer

If the vehicle is on the lot for while, the holdback money has likely been spent. However, if one orders something out of the supply chain, then at least part of the holdback is probably in play. For example, the holdback is supposed to help the dealer to finance the vehicle while it is on the lot and if it does not spend any time there, that money is not "spent" on financing.

jmonroe

Just a few days ago, my coworker sold a Civic to a customer who was adding up the VIN number to see if it equals a certain total, some kind of specific number. I told him right away that his customer will have major bad luck and he'll be hearing about it.

That's not bad luck, the customer is buying a Honda. :shades:

jmonroe

grandtotal

Not trying to start an argument here, but it is the car that is programmed to accept the key not vice versa (not a Nissan plug).

lokki

Not trying to start an argument here, but it is the car that is programmed to accept the key not vice versa

Noted, but it gives me a chance to use one of my favorite phrases:

"That's a distinction without a difference"

I'm seeing a ton of temporary tags lately, but they all seem to be on used cars.... Is that the tax refund effect?

volvomax

I'm seeing a ton of temporary tags lately, but they all seem to be on used cars.... Is that the tax refund effect?

no, but it is an indicator of a slowing economy/car market.
When times are bad or slow, u/c sales spike up as people have less money to spend or are less enthusiastic about buying new cars.
when the economy is doing well, more people will buy new cars as a reward.

lrguy44

I think we are in the same wave - see you there

lrguy44

The key worked in the ignition, but the remote did not work

perna

I DID have something unusual happen with my wife's minivan deal.

The color/option combo she wanted wasn't on the dealer lot, so we had to do a dealer exchange with another Chrysler dealership about 40 miles south of us. Distance-wise, there are probably about 3-4 Chrysler dealerships closer than this one.

Well, on the way home I look at the van's sticker, and the van was originally delivered...to the dealer we'd bought it from! It was a DOUBLE DX - I bet that doesn't happen very often!

jipster

This isn't the Honda VS hyundai board...

LOL...why not? You're not offering up your sales stories, and every other topic under the sun is being discussed.

You win a contest and tidester make you host for the day?

tidester

and every other topic under the sun is being discussed.

A little off-topic drift is to be expected but perhaps we should try not to stray too far - or for too long.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

kdhspyder

Well the reason I told the story from both pov's is that it was our car, my wife's '03 MR2 Spyder with the 6 spd Sequential Manual.

Spend $5500 to fix it?
So do I sell it to the public?
Trade it to my own store? Hmmmm
Take it to CarMax and let them buy it out from underneath me? Caveat Emptor and all that.

I wasn't going to sink that much money into an '03 no matter how much it was her baby..neither was she.
I wasn't comfortable selling it to the public for a number of reasons that you can imagine.
Trade it to my own store without disclosing the problem? No.
Sell it to CarMax...hmmm. Caveat Emptor and all that. I did get a 'Buy offer' from them.

We gave it to our wholesale department and they took it to one of the big auctions where it sold at a slightly higher price than CarMax's.

british_rover

Ah that would be cool let me know when you find out for sure.

isellhondas

Since you are fairly new to these forums, Jipster, let me give you a bit of history.

A lot of quality people have come and gone from these forums since their beginning. Troublemakers have come and gone as well. There used to be a lot of salespeople who came here and honestly tried to contribute. A few, not so quality sales people made their mark as well.

Some simply got tired of the bickering and left, others got bored and some got banned by the hosts.

As one of the sales people, I have been called a liar, ridiculed and slammed many times. The hosts know (I think)that I try to temper my responses and that I will back down or ignore. This can be quite difficult and because of the rules, most of the veterans have moved on.

People want stories and we do have them to tell. Unfortunatly when these stories get told we get pounced on and a lot of us are simply tired of this.

In my case, I have "left" at least twice, vowing never to return only to receive a bunch of emails asking me to return. I was surprised about how many "lurkers" there out there.

If people want stories, they need to mellow out.

lrguy44

Amen

british_rover

I didn't claim to be the host and I don't see what is wrong with directing people to the appropriate boards and/or threads.

I share the shortest sliver of a story and I get called incompetent.

Excuse me if this doesn't make me want to talk about other problem and/or difficult deliveries I have had.

kiawah

isell,
Let me tell you that I read this particular forum all the time (a lurker, I guess), but I'm not in the car business. However, I always find it interesting and a learning experience, to try and walk a mile in the other person's shoes. Having bought many cars during my lifetime, I was always intrigued by the car salesman profession, and have had what I consider to be the spectrum of salesman...both very good, and very bad. I can only imagine, the spectrum of people (and situations) that you guys have to deal with. I find this a welcome break during the day.

Hang in there, and I'm sure calmer heads will prevail! Thanks for all your postings.

lokki

I had left these boards for more than a year for the same reason as Isell... it got wearying dealing with the shouters and the trolls. Already, I've stopped posting in News and Views again - it just isn't worth it.

The hosts do a very good job (and particularly so compared to some other boards) of keeping order and calm, but they
can't really stop topic drift - it's a natural occurrence.

At least I'm not being attacked personally for doing my job, fortunately. I've seen at least two previous iterations of a salesmen's discussion board disappear into silence because of people who simply couldn't stop needling and jabbing.

qbrozen

sounds like some of you need to do some yoga or something before coming on the boards. Some things just aren't worth responding to, ya know?

I for one am glad for those who stick around and contribute in a positive way. The others just don't matter.

thenebean

i second that...

some people just feel the need to bring someone else down to feel better about themselves...

thats a sad way to go through life.

isell, b-rover, lokki, madmanmoo, boomchek - i love the stories - please keep 'em coming!

hosts - any way to possibly start looking into an ignore feature OTHER than the scrolly wheel?

-thene

joel0622

I usually can hang in here about a week, then I forget about the place for a few months and come back. What drives me crazy is so many people giving just terrible advice on such a variety of circumstances based off of there personal car buying expierience which they may do at most once a year. We do it every day all day.

isellhondas

HAve come on pretty strong in the beginning and mellow out later. Others are just mean spirited and sarcastic. I have no use for that type.

snakeweasel

The repair bill is.....................$4800 for the two parts and about 30 hours of labor ( x $85 ).

$7,350 to fix a tranny? What is the vehicle? an Abrams tank? I would think a new tranny would come in at that price.

snakeweasel

Leather without having to buy a sunroof?

He didn't say that he just said that they come "standard as options". Either they are standard or options can't be both.

timetobuy1

I am trying to buy a 2007 Honda Odyssey Touring tomorrow. I'm still talking to 3 different dealers regarding their lowest price. The closest dealer tells me that they need to make 1500 profit over invoice. Another dealer has told me his invoice price and it is 1,000 more than the other dealers. I must not be doing this right...these just seem like made up numbers just to see what I'll say. Could they be telling me the truth? Should I just go with the one that is keeping it simple? Any ideas?

volvomax

Or it could mean that it is an option, but that every car comes specced that way.

volvomax

I'm assuming that the cars are specced the same?
Why not just ask for an Out the Door price and see who is best?

snakeweasel

A little off-topic drift is to be expected but perhaps we should try not to stray too far

Didn't you know topics are covered with teflon? Nothing ever sticks to them.

bobst

From my experience, asking for a price is one thing but getting a price is something else.

It is fine to ask the dealer for an OTD price, but don't expect them to always give you one.