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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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Then you wouldn’t like buying a car in the Pittsburgh area. Stickers are the norm here. Some do license plate frames and some do both.
When I bought, just this past summer, I got both. As sharp of a buyer that I am it sounds like I paid enough to get BOTH.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
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I've seen these with rust dripping down underneath them!
Now that I wouldn’t like at all. The stickers used around here are the thin vinyl type that can be easily removed with a hair dryer with no problem.
I pried it off and used some 'goo gone' to remove the glue residue.
That sounds risky. You’re lucky the paint didn’t come off with it.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
jmonroe
Is there any other kind of deal on a new car any more? With the exception of the Shelby GT 500 most every new car we sell is a mini deal. Still some profit made on trucks now and again.
Oh boy. That goes way back. When I was a kid in high school (late 50’s) I worked at a Chevy dealer cleaning cars and they did this (actually me but they told me to). The emblems had barbs on the posts that kept them in place and it also discouraged you from removing them, since nobody wanted to drive around with holes showing on the trunk lid. :sick:
I've seen these with rust dripping down underneath them!
Yep I remember that too.
Ain’t this new self adhesive vinyl sticker technology great?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I'm playing my violin right now.
Can you see me?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Too bad.
Where are you, California?
That makes this s tough business.
This is the initial Internet quote request:
ADDITIONAL INFO: DO NOT CALL- YOU CALL YOU LOOSE THE SALE. I WANT A 5S MANUAL WHITE 2007 (model) WITH 17 RIMS AND ALL SEASON FLOOR MATS- I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY OTHER COLOR. BEST QUOTE GETS THE SALE
Of course i get all exited - NOT! I don't have the exact car, and the customer sound like a pain inthe neck. I send the quote:
I have a White 4-door manual (model)t in stock, ***, Sunroof, 16" wheels, iPod adapter and Sirius radio.
MSRP: $#####
Dealer invoice: $#####
I will see you the car as equipped for $300 under invoice - $###### plus tax and license.
Fair straightforward deal, right? Not to some people:
According to my sources (this is my 5th car) your dealer invoice
price is $#####.00 with the additional 350.00 for the extra sirus
radio. The sunroof and 16" wheels are standard with this model- no
extra cost to you).
I want 17" wheels and all season floor mats. I am willing to pay
#### for the car, plus tax and licensing fees--I have a
dealership that is willing to work this deal. If you can or can beat
it email me back and I will arrange to come this weekend.
Cheers-
The information is wrong, numbers are ridiculous, and again - I don't have the car! I ran a search - there is ONE car like that in a 300 miles radius.
How would you respond?
Repeat your quote (modified if you want) and tell him you have that car for that price. If they want it fine if not let them walk. Better fishing elsewhere.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
They are more like a raised embelem made out of a soft plastic
I get a kick out of going to classic car shows and seeing a classic with a dealer emblem on the back. Of course the emblems are all from dealers that no longer exist, or were renamed.
Yeah, right! Of course you told him he'd need photo id -- and fingerprints?
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
Its a common scam.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I don't care what someone says or what they think we paid for the car, this is the selling price (best price) and that's it.
Whenever anyone brings up our cost and what we paid for it I always tell them that we don't negotiate from cost, we negotiate from the sticker.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
This is a funny article on how a Saab seller dealt with a scammer like that.
Scam
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
IIRC, a similar scenario has been posted on the Edmunds boards before. I think it was the NBC Nightly News (Fleecing of America??) that did a story a few months ago on how these TDD operators were being used to facilitate fraud. A couple of operators were interviewed and they stated that in their opinion that approximately 90% (or some ridiculously high number) of the calls that they "relay" were scams like you described. IIRC, by law they were only allowed to "translate or relay" (or whatever you call the process) exactly what the caller wanted to say and were not allowed to "tip off" the unsuspecting recipient that this is a common hoax that they deal with every day. The operators were very frustrated that they were being used in this manner but seemed powerless by law or company rule to intervene in any way. I wish I could remember more, but I think that they went on to say that they could not intervene even if terrorism was suspected. Dealerships and any other business for that matter should be extremely suspicious of any calls like this.
Here's an MSNBC article on TTY operator scams. I don't know if this will post correctly or not. If not, see:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/4781806/
I don't understand where the confusion lies? You don't have the car they want. The car they want is not in your local area so you can't make a quick dealer trade. I'd say your chances of selling someone a car they don't want are pretty slim.
My suggestion would be to state that you do not have the exact car they want in stock but you do have a couple cars very close to it. Give them pricing on those cars.
Encourage them to come see you if they're interested in one of your cars. Then go on to the next customer. Simple as that.
I wouldn't.
I might say something bad about his mama. Tell him if he wiped his shoes off before getting into his vehicle he wouldn't need all season floor mats. And that by wanting 17"
wheels instead of 16" wheels, he is displaying a clear case of male overcompensation. Let him chew on that for awhile... then reel the whale in.
This guy from England contacts us about buying a used Van we had. He negotiates only through E-mail, is never near a phone and his fax machine is always broke so he never has the ability to sign an offer sheet. We agree on a price and he mails us a check with a note that says the check is for $2850 more then the amount needed, some one from the shipping company will be dropping by to pick up the check, please make it out to me as they have POA to handle all the transportation details.
Now this stinks to high heaven but I don't let on that I know it is a total scam, I just email the guy and tell him that it will be no problem as soon as his check clears the bank I will issue a refund check on the over payment. That was the last I ever heard from. I contacted the fraud department at HSBC and they verified that it was in fact a stolen check. I asked if they needed any help prosecuting this guy please call me I would play the game with him as long as they needed me to. They said thanks but they would not pursue it because the scam is rampant right now they don't have the man power to do it.
Another scam is the same scenario but they tell you that they want to wire money to you and ask for the account number and routing number for your companies account. I guess the possibilities are endless with what they could do with that info.
A small scam that some people try to pull some times is they will bring a large cash down payment in to me all in $100 bills. Before giving it to me they will say, now watch me count it out, and then put it all in one pile, normally it is in the $5K-$8K range. Then when I start to count it they try to talk to me the whole time to distract me. Where the scam is, is that about every 7th 0r 8th bill is a $10 bill instead of $100. They think if I am distracted enough and have already watched them count it they can slip 6 or 7 of them in with out me noticing it. When I see the first one I just stop and say, Sir/Ma'm, you may need to recount this there seems to be some confusion as to what a $100 bill looks like, its a common mistake.
That one may happen once a year or so. Pretty gutsy move in my opinion to save $600-$700 bucks.
I have an interesting tale about this.
Last summer I went with Son #1 to a classic car show in the Pittsburgh area. A lot of the owners of the classic cars there had 8 ½ x 11 handouts describing the car and what was done to restore them and a most of the cars were acknowledged to have been repainted. I know this ruins a true classic but who wants to see rusted sheet metal at a classic car show?
We came upon a 56’ Chevy and since I once had one (didn’t everyone, back then?), I was telling my son about the car and the owner overheard us, came over and was happy to talk about his “baby”. I ask him why after he repainted the car did he replace the emblem (type held on by barbed posts), he just smiled and said, “people around here get a kick out of seeing those old emblems, especially the ones from dealers that aren’t around anymore”. He was absolutely right because as we walked through that parking lot it brought back memories for me and I was telling my son about those dealers and where they were located in the area.
I had a very pleasant afternoon.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
What does (in my mind, anyway)ruin an old car is when they get modified. I like old cars to be totally original.
Around here, there are a lot of local shows and I attend as many as possible. Soon, the season will start!
I'm sure I'll be going to a lot this summer also. Son #1 now has Son #2 interested. No telling how many I'll be going to now.
Those boys are going to wear me out but not quite as much as they used to.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
i know car salesmen don't have any kind of rep for being honest, but how are you supposed to get someone to believe that the price they have is the absolute lowest there is?
You already learned how... by letting them walk. He didn't know for sure that you had rejected his offer, until you failed to chase him to his car..
Haven't you ever heard of the bobst method?
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Only good if the front bracket does not put screw holes in the front bumper. Case in point '99-'05 or so Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo...front bracket screws into the painted bumper. Sure, you can remove it later, but what do you do with the holes? BTW, I'm in TN which has no front plate.
some people have no clue...
-thene
People are scared (for good reason)of European cars with high miles and that accident was the nail in the coffin.
I know what will happen now. They will try to sell it on their own and unless they get VERY lucky they wil end up trading it somewhere else. They won't give me the satisfation of being right on it's value.
Too bad, she was a nice lady.
I had people say that all the time, that we're offering too little, and that we should pay them (just an example)$11000, and put it for sale for $11500 and this way we'll make $500 on their car.
"No, thanks, that's not really how it works"
Or the folks that tell us we should sell the car at way below cost to them cause we're making money on other customers so it will balance itself out.
Or the folks who come in and look at used cars, and after narrowing it down to a car, and test driving it, they still have to go and look around (which is fine by me). But before leaving they ask me to call them if we get another same one like this :confuse:
"Well, how many of these are you looking to buy?"
"Ummm, just one, why do you ask?"
"Cause you just told me to find you one like this, and I did, it's sitting right here in front of you, and you just test drove it"
"Ummm, yeah ok, I'll think about it"
:confuse: :confuse:
Or if you walk up to someone, and ask if they need help, and they respond as "No, we're ok, we're just looking, we don't need any help"
As soon as you turn to walk away they start asking you a bunch of questions. (Thinking to myself: I thought you don't need any help). But then I'm guilty of that too sometimes when in retail stores.
Or if two guys come on the lot, and one guy does all the talking and tells me that his friend with him is looking for blah blah mobile and so and so. And then I'm thinking who's the buyer here, the talker or the looker?
A coworker in F&I always tells me on a line he uses when a customer is sitting in front of him with a sidekick who's usually talking his friend out of buying anything, or even letting him listen to any warranty info.
F&I: "This warranty covers so and so and etc..."
Sidekick: "No, don't take it it's not worth it,it's junk"
Customer: I don't want it cause my friend says I don't need it"
F&I:"Great, so is your friend going to fix your transmission when it breaks, or pay for your repairs?"
:P
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
gosh forbid they go back to the dealer who was right when they let them walk because of a trade value or price of a vehicle. they end up paying more or taking less on trade, instead of going back to the first dealer who was giving them the best deal.
it amazes me sometimes...
-thene :confuse:
it should be a new tv show! "And now...."Customers say the Dardest things - with your host...Bob SAGET!!!"
It's always fun when you can catch someone in their lie or exaggeration. I'm sure i've mentioned it, but i had a guy who's brother "bought" a Titan at $10,000 off list, and that I need to sell him one at that price or he's gonna go to that dealer. I said "really? well I'm gonna come with you. At that price, I want one too!"
...he just left after that comment. sorry, but i couldn't resist! he was being a pain in the butt during the rest of the presentation and test drive anyways, so i wasn't sorry to see him go.
-thene
Back in 1996 my neighbor came into buy one of the new F150's from me I cut him a deal at $800 over, everyone else wanted list for them in Jan-Mar of 1996. he looked me dead in the eye and said "let me go measure my garage to see if it will fit" I replied XXXXX, you don't have a garage, I am your neighbor, remember. He was conditioned to come up with an excuse. I have all the respect in the world for the guy who says from the get go, "Hey I don't buy the first time out, give me a price and i will let you know tomorrow". Thats a heck of allot better then a guy who is afraid to tell you that and feels the need to come up with weak no truth excuses.
It goes both ways.
I like to be able to walk into a dealership (usually at VERY S-L-O-W periods) and ask a lot of questions without having my exit blocked by two people who want to close the deal before I have made up my mind.
i never understood the logic or rationallity behind that one. anyone care to share why they do this (if they do)?
-thene :confuse:
Your trade is worth what they are bringing at auction and nothing more!
A lot of trades, we simply do not want! We are scared the wholesalers won't pay us what we gave for them and this happens!
The "books" say it's worth 9000.00 but it's a bad color, it needs tires and it's a five year old Volvo with 100,000 miles.
NOBODY WANTS CARS LIKE THIS AT ANY PRICE!!
Or they wiil tell me.." I see people are getting XXX for cars like mine in the paper/internet"
No...you see what they would LIKE to get, their asking price. A lot of these people give up and end up coming to grips with reality. They trade them in for a lot less but receive their sales tax credit. They also save themselves a lot of trouble and risk at the same time.