Stories from the Sales Frontlines

stickguy

New is not bottom of the thread.

Welcome back. And is it true the real money is in selling used cars?

What kind of lot are you at?

boomchek

Yes the money is better. Minimum commissions at new car stores are $150, here they are $

The process of selling used is less involved than new, so you put in less effort and less time and in return sell more and make more.

We are an independent used car lot with 100+ cars. Most people that come in, come on a specific car and are typically ready to buy. Plus our lot is way out of sight, ouit of the way of any high traffic areas, so we don't have a lot lookie loos, or people just randomly wandering in because they have nothing to do.

And we typically don't test drive cars unless the customer is serious and ready to buy the same day or within a few days, so we do turn people away who want to joyride for fun.

driver100

@abacomike said:
EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS

I am no longer getting email notifications when someone posts here or on Chronic Car Buyers. Did I do something wrong or is there a way to re activate that?

You have been cut off since you haven't bought a car in over 4 months!

stickguy

No joyrides? Heretics.

actually sounds like a good place. Similar to a few places near me that seem to move a lot of cars with not many employees or much overhead. Probably makes a good buck too, since the cars tend to be IMO on the pricey side!

driver100

@boomchek said:Funny enough I'm having the most fun I ever had selling cars

>

Welcome back. I had a friend who sold new cars - Mercuries, and then switched to used cars. He liked used cars much more......know one really knows the cost or profit levels, and he could make more selling used cars. Prices, profit levels are not all written in stone....more to play with.

How's the little guy?

I think we always went from top to bottom.

boomchek

Actually our prices are cheaper than most other dealers by a few grand because our lot is really low budget, and we have no showroom other than a few offices in an older mobile style building. There is only 6 of us here and we have very little overhead. But yes we do move a lot of units. It's funny for me because I went from working in a prestigous high end luxury dealership selling Italian exotic cars to this run down looking lot, but I have no stress here and make a ton more money.

driver100

@jmonroe said: ’12 Legacy Limited it still cost me around $29K without tax. The dealer dropped an engine in the ’05 XG350

The XG would have been 10 years old and you would have probably needed a new car buy now...or Mrs. J would have wanted a newer car by now. You did the right thing at the time.
It's too bad Hyundai or the dealer couldn't have come up with a plan that would have been mutually satisfying....like ventures deal.

abacomike

@driver said: "You have been cut off since you haven't bought a car in over 4 months!"

All kidding aside, I really could use some help. All my email boxes are checked and I even reset them.

Can't someone from Edmunds helps out on this?

imidazol97

@abacomike said: > I really could use some help. All my email boxes are checked and I even reset them.

 There's a Contact Us link at the bottom of the page. 

Enter your email and send in the question.

abacomike

@imidazol97 said:
Enter your email and send in the question.

Thanks imidazol. I sent in a request for help through the "contact us" process. Hopefully, someone will contact me to help me resolve this.

abacomike

Is anyone else having this problem?

venture

@driver100 said: So, this deal is not written in stone yet?

Nope. I've also been around long enough, and bought enough new cars, that I will consider it a done deal when it's sitting in my garage.

I am wondering why it is taking them so long. I was specific what I wanted on the new one. The sales guy said he is working on it. They don't have one I want on their lot, but I found one about 40 miles away that is exactly what I want. I texted him with the name of the dealer and the VIN. He again replied that he is working on it. Maybe they don't trade with that particular dealer. I don't know.

What I do know, if you remember, but probably don't, when I got the 2013 it was right after my Buick was totaled and my rental was about to run out. He traded for one in Pittsburgh that has a sunroof that I didn't want, and it has gray leather and I specifically said I wanted black leather.

I was running out of time so I took it. He had beaten me almost to death. The gray leather is very difficult to keep clean what with my lifestyle. I am the groundskeeper at a baseball field in the spring and summer so I doubt I have to elaborate much on that situation.

I still don't know if he is stupid, lazy, or just doesn't care. Can't figure him out.

explorerx4

@venture said:

Just guessing that the dealer and the manufacturer want keep your business. I'm guessing there won't be many games. Everything so far seems upfront.
My wife has a 2013 Escape Titanium and hasn't had one problem.other than shredding a tire in a huge pothole. 2.0 will probably use more fuel, but never feels underpowered. We took it on vacation last summer. 3 people, inside filled with luggage, plus a cargo box on the top. It never felt strained.
Our route took us from CT through Wilkes-Barre, Harrisburg, Gettysburg on the way to the Outer Banks.

explorerx4

@abacomike
Re: Taxes
I got a nasty surprise yesterday. A 1098 for interest showed up for a bank I don't have any money in!
It's for a CD my mother has. I did have my name added to it when she took the money she had from an expiring CD and added some more to it to open a new one (same bank).
I'm pretty sure the statements sent to her have it listed on them.

imidazol97

@abacomike said: Is anyone else having this problem?

I saw a post in another topic to Steve about the problem of no reminder message.

driver100

@venture said:I still don't know if he is stupid, lazy, or just doesn't care. Can't figure him out.

Since there isn't any real money in this deal for them....it is probably a low priority thing to do.

jwilliams2

@abacomike said:
Is anyone else having this problem

Not me, since I unchecked all the boxes. The last thing I want is 20 emails a day telling me Driver has posted again.

oldfarmer50

@driver100 said:
Random comments about Chryslers Super Bowl ad featuring Bob Dylan;

• The car it featured, the 200, was a facelift for a troubled model previously known as the Sebring

Personally, I enjoyed the ad, but, doubt it would make me buy a 200.

I owned the Chrysler Cirrus which was the name Chrysler gave the 4 door Sebring prior to 2001. Great car for it's time and was the primary reason I became interested in cars again.

Trouble was Chrysler didn't seem to improve on the car from when it was introduced in 1996. They gave it different sheet metal but they replaced a smooth reliable Mitsubishi engine with a sludge prone 2.7L v6. They also cheaped out on the interior to the point that when I got a 2009 Sebring loaner I was really disappointed.

When they changed the name to 200 a few years ago I couldn't see how it was much of an improvement over my old 1997 Cirrus except maybe the new Penstar engine.

I hope the next generation is better.

snakeweasel

@driver100 said:
Personally, I enjoyed the ad, but, doubt it would make me buy a 200.

I have a Sebring and rather enjoy it, but I do own the convertible which if you read the reviews seems like a totally different car. I would consider buying a 200 ragtop but likely not the sedan.

oldfarmer50

> @boomchek said:

Hey everyone. I see a lot of familair usernames but the interface threw me off a bit. I see Edmunds has been through a bit of redeisgn. Anyways I'm back in the car biz after I left for about half a year, this time working in a used car lot. Funny enough I'm having the most fun I ever had selling cars. I'll try to visit more often and throw in a few stories as well. Just one questions. Do new comments now show from top to bottom (opposite of what it was?)

Boomchek, how ave you been? Great to hear from your again.

You should have no trouble learning this new format since you're a young fella.

Me...I cry myself to sleep over it every night.

snakeweasel

@abacomike said:
OK, figured it out. I had to go on to my desktop to make settings changes. But the right boxes are checked for emails but I am not getting emails.

snakeweasel

@explorerx4 said:
abacomike
Re: Taxes
I got a nasty surprise yesterday. A 1098 for interest showed up for a bank I don't have any money in!

A 1098 is for interest you paid the bank on a mortgage.

It's for a CD my mother has. I did have my name added to it when she took the money she had from an expiring CD and added some more to it to open a new one (same bank).
I'm pretty sure the statements sent to her have it listed on them.

Interest the bank paid you would be on a form 1099-INT, if that is what you got check the SSN to see if it is yours or your mothers.

explorerx4

@snakeweasel said:
Interest the bank paid you would be on a form 1099-INT, if that is what you got check the SSN to see if it is yours or your mothers.

My bad. It's a 1099-INT. Now sure why I get whacked for the interest, when she gets the statements. My SS# is on the form. Not sure why. She had the original CD and she wrote out a check to add for the new one. My intent was not to scam her out of the money.
I'm assuming bank screw up.
Thanks for making me look at it again.

graphicguy

boomcheck......welcome back!

snakeweasel

@explorerx4 said:
Thanks for making me look at it again.

If your SSN is on the 1099-INT then it was reported to the IRS as you getting the interest. You should get with the bank and see if they will correct it and get your mothers SSN on the account and send out a corrected 1099-INT. Otherwise you will need to claim it.

houdini1

@snakeweasel said:
If your SSN is on the 1099-INT then it was reported to the IRS as you getting the interest. You should get with the bank and see if they will correct it and get your mothers SSN on the account and send out a corrected 1099-INT. Otherwise you will need to claim it.

I think the best solution would just be to explain to mom what happened, go ahead and pay the taxes due, have mom reimburse him for the cost, and then make the changes so it won't happen again. Also make sure mom didn't get a 1099 also. It's possible they both got one for half the interest each...or all the interest each !

explorerx4

@Snakeweasel and Houdini1
Last year there was a statement with 2 CD's on it. I'm guessing this year her form will only have 1.
I will have to get this straightened out, but I'm not worried about the money, only the reporting part.
My mom has way more money coming in every month that going out.
Mostly, I'm just mad at the bank for screwing up such a simple thing.

snakeweasel

@houdini1 said:
Also make sure mom didn't get a 1099 also. It's possible they both got one for half the interest each...or all the interest each !

They are not supposed to do that, if two people get a 1099-INT for the same interest they better be married. The interest reported is attached to one and only one SSN. So if explorerx4 got one he is the only one getting one.

venture

@driver100 said: Since there isn't any real money in this deal for them....it is probably a low priority thing to do.

I agree, but it would be another unit on his sheet and really not much effort on his part.

I did explain that this is the first Ford I have ever owned and that I have three cars and replace one every year. You would have thought I was talking to the calendar behind his head. :-)

venture

@explorerx4 said: hasn't had one problem...

I hope to be able to say the same thing soon. Well...actually I haven't had any problems with this one other than the drivers door handle fell off.

explorerx4

@venture said:

Inside or Outside?

nyccarguy

@boomcheck

Welcome back!

driver100

@jwilliams2 said:. The last thing I want is 20 emails a day telling me Driver has posted again.

Maybe you can get message blocking for particular posters!

driver100

@oldfarmer50 said:Trouble was Chrysler didn't seem to improve on the car from when it was introduced in 1996.

Seems Chrysler has a habit of giving us the same car...but, putting a different name on it.

The last Chrysler 200 got poor reviews and wasn't built to very high standards. I wonder how many people who bought one will buy another Chrysler product. You can sell cheap, and those cars started at an amazing $16K, but, you do want repeat business....not sure inferior product is a way to bring them back.

boomchek

Thanks everyone, good to be back. Well, I never really left, just took some time off from Edmunds.

oldfarmer50

@explorerx4 said:
abacomike
Re: Taxes
I got a nasty surprise yesterday. A 1098 for interest showed up for a bank I don't have any money in!

I had a similar surprise.
My Farmer's Market Association has a system to spare little vendors such as myself the trouble of processing credit/debit transactions. A customer can scan their card at the market booth and are issued wooden tokens worth $5 each. They spend this script like cash with any vendor. The vendor then redeems the tokens for cash with the market manager.

Now after years of doing this the IRS is making them issue 1099s. Not only is this unnecessary paperwork (I already declare those sales) but I have to give my SSN to someone whose security systems are unknown.

Now I have to figure out how to incorporate all this new paperwork into my tax prep. Just crazy since I run an almost 100% cash business and could cheat like hell if I was so inclined. What is the IRS accomplishing other than fouling up another small business?

driver100

@oldfarmer50 said: Just crazy since I run an almost 100% cash business and could cheat like hell if I was so inclined. What is the IRS accomplishing other than fouling up another small business?

The tokens system is ingenius.......just takes the government to come along and ruin it.

graphicguy

@driver100 said:
Seems Chrysler has a habit of giving us the same car...but, putting a different name on it. The last Chrysler 200 got poor reviews and wasn't built to very high standards. I wonder how many people who bought one will buy another Chrysler product. You can sell cheap, and those cars started at an amazing $16K, but, you do want repeat business....not sure inferior product is a way to bring them back.

driver....I've rented quite a few of those 200s. The newer ones weren't bad cars, just not my cup of tea. Chrysler put some bling on them (inside and out) and they ended up being pretty decent. If I were on a budget, and needed a new car, I think you could do a lot worse than a 200.

I have an acquaintance who has a Sebring convertible. She loves it, not because it is a particularly good car, but because it was the cheapest convertible she could find new, at the time. Runs good with no problems that she's ever verbalized to me.

I think the 200 was a product of those poor Daimler-Mercedes years, only made worse by the company who took over from Daimler....Cerebus.

Stockholders were flat out lied to by Daimler by selling the it as a "merger of equals". Mercedes raided Chrysler's substantial bank account and stole the 4WD technology from the Jeep division for their own SUVs. They fired the brilliant Chrysler engineering team (which came up with the very popular 300, Viper, JGC, etc). Then, they threw Chrysler a few outdated Mercedes platform tidbits and ruined the company in the process. The only saving grace was Daimler lost millions on the deal, which served them right.

When Chrysler thought they couldn't be mismanaged any worse than what Daimler did, Cerebus was able to do just that. They tried to pick what little meat there was left on the bones.

The result was the 200.

I felt our gov't should have stepped in and taken action against both Daimler and Cerebus for fraud, theft and misrepresentation.

Fiat comes along and buys Chrysler. Now, it's Chrysler who is supporting Fiat.

Never a big Chrysler fan, but always thought they brought out interesting cars when left to their own devices.

I see they are enjoying another renaissance. Good for them.

nyccarguy

@oldfarmer50

unfortunately, it just takes "one bad egg" to ruin it & cause stricter regulations & headaches for everyone else who does things "the right way" like you and I. People just get way too greedy & think they aren't a "big fish."

Someone told me a story of a guy around here who owned a coin operated laundry mat. 100% cash, coins, untraceable. The government thought something wasn't right, they found out how many washers & dryers he had, took a look at his water bill, gas bill, & electricity bill. Figured out down to the penny how much money he owed. Millions.

venture

@explorerx4 said:

Inside

imidazol97

@nyccarguy said: unfortunately, it just takes "one bad egg" to ruin it

... The government thought something wasn't right, they found out how many washers & dryers he had, took a look at his water bill, gas bill, & electricity bill. Figured out down to the penny how much money he owed. Millions.

Amazing the IRS spends time trying to keep opposition party from being able to function like the friendly party under the WH direction. But I could point out folks in the underground economy in this area. Untaxed income. They operate with rolls of cash because they know not o deposit it where it becomes traceable. If that money were brought into the taxable stream, both parties would be able to spend to operate a government. Instead they try to tax the rest of us with our 1099 and W2 streams.

driver100

@nyccarguy said: story of a guy around here who owned a coin operated laundry mat. 100% cash, coins, untraceable.

Oh, they have their methods....they catch a lot of laundry joints because they can monitor the water and electricity. I know they find pizza shop owners who keep the cash, but the number of boxes they buy don't match. Back home they went after waitresses and waiters who weren't claiming all their tips. They know how much money in tips there should be based on the volume of business a restaurant does. They just did a small area and found lots of new revenue....now they are going to do this a lot more. Federal governments are starving for more ways to increase revenue.

imidazol97

@driver100 said:
Oh, they have their methods....

Those checks by others can trip you up.
A bit of political corruption trial testimony re Mayor Nagin of New Orleans involving Home Depot building a store -- imagine that!!!!

Moore explained that the IRS requires bribes to be listed as income, which elicited loud laughter from the audience.

Moore painstakingly detailed his calculations of Nagin’s undeclared income, which he figured totaled $342,072.90 over the years 2005-2008. That figure included alleged bribes of $50,000 , and $60,000 that had been detailed in previous days’ testimony, along with lawn care, phone service, granite inventory, and jet travel.
Moore also figured in the almost $70,000 in checks from Nagin appointee David White to the mayor’s wife Seletha Nagin, and rent-free post-Katrina stays in donated Dallas townhomes; both of which
were introduced in testimony earlier Tuesday.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/05/ray-nagin-trial-day-5-home-depot-execs-reveal-mayors-unseemly-requests/

boomchek

I sold Chrysler/Dodge/Jeeps about 6 years ago for a few years. Sitting and driving the Sebring made me wonder how Chrysler thought it could compete with any other mid size on the market.

The V6 made same power as competitor's 4 cylinder motors. The leather was the worst qualityI've ever seen and felt like cheap vinyl, the wiring under the hood lookedf like it was hand wrapped with black electrical tape, same for wiring going to the trunk lid lights, and funny enough one time a Sebring came from the factory with one tail light totally unbolted, just sitting there loosely in its place.

The only people that bought them was ones who couldn't get approved on anything else, or had a ton of negiative equity they needed to bury from their trade, or Employee and Partner Pricing program clients. I remember you could lease them for ridiculously cheap, something around $200/month with nothing down for 2 years.

oldfarmer50

@driver100 said:

"token system is ingenious"

Yes, particularly for me since I don't own a cell phone that could be use to process debit cards.

Now I'm thinking of dropping the program.

Thanks Uncle Sam. Reminds me of the time I was complaining to the local town bureaucrats about all the hoops I had to jump through to put a card table of tomatoes out by the road in front of my farm. The building department guy actual said "Well, Walmart has to follow the same rules"

oldfarmer50

@graphicguy said:
Never a Chrysler fan.

I was always a big Chrysler booster since my first car in my own name was my 69 Plymouth. Liked the Cirrus and later bought a Concorde. Lately though, nothing they offer excites me. Their line up seems too heavy to get good performance out of anything but the biggest engines.

I like the early Sebring convertibles with the Mitsu engines but I also like the styling up to the 2003 model. Most people look down on these cars but they can be had pretty cheap.

Maybe driver100 will scoot over and pick this one up for me:

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/cto/4312296146.html

driver100

@oldfarmer50 said:

That's a nice looking car for $2600. The best part is you can get a convertible for a really cheap price.

This sentence seems like an oxymoron though.......
_Sebring Convertible for sale 78000miles, excellent condition, _

Hey OF...you come up with some beautiful used cars....you should sell a few of those at the market too. Just start slow with one or two cars a week. I bet you could make an extra $500 to $1000 a week. One free basket of tomatoes with each car sold!
Not sure those cars held up that long.

driver100

@jmonroe said:Not sure about the kangaroo but I heard the gator and the rattle snake taste like chicken. Are you against chicken too?

It's a little late, but I just got this in an email:
Is it me --or do buffalo wings taste like chicken?

A few others;

I had amnesia once---or twice.

All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.

What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

They told me I was gullible and I believed them.

Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto the freeway.

Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone.

One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

How can there be self-help "groups"?

Show me a man with both feet firmly on the ground, and I'll show you a man who can't get his pants off

stickguy

That convertible is not bad looking. For the money I could use something like that when it comes time to replace my fleet if sedans with one "fun" car.

oldfarmer50

@nyccarguy said:
oldfarmer50

Someone told me a story...

One of our bread vendor at one time ran a luncheonette in NYC. The sales tax people sent agents in to count his customers and then extrapolated what they thought he "should" be making. Of course they based their estimate on the lunch rush and just multiplied it by the number of hours of operation. Wanted thousands in back taxes.