Stories from the Sales Frontlines

mcdawgg

Yes, and the only problem with them is that people are not reading the directions and/or using common sense. If you use the hooks to secure it, then you will have no problem. I guess it is part of the mentality in this country that if anything goes wrong, it is someone else's fault, even though the directions specifically tell you how to install it.

snakeweasel

Thats nothing, back in the 80's I had a Dodge that something like 3 years after I got it I received a letter from Chrysler about a "serious safety issue". It seems that they forgot to put the little horn insignia on the horn. The letter then went on to explain in detail where the horn was located and how to use it. :confuse:

In the three years (give or take a few months) that I owned the car before that letter I never noticed the lack of the little bugle that tells you its the horn. And I never had difficulty using it.

snakeweasel

Lotta Rover dealers for such flat country..

Yeah but there are pockets of serious money near each one and many like to have badges.

jmonroe

By the way, what's a tool bench?

Believe me, you don't wanna know. Those things just get you in trouble and keep you there!!

jmonroe

joel0622

Doesn't that just chaff you [non-permissible content removed]? The amount of money the manufacture has to spend to tell people how to put floor mats in a car all because you stand the chance of being sued by some idiot who cant figure out that there floor mat is balling up under the accelerator.

We had a recall one time effecting something like 300,000 cars because the idiot strap on the gas cap (the little plastic strap that connects the gas cap to the car) was breaking on cars located in colder climates.

imidazol97

He's working on sound next. We're in deep trouble.

roadburner

you testing the B7 for ROUNDEL?

Yep.

marsha7

if you REALLY want to post pictures, it's OK with me...:):):):):) :P

kiawah

and some wonder why our disk drive, processor, and network consumption is going through the roof.

jmonroe

...and many like to have badges.

Ahhhh...BADGES. I love them stinkin badges, just can't afford any.

jmonroe

sterlingdog

Your comments triggered a thought which called for a little research. I was surprised to learn that 20% of the adult population in the United States still smokes. There are 135,921,000 automobiles in this country. That translates into 27,184,200 smokers' automobiles. Seems to me that there is a great deal of discrimination toward such a large segment of the population. By the way, the pay phone is not dead yet. There are 1,500,000 of them still out there in this country. Hard to believe, isn't it? Thanks for your "live and let live" approach to life. I try to be considerate. I don't smoke around other people.

im_brentwood

Sure you can, you just waste money on new cars.

Heck, the Land Rover my buddy is going to be buying is probably going to cost circa $15,000.

I can't think of ANY 7 Passenger AWD Vehicle you can buy for that amount brand new.

lrguy44

You are correct, Tinley Park and Chicago. But look at your population compared to us. Also, it is not all snob appeal. These cars are a great driving experience and fantastic in your winters. True, off road is not as fun as here.

sterlingdog

No you're not. You're just glad that you haven't been caught. If you don't own a silver tea pot, then you don't know what is attached to the lid. Sorry buddy---case closed.

british_rover

I might even be able to swing you a higher mileage 2003 for around 15,000 if we get lucky. Two years ago I sold a 2003 Disco with 53,000 miles on it for 19,900. Add two years of deprecation to a similar mileage car plus the edmunds discount and you have around 15,000.

mackabee

I'm feeling just a little devilish!

im_brentwood

Tell me it's got jump seats... please.... color?

mackabee

"Oh, wait, those are gone as well."

I know, I have a hard time changing into:

british_rover

I don't have one now but if I can find a 50,000-60,000 mile 2003 Disco SE7 I think we can be around the 15,000 dollar mark.

The 2004 I have with 46,000 miles on it we own for just under 20,000 plus the cost of the CPO. A year older and 15,000 miles will probably bring that price down close to 15,000.

im_brentwood

Perfect. Me and Gregg were crunching #s.. they need a $300ish payment to be comfortable.

CPO isnt needed at all.. we have a shop so if it breaks we get to fix it, yay.

british_rover

Yeah an 03 with around about that mileage should be right in your target and an 02 might even be a little less. If something comes in on trade that fits those targets I will let you know. This is our busy season so there is definitely a good chance this time of year.

Our service manager is off till Monday but when he gets back I will ask him about that other T4 machine like we talked about yesterday.

wlbrown9

This one is not bad, but looking at #18622 where the Car Space logo is over the end of the punch line so you can not read the end of the joke...kind of pointless. Any option to move that around or is it stuck there on the bottom right of the picture?

Reminds me of watching the President's Cup Golf on TNT last night. At least half a dozen time the TNT logo in the bottom right corner of the screen was covering the hole...so I could not tell if the putt went in until the announcers told you.

chikoo

You don't get torque ster with a CVT tranny.

eh? really! AFAIK, the differential and driveshafts play a more important role to determine torque steer.

epiney

I thought so too, but maybe the CVT distributes the torque more evenly to the drievshafts. Only one way to find out. greenpea, send us one of those coupes to test out. :P

Went to lunch in one of those Altima 3.5 coupes with all the goodies yesterday. My frst ride with a CVT. It felt funny with no shift points and was a nice car, but I personally would not buy a coupe with that much power and have it be front wheel drive. It just di not "feel right"

chikoo

a bimmer with a spoiler? that is a first one for me.....

british_rover

I don't think there is much BMW left in that car.

mackabee

No, the logo is there permanently on the pics that are on myCarSpace. At least this one didn't have a joke. The cartoon was self explanatory. Might have to explain it to Joel though.
Mack

epiney

Don't forget to bring me back my Pearl white IS350 or if they don't have that color then this one will do!

Surely you don't want one of the cars driven at the events. We're going drive them like we stole them

Besides it's Starfire Pearl ... and you call yourself a Toyota guy :P

graphicguy

Snake...same guy! I was kind of embarrased. He looked kind of familiar when I sat down next to him. I asked him where he was going. He told me. As the flight and small talk went on, he asked me what I did. Told him. I asked him what he did...he said "I'm an actor, part-time". Guess he was yanking me.

After he told me his name, I found out all the stuff he'd been in....most of it I hadn't seen. Now, I'm going to rent his stuff to see if he's any good.

snakeweasel

Hate to say this but in all my years of driving Chicago winters I have really never needed AWD or 4WD which ever you prefer. Even the first several years were in RWD and never had much of a problem.

Also I have said it before most of the cars in the ditch after major winter storms are AWD/4WD.

oldfarmer50

"...recall on amongst other things, floor mats..."

Well,I can see where they might be dangerous. Let's say that you get in your car and just by chance you have tied your shoelaces together (could happen to anyone, right). Now you attempt to drive the car standing on your head as some people like to do, and suddenly, your shoelaces get snagged on the mirror.

You try to use your hands on the brake pedal and BLAMO! the floor mat slips and jams itself under the pedal making the brakes useless.

You careen down the road into a dynamite factory and the whole neighborhood blows up. A tragedy which could have been averted if only Toyoda has nailed those damn floomats down!

I'm glad that someone was willing to spend a lot of Toyoda's money to keep us safe.

jmonroe

I'm glad that someone was willing to spend a lot of Toyoda's money to keep us safe.

And if they didn't, I'd sue em, good, for not having the foresight to have a warning system to let me know I was entering a machine that could be dangerous when I had my shoe-strings tied together. At least give a person the right to buy a system like that as an option!

jmonroe

british_rover

Look closely at that pictures.

Then read this link.

jmonroe

Look closely at that pictures.

And to think, the guy who was responsible for this is probably somewhere higher up. Well maybe I should say "was". Could you think of a worse promotional blunder?

At least get a big rig to do this, that I could understand.

jmonroe

mackabee

Hey I don't care if they put a few k miles on them. You're right! It is Starfire pearl, I also like the Glacier Frost mica and the Matador Red mica but you may call it whatever you want to call it So when can I expect the delivery truck at my place?
Mackabee

british_rover

I actually have one of those on my used car lot right now. Same color and everything IS250 AWD.

I do not like it at all. I drove it home a few times and it didn't do anything for me.

cdnpinhead

God, I love it.

Where would we be without the internet?

Well, not here, but perhaps being more productive elsewhere?

Oh well . . .

mackabee

Is it the previous generation or this one? I don't like the previous gen at all. It was the Toyota Altezza.
Mack

kiawah

Boy, those are some really narrow door seams.

british_rover

Nope IS250 AWD.

The previous gen car was the IS300 and it was actually a better driving car. The IS350 is bloated, underpowered and in the AWD form handles really weird in parking lots. It crab walks during tight low speed turns because the AWD system is cheap.

joel0622

Thats funny!!!! Almost as good as when TOYota put a promotional video on there web site showing "The making of the Tundra commercial". The video showed how they made the ramps and all for the commercial where they drop the box off the cliff and the truck stops it and all that other stuff. What the brainiac who produced the video did not notice is that all the contractors on the site building the stuff to do the commercial with were driving Ford trucks. Everything from F350's to pull the ramps in with, right down to Ranger trucks that the electricians were in.

We all go a good laugh out of it. The video was mysteriously edited about 3 days after it was posted

joel0622

Here are some words of wisdom for all the sales guys to get them pumped up for the last Saturday of the month.

Remember these two things

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity

Vince Lombardi

Pressure is when you are presented with a situation you are not prepared for.

Lou Holtz

jescue

You forgot-

If you want to eat, sell a car. :P

lrguy44

How about...

"blind hog finds acorn"

"sell a car, be a star"

and my all time favorite...

"is it lock down time yet?"

joel0622

We have a spiff like that sometimes

Sell a car and keep your job

greanpea68

eh? really! AFAIK

What does AFAIK Mean. I'm not up to date on these texting messages. What I got from it is Another F*&^ing A&*hole I Know... :confuse:

joel0622

As Far As I Know

But I like yours better

british_rover

I have been on the net for a long time being much younger then a lot of you older guys with your gray hair, walkers and depends I consider myself a bit more up to internet lingo however...

I won't use it in a business situation like emailing back and forth with a customer as I consider it unprofessional.

Over the past few weeks I have had more and more people sending me emails full of these stupid text abbreviation that I barely understand. They are doing it from a computer too and not some sort of hand held device where they don't have access to a full keyboard. It drives me NUTS.

mikefm58

Check out www.netlingo.com

jescue

Maybe they are younger than you. :P Give it time, you will get your share of gray hair...