Stories from the Sales Frontlines

jmonroe

Lets not turn this into lets bash one car or another. I was just giving props to Honda.

You stay out of this. This is where the fun starts for us non-biz guys.

Welcome aboard, sit back and relax. I think you started something good here.

jmonroe

mrsuzuki

Most managers like former Military people, because they know how to do what they are told, and have thick skin. I have worked at "grind houses" where this is a must. I will say that it is much nicer at what I call common sense dealerships. I like it when you just offer a fair deal upfront and dont have to play games.

Navy = ride for Marines
Air/Chair Force = ride for Army
Marines = Bullet sponge
Army = Backbone of the military

mrsuzuki

Go for it man. I personally dont see the big deal with Toyota. The corolla I had was a POS.

chikoo

it was my opinion.

everyone has one

british_rover

har har har

My dad is an Army Lt. Col Retired and me and my sis were Army brats. Spent time at bases all over the south.

nthe

where i live in birmingham alabama, we have 1 suzuki dealer who has a spokesman, 'Suzukiman' who is absolutely annoying. Their big thing is $99 down, $99/month, and he has is own 30 min informercials on sat, and has tons of tv and radio ads. Its worked for him though, cause before they started this, the dealership was selling just a few a month, and is now one of the biggest suzuki dealers in the country (or so i've been told).

mrsuzuki

I have heard of him. He spends over $100,000 per MONTH in advertising. With the mark up in Suzuki's I dont see how he makes a profit.

I heard there is a commercial with him in a bath tub or something like that.....

chikoo

Once you get past the topical humor and the play-by-play of the storyline, it actually tells a good tale about humility, respect, and friendship.

That is what I love about this movie. absolute must to teach growing kids all the aspects of life.

nthe

he makes a profit cause he sells sooo many a month, plus he basically speciallizes in bad credit customers.

mrsuzuki

I am off, so I dont think Ill stay late today. Have a good night and sell some cars!

nthe

right now, he's immitating tv shows such as 24 and csi.

nthe

it keeps acting like its going to rain here, but it hasn't yet. I already sold 1 and delivered another from sat, plus i'm off in an hour.

verdugo

Yes, this why I posted the story here. Different industry, same tactics.

I think he was joking would the smiley have helped?

lrguy44

BR - The marines might be looking for a few good men, but the Navy is looking ONLY for good men.

dino001

Hey, Mr. Suzuki. Unfortunately, you'll hit customers like that all the time. I don't mean to put the brand down (actually think Suzukies are one of those greatly underrated brands nobody knows about), but in US you get basically people who either wander in on their way from/to Toyota/Honda store next door or have no other place to go (bad credit). There is no love for brand here - and that's a shame. As I understand it's actually a major brand outside of US, especially in Asia, but here it's not even a blip. Even my Bank of America excludes Suzuki from their new car loans - and that I really wonder why. They get very good warranty, product is decent. It must be something about customer profile or dealers.

british_rover

Suzuki is the number one brand in India.

What's more, while Nissan focused on boosting profit margins and gaining U.S. market share, it fell behind in the world's fastest-growing markets. Nissan entered China nearly two decades after Volkswagen AG, the market leader there by passenger-car sales, and five years after No. 2 General Motors Corp. Ford Motor Co. already produces and sells several small cars in India, while Suzuki Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. are ranked first and second by sales volume there. Nissan last year offered just one model in India and sold a total of 199 cars, forcing a determined game of catch-up. "We have to imagine different ways of making low-cost cars," says Mr. Ghosn, who also heads Renault.

Source

nthe

The banks won't finance them cause most buying them have bad credit and at the rate they depreciate, the people are never right side up untill they are paid off. Basically if the banks had to repo them, they would lose too much money, so they choose not to finance them. Most banks won't finance daewoos for he same reason. Some banks also say the same thing for older kias and mitsus.

isellhondas

I honestly know next to nothing about these and I don't know if we even have a dealer around here? I suppose we must?

I do know we took one in as a used car a few months ago and ended up losing a lot of money when we finally took it to the auction where it bombed.

I have no opinion on these because I can't remember evr seeing a new one around here. They may sell a lot better in other parts of the US?

Many years ago, I had a Suzuki motorcycle that was OK.

micosilver

I'm a SGT Major in reserve, Israeli Defence Forces, Special Ops Infantry.
I have a photo of me in the military with an assault rifle - hanging in my office. Helps negotiating... :shades:

oldfarmer50

"...I don't understand. She paid $4000 more for the Mazda..."

I think she really wanted ONLY the Mazda all along but had to justify the extra cost. So she set you up as the BARGAIN ALTERNATIVE with an absurdly low buy point. This way she could justify spending more for the vehicle she really wanted by saying "I tried to go with the less expensive brand but that so and so salesman tried to cheat me".

Sounds like you proposed an honorable deal but you never stood a chance. If it hadn't been your price it would have been the color of your tie.

oldfarmer50

"...My boss told me I should sue..."

MY GOD! WHAT A GIRLIE MAN! Who you gonna sue, the wasp? For a guy who sells macho vehicles you sure are delicate.

A farmer friend of mine caught his hand in the PTO of his tractor breaking all his fingers and tearing a lot of skin off. He wrapped his bloody hand up in his kerchief and finished his plowing before going to the hospital.

I asked him why he waited and without a trace of irony he said: "I had another hand but I only had the one day to get the plowing done".

british_rover

We were both kidding.

mako1a

15 or so years ago I rode the ATV circuit using only Suzuki (LT230 and LTF 500). I put a few nice words on the remarks page and got an invitation from Mr Suzuki (not the guy here, but the real Mr S in Japan) to try his car. My buds rode Honda and Yamaha and surely noticed Suz never had a mechanical problem. If their cars have mechanicals (like the ATVs), they'll catch on after they refine the interior feel and ride and lose the box.

jmonroe

I'm a SGT Major in reserve, Israeli Defence Forces, Special Ops Infantry.

So, I gather if any of your customers think they're having a private Yiddish conversation amongst themselves, you can finish the sentence, right?

jmonroe

sterlingdog

ANOTHER good parent. There is hope for the world.

houdini1

Well, if I got snake bitten somewhere in the wild I would have to add one more item on the things to do list: Bend over, put your head down between your knees, and kiss your [non-permissible content removed] good bye because it would scare me to death!

sterlingdog

Where have you been all weekend?! I go out for the afternoon and you pop on line. (Sounds like a nagging wife.) I wanted you to read my purchase post from Saturday and tell me how I did. Joel0622 and Isellhondas thought that I probably did ok. I ended up with a red 2006 Chrysler Sebring Touring convertible. Just put the top up for the first time since Friday. Honestly, if it had been a Solara choice, I would have driven up to Virginia Beach to see you. If you get a chance to go back and read the post, let me know your thoughts. Hope the treatments are going ok for you.

jmonroe

ANOTHER good parent. There is hope for the world.

There are lots of them here and I’m not looking for a pat on the back either. However, I did only beat my sons when they didn’t deserve it. If I did it the other way around, I’d still be serving time. :surprise:

jmonroe

sterlingdog

AMEN to that!

snakeweasel

Yes the original was called "The 300 Spartans" and was made in 1962.

IIRC that movie also ignored the 1,000 other Greeks that died there.

sterlingdog

Welcome aboard! After only two months, I feel like a veteran. You'll enjoy this site. Here is where the salesmen and the customers learn from each other---and sometimes keep each other straight. I started to leave these guys after weeks of listening to their advice on buying and selling. After my purchase last Friday, I decided that I couldn't leave jmonroe alone. You never know what he's going to say! Also, I would miss Mackabee's graphics, Joel's common sense, Snakeweassel's intellect, and Isellhondas's straightforwardness. I'm the oldest on the block, and having been a teacher, I'm adopting all of these characters as my kids. Sometimes they are hard to handle, so be careful.

snakeweasel

Gee I remember when Briley Parkway only went from just south of the airport to Gallatin Pike, about a third the distance it is now.

snakeweasel

Just wanted to take a second and introduce myself.

Well welcome aboard, I just hope you don't work for that one dealership that had the SX4 with the $4K ADM sticker on it last year.

snakeweasel

Nah man, I can take it. I was in the Army.

Ah rats another landlubber. :shades:

snakeweasel

I can see trying to (snake) weasel

What? Oh leave me out of this one.

imidazol97

Yellow jacket?

snakeweasel

Maybe you should have it looked at.

british_rover

Nah its all better now. No more tingly hand just a little red and swollen where I got stung.

snakeweasel

Hey bucko you missed one.

snakeweasel

Their big thing is $99 down, $99/month,

What are they selling skateboards? What can you get worth driving now for that?

Heard a screamer ad they other day that said "$99 down or $99/month". I wonder how many people actually heard the "or"?

snakeweasel

Well I am glad. Sounded like you might have had a slight allergic reaction.

british_rover

Oh probably did as I used to be fairly allergic to bee stings but I have grew out of it in my teens. On of the guys I work with is very allergic and carries an epi-pen around with him but I was never that bad.

jmonroe

Hey bucko you missed one.

Nah...he's only talking about the BIG league. :shades:

jmonroe

snakeweasel

:mad:

I have another one but I don't think the mods would allow it.

imidazol97

If you had a reaction of that level this time, the next reaction can be much greater. Mention the reaction your doctor on your next visit.

mackabee

Everybody knows the only good marine is a submarine.

Mackabee

mackabee

You're the dude from the movie
"Suckers!"
Mackabee

mackabee

I haven't read the post but if Joel and Craig say you did ok you did ok. I was nauseous most of the weekend. I did go to work Saturday although I could have mailed that one in. It was a record low for the store. Must be the "dethroning" of Toyota by Honda in the CR ratings Slept really early Saturday and most of Sunday morning. Anemia strikes quickly with chemo. Went to work Sunday afternoon around 2pm and ended up with a marathon deal on a Highlander. Got home around 8:30 pm. It was a good four pounder so it was worth it. Reason it took so long is we only had one UCM and one NCM and one F&I person. We sold more cars Sunday with one third the crew than we did Saturday with a full crew. GM was not a happy camper this morning at the [non-permissible content removed] chewi.. I mean sales meeting.
Mackabee

mackabee

Are not bad little cars. They make the Grand Viagra which is a nice small SUV with a small V6 and very affordable.

verdugo

Hi all. I picked up my car on Saturday after my factory order at invoice came in. That part was painless. However, with the F&I guy it wasn't soo smooth.

He offered us a rate of 6% (I think) and proceeded to do the whole warranty, lojack, paint protection bit. When we declined it all, he said our interest rate now was 7% (1% more).

FYI, I have a 770 score, and my g/f has 710. We ended up going with our credit union with a rate of 5.75% so we didn't care about the hard sell. I'm just wondering if this is normal or legal.

TIA (that's Thanks In Advance)

Angel