Stories from the Sales Frontlines

snakeweasel

C’mon, tell us you’re messin with us. A car today without a RADIO?

My kids and their friends the first thing they do with a new car is pull out the old radio and install their own. I have to admit to doing that when I was in my young 20's too. If your target market is kids that do that kind of stuff it can make sense to offer cars without a radio.

centerlink

Thanks for the suggestion.

I did call the CMCDA and spoke to an attorney there who said the dealership may have been complying with the OFAC, and maybe were just set up to do it through their credit app, however he said they could have done it without the loan app or insisting that I sign the loan app and could have handled the entire situation better and he would call the dealer.

Either way, the way they handled it definitely rubbed me the wrong way, even if they were only collecting information for the OFAC.

greanpea68

We're in our busy season here the detail center so naturally, I'm here until 9pm

Holly crap your detail center is open till 9???? Your sales guys are lucky. Around here it is almost like our clean up dept runs the dealership :confuse: Don't ask why it is that way it just is

gP

mackabee

When you have a good cleanup department some sales persons complain about this and that and then the prep manager gets fired. Then we get one that is worse than the one that got fired. I just try to stay in good terms with the guys that actually do the work. I'll buy them a pizza or take them out to Hooters for lunch. My cars are rarely taken back to prep for touch ups.
Mack :shades:

tlcruz

Yeah, 9pm Monday through Friday and 6pm on Saturdays ( I'm here for all of it, all 6 days ) Our detail guys && salesmen have good relationships for the most part. The guys know exactly what to do to make the customer happy.....Unless it's one of those customers where they are never happy with anything you do for them, we get good reviews.

My favorite kind of customers are the ones who want a 6+ year old car to look brand new :P

I'm sitting here, waiting for the time to pass eating some delicious strawberries from the Super Fresh across the street

- Tannis
Proud Owner of the Green Machine
2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R

tlcruz

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=125923

Apparently, the color of your car reflects your mood. ROFL :P

Average drivers of orange and emerald green vehicles have the highest upswings in mood It's true, at least, for meeeeee

- Tannis
Proud Owner of the Green Machine
2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R

mcdawgg

"I use my credit card for just about everything as well... most purchases over $10-$15. "

I do the same, carry $20 or less, and use the credit card for everything over $1.00. I get cash back, so it makes sense!

When I bought my last car, I put $2,500 of it on the Mastercard!! And I always pay it off to avoid the ridiculous interest rates.

jipster

When I bought my last car, I put $2,500 of it on the Mastercard!!

I wish I had thought about doing that on my last purchase. Would have saved me around $70 (I think I would have gotten 1% cash back on a $7,000 purchase). If I recall correctly, dealerships have a limit on what amount they will accept on a credit card. :confuse:

joel0622

dealerships have a limit on what amount they will accept on a credit card. :confuse:

Because of the fees that the CC companies charge. If some one slaps a $30K ride on the AMEX that would mean we would only get paid around $25,500 of the $30,000. Do that 10 times in a month and you have pissed away $5000 in a months time $60,000 in a year, etc, etc.

greanpea68

I just try to stay in good terms with the guys that actually do the work. I'll buy them a pizza or take them out to Hooters for lunch. My cars are rarely taken back to prep for touch ups.

Can't agree more with you on how valuable a good detail guy is. I don't take them to hooters. But I do make sure the Manager has a carton of smokes every other month and it is also funny how 3 dunking donut ice coffees can really make your day go smoothe :shades:

GP

mackabee

" But I do make sure the Manager has a carton of smokes every other month ..."

GP, are you trying to kill him? I wished my prep manager smoked. I'd give her a carton every week! LOL
Just kidding...

jmonroe

If your target market is kids that do that kind of stuff it can make sense to offer cars without a radio.

That could be the case sometimes/somewhere but the beast GP was talking about, that his store was trying to unload, had some other attributes that couldn't be overcome.

jmonroe

jmonroe

My kids and their friends the first thing they do with a new car is pull out the old radio and install their own.

I should have mentioned this in my previous post.

What we did in my day was add a rear speaker, sometimes two. When I bought my new 66' Bonneville, I installed two rear speakers and a Motorola Reverberator. That was a fad that lasted only a couple of years.

Anyone remember these?

jmonroe

snakeweasel

Its less than that, its about 3-4% so you would get $28,800 or so for that $30K car.

Plus check your math.

laurasdada

I charge everything, too. Cash back, no miles to mess around with. With the evil wife's car, put $3k down payment on the cc, paid off the bill in full next month. It's only $30 back to me, but it's the mindset of trying to always make my money work a bit harder for me... Stupid (current) stock market...

From our Nation's Capitol,

Laurasdada

nyccarguy

What if a customer offered to pay the credit card fee? We accept credit cards and are charged somewhere in the 2% neighborhood. I'd gladly pay the extra $600 (is my math right snake :P ) for a $30,000 car to put a car on my card.

fordfool

> What we did in my day was add a rear speaker, sometimes two. When I bought my new 66' Bonneville, I installed two rear speakers and a Motorola Reverberator.

> Anyone remember these?

Running wire from the speakers in the rear shelf under the carpet (what a pain) to a switch on the dash(Front, Back, Both). Now radios self-adjust for road noise.

snakeweasel

What if a customer offered to pay the credit card fee?

That would be a violation of the merchants agreement and could result in the dealership losing the right to use credit cards.

is my math right snake

Well you said that you would only get paid $25,500 on a $30K car which means $4,500 in charges do ten of those a month and its $45,000 a month not the $5,000 you mentioned.

mcdawgg

Yes, in my case, that was the most they would let me put on - I had no problem with that, because I understand the cost to them. Otherwise, I'd have run my card right to the limit!

sterlingdog

Do you often have customers who walk in and pay for a car with REAL cash---as in putting down 30 one thousand dollar bills?

Richard

kiawah

Hate to say I've put speakers and reverbs in as well years ago......that was back when there wasn't any 'stereo'.

jmonroe

What if a customer offered to pay the credit card fee? We accept credit cards and are charged somewhere in the 2% neighborhood. I'd gladly pay the extra $600 (is my math right snake ) for a $30,000 car to put a car on my card.

Why would you as a customer want to pay the credit card fee? Isn’t the advantage of using the credit card to use someone else’s (the banks) money for the period until it has to be paid back (assuming you pay it all off when you get the bill)?

In your example of buying that $30K car, you just overpaid for it to the tune of $600 and you could have easily spent an hour getting to your price only to give it away to someone else. I always thought it was the TOTAL cost of the deal. :confuse:

You’ll have to allow ‘snake’ to wake up; then he’ll realize that you weren’t the one with the math problem. Although I can’t understand your financial reasoning about the use of credit cards.

jmonroe

isellhondas

It was called Vibrasonic and that Pontiac could have come with that from the factory. I had a 1965 Riviera with factory "Reverb".

We thought those sounded so cool!

jmonroe

Running wire from the speakers in the rear shelf under the carpet (what a pain) to a switch on the dash(Front, Back, Both)

That was a pain to pull up that carpet but to get GREAT sound in those days that’s what us music lovers had to do. Don’t tell me you never up-graded to the “potentiometer” so you could get the full music pleasure of blending front/rear to your choosing like they do today. That switch thingy was archaic.

Now radios self-adjust for road noise.

These kids today have everything and it’s all built in. Where’s the fun?

jmonroe

jmonroe

Hate to say I've put speakers and reverbs in as well years ago......that was back when there wasn't any 'stereo'.

The only part you “hate” is admitting you go back that far. You loved the results.

jmonroe

mitzij

What if a customer offered to pay the credit card fee?

That would be a violation of the merchants agreement and could result in the dealership losing the right to use credit cards.

Check your agreement. Discover Card recently changed their minds. As of Oct 08, we can charge a fee.
My local auction house already does, they charge 3% for all c/c transactions.

jmonroe

It was called Vibrasonic and that Pontiac could have come with that from the factory. I had a 1965 Riviera with factory "Reverb".

As well equipped as my 66’ Bonneville was for its day (even had power windows and a trunk light) it didn’t have the reverb system factory installed but I wouldn’t let something like that kill the deal; I’d just put one in myself.

IIRC, GM used the unit built by Motorola but when it was factory installed it was either on or off, as I was led to believe. However, when you bought the Motorola unit to install yourself (which BTW you had to mount the trunk unit so it was placed going front to rear not sideways, otherwise you would get disturbing sounds and ruin the unit, according to the instructions), you could fade the sound front/rear with the under dash mounted, pull out for on/push in for off, control switch. When it was pulled out to the on position you could rotate the knob to get the fade sound that you wanted.

I remember a girl I was dating at the time was so impressed with it that she asked me to install one for her and I did. I was an easy touch back then.

We thought those sounded so cool!

I also remember, to impress his future wife, my brother borrowed my Bonneville for their first date. My sister-in-law still talks about it to this day. She tells my sons I had the ‘coolest radio with a reverberator’. They have no idea what she’s talking about. And my wise-@ss Son #1 says, “yeah, probably just like those “cool” black and white TV’s that you had back then”. I’d like to find one of those old reverb units so I could shut him up but I’m not willing to go through the work of the installation. :mad:

jmonroe

stickguy

need to talk more!

Just hit the Honda dealer today for an oil change on the van. Already had a coupon pack for $24.95 (reg. $34.95), but by luck, yesterday in the mail we got a sales promo (they will give me 65% of orig MSRP for my Accord! Less deducts, of course...

The key though, was they had a coupon for oil change at $19.95, if you got it signed in the showroom.

Funny part was, when I gave it to the service writer, he had no clue about it (had not seen one yet I guess). They were nice though, and said they would take care of getting it signed, so I never did hae to hunt up a sales dude.

stickguy

Hey Ford man. I am looking at a used 4 pot Contour ('98 with 89K). Are the ATs on these something to make me run and hide from?

I haven't driven it yet, so I assume that it will drive normally. If it was funky (as with any car) I would pass.

I hear that some of the Mazda 626 4 cyls. had issues, but don't know what year, and if it is the same unit.

mackabee

We had an Asian lady do that back in 1997. She bought a 4runner Limited and had the money in a brown paper bag. It was hilarious as we all watched while the salesman and f$i manager counted the money more than once. She had all denominations. Once the deal was consummated she went home and came back a few hours later with a bucketful of lumpia. Needless to say we all enjoyed the food.

Mck

fezo

stickguy, I think your kid is actually 12 which is what is allowing for you to be checkingout so many cars without buying....

mackabee

Happens all the time. Service doesn't know what the sales side is doing for promotions and neither do the sales side.
Mack

sad_chair

In 1993 I walked away from a Honda dealership over a radio in a Civic DX hatchback. We had a handshake deal for a car with no options (well, it did have a heater). I didn't even care much about color, just didn't want a sea green popular at the time. First he said they had a red one on the lot, then he told me it was gone but if I gave him a $500 credit card down payment he'd find another the next day. Next day he called and told me to come pick up my white Civic but didn't mention until I got there that it had an AM/FM stereo radio (don't think it included cassette but can't say for sure now) and would be $200 more. He said he just found out that morning that Honda had changed some policy 2 months earlier and now all DXs had radios installed at the factory. He said he would lose money on the deal if he didn't charge $200 more for the radio.

I smelled something fishy and walked. Later that afternoon I found exactly what I was looking for at another dealership. Salesman there said factory didn't install anything, not even AC, and dealer was responsible for all options.

A month later I discovered the first dealership never processed my credit card refund. It took another month, some phone calls and a registered letter from my lawyer sister-in-law to get that straightened out.

greanpea68

Do you often have customers who walk in and pay for a car with REAL cash---as in putting down 30 one thousand dollar bills?

Richard

The most I have ever taken in cash was $12,000.... $100's, $50's, and $20's...

GP

british_rover

The most I have ever taken in cash was $12,000.... $100's, $50's, and $20's...

About the same for me. Had a woman put down 30,00 on a bank check then another 12,000ish in cash.

cracovian

I was able to put $5K on my AMEX. We added another $2K for the extended warranty that I later canceled since it turned out to be a rip-off. We got the check for the full $2K a week later, so it was $7K counting towards my double miles Has anyone been able to charge more?

qbrozen

Interesting. I think you lucked out.

I've tried to use my AMEX at different dealerships a few times and they all tell me "NO!" Only MC, VISA, or Discover, and only a max of $2500. Chrysler dealer and 2 different Honda dealers were all the same way.

obyone

You've got to be nuts to pay with $1000 bills. I've seen pristine ones sell for over $4K. Now that's some profit.

greanpea68

I've tried to use my AMEX at different dealerships a few times and they all tell me "NO!" Only MC, VISA, or Discover, and only a max of $2500. Chrysler dealer and 2 different Honda dealers were all the same way.


Thats because AMEX charges the dealer the most as you may already know

We never tell what card to use but we ussualy limit it to about $2500 unless there is some profit in the deal. :surprise:

GP

isellhondas

Your memory is right on target.

That box in the trunk had long springs in it and if you were driving fast and you had a wheel out of balance on your car, it would make a noise like someone dropping chairs in an auditorium. I really liked the vibrasonic sound myself. they were 39.95 at the time, a lot of money.

Ford called their version "Studiosonic Sound" and they were VERY rare on Fords.

Buick and Pontiac seemed to use them the most.

And, before car stereos, we used to mount record players under the dash. You loaded 45's through the bottom and it played through your radio speakers, vibrasonic included if you had it.

Those record players were VERY hard on records. The needle looked like a roofing nail and if you hit a bump hard enough the needle would skate across the record.

There was always black dust under those things from the records.

Then the 4 track tape decks came out. These were made by Muntz or Craig.

I had one of the first ones. It came from the ORIGINAL Leo's on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance CA. I bought it from Leo himself.

snakeweasel

Since the government took out of circulation anything higher that $100 I would be suspicious of someone paying in thousand dollar bills.

oldfarmer50

"...I rarely have more than $40 in my wallet..."

Boy, you are a blue-blooded rich kid. I haven't had more than $20 in my wallet since I got married.

snakeweasel

Thats news to me, up until just recently only the government could pass on that charge.

cdnpinhead

"Since the government took out of circulation anything higher that $100. . ."

I ran into this back in the late '70's when I did long-haul trucking and took significant cash with me when I left home. I thought $500 & $1000 bills were available, but learned differently very quickly. Hundreds are as good as it got back then, well before so much commerce was done with credit/debit/on-line stuff.

In theory there are such things as $500, $1000 & higher bills, but not really.

obyone

You will find $1K bills in higher end jewelry stores selling for $3-4K depending on the condition.

chikoo

must have been a special order :sick:

jkinzel

I haven't had more than $20 in my wallet since I got married.

I get an allowance of $45.00 a month for fun money, wooo hooo

I try not to spend it all in one place.

Maybe when I turn 60 next month I'll get a cost of living increase, you know, like 3%.

mackabee

Dang! those darn Honda car dealers of the 90's!

Mackabee

I remember in the early eighties you couldn't buy a Honda for less than MSRP or more. The guys that were selling Hondas at that time would take an order for incoming units and deliver them when they came in. One lot in San Diego had a couple of cars on the lot and just for test driving. I believe one was the Civic or CVCC as it was originally called and the other was the Accord. :shades: and yes, back then the a/c and stereo and other accessories were installed at the dealer.

nyccarguy

I understand that $600 is $600, but if I'm paying for the car (not financing) why shouldn't I get miles or points from whatever credit card I'm using at the time (obviously I'd pay the balance off when the bill comes)? I go in, make my best deal, and then when it comes time to pay I swipe my credit card (instead of going to the bank & getting a cashier's check). The F&I guy says to me, "we can't take more than $2500 on a credit card." I'd say what does your bank charge, 2%? I'll pay the 2% above the negotiated price so your profit remains the same.

jmonroe

I understand that $600 is $600, but if I'm paying for the car (not financing) why shouldn't I get miles or points from whatever credit card I'm using at the time…

I'll pay the 2% above the negotiated price so your profit remains the same.

The way I figure it, by paying that 2% on a $30k car you paid $600 dollars for a plane ticket. For me, the last two times when I couldn’t use my frequent flyer miles because I didn’t want to fly when the airlines wanted me to fly (that’s a subject that would last forever if I got started on that one :mad: ) I had to purchase my tickets. I paid a little less than $250 for each ticket each time, so why would I want to pay $600 for those same tickets?

Using your method I would have paid $2400 for two round trip tickets for me and Mrs. jmonroe. Doing it the way I did it I paid a little less than $1000. If she would have ever found out I paid well over twice as much for those same tickets (and she would have) my flying days would be over. Might even be making my last trip…HORIZONTALLY.

jmonroe