Yep, remember this is New York State and the suburbs to boot. They have all my money in the world to pay gov't employees. Starting salary in my district is around 39K.
Funny, you mentioned your relatives with PhD's and masters degrees getting small pay. When I made my career change I looked into both teaching and school bus driving. I choose the bus when I found out a substitute driver made more per hour than a substitute teacher. I guess the big money only comes when they put you on permanent.
To stay on topic, there are some pretty nice cars in the teacher's lot.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Where do I start to respond? Nah, it's off topic and would take too long. I'll just pass on what a teacher told me when I commented that the kids seemed to behave better for the teachers than they did for the bus drivers. She said: "That's because we can flunk 'em".
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Took my son to Fenway (Sox won, their three errors were only bested by the Brewers four!) last night. Two tickets, parking and a Diet Coke. Poof! My stimulus check has been spent!
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Two tickets and some snacks shouldn't cost 600 dollars.
The cost of going to sporting events today is unbelievable. I remember when the average family had no problem going to them. My Father took me and my brothers to more games than I could count and we sure weren't considered upper class.
Of course when we went to games we went to watch them play ball not to eat. We also parked far enough away that we got a good workout walking to the game. My Father got each of us one item and that was it. He said, "watch the game you might learn something, we'll eat when we get home". That worked. Of course today, here in the Burgh, I don't think you could learn much from watching Them play baseball
Today if you plan on going to the park often, you need a sizeable income and be the owner a used car.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I promise you that on average across the board the average teacher makes more then the average car salesmen
Add to the fact that teachers work a 6 1/2 hour school day about 7 months of the year (minus summer, Xmas break, spring break, teacher conferences, Oaks Day, Groudhog Day, Peewee Herman Day etc.), to a salesperson 12 hour days, 50 weeks of the year... and the average teacher makes a lot more, in comparison, than meets the eye. :surprise:
Plus, teachers are right up there with doctors in terms of status. Salesfolks are... well... you know.
I commented that the kids seemed to behave better for the teachers than they did for the bus drivers. She said: "That's because we can flunk 'em
You drive a school bus oldfarmer... what's a kid gotta do to get kicked off nowadays? Seems fighting, cussing and general mayhem are accepted. A murder charge get you a suspension? I would think you could do something worse than flunk them... make them walk home. :sick:
Last summer, a guy at work flew his family to California. They spent a day at Disneyland and I was just SHOCKED at what he said a day in the Magic Kingdom costs these days. Just his wife and two kids and the amount was staggering.
When I was in HS, I took part in a track meet that we were bussed to. It wasn't in Compton but it was close.
Total surprise that we won the meet. As we pulled away, our bus was pelted with rocks. I remember a couple of broken windows and the coach screaming GET DOWN!
I haven't been do a MLB game since I was a teenager as it is just too expensive which. I really like baseball but I won't pay that much for tickets so I go to minor league games from time to time. We used to go to Richmond Braves games all the time and those tickets are very cheap.
Yeah, these days it's much better to let those that don't mind spending a fortune goto the big league games and when I want to see live ball to go to a minor league game. Here in NJ that was impossible 15 years ago. Now we have out choice of a couple of major league affiliates (Yankees AA Trenton Thunder and the Phillies high A Lakewood Blue Claws) and a host of unaffiliated teams (Atlantic City Surf, Camdem River Sharks, Jersey Jackals, Newark Bears, Somerset Patriots...). Cheap, entertaining and the players are actually hungry.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
The cost of going to sporting events today is unbelievable.
I know what you mean, when I was in high school I would cut school grab the Bus to the train and head on down to Wrigley Field get a bleacher seat have a hot dog and a coke at some point then head home and still have change left from my twenty.
Now I would spend twenty just to park. :sick:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I really like baseball but I won't pay that much for tickets so I go to minor league games from time to time. We used to go to Richmond Braves games all the time and those tickets are very cheap.
Tell me about it here in Chicago you will pay at least $35 a ticket for either the Cubs of the Sox but our one minor league team (Kane County Cougars) are between $8 and $12. Plus we have two teams in the Northern League whose tickets are between $5 and $10.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
As a Yankees season ticket holder, My Dad and I were offered tickets to the All Star game being played at The Stadium this year. Besides the tickets to the game, they make you buy tickets to the Home Run Derby, Up & Coming Game, and something called DHL Fan Fest at the Javitz Center, along with 2 $12 programs, and a $25 shipping charge. Now I don't mind paying for the tickets to a once in a lifetime event, but $25 to ship this stuff to me literally across town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad: Yankee Stadium is at E161st Street & River Avenue, my store is on Boston Road & E169th Street.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
It's not just sports. Try buying tickets to a concert. The wife begged me to take her to a Righteous Brothers concert here. Two tickets were $150. At intermission, our friends asked us to join them for a cocktail. Two cocktails $20 plus tip. Parking was $25 plus tip. We then had breakfast afterward to the tune of $30 plus tip. So, the evening was $240 including tips to the bartender, the parking lot attendant, and the waitress. The Platters are coming in a couple of months. I told Mrs. Richard that we would park just beyond the parking lot on the street, roll down the windows, and listen really hard. She made no comment. That means that I will pay again, or sleep in the laundry room with the dog.
Well, I can't help you with being a Yankees fan. That's something that you'll just have to live with. Or, maybe join a 12 Step Prograrm? "Ah, hi. My name is Explorerx4 and I'm a Yankees fan..." :P
Nope not up on The Monster. Loge Boxes, third base side. Good seats, but my earliest visits to Fenway (during finals week at UConn! Road trip!) were $3 bleacher seats... I think I actually had more money back then... First time I've paid for tix to Fenway in years (thank you for an occasional kindness, large Corporation!), I figured once in a blue moon, show the budding baseballer how the game is played. Seven errors! Ok, show the boy that even World Champions make mistakes, but they dust themselves off, collect several million dollar paychecks and get right back on the horse. Or something like that.
Grew up a Mets fan, always hated the Yanks. Mostly because of George Bluster putting the front office/business side of the game on the Sports pages rather than, well, sports...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Obyone, you should get out more often and mingle with the young crowds! There are plenty of high performance parts made for Hyundais. Here's a sample (click on the words link title in green.) link title
Boston is a very nice city. The pizza at the north end is fabulous! and so are the pastries in the Italian bakeries. The sports teams however, SUCK!!!! Although I hear Manny Ramirez finally got a haircut and right size pants and is starting to look like a real ball player and not a hip-hop/rapper star. :P And don't get me started on the Billecheat team, that's for another day. \ :P
Speaking of dogs; Two guys are walking down the street and come up to a dog that's licking himself. One guy says to the other: "I wish I could do that." and the other guy responds: "You might want to ask him first."
The wife begged me to take her to a Righteous Brothers concert here. Two tickets were $150.
Neal Diamond is coming to the Burgh again and ‘you know who’ said the tickets are something like $125 EACH. We like the guy and we’ve gone to several of his concerts over the years. The last time was about 3 or 4 years ago and the ticket price then was something like $75 each. The mistake we made was to let the couple we were going with make the reservations on their CC. They did but they did it very late (price was the same) and we were so far away as far as I was concerned that could have been a chimpanzee up there playing a CD cause I wouldn’t have know the difference. I don’t think we’re going this time; it’s gotten way out of hand.
I told Mrs. Richard that we would park just beyond the parking lot on the street, roll down the windows, and listen really hard.
Look who’s turned into a tight [non-permissible content removed] now. I’m betting your ears ain’t nearly that good. :shades:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Yesterday was a beautiful day here in VaBeach. Sunny, not too hot, low 70's with a cool breeze. Most customers were probably doing yard work or at the beach so traffic was not steady. Few customers here and there. I helped Lucky with a customer as he was tied up with another customer. Nice couple, school teacher and wife works at the Naval base with the Navy College. So both are in the education field. Their daughter was very animated and talked our ear off, she was rather cute and sweet. We drove a Hybrid Camry and after the test drive when I went for the close they did their usual: "We don't have time, we have to be somewhere." and "I have to go home and do my research." What research? Hybrids are going for full pop right now. We are fortunate to have a few hybrid Camrys in stock. The Prius is all sold out for the next two months. So the husband is salivating over the car and is copying the options off the sticker."So how much can you come off the price.?" he asks. "If you are ready to buy I may be able to get you at least $500.00 depending on how motivated the sales managers are to move the car. I will tell you this though, we have been selling all hybrids at list since gas prices started going through the roof." He gets away from the price issue and I ask him what time frame are they looking at to make a decision. "It will be this month." he says. His wife then asks me "Are you open on Memorial day?, we probably won't be able to make it back until then." "How about during the week?" I ask. "We both work." she replies. "Yes, but I'm sure both of you get off around 4 or 5pm right.?" I ask again. "We are very busy during the week." she replies. So I've asked for the sale more than 5 times and I'm getting nowhere so I decide to end the conversation. "Ok, did Lucky get your information? name, phone number, etc.? I ask. "We gave him our phone number. I don't know if he remembers it or not." the husband replies. I take down their home phone and say bye to them. I go back into the showroom and look him up and Lucky never put him in the data base. No problem. He did ask me for help so it's not like I'm taking the whole deal if they buy. Mack
LOL!! Are the parts made to order? or imported from Korea?
Please allow 3 to 5 weeks for delivery.
And I take it you didn't bother to check exactly what parts are offered? When I checked most of it says "no parts available". Oh well someday..
BTW, not to change the subject but how are the Sequoia and Tundra sales? Land Cruiser? Just curious as I haven't seen any in your sales stories lately or was it for awhile?
Most of you are probably aware that used suv's are taking a beating on trades. This next story is called:
"The fall of the SUV"
After I was done with the Camry hybrid customers I went inside to update my data base and also to get a bottle of water. The "huddle" was standing right outside the showroom door so I went out by the side door to see if I could find me another customer. I see a gentleman walking by the 4runners and not a single salesperson in sight. I walk towards him, greet him and start showing him some vehicles. He tells me they own a Camry that they bought at my store a year ago. I ask him who the sales person was and he tells me it was a green pea and he probably doesn't work there anymore. Couldn't remember his name so I went ahead and continued with my vehicle presentation.
Ended up looking at a base Highlander and really liked it. Asked for my card and told me he would bring his wife back.
By this time it's around 5:35 in the evening and I'm looking at a 3 and 0 count. Nothing but tire kickers. The first one was an elderly lady that was shopping for her sister that lives in DC.
Showed her all the economy cars and then she gives me her phone number and asks me to call her when the 09 Prius comes in.
She says she will be getting some money then so she will pay cash for it.
I think she was just lonely at home and decided to waste some time.
So by this time I figure I'm probably not going to sell a car today. Oh well. I go to the front of the showroom and a family of five pulls up in a Ford Expedition.
They have two little girls and a little boy. I don't pay much attention to them until one of the guys gets a phone call from another salesperson that's at our off site used car sale. Apparently he helped them during the week and is asking if someone will help them as he can't leave the used car site. Everyone looks at each other and says "I'm not helping them" the family is no more than 15 feet away looking inside a Sequoia and I say "I'll help them, I need a half deal."
I walk up to them and start talking to the husband. He doesn't look familiar until I look at his wife. I sold her a Tacoma truck back in 2000. "Hey! I know you! I sold you a truck back when we were in the old building!" I exclaim "You sure did." Kim replies."I told you that was him." her husband Jim tells her. "They tolds us you didn't work here anymore." Kim continues. "Really? Who told you that.?" I ask. "The guy that helped us. We drove the Tacoma that day. He asked if we bought it here and who was the salesperson. I couldn't remember your name until I saw you just now. He did look in the computer and there was a Darryl or something like that listed as the one that sold me the truck." she says. "We have had so many different customer data bases that some customers are now showing in other salespersons data base. We don't have a Darryl though. That's strange." I tell them.
The kids are now gathered around us and staring at me. "Wow you have three kids now!" I exclaim. "Yeah, Kelsey was about two weeks old when you sold me the truck." she responds.
So we start looking at the Sequoias and Jim tells me what they are trying to accomplish. "I want to get 15k for my Expedition, and with the 9k off you guys are taking off the sticker that will put me around 20k to finance. That'll will get my payments around $350.00 a month. I really want them at $300.00 but I don't know if I can get them around that." he tells me. (I wonder who was his math teacher.) "9K OFF!!???" where did you come up with that figure? We are doing the 2 + 2k rebate and the $5k gas card promotion. Not 9k off MSRP, and that's only on the Limiteds." I tell him. "That's not what your website says. Kim let me see that paper we printed off the website." he tells her. She gives him the paper and he shows it to me. Sure as heck, it does say 9K off ALL Sequoias! "That's not the way they explained it to us but if that's what's on the website than that's what we'll do." So I ask him if he read the article about falling suv prices both new and used and trade ins.
"Yeah I saw that but Ford will give me 15k for it." he tells me. "Ok, let's find the Sequoia you like and we'll go from there." ..............................
Ok, so there's not many parts available but there is some. link title
As far as your question on Tundra/Sequoia sales. They are in the dumps right now. Only thing selling is Corolla, Camry, Prius (sold out) Yaris, Matrix, and small Tacomas, A few Highlanders here and there. No Landcruisers. We didn't even bother getting some for the store. Last year we probably sold two. Plus with the new "re-design" they made it "sale proof". Not very many people like it. Mack
Last year we probably sold two. Plus with the new "re-design" they made it "sale proof". Not very many people like it.
Yup thats the truth. We have had several former Land Cruiser owners come in to look at either LR3 or Range Rovers. None of them have liked the new Land Cruiser at all.
My office is probably about 20-30 minutes from New Britain so yeah I could go catch a Rock Cats game sometime and that would be good.
First time I've paid for tix to Fenway in years (thank you for an occasional kindness, large Corporation!),
In 34 years I have been to aboout 15 Red Sox games. I have never paid for a ticket. I have not sat in the green moster seats yet. My favirite seats so far have been roof top. No long lines for beers or the bathroom. Instead of parking I always think it is alot more fun standing on the Green Line :shades:
Best Pizza in the country is at Santarpio's in East Boston!!!!! The place is "old school" Italian. They only take cash. No checks or credit cards. Ther menu only has Pizza, Lamb, and Sausage. The service is thick skinned. They place still uses the original plates, silverware, and glasses that it used when it first opened. And it still has "wood paneling" I love this place.
Laurasdada... Have you ever been there? If you haven't you absolutely must go!!!
MACK...Great story with pics. Just when I thought you couldn't get any better...
"I want to get 15k for my Expedition, and with the 9k off you guys are taking off the sticker that will put me around 20k to finance. That'll will get my payments around $350.00 a month. I really want them at $300.00 but I don't know if I can get them around that." he tells me. (I wonder who was his math teacher.)
That warm fuzzy feeling I had (from them being previous customer) went as cold as Alaska
Yeah I saw that but Ford will give me 15k for it."
Must have been looking at used car or doing a trade allowance :mad:
Good luck with that one Mack. Maybe you could send them a email with lots of cool pics and win them over that way.
GP
Starting to sound like this will be a practice up.
I love playing that car on people. Once or twice the other dealer has actually stepped up and paid what they said they would on the car even without the customer buying a car there.
I remember about a year and a half ago we had this woman come in with a A4 that obviously had a sludged 1.8T motor. I was honestly afraid to drive it around the block because I thought it was going to die at anytime and I told her that.
We end up offering her about half what some Honda dealer up in mass offered her. She has all the paperwork from the other dealer and they are over charging her by several thousand dollars on the used accord she is looking at buying. I am charging less for mine and mine has nav.
We explain all this too her and tell her to try and see if the other dealer will just buy her A4. She says she will try that and leaves. I don't have very much confidence in the whole thing but you never know.
I call her the next day and she is taking her A4 into the Honda dealer that evening. I get a call back from her that they bought the A4 for what they offered for it and she will be in to buy our Accord later that week. :surprise:
Turns out she got up to the Honda dealer and they started back pedaling right away when she got there. She started a screaming match with someone there and at the end of it all they agreed to buy the A4 for essentially what they offered her for it originally minus a few hundred bucks. They probably lost four or five thousand dollars on that A4 if they managed to get out of it before the engine popped.
Platters? I'm still trying to figure out how you saw the Righteous Brothers when there's only been one Righteous Brother for a number of years now.
BR - cool. The Rock Cats are in the Eastern League which is a cool minor league. You get to check out the Binghamton Mets, the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox) and the Trenton Thunder (Yankees - it just kills me - they used to be the Red Sox) and all sorts of fun teams.
I'll be overnighting in Danbury Friday into Saturday. If you were in the neighborhood I'd let you buy me breakfast.... Heading up to see friends in New Hampshire for Memorial Day despite $4 gas.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
"Look who's turned into a tight [non-permissible content removed] now."
I have to confess that I have been a tight [non-permissible content removed] for years. I was a teacher, remember? That's why I recognize all of your tactics. :shades: I brag to every one if I get a $1.00 off a box of Tide. I'm the one in front of you in the check-out line having his coupons counted and checking the cash register tape against my calculator. Mrs. Richard is standing there complaining that people are waiting to check out.
Speaking of coupons, I had one for $1,500 off a new Chrysler that I purchased new in 2004. The coupon had been in a local newspaper ad. I played it slick. I didn't show the coupon until the negotiations were done and we were sitting in the F&I's office. Neither the SM nor the F&I guy knew that the coupon was in the paper. They went to show the coupon to the boss.. The boss hadn't seen the ad either. None of them were happy about it, but they honored it. I bet that either the newspaper or the dealer ad writer got raked over the coals for that one.
If you come up route 8 north from 84 then take 202 east you will pass right by my dealership. Not sure which way you were planning to go up but you can get to 91 by following 10/202 up to Granby to Route 20 which connects with 91 just north of Hartford.
"I'm still trying to figure out how you saw the Righteous Brothers when there has been only one Righteous Brother for a number of years now."
Allow me to explain it to you. These old groups add younger people to the team who take their direction from one or two of the remaining old timers. For example, the Platters only have one original guy who really joined the Platters after they got started. He was a young teen at the time. He's probably in his late 60's or early 70's by now, but sounds terrific. The older ones train the younger ones in the "old sounds". That way, the group keeps going. Other groups, like the Coasters, the Embers, the Tams, the Zodiacs, etc. have done the same thing. Sadly, with the Carpenters, there was just no replacing Karen after she died. She and her brother were such a wonderful pair.
Comments
Yep, remember this is New York State and the suburbs to boot. They have all my money in the world to pay gov't employees. Starting salary in my district is around 39K.
Funny, you mentioned your relatives with PhD's and masters degrees getting small pay. When I made my career change I looked into both teaching and school bus driving. I choose the bus when I found out a substitute driver made more per hour than a substitute teacher. I guess the big money only comes when they put you on permanent.
To stay on topic, there are some pretty nice cars in the teacher's lot.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Where do I start to respond? Nah, it's off topic and would take too long. I'll just pass on what a teacher told me when I commented that the kids seemed to behave better for the teachers than they did for the bus drivers. She said: "That's because we can flunk 'em".
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The cost of going to sporting events today is unbelievable. I remember when the average family had no problem going to them. My Father took me and my brothers to more games than I could count and we sure weren't considered upper class.
Of course when we went to games we went to watch them play ball not to eat. We also parked far enough away that we got a good workout walking to the game. My Father got each of us one item and that was it. He said, "watch the game you might learn something, we'll eat when we get home". That worked. Of course today, here in the Burgh, I don't think you could learn much from watching Them play baseball
Today if you plan on going to the park often, you need a sizeable income and be the owner a used car.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Add to the fact that teachers work a 6 1/2 hour school day about 7 months of the year (minus summer, Xmas break, spring break, teacher conferences, Oaks Day, Groudhog Day, Peewee Herman Day etc.), to a salesperson 12 hour days, 50 weeks of the year... and the average teacher makes a lot more, in comparison, than meets the eye. :surprise:
Plus, teachers are right up there with doctors in terms of status. Salesfolks are... well... you know.
You drive a school bus oldfarmer... what's a kid gotta do to get kicked off nowadays? Seems fighting, cussing and general mayhem are accepted. A murder charge get you a suspension? I would think you could do something worse than flunk them... make them walk home. :sick:
When I was in HS, I took part in a track meet that we were bussed to. It wasn't in Compton but it was close.
Total surprise that we won the meet. As we pulled away, our bus was pelted with rocks. I remember a couple of broken windows and the coach screaming GET DOWN!
Poor losers, wouldn't you say? : :mad:
I know what you mean, when I was in high school I would cut school grab the Bus to the train and head on down to Wrigley Field get a bleacher seat have a hot dog and a coke at some point then head home and still have change left from my twenty.
Now I would spend twenty just to park. :sick:
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Tell me about it here in Chicago you will pay at least $35 a ticket for either the Cubs of the Sox but our one minor league team (Kane County Cougars) are between $8 and $12. Plus we have two teams in the Northern League whose tickets are between $5 and $10.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Richard
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
Richard
well, the dog is "mans best friend" :P
Richard
Nope not up on The Monster. Loge Boxes, third base side. Good seats, but my earliest visits to Fenway (during finals week at UConn! Road trip!) were $3 bleacher seats... I think I actually had more money back then... First time I've paid for tix to Fenway in years (thank you for an occasional kindness, large Corporation!), I figured once in a blue moon, show the budding baseballer how the game is played. Seven errors! Ok, show the boy that even World Champions make mistakes, but they dust themselves off, collect several million dollar paychecks and get right back on the horse. Or something like that.
Grew up a Mets fan, always hated the Yanks. Mostly because of George Bluster putting the front office/business side of the game on the Sports pages rather than, well, sports...
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
Mack
Major Mets fan.
BR - you anywhere near New Britain? Always a good minor league town.
\ :P
Where did you order them from? are these collector plates? They seem awful expensive to me.
Mack
Neal Diamond is coming to the Burgh again and ‘you know who’ said the tickets are something like $125 EACH. We like the guy and we’ve gone to several of his concerts over the years. The last time was about 3 or 4 years ago and the ticket price then was something like $75 each. The mistake we made was to let the couple we were going with make the reservations on their CC. They did but they did it very late (price was the same) and we were so far away as far as I was concerned that could have been a chimpanzee up there playing a CD cause I wouldn’t have know the difference. I don’t think we’re going this time; it’s gotten way out of hand.
I told Mrs. Richard that we would park just beyond the parking lot on the street, roll down the windows, and listen really hard.
Look who’s turned into a tight [non-permissible content removed] now. I’m betting your ears ain’t nearly that good. :shades:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Good night Mack. :surprise:
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
So the husband is salivating over the car and is copying the options off the sticker."So how much can you come off the price.?" he asks. "If you are ready to buy I may be able to get you at least $500.00 depending on how motivated the sales managers are to move the car. I will tell you this though, we have been selling all hybrids at list since gas prices started going through the roof." He gets away from the price issue and I ask him what time frame are they looking at to make a decision. "It will be this month." he says. His wife then asks me "Are you open on Memorial day?, we probably won't be able to make it back until then." "How about during the week?" I ask. "We both work." she replies. "Yes, but I'm sure both of you get off around 4 or 5pm right.?" I ask again. "We are very busy during the week."
she replies. So I've asked for the sale more than 5 times and I'm getting nowhere so I decide to end the conversation. "Ok, did Lucky get your information? name, phone number, etc.? I ask. "We gave him our phone number. I don't know if he remembers it or not." the husband replies.
I take down their home phone and say bye to them. I go back into the showroom and look him up and Lucky never put him in the data base. No problem. He did ask me for help so it's not like I'm taking the whole deal if they buy.
Mack
Please allow 3 to 5 weeks for delivery.
And I take it you didn't bother to check exactly what parts are offered? When I checked most of it says "no parts available". Oh well someday..
BTW, not to change the subject but how are the Sequoia and Tundra sales? Land Cruiser? Just curious as I haven't seen any in your sales stories lately or was it for awhile?
"The fall of the SUV"
After I was done with the Camry hybrid customers I went inside to update my data base and also to get a bottle of water. The "huddle" was standing right outside the showroom door so I went out by the side door to see if I could find me another customer. I see a gentleman walking by the 4runners and not a single salesperson in sight. I walk towards him, greet him and start showing him some vehicles. He tells me they own a Camry that they bought at my store a year ago. I ask him who the sales person was and he tells me it was a green pea and he probably doesn't work there anymore. Couldn't remember his name so I went ahead and continued with my vehicle presentation.
Ended up looking at a base Highlander and really liked it. Asked for my card and told me he would bring his wife back.
By this time it's around 5:35 in the evening and I'm looking at a 3 and 0 count. Nothing but tire kickers. The first one was an elderly lady that was shopping for her sister that lives in DC.
Showed her all the economy cars and then she gives me her phone number and asks me to call her when the 09 Prius comes in.
She says she will be getting some money then so she will pay cash for it.
I think she was just lonely at home and decided to waste some time.
So by this time I figure I'm probably not going to sell a car today. Oh well. I go to the front of the showroom and a family of five pulls up in a Ford Expedition.
They have two little girls and a little boy. I don't pay much attention to them until one of the guys gets a phone call from another salesperson that's at our off site used car sale. Apparently he helped them during the week and is asking if someone will help them as he can't leave the used car site.
Everyone looks at each other and says "I'm not helping them" the family is no more than 15 feet away looking inside a Sequoia and I say "I'll help them, I need a half deal."
I walk up to them and start talking to the husband. He doesn't look familiar until I look at his wife. I sold her a Tacoma truck back in 2000. "Hey! I know you! I sold you a truck back when we were in the old building!" I exclaim "You sure did." Kim replies."I told you that was him." her husband Jim tells her. "They tolds us you didn't work here anymore." Kim continues. "Really? Who told you that.?" I ask. "The guy that helped us. We drove the Tacoma that day. He asked if we bought it here and who was the salesperson. I couldn't remember your name until I saw you just now. He did look in the computer and there was a Darryl or something like that listed as the one that sold me the truck." she says. "We have had so many different customer data bases that some customers are now showing in other salespersons data base. We don't have a Darryl though. That's strange." I tell them.
The kids are now gathered around us and staring at me. "Wow you have three kids now!" I exclaim. "Yeah, Kelsey was about two weeks old when you sold me the truck." she responds.
So we start looking at the Sequoias and Jim tells me what they are trying to accomplish. "I want to get 15k for my Expedition, and with the 9k off you guys are taking off the sticker that will put me around 20k to finance. That'll will get my payments around $350.00 a month. I really want them at $300.00 but I don't know if I can get them around that." he tells me. (I wonder who was his math teacher.)
"9K OFF!!???" where did you come up with that figure? We are doing the 2 + 2k rebate and the $5k gas card promotion. Not 9k off MSRP, and that's only on the Limiteds." I tell him. "That's not what your website says. Kim let me see that paper we printed off the website." he tells her. She gives him the paper and he shows it to me. Sure as heck, it does say 9K off ALL Sequoias! "That's not the way they explained it to us but if that's what's on the website than that's what we'll do."
So I ask him if he read the article about falling suv prices both new and used and trade ins.
"Yeah I saw that but Ford will give me 15k for it." he tells me. "Ok, let's find the Sequoia you like and we'll go from there." ..............................
TO BE CONTINUED.
As far as your question on Tundra/Sequoia sales. They are in the dumps right now. Only thing selling is Corolla, Camry, Prius (sold out) Yaris, Matrix, and small Tacomas, A few Highlanders here and there. No Landcruisers. We didn't even bother getting some for the store. Last year we probably sold two. Plus with the new "re-design" they made it "sale proof". Not very many people like it.
Mack
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Yup thats the truth. We have had several former Land Cruiser owners come in to look at either LR3 or Range Rovers. None of them have liked the new Land Cruiser at all.
My office is probably about 20-30 minutes from New Britain so yeah I could go catch a Rock Cats game sometime and that would be good.
In 34 years I have been to aboout 15 Red Sox games. I have never paid for a ticket. I have not sat in the green moster seats yet. My favirite seats so far have been roof top. No long lines for beers or the bathroom. Instead of parking I always think it is alot more fun standing on the Green Line :shades:
GP
LOL.... Haven't we all
GP
Best Pizza in the country is at Santarpio's in East Boston!!!!! The place is "old school" Italian. They only take cash. No checks or credit cards. Ther menu only has Pizza, Lamb, and Sausage. The service is thick skinned. They place still uses the original plates, silverware, and glasses that it used when it first opened. And it still has "wood paneling" I love this place.
Laurasdada... Have you ever been there? If you haven't you absolutely must go!!!
GP
Play nice now Mack!
And don't get me started on the Billecheat team, that's for another day.
Yeah we should save that converstion for another day also
GP
"Toyota is the superior import"
"I want to get 15k for my Expedition, and with the 9k off you guys are taking off the sticker that will put me around 20k to finance. That'll will get my payments around $350.00 a month. I really want them at $300.00 but I don't know if I can get them around that." he tells me. (I wonder who was his math teacher.)
That warm fuzzy feeling I had (from them being previous customer) went as cold as Alaska
Yeah I saw that but Ford will give me 15k for it."
Must have been looking at used car or doing a trade allowance :mad:
Good luck with that one Mack. Maybe you could send them a email with lots of cool pics and win them over that way.
GP
Starting to sound like this will be a practice up.
If Ford will give them 15,000 for it, just take it in and drive it over to Ford.
I'm just sure they will happilly write them a check for it!
Yeah...right!
I remember about a year and a half ago we had this woman come in with a A4 that obviously had a sludged 1.8T motor. I was honestly afraid to drive it around the block because I thought it was going to die at anytime and I told her that.
We end up offering her about half what some Honda dealer up in mass offered her. She has all the paperwork from the other dealer and they are over charging her by several thousand dollars on the used accord she is looking at buying. I am charging less for mine and mine has nav.
We explain all this too her and tell her to try and see if the other dealer will just buy her A4. She says she will try that and leaves. I don't have very much confidence in the whole thing but you never know.
I call her the next day and she is taking her A4 into the Honda dealer that evening. I get a call back from her that they bought the A4 for what they offered for it and she will be in to buy our Accord later that week. :surprise:
Turns out she got up to the Honda dealer and they started back pedaling right away when she got there. She started a screaming match with someone there and at the end of it all they agreed to buy the A4 for essentially what they offered her for it originally minus a few hundred bucks. They probably lost four or five thousand dollars on that A4 if they managed to get out of it before the engine popped.
Don't play that game with me. You're not THAT young.
Richard
There's just no accounting for taste here.
Richard
BR - cool. The Rock Cats are in the Eastern League which is a cool minor league. You get to check out the Binghamton Mets, the Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox) and the Trenton Thunder (Yankees - it just kills me - they used to be the Red Sox) and all sorts of fun teams.
I'll be overnighting in Danbury Friday into Saturday. If you were in the neighborhood I'd let you buy me breakfast.... Heading up to see friends in New Hampshire for Memorial Day despite $4 gas.
I have to confess that I have been a tight [non-permissible content removed] for years. I was a teacher, remember? That's why I recognize all of your tactics. :shades: I brag to every one if I get a $1.00 off a box of Tide. I'm the one in front of you in the check-out line having his coupons counted and checking the cash register tape against my calculator. Mrs. Richard is standing there complaining that people are waiting to check out.
Speaking of coupons, I had one for $1,500 off a new Chrysler that I purchased new in 2004. The coupon had been in a local newspaper ad. I played it slick. I didn't show the coupon until the negotiations were done and we were sitting in the F&I's office. Neither the SM nor the F&I guy knew that the coupon was in the paper. They went to show the coupon to the boss.. The boss hadn't seen the ad either. None of them were happy about it, but they honored it. I bet that either the newspaper or the dealer ad writer got raked over the coals for that one.
Richard
Allow me to explain it to you. These old groups add younger people to the team who take their direction from one or two of the remaining old timers. For example, the Platters only have one original guy who really joined the Platters after they got started. He was a young teen at the time. He's probably in his late 60's or early 70's by now, but sounds terrific. The older ones train the younger ones in the "old sounds". That way, the group keeps going. Other groups, like the Coasters, the Embers, the Tams, the Zodiacs, etc. have done the same thing. Sadly, with the Carpenters, there was just no replacing Karen after she died. She and her brother were such a wonderful pair.
Have a great trip.
Richard