Stories from the Sales Frontlines

british_rover

, they would have bought me one cause my grades couldn't have gotten any lower and I was takin the easy stuff.

Oh god I have to fix that. I just can't leave it like it is.

snakeweasel

they would have buyed me one cause my grades couldn't have gotten any lower and I was takin the easy stuff.

We must be related, any movement in my grades in high school would have been an improvement.

There I said it.

Semi back on topic, to the salespeople here what is your view on Carmax and the people who work there?

jmonroe

Oh god I have to fix that. I just can't leave it like it is.

I said I took the easy stuff, grammar and spelling would have been advanced courses for me.

I hope you have a great Labor Day Sales weekend, sell maybe 5 Rovers.

jmonroe

british_rover

Yeah thats good wishing and all but I doubt that is happening this weekend.

It looks like the left over parts of the hurricane are hitting us tomorrow so we will likely be really dead.

Then we are closed on Monday so... nothing much going on.

graphicguy

The attorney said, "25 grand is a lot cheaper than getting a divorce!"

Ain't that the truth.....LOL!

Back in '99 when I was going through the "end of nuptials", in the decree the EX said she wanted our '97 Avalon, which we leased new. The car had 12 more payments on it. Decree states she gets the car and the payments....that's it. Fast forward 12 months, I get a phone call from the former Mrs. Graphicguy and she's all in a snit.

She had gone to buy a new car. Since she had made the final 12 lease payments, she thought the bank had sent the title to me and she wanted me to sign the title over to her. She was going to use it as a down payment on a new car.

Sorry there little missy. It's a lease. All she did was complete the lease contract. She thought I was "pulling a fast one" on her. Ends up having the F&I guy contact me(who clearly did not want to be in the middle of this) to tell him where to get the title. I explain what he already knows. I don't have a title for the car.

Then, a day later, the salesperson from the dealership calls me.....trying to salvage the deal. I tell him the same thing. The car was leased.

She's mad at me (nothing new there) to this day.

Oh, yeah....the car she was trying to buy? A new Mercedes E class. Last I heard, she's driving a Corolla.

isellhondas

You are closed on Labor Day??

You have GOT to be kidding!!!

Labor Day, is by FAR, our busiest day of the year!!

I normally schedule myself off on sundays but not this time!

I'm about to head to work and begin my first of what I'm sure will be three back to back 12 hour days!

bobst

Graph, that is a great story! Thanks for telling it.

british_rover

These people don't go car shopping on labor day. They are all at the cape, or nantucket, or bermuda, aruba or any other island with an -uba at the end of it.

We are also never open on Sunday. Just hurts monday business.

graphicguy

bobst...the only winners in any divorce are the lawyers. No matter how "equitable" assets are split, both parties feel like they've been screwed. The more one tries to get from the other, the more legal bills pile up.

My legal fees alone (including custody hearings) would have put our son through college. Not an experience I'd ever want to go through again.

Back to "sales stories".....I hope every car buyer gets the great deal they seak over the holiday weekend....and, I hope all salespeople sell enough cars to double up on their house payment next month.

explorerx4

i was thinking the same thing and thought about posting, but it's better to hear it from you.

tidester

My legal fees alone (including custody hearings) would have put our son through college.

Yes, but otherwise you may deprived the lawyers' kids from getting an education and, more to the point, you may have delayed the lawyers' purchase of cars thereby depriving us of more stories from the sales frontlines!

tidester, host

graphicguy

tidester....point taken.....although, it was, in the end, a car story.

mac24

I thought this might lighten the day for some of the salespeople here. It starts "I have been haggling with 36 dealerships through the internet........"

stevebo777, "Jeep Wrangler: Prices Paid & Buying Experience" #138, 3 Sep 2006 7:55 pm

He asks for advice..........maybe you have some?

nortsr1

and then he wants to know if this is a good deal!!!!It's a wonder he doesn't have writers cramp (36 internet dealer requests). Let's face it, even if he lives in a big city, some of those requests must have went 500 miles.

british_rover

Many people do not know a good deal if it hit them on the head. Hell they wouldn't recongize a good deal if it ran over them and then backed up over top of them and did a big smokey burnout.

felke001

I am shopping for a new car and the 2 dealerships (Lexus in this case) are owned by the same owner (Johnson Lexus of Raleigh and Johnson Lexus of Durham).

Typically, I would plan to do some negotiating at both dealerships to see where I could get as far as price, but I am wondering how the fact they have the same owner will affect this.

From a practical standpoint, I assume they have different sales managers, etc. and are relatively independent of each other--is that likely to be a valid assumption? I guess I don't know to what extent it would be possible to shop one against the other given the same owner of both.

Thanks for your thoughts

mac24

It would be reasonable to expect that the sales teams in each store will compete with the other. However, it's unlikely that the final bottom line, if you're prepared to grind that far, will be any different.

I'd guess that the main difference will be that you'll get closer to that bottom line more quickly, and more pleasantly, with one store than the other.

cccompson

At least they are in different towns - here in Columbus, both Lexus stores are owned by the same folks!

bigdveedubgirl

Brit,

Long time member, and a long time since I have posted.

We were open Labor Day. Sold 2 cars and it was pouring. It was great. And being in TX we had our Finance guy bring a smoker and we ate some burgers and hot links untill we almost exploded.

I rather have been closed every other Audi store in town was.

BTW we are rockin our Q7s

british_rover

I haven't driven a Q7 yet but I am sure we will take one in trade before the end of the year.

It never fails that when some new luxury SUV comes out a handful of long time Range Rover owners buy one to see how it is. Most of them don't keep the vehicle for more then a couple of months before trading it in for another Range Rover.

I have seen it happen with the GL-Class, R-Class, G-Class, FX45 Cayenne, etc. etc.

snakeweasel

BTW we are rockin our Q7s

Haven't driven one myself, but that being said I had the opportunity to drive Lincolns MKX this last weekend. I have to say I was rather impressed. However that test drive was a mistake as now the wife wants one.

explorerx4

those Q7's are just way ugly on the outside. they compete with seeing a corolla 's' in your rear view mirror.
maybe they have the 'new kid on the block' appeal.
congrats though, if you sell some.

nyccarguy

Funny you should say about the Q7s selling so well. I haven't seen 1 yet (I live in Southern NY).

What I do see is more and more Range Rover Sports every day. Which is funny considering how british_rover says they are produced in limited quantities (the superchaged & RR Sports in general). Again, Im sure this has to do with where I live and do most of my driving.

BTW, bigdveedubgirl & british_rover I enjoy reading both your posts very much.

british_rover

I think they are on track to sell 18,000 to 20,000 Range Rover sports this year. They have sold a little over 11,000 so far this year.

Compare that to almost 20,000 BMW X5s sold CYTD and a little over 13,000 Cayennes sold CYTD.

gsemike

I'm fron Southern NY (Long Island) and have only seen one. My neighbor has one. It looks really really wide.

bigdveedubgirl

They are rather big. Initial Press photos, made it look slightly larger than the Touareg, because Europeons do not favor larger cars. So they downplayed the sizes to win the affections of the Euros. But they love it! Worldwide sales have far exceeded Audis expectations. Everyone wants the V6 and we cannot keep them in stock.

snapcracklepop

hahha, those are great stories!!! I wish I had enough money to not care about throwing it away like that

british_rover

on first sight.

Had this women come in today who had been in before a couple of times.

Always comes in driving a beat up mid 90s domestic SUV.

I had worked with her one time before and so had one other salesguide.

She comes and says she is ready to buy a Range Rover just not sure if she wants a big one or little one.

So we drive a Sport and a big range Rover back to back.

She decides she wants a Big range rover and whips out a cashiers check for 77,XXX in change and pays for the rest of the vehicle with 100 dollar bills.

We spot delivered the vehicle right there and she was on her way in less then 45 minutes.

That is why you never pre-qualify people.

mac24

C'mon, you can't leave it there, that's just a tease.

So what's the story behind it? Divorce final, sold the house, lottery win, inheritance???? Can't believe she didn't say. :surprise:

british_rover

Didn't say at all. Although me and the other sales guide that worked with her thought that maybe she was recently divorced.

tidester

It was probably "just time!" Some people just take all the time they need to decide what they want.

tidester, host

louiswei

So when is Toyota and Honda going to follow?

When their sales numbers are as bad as GM and Ford's.

100K warranty won't get you sales numbers but good quality and reliability will. I, for one, have never considered warranty as a decision factor when I buy a new car nor did my family and all my friends.

gsemike

It's definately a good move by GM, but upping the bumper-to-bumper to 5/50 or 5/60 would really do more to get my attention.

I don't think that the perception of GM's lack of quality is borne of major mechanical failures, but rather the engine keeps running while the car falls apart around it. My Dad is having problems getting a warranty claim approved for an ABS module on his 03 Century with 15,000 miles. Under the new warranty, that still wouldn't be covered.

isellhondas

Desperate companies do desperate things.

The best warranty is the one you never have to use.

I suppose a "warranty freak" might be swayed by this but the majority of shoppers won't care.

louiswei

Agreed.

I would assume that the majority of Honda and Toyota buyers aren't "warranty freaks".

qbrozen

Chrysler already had the 7/70k for a while. We have that warranty on our '05 Pacifica.

Just this year, Honda FINALLY increased their warranty. They are now 5/60k powertrain.

What is the 5/50k for Ford you are referring to? Is that just powertrain? If so, isn't that actually DOWN from 5/60k??

fish8

But now, Chrysler no longer offers the 7/70K extended powertrain warranty on new '06 cars and trucks. '05 was the last year!

audia8q

I would assume that the majority of Honda and Toyota buyers aren't "warranty freaks".

Based on the slew of problems the new Toyota's it would be safe to say the warranty freaks won't seem so freaky...Plus Honda quietly up their powertrain coverages...They didn't do it because it seemed like a nice thing to do, they did it because it sells cars.

qbrozen

right (which is why i said "had"). I'm not sure why they got rid of it. I suppose they figured it wasn't contributing to sales as they hoped it would. *shrug*

louiswei

Recalls does not equal to bad warranty. Toyota doesn't need 10 year/100 miles warranty to provide 1st class customer service. They recalled the cars/trucks that are defected and that shows the commitment. Yes, someone in Toyota is trying to cover it up but at least they decided to face the crisis and go foward with the recall. Can't fault them for that.

An example...Lexus did a recall earlier this year (first ever in their 16-year history) on their IS and GS models produced in 2005. All owners whom are effected by the recall later recieved a small gift from Lexus - A mini iPod. I know there will be people telling me that they rather have no recall than an iPod but I would like to point out that it's small things like this wins over customers.

Honda/Toyota has long history showing that they care about their customer. As for the domestics? Not so much.

british_rover

Hold on a minute you expect us to belive lexus has never had a recall????

I am going to have to see documentation of that.

snakeweasel

Hold on a minute you expect us to belive lexus has never had a recall????

Don't

http://www.mycarstats.com/auto_Recalls/LEXUS_Recalls.asp

british_rover

Yeah I just found the same thing...

http://www.mycarstats.com/auto_Recalls/LEXUS_Recalls.asp

kyfdx

...that someone posted that all Lexus were made in the same factory by the same 69 employees...

I think I listed them... wish I could find that post..lol.

louiswei

Hmm...apparently I made a huge mistake not to confirm it before posting it. Sorry about that folks. That shows one can't trust an internet article too much.

kyfdx

It happens to all of us... I'm wrong almost daily..

In fact, if I'm not sure about something, the quickest way to find out is to state it as fact.. someone will smack me down very quickly..

british_rover

Uhuuhuu.

I think sometimes people belive a little too strongly in the Lexus vehicles never break down myth.

You can't even say that Lexus vehicles have never had a safety recall because I see som brake recalls on that list.

jlawrence01

I think sometimes people belive a little too strongly in the Lexus vehicles never break down myth.

And it is a myth. My Lexus driver is driving a Taurus this afternoon as his Rx330 has an electrical problem fixed.

But it has been better than the Volvo it replaced.

scott1256

1) A number people across the USA have been healed from serious illness while driving home from the hospital in a Lexus.

2) A woman in Tuscaloosa, AL reports that if she leaves her Lexus keys in her purse overnight all $1 bills become $5 bills, $5s become $10s, 10$ become $20s and $20s become $50s. Thanks to Lexus she is now independently wealthy.

There are many more such stories: Lexus is so far superior to any other European or American car company!

black_tulip

That shows one can't trust an internet article too much.


So, don't trust the mycarstats article either!