Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That cracks me up. Back in 2008 they already had made that prediction. How can they predit a "much above average" for a "complete redisgn" model for a company that was trying to move up and was increasing sales quite a bit?
I'm not saying the 2007 willl not turn out to be a great car, but they jump the gun a little bit. They fall in the trap of "past performance must predict future results." It doesn't work in stocks, and it's not foolfproof in cars.
Watch what happens to toyota when all those angry loyalists get a hold of those surveys.
A few moths ago, I was considering a Genesis based on the reliability and robust build of my son's Elantra. While, I decided that the Genesis didn't quite fit with what I was looking for this go round, I'm thinking at some point, it will be on my shopping list again, sometime in the future. I was impressed during my test drives of it.
Now here is the funny/ cool one.
Just as I finish the first sale they page for sales again, I catch the call and it is an older man. His first words were "How much are your cars?". So I probe and and poke for awhile and we come to the conclusion he wants a used Fusion. I tell him about one and how much it is and he says, "Ok hold it till Thursday".
Now my first thought is I possibly have an older man who in 45 minutes won't remember we even spoke. So I go to the UCM and ask him to call and feel the guy out.
Well he talks to him and to shorten the story 30 minutes later I am on my way to the guys house to show him the car. I get to his house, he comes out, looks at the car and sits down in the passengers seat and closes the door. So I go to the drivers seat and sit down and show him the features. About 15 minutes later we are sitting there in silence. He looks at me and says,"well" I ask well what and he says, "Well you gonna start this thing and take me back to the dealership so I can pay for it and come back home?"
So I brought him back, he wrote a check and went on his way. I never believed it was going to happen till his tail lights were out of sight lol.
Oh and FYI before the hounds pounce on me saying I took advantage of an older man. When he spoke with the UCM he negotiated the price and came to a # both parties could live with.
Like you, I don't understand young people's self-imposed poverty today. My nephew designs golf courses for a famous golfer and his wife is an intensive care nurse at a large hospital. Together, they top $200K a year. All I can hear is how poor they are these days. :sick: Perhaps it is their mega-mansion, big boat, two new cars, and two growing boys who wear designer clothes. :confuse: My response when they complain? If you can't afford it, don't buy it. After working one job and two part-time jobs for 40 years, I have more money than they do. :surprise:
BTW, what is your dealership's web address? I want to look around the lot. Thanks.
Richard
Go to the meet our sales associates and you can see my ugly mug lol
Great couple of stories. Good luck and keep them coming.
You "ugly mugged" guys scare off all the female sales associates? Surprised to see none on the team. :surprise:
Also, only one used Ford Fusion (2008) in your entire inventory?
>how much it is and he says, "Ok hold it till Thursday".
... to call and feel the guy out
Sounds like you are straight forward and clear about what you're offering in phone calls to people.
I can just imagine the story the older gentleman will tell his friends about his dealings with your store. "I talked to this nice salesman. He had another guy call about the car. We agreed on a price that was okay. The salesman brought the car for me to see, took me to the store, and I drove it home."
We have an ex-GM store in a city near Cincy (Hamilton) that advertises now as a used car store. Call them with any credit problem. They'll bring a car to your home that is newer than a certain year (2005?). They show a picture of a Jeep on a flatbed trailer coming down a snow-covered lane to Your House in the TV ads they run. All by phone?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
And I sold it yesterday.
Most the auction stuff now is 2010's an 2009's. 08 and older are going to have to be traded for. The whole Toyota deal is killing us. Allot of the major rental car companies took there cars off the auction block and put them back into service to replace all the Toyota's they had in there fleet.
Not to mention a used Fusion is a hot item for us.
There are about 5 of you that flash threw my mind quite often, and well lets just say I have not closed a "Jipster" or a "Snake" yet.
Richard...I'm with you. I know that the past couple of years have been difficult financially at times. But, that's true for all of us, just not a few of us. The saving grace for some have been centered around the fact that just a little bit of financial discipline (something I fall away from sometimes, but catch myself before damage is done), people would have enough of a cushion to shield themselves from financial downturns, as we've seen recently.
Don't get me wrong, I'm dutifully proud of my son. He's worked practically since he's been 15 years old to make spending money. He's been in school, and has done well that entire time (he's 22, now). I've put him through a marital breakup between his Mother and me. I feel somewhat guilty about that.
But, I've also made his life pretty easy. He earned some scholarships. What those didn't cover, I did. I've never asked him for rent, or money for food, or ask him to pay for insurance, etc. All he has to do is to do well. That's all I ask. My late Mother used to get mad at me because he would complain to her that I kept him "poor" on purpose. In one sense, I did. I didn't want him to have extra money for drugs or beer or whatever else teens and early 20-ers do today. But, he never wanted for anything else.
My complaints are minor, though.
imid...what store are you talking about? The Pontiac store, or the Chevrolet store? Are they both gone? Used car lots now? The only one that I knew for certain that got axed was that little Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge store.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
All big hulks, built like Ford trucks- built tough.. You can bet that they will not even attempt to negotiate !! Probably the only guy they may interact would be the last guy on the sales staff photos-the cute young guy they would rather prefer to deal with. And momma can take care of these little kids!! LOL !! :P
Jokes apart - is it a dealership thing to hire older guys and not young rookies like in the 20-30 age group? Or does it depend on each individual owner?? Also - another strange thing I found on the website- You sell only Ford/L/M used cars?? :confuse: No other makes of cars.. Normally any new car dealership has many makes of used cars with more of their brand? Am I missing something here?
Man, we ought to start requiring people to post pictures.... I'll be no one looks like what we have in our heads.
As far as young people on the sales staff. It is hard to find a young person these days that really wants to work or have the discipline to do the job. I say discipline because you are basically self employed. It is a real easy job to goof off at. Also keep in mind that allot of us in those pictures were young when they started here lol. 7 of us have been here 15+ years and 3 of them have been here 25+ years
Man, we ought to start requiring people to post pictures.... I'll be no one looks like what we have in our heads.
I wish they had the Avatar box here like some sights so you can put your pic in it. I know we have our car space but no one ever looks at it casue its hard to navigate. IMHO, wich with that and $5 you can get a Starbucks
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
I've had days where I told my self I will sell a car today and wham! I get a deal done.
Once I read a motivational sales article about imagining what a perfect customers would be like. I imagined, and within a few days I landed a customer that happened to be a fleet manager for a city worksyard. He ended up buying a few cars from me for himself, his family, and his fleet. :surprise:
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
My customer called me up and told me he wanted the same deal on the same truck that his coworker friend got, quoting me the figures his friend told him. The numbers seemed really low so I checked with the salesperson that sold the truck and gave me the actual payment, which was over $100 than what my customer was told by his friend.
The actual figures made more sense to me so I called back my customer and told him the payment would be over $100 more than what his friend told him.
My customer wouldn't believe me, saying that his friend wouldn't lie to him. I told him the figures he was told were impossible (and they were).
He said he'd doublecheck and call me back. I haven't heard from him in a few weeks.
This just goes to show not to believe everything your friends, neighbours, or coowkers tell you about a deal they got.
And in this case, the interest rates or rebates would not have an effect on the deal as they were same from month ot month.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
The car biz is funny. The day after some one buys something they tell there friends they got $7000 off a $35K MSRP. Then when they come back a couple years later to trade they claim they just paid $35K for it two years ago.
Dave, confused. :confuse:
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
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Recall
I once talked to a realestate agent, a top performer and she said you wouldn't recognize 90% of the sales people from their pictures, because they tend to use the same picture for 25 years. I am guessing that is not the case here.
It is always helps to see a person......just makes the conversations go better.
I found it interesting that you don't keep other brands in used cars, and obviously that works for you. When I used to buy used cars that didn't matter to me at all. I just went to the dealerships that had a good reputation.
I like the way your website is low key. Since the sales people stay so long, and the website is easy to navigate, and is not hyped up, I would surmise you work for an ethical, honest dealership with honest dependable sales staff.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Same applies to some of the "Prices Paid" Board postings.
Some are impossible.
I don't know if people forget, lie or just engage in one upsmanship?
BTW, that '09 red Eddie Bauer Explorer is beautiful! To have 15K miles, it doesn't look as if a human being ever sat in the vehicle. The wood trim, leather color, exterior trim, etc. looks so sharp. Let's see now. How far am I from Nashville?
Richard
My guess is that you will get a better answer. I wish I was at liberty to say some things but I will say this. Many years ago I interviewed with a company that manufactured small appliances. In the conference room where I was interviewed they had a display of (IIRC) two toaster ovens with their respective CR ratings. One was rated real good and one was rated real poor. The company I was interviewing for made both for different makes. The problem was that both toaster ovens were the exact same oven off the exact same assembly line and the only difference was the outside shell and the name.
That and a few other things make me trust a rabid dog more than CR.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
No female or minority salespersons? I'm surprised.
Richard
It's be interesting to know which 5... grin.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
He'll drive it to your door. :P
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
It's a nice way of saying he thinks you very immature.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
How can I sound off on this with such authority? My wife and I both come from broken homes. Each of us loved both of our parents. The problems were between them. They never treated us differently.
To keep this on topic: Both dads made sure that both moms had safe, reliable vehicles, even after the divorces.
Richard
Richard
It uses the f world, so I can't sent the link to most people.
But I agree with the content. Shift a car to neutral and let the engine blow (probably wouldn't happen with most cars since most have rev limiters) rather than continue to let it accelerate.
I do believe he (she? it? they?) already did it once. Something about a boat being built by a drunk amateur and a flood.
It uses the f world, so I can't sent the link to most people.
You have to get more friends that live outside a monestary.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D