My Salesperson Misled Me

bolivar

My opinion:
This car with 7,000 miles hasn't been a demo all these miles. Someone in the dealership; owner, owner's wife, sales manager, etc, drove it most of these miles. And some might have been demo miles. And, if it is a snakey dealership, maybe it has been sold and unwound, etc, and they think you will not notice if you do not get a new title.

Go to the service department and ask for the data to be pulled up on the car. Ask specifically about the 'In Service' date, this will show if it has ever been 'sold'. Ask to see any service that has been done on the car. This will show if something might have gone terrible wrong and they unwound a deal. Look at the screen yourself, don't let them quote info to you.

Then - I would think 2007 leftovers, with 2008 models being on the ground for a couple of months or more - should go for invoice, even new, 3 mile ones. (Edmunds here probably still has the 2007 list/invoice prices up. Get all the sticker details to crank into this to be sure you get a good number for invoice.) Plus, get the rebate or 0% interest payment. Plus deduct something like $2,100 more, which is about $.30 a mile for it's milage. Then decide if you want the car at this price.

Someone posted good info about their local dealer selling 'Executive' (whatever this mean) 2007's with 7-9,000 miles at $34-37,000. The price you come to in the above paragraph should be compared to these prices. It looks like a $37,000 car at the most to me.

epiney

That's because they get themselves into a bad situation, come here to vent and don't like the answers. Hopefully they and others will learn from them.

jmonroe

Did our car returner get upset with some of the responses like 'epiney' said in post 574?

I hate it when we lose continuity because of something like that. :mad:

Almost makes me want to keep my mouth shut but then what fun is that? :confuse:

The best advice is to look before you leap and if you are old enough to buy a car you should already know that. There isn't much that any of us here can do when the horse has already left the barn. :surprise:

jmonroe

mackabee

That was my post that was removed.
Mack

jipster

I agree with macabees post title, where ever it is. Some of you guys will never learn.

roadburner

That was my post that was removed.

Reminds me of that line from A Few Good Men:

"Truth? You can't handle the truth!"

isellhondas

I just noticed something.

Mackabee has been around thse forums since about the beginning as I recall. Probably about the same time as me. I think they started in 1997 or 1998? When they switched to the "new" format, all of us lost our senority, vesting and company benefits as our date got reset to 2001.

Jipster started in 2004 and has Mack tied for posts!

not that that's a bad thing.

And, me? MAN, I need a hobby!

qbrozen

didn't we talk about that a while back?

its a shame, though. I'd like to know when I started. I really have no idea.

I just noticed the post count today, though. Check out juice's numbers (ateixeira)! Almost 50k posts!

lemko

Wow! Where's the dealer located? I'm in Philadelphia.

kyfdx

Cincinnati... big ad in the paper on Friday..

isellhondas

I know I started close to the beginning.

A lot have come and gone. Some I miss, some I sure don't.

Some got bored and some got booted!

50,000 posts!! WOW!!

lemko

Aaaagh! Noooo! Don't just surrender your car at the dealership! It'll just show up on your credit as a repo whether you voluntarily gave it back or Bruno and Bubba showed up with a rollback to take it.

lemko

Well, as far as I know, the dealership actually is pretty decent. I bought my Seville STS from them back in January 2002. Where we stand now is 0% financing with 3K off the price of the car. I'm going back there on Friday to get a squeaky belt pulley looked at on my current ride.

mackabee

Yep, we are two of the ORIGINALS! I have no idea how many post I should be held accountable for but there's a lot of them. Remember the "Inconsiderate buyers" thread? That was my defining moment I guess. It would sure stir up the pot.

Mackabee

jmonroe

Check out juice's numbers (ateixeira)! Almost 50k posts!

That poster needs a life. I don't care how long he/she has been around, that just ain't normal. :confuse:

jmonroe

isellhondas

Oh I remember!

Those were the fun times and then it got out of control. Man, it was fun messing with some of those guys!

verdugo

First off, I would suggest your remove your number and email from the post.

Second, I don't understand something. You say you wanted them to store it at the dealer until early December to give it to your wife for her b-day, right? I can only assume it was a surprise gift. So I don't understand why the next day you came in with your wife. Were you willing to take pick up that day?

You should've left a deposit. Live and learn. Move on. There will be other deals.

Hope I'm not feeding a troll.

ashvarts

It's a 2008 328xi

Maybe they punched this car, to collect on an expiring dealer incentive. If that is the case, then the warranty period has started..

Of course, if you are leasing, this shouldn't matter to you..

Tell us what model.. and, maybe that will give a clue.

isellhondas

I hope not too. Or a disgruntled ex-employee etc.

verdugo

The original post is gone. Guess it was a troll.

joel0622

It was some guy who had been negotiating for weeks by mail and in the middle of a dinner party he and his wife were having he decided that he wanted to buy some car, so he left in the middle of dinner and agreed to buy a car for $25K OTD. When he went back to pick it up they hosed him and said they would not sell it.

There was also allot of stuff about it being a surprise for his wife in December for her B-day but she was there when the hosing took place.

verdugo

I know. I was the first one to reply. When I went back, his post was gone.

Like you guys say, if you like it, put a deposit down.

joel0622

My bad I thought you were asking what the hoopla was about.

Is my synopsis close?

brvanisi

I haven't laughed that hard in a while.... Spark Plusses... Rotator splints.... optional auxiliary blinker fluid reservoir.... What will we think of next!

Be a Star, Sell a Car!!

verdugo

Is my synopsis close?

Spot on

mackabee

Get out of here!! Really?

mackabee

You should close at least 10% of internet leads. Quick response, use proper grammar and English, and give the customer the information they want.
It's not rocket science.

lemko

...to do an internet negotiation for the first time for a 2007 or 2008 Cadillac DTS. I was hoping to take advantage of the 0% financing on a leftover 2007 model.

I'm looking for a Luxury III or Performance model, but leftover 2007s in these trims seem to be scarce around here. One dealer says he only has two Luxury I models. The Luxury I is kind of a plain jane and I want something at least as nice as my current ride - a fairly well-equipped Seville STS.

lrguy44

You should close at least 10% of internet leads

In every internet sales training I have had, 10% is a outstanding goal. Hard to achieve, but can (and we have) achieved. Not an easy goal by any means.

british_rover

Man you sure are responding to some old posts...

Hell I don't even think 10 percent of our internet leads respond back to either emails or phone calls. The problem is that the majority of them don't even give me enough information to generate a meaningful email. I call them to try and get more information and they either never answer the phone or the number given is fake.

I still send them an email but since they almost always leave the comments section blank all I have to go on is what car they say they are interested in. Some of our cars have an over 10,000 dollar swing in price depending on options so I am not going to give them a price quote without more information. A lot of times they don't even ask for a price quote. I just confirm availability and ask them to call or email me back with any questions.

In the past few months we have gotten a lot of requests for left over 2007 models but we don't have any more of those. I can go out and find some 2007 MY left overs and have them trucked in but I need to make some money to do that. Those same people looking for left over 2007 MY vehicles want to pay invoice minus any incentives minus a few hundred more dollars. I am not going to lose money on the sale of a car that I don't have and that I have to pay to have trucked in.

oldfarmer50

"...Hell I don't even think 10 percent of our internet leads respond back to either e-mails or phone calls..."

What kind of internet leads are you guys talking about? I can see your anger if someone e-mails a specific dealer with a price request and then blows you off after you respond. That's just tacky.

I suspect that what you are talking about is when someone is doing research and sees that ever present "get a quote" button. Perhaps the person has seen several different "target" or "market" prices listed on different sites and simply wants to know the "real" price from the seller directly. The desire to push that button is almost irresistible. Since they are doing research they probably don't want someone calling them up at that point. Hence the phony ID info.

In any event, all those lookie-loos pushing buttons must be a royal pain in the butt for you guys. I saw one web site that also asked you to input how far away you were from buying (48 hours up to 2 months or more). That could help weed out some of the less productive leads.

lrguy44

Many of them are not even doing research. I recently had an inquiry on a 3008 Range Rover - The phone number was for yellow cab and never a response to e-mails. This is not unusual.

Kirstie_H

Incorrect - and let's please stop labelling people "trolls" just because they're either new or disgruntled or both. Sometimes people need to vent, and this discussion IS titled "my salesperson misled me," so (shock and horror), most of the posts are going to come from people who feel they were misled.

The original post was removed because it contained names/contact info, and we don't want anyone being harrassed or otherwise having their personal security compromised. The original poster intends to re-post and is welcome to do so.

verdugo

Well, ther were contradicting details in his story. I offered my advice. I even told him to remove his contact info.

I didn't call him a troll. I said I hoped he wasn't one, which based on recent experience it's not an unreasonable comment.

joel0622

10% is the bench mark through Ford Direct also. But it is a little skewed. The only thing they base our numbers off of is leads that come through Ford Direct (at $15 a pop if I may add) It does not take into consideration any internet sales that are generated through our own advertising.

mackabee

You will get all types of leads. It's just a matter of prioritizing them and it comes with experience. You can learn to "weed out" the true buyers from the time wasters.
When I was running the internet department at my store I would send an initial response within 2 hours. I had an auto responder which some people don't like to use as they feel it's not :"personal". Well with e-mail we aren't personal to begin with but at least you've given the person a response to let them know you have received their inquiry and will be responding with the information shortly.

I'd get a lot of requests for a 2005 Toyota Camry, for example. Ok, this car can be a base model or different option packages can be added to it. In my response I would say that. and give them a range of pricing from low to high. I would then ask if they had driven the vehicle and invite them to come in for a no-hassle no obligation test drive.

I would do the same as if I was with a customer on the lot. Fact finding to seewhat the customer's needs were. And not all deals were blow outs or give aways. We would negotiate everything over e-mail and usually the customers would call me and establish a voice to voice connection. By the time the customer would come in to look at the car it would already be prepped and detailed, with a full tank of gas. All we had to do was finish the paperwork.

I made some money on most sales. Heck that's why they took me out of the department because I was "leaving too much profit in the deals" Double speak for not wanting to compensate me for what I was bringing in.

mackabee

Another thing I would do was "shop" the competition. I would send in a price quote request for a particular vehicle and see how long the responses would take and what kind of verbage I would get back. You would be amazed at the responses or non-responses I would get. This one for example:

I sent in a price quote request on a 2004 Sienna Le with package #2 to four different dealerships. Two responded and the other two semi-responded.
One read like this:

"We have the car in stock, When can you come in?"

another one read like this.

"We can get the car for you. Price is MSRP." duh

another one was my only competition.

"Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Helen Johnson. I'm the Internet sales manager at XXX Toyota. I have the exact vehicle in stock and ready for delivery. The MSRP is $xxxx. Internet price $xxxx. Please e-mail me or call me to arrange a test drive or delivery."

and this was my "favorite" spelling and grammar included.

"Hey Buddy! I just spoke with my manger and he told me to tell you that if you come in right now we can seel you the car for $xxxx.xx (MSRP). tHIS vans are HOT so you better come down quick. " I am not kidding, this is the exact response. Oh, and it took them five days to get back to me. I responded with a
"No thanks. I've already bought one at XXX Toyota this weekend for $xxxx . I didn't hear from you so I figured you weren't interested in selling me a car."

I would show these to my GM at that time and he would get a kick out of them. Like I said Helen was my only competitor back then and lucky for me as she was 45 miles from us so most of my customers would not drive that far to get a car plus we have a larger inventory in stock.

Unfortunately, the internet has now evolved into today's version of the Saturday morning paper with dealers using it to advertise instead of to sell.

fezo

"I recently had an inquiry on a 3008 Range Rover"

Wow. Some people really do think ahead. Any concept drawings yet?

oldfarmer50

"...I had an inquiry on a 3008 Range Rover..."

Man, I've heard of releasing new models early--but--that's going overboard. Or maybe he's just starting his research early!

Seriously, that's sounds like the "get a quote" button pusher. I'm glad I've resisted the urge to push that myself.

mackabee

My highest closing ratios were from leads generated from our own website and buyatoyota.com . I don't know how much we paid for the parent company leads. We also used cars.direct, autousa, Edmunds, and a few others.
I would get creative on our website and offer special discounts to credit union members and government employees including military. I had a lot of fun doing it until we got a dh Gm who ruined it for everyone. That's a different subject and will probably go on the off-topic board.

micosilver

Rover,
You can look me up - VW in San Francisco, email me, and I will share some of my best practices.
You should get some sort of response from about 50% of your leads, and if you are any good - you will close one in every 5 of those you are in contact with.

jhs70

Vic, hello. You have got to see this. Go to youtube and search "Johnson badger ad". A slew of real commercials come up, all poking fun at your profession. A kid that works for me has a brother that is the SM for a big Toyo dealership in New England. They've used them in sales meetings to get a few laughs, and sometimes to learn. Anyway, there are a bunch on youtube. Have fun with them all, and Happy Thanksgiving.

dave

british_rover

Bah there are way too many VW dealers in San Fran. Make your email public or send an email to me. Mine is in my profile just click on my name.

mackabee

Happy Thanksgiving! They are hilarious! We actually have a couple of salespeople at my store that act that way! Thanks! I forwarded the links to my GSM he'll get a kick out of them.
Vic

lemko

Was the customer's name George Jetson? Maybe Mr. Spacely (temporarily) promoted him to vice president again and George wanted something nice for Jane?

tidester

.to do an internet negotiation ...

You may be interested in this discussion: Internet vs. Traditional Car Buying

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

snakeweasel

I recently had an inquiry on a 3008 Range Rover

I usually don't plan that far in advanced, do you have any information on the 2645 model year?

lrguy44

Price is up 195% from the 2640 model, but the afterburner now puts out 12000 HP. :shades:

snakeweasel

Sounds like a great deal, will you take a two party, post dated, out of state check?

lrguy44

It has to be dated today so I can get my Mexican Vacation in - it is cold here.