car dealers not interested.

stratos

With the down turn you would think car dealers would be pulling out all the stops. I rang 2 garages to enquire after older big cars they won't have a hope of selling. I gave them both my details to ring me back. As one car was away being worked on and the other was just in. They never got back to me. Over the years many car dealers have taken my number not one has ever rang me back. I have bought most of my cars in the U.K. they will always ring you back and email you. Whats up with our car dealers ? anyway sorry i know i just echoing recent posts.

Voodoomelon

What cars were you looking at?

stratos

Hi Voodoo.
The xk8 bug is burning the prices are getting about right.

Henry Ford III

Ringing them should elicit a response, but frequently doesn't.

Call in if you are serious.

BlackWizard

Shouldn't have to call in to be "serious".

unkel

BlackWizard wrote: »

Shouldn't have to call in to be "serious".

Agreed. But the pragmatic in me tells me if they are not going to ring back, why bother ringing? Might as well call in if you really want the car. Negotiations work best face to face anyway.

BlackWizard

Ah yeah but sometimes people just want to ring up to find out some small details about the car which might not be advertised.

I don't believe in having to drive across the city just to find something out about a car or any other item I'm going to purchase. Its like saying if you see something on adverts.ie and having to drive out to the chap to find out if it's what you want.

I would never talk business over the phone unless I have to. But aquiring general information over the phone is normal and well practiced in all lines of business apart from car dealerships in Ireland.

mumblin deaf ro

I'm getting insurance quotes at the moment - all done by email, except for one or two phone calls. Imagine if I had to call into every insurance company in order to get a quote?

Zube

It used to be bloody impossible to get a quote out of the insurance people. You had to write to your own company for a statement of your no-claims, wait for it, then post it to the company you wanted a quote from.

Why? Same reason car dealers insist on doing deals face to face - they want to limit competition to keep prices up.

The insurance problem was sorted when the minister made an order forcing the insurance companies to send your renewal at least a month ahead, along with proof of your no-claims, so that people could shop around. Amazingly, prices dropped immediately.

Henry Ford III

mumblin deaf ro wrote: »

I'm getting insurance quotes at the moment - all done by email, except for one or two phone calls. Imagine if I had to call into every insurance company in order to get a quote?

You don't need to see an insurance quote only the price of it. You do however need to view and drive cars.

Owen

Zube wrote: »

car dealers insist on doing deals face to face - they want to limit competition to keep prices up.

It's not so much the 'keep prices up' bit, any Dealers with a few brain cells rattling around their heads want to shift metal at the moment, but unfortunately it's a proven statistic that over 93% of people you give a price to on the phone will never be seen in the Dealership afterwards. They'll just shop every other single garage in the country on the phone after you, and go to the cheapest - not necessarily the best value.

So if you're a Dealer who's asked on the phone for a best price, etc, you have 2 options.
1) Give a price, and probably never see the prospective customer
2) Quote the sticker price, explain you don't do discounts on the phone and invite the customer to visit.

With both options, you're running the risk of not ever seeing a closure of the sale, but with option 2, there's at least a possibility if the prospective customer shows an interest in getting a good face-to-face deal (Good for both parties).

mumblin deaf ro

What would be the problem with saying to someone over the phone that the sticker price is X but that you could do a bottom line cash price for them of Y. Then let them come out and see the car and test drive it and decide if they want to buy it. The whole bloody pantomime of phoney prices followed by a bit of teeth sucking negotiation is so bloody wasteful an inefficient.

Zube

ned78 wrote: »

They'll just shop every other single garage in the country on the phone after you, and go to the cheapest

Exactly, so you have to be the cheapest, so prices go down.

It's called competition.

But no, Irish dealers make it as much of a pain to get an actual price as possible, so that you can only get two or three, and even that takes hours and hours. Limits the competition, so every dealer can charge a bit more than the real bottom line.

mik_da_man

I have to agree with the OP.

I was looking to purchase a new car (Focus RS), called 4 local dealers (in cork) and they said they had to check for info and get back to me.
Fair enough as it's only just released.

None of them got back to me...

So I rang again after seeing the info and prices on the ford website and in the Irish Times and asked them if I could order it.
Not looking for info, looking to see if I could come in and make an order!
2 of them said that they still had no info, the other two said to pop in.
So I visited the two dealerships (one where I bought my current car) and both seemed totally uninterested and would not take an order!

I would be a cash buyer.

It's totally put me off buying a car here and i'm prob off to the UK to get me an Evo X

Owen

Zube wrote: »

Exactly, so you have to be the cheapest, so prices go down. It's called competition.

But even if you're the cheapest, it's still no guarantee. People will still ring around again - you're asking why garages won't quote over the phone - that's the reason.

And before we go into a whole 35 page thread on 'Dealers yadda yadda yadda' that's been done to death already with posters stamping their feet and throwing toys out of the pram, that's just a basic fact. It's not right, and I don't agree with that method of doing business, but that's just the way it is.

cvisser

mik_da_man wrote: »

I have to agree with the OP.

I was looking to purchase a new car (Focus RS), called 4 local dealers (in cork) and they said they had to check for info and get back to me.
Fair enough as it's only just released.

None of them got back to me...

So I rang again after seeing the info and prices on the ford website and in the Irish Times and asked them if I could order it.
Not looking for info, looking to see if I could come in and make an order!
2 of them said that they still had no info, the other two said to pop in.
So I visited the two dealerships (one where I bought my current car) and both seemed totally uninterested and would not take an order!

I would be a cash buyer.

It's totally put me off buying a car here and i'm prob off to the UK to get me an Evo X

it's so diffuicult for me to beliveve that car sales people are still like this in this day and age, my god, help me, i would bend over backwards to sell a car and all the sales people i work with will do exactly the same, i have drove cars to the other side iof the country to sell it, i reply to all phone enquires, all e-mail enquiries, do mail shots, ring and e-mail past customers for service bussiness and special offers, send out thank you cards for buying cars of me, and i have allways done this, even in the boom times!!!!!! alot of my bussiness is repeat and refferal, friends of friends that bought cars of me, whole families have bought cars of me, i am not the cheapest, i am competitive in pricing and i look after the customer no matter what goes wrong, and i dont agnore customers when they have problem issues with there cars. Custtomer Service is the Key to a sucessfull bussiness in these difficult times or anytime's, boom times i include there!!!!

knipex

Most dealership sales guys wouldn't know how to sell a car. For the last 10 years they didn't have to do any selling it was a matter of taking orders so their idea of customer service is a joke.

In January I was buying a new car, no trade in, company was buying so cash on the nail.

I went into a Ford dealer looking for a Mondeo. Took me 15 minutes to get the attention of a sales man (it wasn't like they were busy i was the only in the show room.)

I explained the situation and asked for pricing etc. I was given a price list and he walked away. Didn't ask if I wanted a test drive didn't discuss discounts nothing he just walked away. I got pretty pissed so went to reception desk and asked for the senior sales guy. She went to call the same guy back but I asked for his boss.

I explained my situation and made a complaint. His response ... well we can look at discounts on a case by case basis. I gave him the spec I wanted and asked for his best price. He quoted me list price. I walked out..

Next Ford dealer was willing to discuss pricing but still no offer of a test drive. No discussion on options nothing. he just gave me his best price for a bogo 2ltr diesel (5% off list). I asked about options and he looked at me like I had two heads.

Third Ford dealer was a rural guy. First thing he did was talk about spec, options etc. Offered me a test drive in 3 different spec cars so I could compare and even discussed availability. He then went so far as to offer me a car for the weekend to try. He offered a 12% discount from list.

Where he lost my order was that he kept trying to sell me a car that was in the forecourt even though I hated the colour. I explained that a number of times and said I wanted a black car which he would have to order or source from another dealer. After his fourth attempt to sell me a white car I walked away.

Went to an Opel dealer. Looked at the Insignia, guy walked up and asked politely if I needed help or if I wanted to look around for a while, introduced himself and told me to just call him when I was ready.

He sat me down offerd me coffee discussed what I wanted. Discussed availability and the fact that availability on the options list was scarce. we went for a test drive as long as I wanted not rushed, explained that he couldn't give me the car for a longer period as he only had two at the moment but if I was willing to wait 3 weeks he would gladly give me a car for a weekend.

Spec I wanted was not available in the colour I wanted but he promised to make a few calls and get back to me. 1 hour later he was on the phone with 4 different options for me. Lower spec car in the colour I wanted. Same spec in a similar colour, Hatchback version in colour I wanted and he would do me a deal on the price or wait 9 weeks and he would have the exact car in the exact colour I wanted.

He knocked 15% off the list and agreed to do the hatchback at no extra cost. Deal done.

When I collected the car he had it filled to the brim with diesel and called me back a month later to give me a set of genuine Opel mats for the car as a kind of thank you.

Went looking for a second hand for a mate of mine. He insists on buying from a dealer for warranty, he hated haggling and knows nothing about cars so asked me to come along. Again straight cash no trade in.

Left waiting , quoted stupid prices (car was 9.5K on car zone quoted 16.5K from dealer). crap service, felt like they had no interest in dealing with us.

I finally lost my cool, walked into one sales room, told the sales guy the car we were interested in asked him to give me his best straight price, explained it was a one shot chance if the price was good we would buy the car there and then if not we would walk away. He looked at me in shock and knocked €500 off the list. I just turned around and walked out. He ran out after us asking us to come back but I ignored him, his boss came out and asked us to come back so I explained to him what was wrong and told him lower his prices. He laughed at me. The guy had over 200 second hand cars on his forecourt, and 75 brand new unregistered cars and he laughed at a guy with cash in his hands. I will bet money he wont be around at the end of the year.

mik_da_man

cvisser wrote: »

it's so diffuicult for me to beliveve that car sales people are still like this in this day and age, my god, help me, i would bend over backwards to sell a car and all the sales people i work with will do exactly the same, i have drove cars to the other side iof the country to sell it, i reply to all phone enquires, all e-mail enquiries, do mail shots, ring and e-mail past customers for service bussiness and special offers, send out thank you cards for buying cars of me, and i have allways done this, even in the boom times!!!!!! alot of my bussiness is repeat and refferal, friends of friends that bought cars of me, whole families have bought cars of me, i am not the cheapest, i am competitive in pricing and i look after the customer no matter what goes wrong, and i dont agnore customers when they have problem issues with there cars. Custtomer Service is the Key to a sucessfull bussiness in these difficult times or anytime's, boom times i include there!!!!

If you have a spare Focus RS or Evo X lying around give me a shout ....

Voodoomelon

Some crazy stories there. True, you tend not to hear the good service that some dealers offer on here, only the bad ones, but my theres a pile of bad dealers out there, you wouldn't get service like that buying a pack of chewing gum...

cvisser

mik_da_man wrote: »

If you have a spare Focus RS or Evo X lying around give me a shout ....

Brand New Evo V? We have a Mitsubishi garage within the group, any trade-In, pm me your details and i can arrange testdrive, and finer deatil for you, discounts stuff like that, No Probs.

CyberGhost

OP, why are you surprised? customer service is pretty much non-existant in Ireland. Ireland is probably the only country where a customer has to beg and chase a seller around just to buy something...... for atleast 1.5 time the price of the item compared to the rest of the world.

cvisser, if you do all that good job, but service like that here is one in a million.

Drummerboy08

mik_da_man wrote: »

If you have a spare Focus RS or Evo X lying around give me a shout ....

As a matter of interest, what price is the new RS? I must ask the Ford lads about it.

I know my oul lad had interest in a new one not too long ago, but that was before the details were released.

Do-more

I was in my local Ford Dealer yesterday morning enquiring about a new or nearly new Focus. Straight deal, no trade-in, cash in hand. The salesman has worked there for over 20 years, so you'd think he'd know the product he was selling:rolleyes: not a clue! Told him what I was interested in and he gave me a price off his "cash price" list including lopping on various extras I was told I would "need" even though I didn't ask for them.

He then said that he would check group stock as he thought that he had a similar car nearly new and he would ring me back later in the day, I suggested that he work on his new price and we could have a deal.

Still haven't heard a dickie bird!

What do you have to do to buy a car these days?

cvisser

Do-more wrote: »

I was in my local Ford Dealer yesterday morning enquiring about a new or nearly new Focus. Straight deal, no trade-in, cash in hand. The salesman has worked there for over 20 years, so you'd think he'd know the product he was selling:rolleyes: not a clue! Told him what I was interested in and he gave me a price off his "cash price" list including lopping on various extras I was told I would "need" even though I didn't ask for them.

He then said that he would check group stock as he thought that he had a similar car nearly new and he would ring me back later in the day, I suggested that he work on his new price and we could have a deal.

Still haven't heard a dickie bird!

What do you have to do to buy a car these days?

i have a 05 saloon and 06 3-dr if it helps, if theres anything else you've seen on the roads that you fancy, drop me a pm and i'll be more than happy to help you out, i will check within our group and if thers something i can do to put a deal together for you, i will do it.

cvisser

CyberGhost wrote: »

OP, why are you surprised? customer service is pretty much non-existant in Ireland. Ireland is probably the only country where a customer has to beg and chase a seller around just to buy something...... for atleast 1.5 time the price of the item compared to the rest of the world.

cvisser, if you do all that good job, but service like that here is one in a million.

all id do is my best combined with hard work and honesty