Now Ye're Talking - to a Car Salesman

ForestFire

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA wrote: »

I think any of those situations to be honest as you have the right to pull out of a sale any time until you take the car, a dealer has the same right too.

At the end of the day you are paying a significant amount of money so there is no reason you should settle for accepting something you are not happy with

Just to clarify, These are specific factory order cars, with a deposit placed for ordering. Still the same case, Right to refuse, Money back or request a rebuild of the correct order.

ba_barabus

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA wrote: »

I am interested to see if people would be comfortable with ordering a car online and not seeing it until the day it arrives?

I have bought cars this way, classic and niche vehicles, but if I was buying a new car I'd like my bum in a seat to be certain I'm happy spending the money on it. You can't tell if a car is right until you spend time in it.

For example I really wanted a Lexus IS200, loved everything about it, until I drove it and realised the auto box was a bit old school. Again changing another time I had my heart set on an IS220d but the rubbish gearbox put me off as 6th gear was useless. I'd love an IS300h........but I'm not going to spend 45k getting the one I want

You can't tell until you sit in and drive if it's for you. No amount of keyboard pleasure online can tell you that.

CrankyHaus

How do you deal with repeat visitors who test drive the most expensive cars and never buy anything?

I know of a local, quite well to do but stingy, who I’m told would regularly visit a premium brand dealership to do this and salesmen would hide when they saw him coming.

Sinister Kid

CrankyHaus wrote: »

How do you deal with repeat visitors who test drive the most expensive cars and never buy anything?

I know of a local, quite well to do but stingy, who I’m told would regularly visit a premium brand dealership to do this and salesmen would hide when they saw him coming.

I would love an answer to this one too!

I manage a furniture shop & I have two particular customers that spend hours in the shop & rarely buy. They will only deal with me, one of them even phones ahead to make sure I am in work before calling in...

osarusan

In your experience, is there a particular brand/type of car that people are more likely to pay over the odds for, compared to others?

And...in your experience, what are some of the different stereotypical views people have about different brands/types of car?

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA

diomed wrote: »

My dealer has got their P45 from me but they don't know it.
I'll keep the car I bought from them for another year or two but our fifteen years is at an end.
Abysmal service and attitude. Four problems with a 2016 car and they made very little effort to sort it.

Sounds like you had a very poor experience, what was the issue with the car?

ForestFire wrote: »

I think your going to need a bigger thread:)

Even though this is not really sale related, there maybe a question of relavence for the sales Guy.

Do you ever get involved in warranty issues, Faults , returns or unhappy owners?
Do the unhappy owners request to see you personally for selling a car they are now not happy with?

And don't say you never sold a car that turned out to have problems :pac:, there must be a least 1, although you sell in good faith things will go wrong sometimes.

Yes I have sold car that have turned out to have problems because like all machines some will have faults in them unfortunately.

There is a very little a sales person can do with an aftersales issue but I will always try and help when I can. This may be lending a replacement car for a day or two where possible.

Yes customers will want to come back to me about it and yes it can be difficult to explain that there is very little I can do on it.

You will have on the other side customers going to the service department and saying I told them they could get there car looked at straight away and I wouldn't have to wait

downwesht wrote: »

Hi!A few questions..
Do you take turns when customers arrive at the salesroom?Who decides who deals with who?
Do you have a good working relationship with your workmates or is it "dog eat dog"?
How do you fill the time on a quiet day?

In a way yes we do take turns but in another way we are only here to look after ourselves so the more customers we can get talking to the better.

Yes where I am now we all have a good working relationship so there are some unwritten rules on how we operate but this can become strained at times like any working relationship.

Quiet days can be very frustrating but generally following up with customers and anyone you have spoken to trying to see if you can get more sales. Also can be good days to get all of your admin and preparation work done

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Should I expect much of a discount for paying for a 25k or so car in cash, or am I actually a less attractive prospect for salesmen who want to make commission on finance plans?

If a used car is priced at 25k and I want to pay in cash with no trade in, what would the bottom price for that car generally be in and around?

This can depend on the dealership you are dealing with and how the car is priced in the first placed. If the car is priced well most would say €500 - €1000

A sales is a sale at the end of the day but yes some sales people will prefer to organise finance for you as they can make some money doing that too

Meeeee79

If I were to buy a car would your advice be to;
1. Bring your own car and try and get a trade in as part of the deal
2. Sell your own car privately and pay cash for the new car

Assuming of course that the hassle of selling yourself can be ignored. From a money point of view whats my best bet in getting a better deal?

Sinister Kid

On average how many times will a customer call into you before actually buying?

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA

Negative_G wrote: »

Why do you think that car salesman have a reputation as having one of the most shady professions where their single objective is to shake the customer for as much as they can?

I've bought a good few cars over the years, from cheaper second hand cars to 30k+. Overall, my experience has not been positive, there were a small percentage who seemed genuine, generally used car garages. The worst seemed to be in main dealers, particularly in the more 'prestige' brands.

Two of the most painful professions to deal with are car salesman and auctioneers. My experience is that if you haven't got your head screwed on, you'll be royally rogered.

SIMI have also got to be up there with the Vintners Association for playing the poor me card. What do they actually do for a) the dealer/garage b) the buyer?

I suppose the media and films is probably the main reason why the reputation is there.

That is not the only reason because I have witnessed sales people who will judge someone and try and charge them more etc than they should. I suppose back in the celtic tiger times people had more money and were less likely to keep an eye on what they are spending an check what they are being told so sales people felt they could get away with it. This can be said for any sales really.

Some people in main dealers and as you said "premium" brands will feel they are better than other sales people and act accordingly.

No excuse for any of it but I can see where you are coming from and have witnessed it. As times at changing so are these practices and they are becoming less common

Amiya Drab Weekend wrote: »

Do you know of any saloon or estate cars that can comfortably fit 3 child seats in the back??

There are none that I know of that can take 3 full size car seats, some will take 2 cars seats and a booster. There is a company which I came across before and now cant remember where you can buy 3 car seats together that are designed to fit in regular 3 seater cars. If I do come remember the name I will let you know but from memory it was not a cheap solution

bonkers67 wrote: »

What do you think of the Volvo V40? They seem to be less popular here than in the UK and very expensive here also.

I have only had limited experience with the V40 but from what I know of it seems like a good car. Probably the reason is as you said they are quiet expensive here that there are so many other options you can buy a that price

FaganJr wrote: »

Hi, I have. Mazda 3 2.2 D Exec saloon, 40kms 141.
The reason it has low milage is because we both have company vans. Car used at weekends for 100 - 250 km trips , visiting family or weekend breaks usually.
Probably change next year, so will have 50kms with FSH.
Reason we need car is for kids, there are 4 of us. See this situation much??
Would you view this car suspiciously or like to see it coming in??

Not at all, it is very common and a car which would be great to have coming as a trade in because the mileage is so low. It make it very easy to sell on again. Biggest thing would be once it has a service history and the KMS can be verified there would be no issue

the sheriff is HERE wrote: »

What are your favourite car colours?
What is your opinion on Dacia's? Most people say cheap sh!te, but they're everywhere, they've really took off.

Personally I like Red and Blue.

So many cars are Black, Grey and Silver it is nice to see anything that is not the same.

It depends what you are looking for in a car but I rate the Dacia quiet highly. I think if you are looking for a functional car at great value it could suit, they wont have a huge amount of features but you get what you pay for. If you are looking for a basic car and not worried about extras and not worried about resale value then they would be ideal

Johngoose wrote: »

Do you have a cheesy grin/good teeth?

I like to think not anyway

carsfan2 wrote: »

Are optional extras on a car a complete waste come trade in?
It seems to me a dealer tells you they don’t add anything to the car when they buy it from you but when they retail it they look for a premium for these cars that have more kit. Seems like they want it both ways.

Certain extras are, if you add a lot of extras you will never see the money back.

Things like a sports pack, leather, sunroof will help when changing the car. Anything that makes it more appealing looking will make it easier to sell it on again. If I see a car which has appealing extras I will give more for it being traded in because I know we can ask more for it when being sold on

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

What is your favourite car to get as a trade in that you know will sell fast?

What is your least favourite car to get as a trade in that you know will take ages to sell?

This changes all the time, anything scare and in demand really. For instance if a new model came out 2 years ago, once it hits two years old generally there will be a high demand and you can sell easily.

Again depends on the model, estate cars can be very hard to sell on and anything with large road tax

ba_barabus wrote: »

When pricing up a trade in and the salesman places a call "to his friend in the trade" they always heap praise on the car even if it's obviously a snotter.

Do they make a follow up call after the potential customer leaves to tell them exactly what the car is like or is there a hidden code in the language they've used to describe it?

No because what you are doing is aiming to sell it to them so the more you can get for them the more you can offer the customer for the car.

You do have to be careful because if you are not describing things accurately they will notice and when you actually ring them with a good car they will not give you a good price

draiochtanois wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Buying a car can a lot of the time be with your emotions rather than your head so if you can get someone driving a car it can help them picture themselves owning it and therefore make it easier to sell to them

wyf437gn6btzue

Do you get many cash buyers? Like someone who`d order a new car or buy a second hand car and transfer on the spot or fairly quick?

M5

How would you recommend verifying milage? I'm looking at a 2014 e class with low milage advertised. Would like to verify before I buy. There is a history and main dealer stamps. Just wondering if there is any other ways either generally or specific to Mercedes

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA

Fann Linn wrote: »

Why do some dealerships display their cars with prices affixed to windscreens whilst others leave their cars with nada?

That is something I am not sure about, anywhere I have worked has had prices In the window where possible, I can’t see any advantage of not having it

ForestFire wrote: »

Just to clarify, These are specific factory order cars, with a deposit placed for ordering. Still the same case, Right to refuse, Money back or request a rebuild of the correct order.

Yes that’s correct if not exactly how you ordered them you can refuse. Different for someone who is not happy with their order and wants something else

CrankyHaus wrote: »

How do you deal with repeat visitors who test drive the most expensive cars and never buy anything?

I know of a local, quite well to do but stingy, who I’m told would regularly visit a premium brand dealership to do this and salesmen would hide when they saw him coming.

Yes there will generally be a number of these “locals” for each dealership. You will get to know them and you will be polite to them but you are not going to give them all of your time. Not much you can do apart from be polite to them and let them indulge themselves

Meeeee79 wrote: »

If I were to buy a car would your advice be to;
1. Bring your own car and try and get a trade in as part of the deal
2. Sell your own car privately and pay cash for the new car

Assuming of course that the hassle of selling yourself can be ignored. From a money point of view whats my best bet in getting a better deal?

Can depend on the car you have ie if it is a certain age where a dealership may not want to sell themselves then it is better to sell yourself.

If it is a car where the dealership will sell on easily can be good because if they really want it they will value it quiet highly

Sinister Kid wrote: »

On average how many times will a customer call into you before actually buying?

It has reduced over the last number of years due to so much being on the internet so people can research what they want before they go in. The stats used to say an average of 7 visits to buy a car and now it’s about 1.4 visits.

Premium brands will tend to have more visits before a customer makes a decision

Gunnar Tight Clipboard wrote: »

Do you get many cash buyers? Like someone who`d order a new car or buy a second hand car and transfer on the spot or fairly quick?

In premium brands no, some people who know what they want will be willing to do it straight away. A lot of people will have the money but will want to check everything before they make a decision. Again this can be different depending on the brand

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA

M5 wrote: »

How would you recommend verifying milage? I'm looking at a 2014 e class with low milage advertised. Would like to verify before I buy. There is a history and main dealer stamps. Just wondering if there is any other ways either generally or specific to Mercedes

Is it a Uk car or Irish car? The Uk are very good for putting data in to their mileage data base but the Irish are not. If it is a full service history on headed paper you could always check with the dealer who serviced to make sure their records match

Bob_Marley

Hi Carsalesman great thread !

A few questions i've never seen answered fully :

1)
0% finance PCP offers - are these really genuine, i.e. would someone buy a car straight for cash not get a better price ?
I've seen some dealers claim they won't. Hard to believe, how do the sellers really make any money ?

2)
How do dealer scrappage schemes really work, i.e. you trade in a qualifing car worth 500 and get 4500 off list price ?
Would somone buying straight not get 5000 off lit price in that case ? again I've seen some dealers try to claim they won't.

3)
What's the best option for someone who likes to buy new ofen. Every 2 years, 3 years or 5 ?
In theroy every 5 would be cheaper in long run, but has every 2 any advantages apart from the obvious ?

4)
What happens if somone genuinely doesn't notice delivery damage underneath a new car, when they accept the new car from the dealer, and only notice it,
or are told about it, by someone else after a few weeks ?
Are new car buyers really expected to fully inspect the underside of a new car before they leave the forecourt with it ?

5)
You say you give extra money on a trade in for some extras? How much roughly do you give for
factory leather seats ?
factory alloys ?
How much roughly do you give for other desirable extras, can you give us an idea please ?

6)
What was the hardest things when starting out as a new car sales person ?
What are the things you wish you knew when starting out ?
What tips would you give to new sales people ? anything they should know well beforehand ?

7)
Step by step, what are the best way and other tips to negotiate the best price with a car sales rep ?
What things should you avoid saying / giving away to the sales rep if you want a better price ?

Do the pushy customers really get the best price or just think they do ?

cycle4fun

Do you think / in your experience, are the Japanese brands like Honda and Toyota more reliable? What make of car do you think is the most reliable?

joe40

I'm always surprised there aren't more female staff in car sales. Plenty of buyers are female, and I would like to think most men would not have a problem with a female salesperson. In your opinion what are the barriers to female sales staff.
I always thought it would make good business sense.

Up Donegal

Hi.
What's the difference between the Trade-In price and the Straight Sale price of a vehicle? I always thought that if one was interested in buying a car which was advertised for sale at, say, €10,000, and they were trading in a car for which the salesman would allow say, €2,000, that the buyer would have to pay only the difference between the two prices, ie €8,000 in this example, if they wanted to buy the car.
Thanks.

Frank11

You spoke about lower mileage cars being desirable, how do dealers view cars with a number high previous owners?

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA

Bob_Marley wrote: »

Hi Carsalesman great thread !

A few questions i've never seen answered fully :

1)
0% finance PCP offers - are these really genuine, i.e. would someone buy a car straight for cash not get a better price ?
I've seen some dealers claim they won't. Hard to believe, how do the sellers really make any money ?

2)
How do dealer scrappage schemes really work, i.e. you trade in a qualifing car worth 500 and get 4500 off list price ?
Would somone buying straight not get 5000 off lit price in that case ? again I've seen some dealers try to claim they won't.

3)
What's the best option for someone who likes to buy new ofen. Every 2 years, 3 years or 5 ?
In theroy every 5 would be cheaper in long run, but has every 2 any advantages apart from the obvious ?

4)
What happens if somone genuinely doesn't notice delivery damage underneath a new car, when they accept the new car from the dealer, and only notice it,
or are told about it, by someone else after a few weeks ?
Are new car buyers really expected to fully inspect the underside of a new car before they leave the forecourt with it ?

5)
You say you give extra money on a trade in for some extras? How much roughly do you give for
factory leather seats ?
factory alloys ?
How much roughly do you give for other desirable extras, can you give us an idea please ?

6)
What was the hardest things when starting out as a new car sales person ?
What are the things you wish you knew when starting out ?
What tips would you give to new sales people ? anything they should know well beforehand ?

7)
Step by step, what are the best way and other tips to negotiate the best price with a car sales rep ?
What things should you avoid saying / giving away to the sales rep if you want a better price ?

Do the pushy customers really get the best price or just think they do ?

1, With 0% PCP offers even though they are not making money from the finance, the garage and brand still have you as a customer. Once you have PCP you have to do something within 3 years even if it is keep the car. You will get a number of customers who are then used to paying a monthly payment want to buy again using finance. For this reason a dealership will prefer to see you taking this option than no finance at a ll.

2, With current scrappage schemes the manufacturer's will support the dealers. So if in the case you have the car worth €500 and anything lost on the sale of the new car will be given in a rebate from the manufacturer. They don't support it if a dealer is simply giving €5000 of the list price of a car so the dealer would have to take the loss

3, I would say this would depend on the brand and model but on average 3 years and some 2. A 5 year wont be anywhere near as desirable for a main dealer to sell on so they would prefer to see a younger car being traded in

4, Part of the contract you sign when collecting a new car has a section where you are accepting the condition of the car so this puts the responsibility on the buyer to check out the car.

Its the same for the dealer they have to check the car when delivered from the transport company and if they only notice damage after and don't report it then the dealer has to pay for the repair.

5, There are no set amounts to be honest, every brand and every model will have different amounts. But if you look at any model, the higher level specs always command more than lower ones. For example Luna in Toyota and Highline in Volkswagen

6, Hardest thing about starting out is getting up to speed with what you are selling because there are so many options across every brand and model it is a lot to get your head around. Also learning that every customer is different and no 2 people will want to same things or price.

One of the toughest things about the job to get used to is the hours, especially in the busy times of year you will work 6 days a week and they can be very long days. This is tough because when you are young looking at your friends having their weekends off and extra free time it can get to you. This gets even tougher when you have a family of your own.

For people starting out I would recommend doing as much research in to it, talk to people doing it and consider what you want to do in the long term. Yes money can be very good that you earn but it is not guaranteed and changes from month to month.

You will also get people saying to you oh your a sales person oh you must be dodgy and you are out to rip people off. You can see people thinking like this by some of the comments on here.

I don't want to make it sounds negative for anyone thinking of doing it because it is a job I enjoy and a job I would not change. There are plenty of advantages to it too

7, Each sales person will be different but the people who I will try help the most are the people who are genuine and honest with me. If I am getting along with someone I am more inclined to want to help them where I can. The best result is when the sales person, the dealership and the buyer are all happy with the outcome.
Pushy people with me anyway will tend to get less. There are buyers who treat sales people as the enemy. At the end of the day we are just doing our job and we are not out to rob people, we are like everyone else just wanting to get out job done.

One tip I would have is if you have identified the car you are looking at is exactly the one you want try not to get too excited about it. By all means be up front and honest about it but if a sales person knows all you want is the car they are less likely to give you more money when negotiating

cycle4fun wrote: »

Do you think / in your experience, are the Japanese brands like Honda and Toyota more reliable? What make of car do you think is the most reliable?

I think all brands and general have become more reliable and these days it is down to how a car is looked after and maintained. If this is done correctly then there is no brand that would put me off buying it

joe40 wrote: »

I'm always surprised there aren't more female staff in car sales. Plenty of buyers are female, and I would like to think most men would not have a problem with a female salesperson. In your opinion what are the barriers to female sales staff.
I always thought it would make good business sense.

I would agree I think female staff do very well, there are some but not many. I suppose the biggest barrier would be that is a very male dominated environment so can be very easy to intimidated by that

Up Donegal wrote: »

Hi.
What's the difference between the Trade-In price and the Straight Sale price of a vehicle? I always thought that if one was interested in buying a car which was advertised for sale at, say, €10,000, and they were trading in a car for which the salesman would allow say, €2,000, that the buyer would have to pay only the difference between the two prices, ie €8,000 in this example, if they wanted to buy the car.
Thanks.

Trade in prices include some discount to give when pricing a trade in to make the price of the trade in better.

For example if the car is worth €10,000 you are looking at and the actual value of the car you are trading in is €1,000 but your cost to change is €8,000 what they are actually doing is selling you the car for €9,000 which would be the straight sale.

The reason it is done this way is to give buyers better prices for their cars, most buyers will be happier to be getting €2,000 for their trade in than €1,000. Even though the cost would be the same either way most buyers will turn around and say well my car should be worth more

Frank11 wrote: »

You spoke about lower mileage cars being desirable, how do dealers view cars with a number high previous owners?

This can affect the value of a car too, basically anything that will alter what a buyer would buy the car for when being sold will change how a dealer will value the car.

For instance a car with 2 owners is going to sell quicker than a car with 5 owners if everything else about the was the same

MetzgerMeister

Jaysus fair play to you for answering that essay from Bob_Marley :pac:

osarusan

In your experience, is there a particular brand/type of car that people are more likely to pay over the odds for, compared to others?

And...in your experience, what are some of the different stereotypical views people have about different brands/types of car?

bonkers67

If a dealer has a car for sale a long time is it easier to get a discount from them?

Bob_Marley

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Jaysus fair play to you for answering that essay from Bob_Marley :pac:

I thought they were quite useful questions and the info would certainly be useful to everyone in an ask me anything thread or buying a car ? Thank you Car Salesman - You don't see answers to those questions very often, is that not what the thread is for, or am I missing something here ?

MetzgerMeister

Bob_Marley wrote: »

I thought they were quite useful questions and the info would certainly be useful to everyone in an ask me anything thread or buying a car ? Thank you Car Salesman - You don't see answers to those questions very often, is that not what the thread is for, or am I missing something here ?

No, you're quite right.

Bob_Marley

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA wrote: »

2, With current scrappage schemes the manufacturer's will support the dealers. So if in the case you have the car worth €500 and anything lost on the sale of the new car will be given in a rebate from the manufacturer. They don't support it if a dealer is simply giving €5000 of the list price of a car so the dealer would have to take the loss

Not sure I understand this answer.

A manufacturer is selling a car for 30k and also gives someone who trades in a €500 car a 4500 "scrappage scheme" discount, so they only pay 26.5k, but in turn said manufacture will refuse to give 4500 off to someone who buys straight and they have to pay 30k ? This makes no sense to me ? Surely people in this situation should be paying roughly the same for a car (give or take a slight variation in what different dealers want as commission ). Why would a manufacturer effectively be turning away straight sales in favour of people trading in a banger ?

Also next question, I know it will vary, but roughly what % mark up do distributors take on cars ? and in turn, what % mark up to dealers take on cars.

Also roughly what % do dealers give their sales staff as commission ?

Sexual Chocolate

Great thread Car Sales Man.

How did you get into it in the first place ? Did you go around garages handing in CV's etc ?

Any advice for a young lad like myself toying with the idea of wanting to work in car sales ?

What's your opinion on the VAG emissions scandal ? Is it true that VAG sales weren't effected much or in other words they got away lightly ?

What do you think about petrol making a come back these days ? It must be interesting explaining to a potential customer that you can get a Mondeo or Octavia in a 1.0L and so on. Or that this new 1.0 Golf would put your old 1.6 one to shame etc :pac:

You also mentioned earlier on about that in some cases you would try to steer a customer away from diesels due to their low mileage driving ( A very honest thing I must say, at lot of people were sold diesels when they shouldn't of been over the years).
Would this have being something frowned upon 5 years ago as dealers were only bringing in mostly diesels and therefore would already have the stock ready to sell ?

Blazer

I'm a Car Salesman, AMA wrote: »

There are none that I know of that can take 3 full size car seats, some will take 2 cars seats and a booster. There is a company which I came across before and now cant remember where you can buy 3 car seats together that are designed to fit in regular 3 seater cars. If I do come remember the name I will let you know but from memory it was not a cheap solution

Taken from a post in Motors:Buying and Selling.

It is expensive but look at it from a safety perspective you can see why.

https://multimac.co.uk/home

Max Prophet

What's your view on gap insurance. Seems like a swizz

have2flushtwice

I was in a car sales yard this year. The guy had fresh yellow regs out the front with a few 2013 upwards irish reg cars too. Out the back he had upwards of thirty older cars in good shape, trade ins I thought . Why is he holding all these older ones for? How is the money made on these. Ive a clean 2001 golf tdi and I can't get a grand for it. So these couldn't be worth too much more. What am I missing

ba_barabus

Do salespeople care about the service records and receipts that some owners build up over time. I've handed up large service folders tgat I took a lot if time to build up only to find out they didn't follow the car.