Horrible Salesmen.. WHAT NOT TO DO

Andr3wilson

Andr3wilson

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So this is a bit of an interesting story.

My friend is car shopping and I tagged along for fun. He doesn't really quite know what car he wants, it just has to be a sporty sedan (new DD).

After having great test drives at a bunch of dealerships, we stopped at the hyundai dealership to look at a Genesis Sedan.

Well after being showed one in the showroom, he asked for a test drive. Unfortunately being refused. When asked, the salesman said your purchase date was too far out; 3-4 months.

He replied saying he wants to drive the car to see if he would like it in the first place.

Suddenly a heated debate starts, manger comes over.

Manger pulls us over, and starts giving BS reasons and claims he trains his salesmen to do that. We keep driving the point that we just want to drive it to see if we like it before we buy it. Next comes the hypothetical situations and what not and saying we are wasting his guys time!. Finally we get kicked out...

Lesson, never argue with a future customer! No matter what, please them as best you can!
 
Andr3wilson said:
So this is a bit of an interesting story.

My friend is car shopping and I tagged along for fun. He doesn't really quite know what car he wants, it just has to be a sporty sedan (new DD).

After having great test drives at a bunch of dealerships, we stopped at the hyundai dealership to look at a Genesis Sedan.

Well after being showed one in the showroom, he asked for a test drive. Unfortunately being refused. When asked, the salesman said your purchase date was too far out; 3-4 months.

He replied saying he wants to drive the car to see if he would like it in the first place.

Suddenly a heated debate starts, manger comes over.

Manger pulls us over, and starts giving BS reasons and claims he trains his salesmen to do that. We keep driving the point that we just want to drive it to see if we like it before we buy it. Next comes the hypothetical situations and what not and saying we are wasting his guys time!. Finally we get kicked out...

Lesson, never argue with a future customer! No matter what, please them as best you can!
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That sucks!

My favorite story from my time in the car business is from my buddy. He was selling Porsches in Hawaii and had a customer on the lot that nobody else helped. The guy was wearing paint soaked coveralls and literally looked like a house painter. Turned out to be the muralist Wyland. My buddy made a nice commission off that one!

A true salesman will never prejudge--unlike the a$$hole you guys ran into.
 
Wow, I went to my local Hyundai dealership last week and wanted to scope out the new Santa Fe with a female coworker who asked me for help. She isn't going to buy for atleast 8-12 months. We just wanted to see the interior and the salesman asked if we'd like to take a test drive, which we did. The rational being maybe she would like the vehicle so much it would speed up her timeline. I have been in sales for 23 years, full commission, zero exspenses, so I have a little insight here. The irony here is, last year when the 2013 Genesis Coupe came out, the exact model came in at this dealership I wanted. (se my avatar)It came in Saturday afternoon, I went down first thing Sunday when they opened and the darn business mgr bought the car. So I ended up finding the 2nd one in the state and hour plus away, bought it. Mt friend and his girlfiend bought a Genesis and Sonata and didn't go to this dealership yet the salesman still hooked me up. I stopped at the Kia dealership the other day just to window shop and look at the Optima and the new Cadenza (nice cars) and the salesman asked me if I wanted to take a test drive even though I said I was just looking. I declined, but you get the point. That sales manager is an idiot and needs to be replaced.
 
Reminds me of when I was looking for a car and stopped at a small dealer that had a firebird(v6). The physical condition was subpar for my standards, but I wanted to drive it so I could see if I would like it in general as I had never driven on before. They agreed for a test drive. When it was over, the dude started talking about money and I was like "woooo wooo wooo no, I just wanted to try it out to see how I liked the car, I don't want this one." Dude exploded on me and was like, "I would never had done this testdrive if I didn't think you were going to buy it" "you wasted my time" yadayadayada. I couldn't believe it. I just walked away right then.

The manager then came chasing after me apologizing and saying he shouldn't have done that and how he could cut me a discount and what not. I didn't even care as I didn't want the car! I just wanted to test drive it to see if I liked it.

I don't get why it was such a big deal.. The next dealer I went to let me take two cars out alone. He just said to come back whenever I felt I got a good feel for it and to go from there. I got good vibes from them, but unfortunately, the only car I was interested in had some problems that turned me off.
 
I have never been told I couldn't test drive a car from any dealer. That dealer really sucks!!!
 
Most salesman should want you to drive since it can only speed up indecisive people. They should immediately ask what can they can do for you to buy today - price, financing, trade-in, etc.
 
Pureshine said:
I have never been told I couldn't test drive a car from any dealer. That dealer really sucks!!!
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same here. wasting their time? buddy they are the salesman. its their JOB. kind of funny. my dad use to think car salesman were guys that really did not want to work.....

reminds me many years ago i got a friend a detailers job at a dealership. yea, it sucked. low pay, hard work etc.... (my job also at the time) he could not wait to suck up to mangement to get a sales position.
 
I went thru the very same thing last week.

We're looking for a new truck (a smaller one), went to my local Toyota dealer. I knew what I want and knew it would be a factory order (note use of 'past tense'. I just a wanted to drive one see how my body fitted etc.

First thing he wanted was to see my drivers license. Why I ask, replies with, "So we can run a credit check." I didn't get nasty (but sure wanted too), but in such terms I told him he just lost a sale.

He gets all defensive saying 'they' have to run a credit check, blah blah blah (or is that, yada yada yada?).

While we were leaving my last remark was, "What about cash sales, no credit required. There is always another dealer down the street."

I've seen it way too often, that dealerships, sale people, etc think that they are doing the customer a favor by offering a vehicle 'for sale' and that 'they' make the rules. WRONG!

Rant over...

Bill
 
I sold cars for about 2 months worst job I've ever had (actually did pretty good) but the sales managers were so cut throat and nasty I couldn't continue.. They would want us to profile these customers and if they didnt seem interested to not waste our time. I didn't follow that rule And gave everybody an opportunity to drive and look at whatever they wanted, you might not get the sale that day but 2 months down the road when you may be struggling God blesses you with the sale you didn't need 2 months prior.

Needless to say I quit and probably a year later that company went out of business..
 
Looking at the other side of the coin...Why should the salesperson waste up to two hours with someone that has no intention of making a deal? While he/she is out with you on your joyride he might miss an "up" that wants to buy a car today. Your friend had no idea of what car he wants which muddies the water even more. I don't think it was handled well at all but I understand the reasoning behind denying the drive.
Do you have any idea how many times a day they go through this?

I went through this for 20 years selling boats. A qualified buyer with approved credit, committed, and all the numbers established would get an orientation/instructional ride after purchase. There were exceptions to this but that is where experience in dealing with people comes into play. I also sold cars and no commitment meant no test drive under most circumstances. There were exceptions when my gut feeling was good about someone.
 
Theres no need to get into an argument and tossed out .... simply let the manager know that you won't purchase from their dealership and let the manufacturer know of the issue. They DONT like complaints coming from the corporate office and the owners get to see it also !
 
You would be surprised how many people are interested in "maybe" buying a challenger srt8. Unfortunately the salesman has to make a call and maybe since a couple if guys came in with a farther off purchase date he figured he was just going along for a "just for fun" drive.
 
Most volume inexpensive dealership will try to profile you. Salesman get customers in order. So if they send time with a non- buyer they need to wait their turn for the next potential buyer. Meaning they loose important time.
Certain car dealers tell their salespeople not to let a potential customer our the store without a test ride. I have told sales people not to waste time with me as I am just browsing, yet insist that I take a test ride.

It really depends the volume and nature of the dealership.

You should note that these people make their living by selling cars, you should NOT waste their time when you are not a buyer. It is just not fair.
 
I've been laughing over the technique my Chevy dealer uses to try and sell extended warranties. Bought a Camaro SS in 2012 and then it was "you're getting a manual transmission, those are notorious for flaking out." Just upgraded to a 2013 SS and this time it was "your car has them 'Bimbo' brakes, those things are known for breaking down."

Wish I were joking about that last one. Their technique of "our cars are really crappy you're going to want to extend the warranty" seriously cracks me up. It amazes me how inept and clueless most of the staff is about their products. The sales person knew nothing about the Camaro itself. The finance guy argued with me tooth and nail when I corrected him when he told me my new SS has 100 more HP than the one I was trading in (same engine, same transmission, just more bells and whistles).

Only reason I keep going back to this particular dealer is they are the only dealership within 100 miles that shows love to SS's with manual transmissions and has a decent selection in stock.
 
might be regional? the salesman i have dealt with here have been ok. no issues. the best experience i had was from nissan. yea. markups can be a pain. well known fact. they say never buy....

1. extended warranty
2. rustproofing
3. paint protection/interior protection pkg.
 
RTexasF said:
Looking at the other side of the coin...Why should the salesperson waste up to two hours with someone that has no intention of making a deal?
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When I was test driving, at several dealerships the salesman just gave me the keys and let me drive it alone. They just wanted to see your driver license just in case.
 
Bunky said:
When I was test driving, at several dealerships the salesman just gave me the keys and let me drive it alone. They just wanted to see your driver license just in case.
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Now that would be nice. This is the first time I've ever heard of that happening unless the salesperson or sales manager knew the customer well or was related.
 
Only once did I have a bad experience with a car dealer.

It was the Scottsdale Porsche dealer in 1989 (before Roger Penske).

I had just gotten my Pontiac Turbo TA (Pace Car Edition) at the end of March.

Lease was up on my 1985 HO Trans Am.

Trying to decide between the Porsche 944 and the newly redone Nissan 300ZX.

Walked into the Porsche dealer wearing jeans. I guess that was verboten at the time. Saturday morning, not another person on the lot except for sales people. They all studiously ignored me. Couldn't even get the manager to talk to me.

I was ready to buy a car that day. So, I went to the Mesa Nissan dealer, and discovered they had gotten their first 300ZX earlier in the week.

They made the sale. Went back to the Porsche dealer with my new Z, and asked to speak to the owner. Told him his guys really blew it and left.

Told the story of "bad salesmen" to everyone I knew. Not good for them at the time. List of contacts included executives at most of the biggest companies in AZ at the time, Mayor of Phoenix, and the Phoenix 40 group (the group that used to basically control all of the business in Phoenix).

At least that made me feel better:xyxthumbs: Especially since I bought 3 new cars that year, none of them Porsches. Never had an interest again in owning a Porsche.

Jim
 
Terrible.

I've only experienced the opposite. When I bought my Audi last year, I test drove it at the first dealer I went to, but continued to price shop. At the next two dealerships, they insisted I drive the car even though I explained I had already done so.
 
That salesman should have set a goal to sell your friend a car that day, no matter when your friend planned on buying.

My last vehicle was a true impulse buy. I went from just looking to driving it off the lot that day, even after telling the salesman that I was just looking!!!
 
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