sales tactics
Imagine the stereotypical car salesman – obsequious, aggressive, duplicitous. That’s exactly who greeted me when I stopped by the car dealership.
“So, Niobe,” he kept asking me, “what monthly payment are you looking for? You must have a number in mind. There must be some number that will make you pull the trigger.” I told him, untruthfully, as it happens, that I was in no rush to buy a car. “Well, Niobe,” he said, “what can I say that will earn us your business today? You won’t find a better deal anywhere. No one can beat us because we have the highest volume in the state.”
I asked about the price of the car and he quoted me an "invoice price" that was much higher than the one I’d found on the internet. He neglected to mention any of the promotions that I knew his dealership was offering. When I said I’d think about the price he had given me and shop around, he acted as though I were cheating. “But, Niobe, you could just go to another dealer with our offer and ask them if they could give you a better deal.” I didn’t say anything, but I thought: yes, that’s what “shop around” means.
The car salesman then said he would “speak to his manager” and disappeared for ten minutes. He came back with the manager, a little man for whom the description rat-like was invented, who showed me a piece of paper on which he’d written up a new, slightly better deal. When I said thank you and started to leave, the manager informed me that I couldn’t take the paper with me. As I walked out, I told myself that the price they had quoted me couldn’t have been a particularly good one, since they hadn’t set a time limit for me to accept it.
Sure enough, a few hours later, the car salesman left a message on my phone offering me a lower monthly payment, “but, Niobe, this deal is only good if you act within the next few hours.” I smiled as I deleted the message. Even if I had wanted to take him up on his offer, I couldn’t have. He had forgotten to leave his phone number.
24 comments:
oh too funny. i hate car shopping...so much snake oil.
We buy our cars at Carma.x. Do they have anything like that in NJ?( i lived there and i think they don't; ( )
Maybe somewhere like that? Where they sell slightly used cars (mine had 5,000 miles on it). At a fixed-take it or leave it price- which i liked. And it was lower than anywhere else.
Eeck. What a dirty task!
Pull the trigger?
Too perfect.
I admit (with red-faced shame) that I was a car salesman many, many years ago. I wasn't very good.
However, my husband loves going with me into dealerships b/c I can beat almost every salesman to the punchline answering questions they haven't had a chance to ask. Plus, we make it quite clear that we don't shop around. Give me a price. If they haven't figured out by now that everyone knows what their invoice and incentives are, then they don't deserve my business.
ugh, I hate that kind of thing - makes me want to buy somewhere else.
Just reading this post made my blood pressure go up. So did I miss what happened to you other car? The one that broke down on the freeway?
"Rat-like". I so have that picture in my head right now. Perfect description. Such a patronizing, dirty job--car-shopping.
One time my girlfriends and I had a discussion on what it would take us to visit a car dealership to check out a car. A free pair of sling-back Manolo Blahniks was the bliss point.
I would rather go to the dentist than a car dealership. Unless the aforementioned shoes were part of the deal.
Blech. I couldn't deal with a man or two like that. I hope my car lasts forever.
We met one like that when we were shopping for JD's car. Bleh... The Volvo dealership where my current car and the one before it came from was a whole other experience, though. One where people treated us like, you know, people. Shocking, I know.
Oh, and JD actually figured out how to play dealerships against each other online, so once he knows what model he wants, he does the rest of the shopping by email, and then goes to pick up the car. Works for me.
This reminds me of the shopping we did two years ago. Eventually, we stopped in at a dealership late on a slow day. They gave us a good deal so they could meet the sale quota for that week or day. I can't remember which. Afterwards, we checked the purchase price online and were happy with what we paid.
It's all I can do not to be obnoxious right back at them.
They are sad people, those car sales people. Sad.
I just hate hearing about experiences like this!!!
I do sales training in dealerships, not directly with the sales staff per se but with the 'after' sales staff, this is just the stuff I use as bad examples of stereotypical morons. Luckily, my success rate to date has been really good, but it's the really old dudes that have been around since the cretaceous period that give the rest of the industry a bad name....
Wish you lived over here, I have some great contacts - truly nice people!!
Got a good giggle out of that one. I come from a long line of car salesman and yet I am still amazed at how they slither.
Prior to graduating college I worked as a used car salesman to get better at speaking to people, to this day I'm not sure why I chose used car sales, but I disliked the whole process enough to start a company to completely combat the way the industry operates.
My company gives consumers the ability to purchase cars straight from dealer-only auctions and see the options, car price and car condition. Prices are usually quite low, the process is simple, and hopefully painless.
http://www.Evenlevel.com
got what he deserved, didn't he? ;)
I can't seem to get salespeople to take me seriously. They prefer to ignore me. It's the same with automatic doors. Maybe I should check out this power at a regular car dealership.
I got my last one at Carmax. Not the best deal, but at least it was a solid price. And they check out the cars pretty well.
The last car we bought wasn't planned on - but the sales guy gave us such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up. I think it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Uh, Furrow, when you look in a mirror can you see your reflection? Just wondering.
Monica: My old car is no more. Fixing it would cost way, way more than it's worth.
DD: I'm sure you were a charming and truthful car salesperson.
Julia: I've often thought that someone like JD, who's good at negotiating, could open some kind of business negotiating car deals for a fee. People hate buying cars and would probably pay someone a reasonable amount to do it for them.
Slimy little bugger! I hate car shopping, the pressure is just too much! :-)
He had forgotten to leave his phone number.
Priceless.
I just can't believe you were out buying a car- by yourself!! I've never done it, and hope I never will. My Dad did the negotiating for my first car, and then my husband for every car since. Yep, I'm a chicken.
I just hate car sales men. They tend to think that all people buying cars are stupid. But I have to say that is a good one. Him not leaving his phone number for you to call him back. Guess he is the one who is not to bright.
yeh, i bought my first new car last year, at 34. the whole experience made me feel like i'd been skank-cruising, or something...so much slime, and so much manipulation, and so much dumbness. ew.
and you wrote it so vividly, i need to go shower now.
Trigger numbers... I love that. This bunch can totally relate.
Anns xo
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