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48056 messages,  Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 6:16 AM

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What is this discussion about? Car Buying


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#2316 of 48056
Re: OMG... [british_rover] by mazda6iguy
Jul 24, 2006 (9:44 am)
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Replying to: british_rover (Jul 22, 2006 3:18 pm)

Every time I see one of those Commander commercials where they say, "The Jeep Commander the most capable Seven passenger SUV ever," I just laugh. The approach and departure angles on the Commander are horrible. A Disco would stomp a Commander offroad and a LR3 would just embarrass that trail rated badge right off the back liftgate.
 
At the auto show, there was a torture track set up that a bunch of different Jeep models went around. It looked like the Commander did a fine job, but I'm sure would not hold up to the Range rover track.
#2317 of 48056
Re: OMG... [mazda6iguy] by tamaraster
Jul 24, 2006 (9:58 am)
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Replying to: mazda6iguy (Jul 24, 2006 9:44 am)

What I don't get about the rovers is, if they are supposed to be good for off-roading, safaris, and that type of thing, why are they so trouble-prone? It seems like it would be really inconvenient to be stuck in the wilderness with a broken vehicle that's fussy and difficult to repair.
 
Or am I just mistaken about that?
#2318 of 48056
Re: Hidden trades etc. [dwilliam] by zodiac2004
Jul 24, 2006 (10:17 am)
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Replying to: dwilliam (Jul 14, 2006 5:55 am)

If everyone stopped buying cars right now and waited until their CURRENT car was paid off: most dealers would file backruptcy, the state and local gov'ts would not get anywhere NEAR the revenue they normally acheive and by the time they normalized they will have raised all other taxes to compensate.
 
Sheesh.... Are we sensing some ATTITUDE?
 
You are right in your analysis, of course.
#2319 of 48056
Re: Hidden trades etc. [mark156] by zodiac2004
Jul 24, 2006 (10:26 am)
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Replying to: mark156 (Jul 14, 2006 7:49 am)

Dwilliam. I have to agree with snake on this. As a degreed Accountant myself, he is making total sense.
  
Keep in mind, if folks keep there cars until they are paid off, they will need continued service, parts, etc at the dealership. So, if the dealer was losing a little out front, they are going to pick it up out back.
  
There are so many types of buyers that I think everything would fall into place. A person leasing ever two years, in a sense, has a paid off car and is ready for another

 
I'm a little late to this party, but here goes..
 
Dwilliam's point: If people keep cars until they have positive equity, overall tax revenue would significantly reduce for the government.
 
Mark/Snake's point: Not so.
 
Now maybe snake's professor got the Nobel prize for his economic theory, but it's obvious that in general, if people started living within their means, the great state of the USA can only support about 1/2 the jobs it currently does.
It's gluttonous consumption that keeps the economy afloat.
(Maybe the professor got the Noble prize (not Nobel) )
#2320 of 48056
Re: How far are you willing to go for the sale? [toyotamover] by mac24
Jul 24, 2006 (10:26 am)
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Replying to: toyotamover (Jul 24, 2006 9:30 am)

I will sell them if I really really need the deal (EOM for a bonus etc...) Otherwise I cut bait and look for something better that won't end up costing me money in the long run by being off the floor.
 
It's not the PC answer, but I'd do the same as you. Sometimes a bird in the hand isn't worth two in the bush!
#2321 of 48056
Re: How far are you willing to go for the sale? [toyotamover] by theflush
Jul 24, 2006 (10:29 am)
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Replying to: toyotamover (Jul 24, 2006 9:30 am)

Why does it take you more than 5 minutes to offer a price that will result in a "mini"? Who said you had to take hours of time dealing with this type of person? If this customer has overresearched, he will know right away that you made a great offer and that he can not get you to lower it much further.
#2322 of 48056
Re: How far are you willing to go for the sale? [theflush] by dc_driver
Jul 24, 2006 (10:40 am)
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Replying to: theflush (Jul 24, 2006 10:29 am)

"Why does it take you more than 5 minutes to offer a price that will result in a "mini"? Who said you had to take hours of time dealing with this type of person? If this customer has overresearched, he will know right away that you made a great offer and that he can not get you to lower it much further"
 
You took the words out of my mouth.. Including the test drive, I was in and out of my last deal in just under an hour and a half. Salesman spent maybe 45 minutes to an hour with me... Even if the guy only made $100 on the deal, that is not bad for 1 hour worth the work... BTW, I am one of those people who research the crap out of a car and have a good idea on the numbers and what number I am looking for. Although I usually work mostly with the Internet sales department...
#2323 of 48056
Re: How far are you willing to go for the sale? [toyotamover] by tsgeisel
Jul 24, 2006 (10:49 am)
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Replying to: toyotamover (Jul 24, 2006 9:30 am)

How can you tell what customer you'll be able to sell a car to?
 
When I was doing the other commission sales job, I would have loved to figure out how to determine that. Because I had my fair share of enthusiastic folks who were essentially just yanking my chain, unenthusiastic folks who wound up buying, and, of course, a few people for whom I just lost the sale somehow.
 
But nobody I ever worked with could say for certain "This person *will* buy", although it was much easier to learn who *wouldn't* buy.
 
Talk to everyone; that's my theory.
#2324 of 48056
Re: How far are you willing to go for the sale? [toyotamover] by cluedweasel
Jul 24, 2006 (10:56 am)
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Replying to: toyotamover (Jul 24, 2006 9:30 am)

It took me a while to realise that making a sale wasn't always the best scenario. There was one guy I remember well. He was a surgeon and liked to make sure everyone within earshot knew it. Came in on a Saturday. Insisted on driving every car in the range from the few left over I35's up to the QX56. Then had to drive the one's he liked again.
He finally settled on the G35 sedan, about 3 hours after we'd decided that would probably be the best car suited to him. Then he couldn't decide on a color so he asked me to line up his favorite 4 so he could see them next to each other.
Then when I finally had him settled on a car, he didn't want it because it had 22 miles on the clock so it "wasn't new" in his eyes. Luckily I found an identical car with 8 miles on it. He still complained about that (I never saw one come in with less than 5 on it) but said he could live with it.
So, we had to test drive the latest one I found which was fair enough. The store policy was no sale with no test drive.
Then it came down to the numbers. He named his price (thank heavens). He wanted $500 over invoice. My SM could see I was suffering so he wrote it up at that with no arguments. Of course it wasn't that easy. Our price was $400 more than his reasearched price. The dreaded ad fee again. So it was out with the Infinit invoice and 30 minutes of accusations over fake invoice prices and why should he pay the ad fee if this particular car hadn't been advertised. We ended up taking another $200 off and he accepted that.
One good thing about the whole deal was that he had no trade. Then, while he was waiting for F&I, I made the mistake of mentioning the Infiniti satisfaction survey. Like most of the industry these surveys were 100% for pass or anything else for fail. Also, our bonuses were tied to these surveys. You needed 96%+ average to qualify for volume bonuses so these things were vital. Of course, Dr. Kildare wasn't having any of this. He never ranked anything 100% because it implied perfection and left no room for improvement. Then again, he was an avid golfer and let me know that he could be persuaded to change his mind for a couple of boxes of the golf balls we sold. Those were $36 each so I gave up $72 of my mini for a good survey.
Off he trots to F&I and takes 4 hours (on a Saturday remember) arguing over every detail, phoning his brother (a bank manager) to read over every line of small print in the sales contract and the loan agreement.
Finally, after 10 hours, he drives off into the sunset. Over the coming week he 'phoned me over 20 times with questions about the car, complaints about it's condition (it was spotless), etc. Get the survery in a month later. Everything is marked fair (50%) or good (75%). The funniest one was "Did the sales consultant spend enough time..." which he marked as fair and wrote a comment in about me rushing him and not showing him enough choice of vehicles. Needless to say, that pushed mine and the stores average down for the month and I lost all my bonuses, probably about $3000.
At least it taught me one lesson that still sticks with me. Some customers are just not worth having.
#2325 of 48056
Saw an episode of "King of Cars"... by lemko
Jul 24, 2006 (10:58 am)
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..where they had that one salesman in the persona of the Blue Genie try to sell a car to this couple who had never heard of the Blue Genie and didn't like anything that was shown to them from a minivan to a used Cadillac. On top of that, the couple had bulletproof credit. I think I remember hearing Chop say that selling to person with good credit was tougher than those with poor credit. What does anybody think about this?

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