Stories from the Sales Frontlines

I seem to remember boomchek teasing us with a promise of 3 good ones last week. Well, have things cooled off yet?
 
Or are you replacing "To Be Continued..." with "Yet To Be Told..."?

Replies to this message:
• boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 10:10 am)
  • houdini1 (Jul 06, 2009 10:40 am)
    • verdugo (Jul 06, 2009 1:57 pm)
  • oldfarmer50 (Jul 06, 2009 12:33 pm)
  • driver100 (Jul 06, 2009 12:33 pm)
    • boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:26 pm)
  • jmonroe (Jul 06, 2009 12:42 pm)
    • boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:28 pm) and 1 more...
  • richard64 (Jul 06, 2009 7:04 pm)
    • boomchek (Jul 07, 2009 9:27 am)
    • roadburner (Jul 07, 2009 4:52 pm)

Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Jul 06, 2009 7:37 am)

Ok, here's one of the three, acutally four now.
 
Had a repeat customer call me cause he wanted to switch out of his compact car and into a small SUV cause he "needs the space". He said he wanted it so that he can go camping. He's a single older guy so to me it didn't really seem like he needed an SUV but, that's not for me to decide. He wanted an SUV I will be there to assist him.
 
The car he was trading in was bought used a year ago from me and financed at a high interest rate because of his past credit issues. The payments were very small and the car very reliable, so once again he didn't really need to change it. Before he came in I tried to tell him to pay down his loan a bit more or have money down, but he had nor wanted to do any of those.
 
Anyways we get a good pre approval at half the rate he was paying, so he comes in, we look at some vehicles and he picks one.
 
We do the numbers and there's about $5k of negative equity that needs to pe put onto the new loan. I come back and serve payments which were about $80/month more than what he wanted to spend, and about $230 more than waht he was currently paying on his car.
 
He looks at them, does some calculations in his head, thinks about it some more. He says to me:
 
"It's little bit more than what I wanted to spend, but I like the car. I think I'll go for it"
 
He then says to me with a sigh:
 
"Ok, I'll get it, but the car payment will have to be a priority over food. I should be ok in the summer months when I have the second part time job, but for 6 months in winter time I'll be a bit poor"
 
I thought he was joking at first so I laughed, but he wasn't. I told him that if he was going to be "poor" then he'll need to wait for a used version of his SUV to come in, or he's going to have to stick with his current car for now.
 
He said not to worry about it as he has a lot of overtime coming to him. He does make good money at his very secure job.
 
When I told my sales manager that, he said he doesn't want to sell him a car then. I came back and told the customer again, that he's gotta make sure that he can afford the payments or we'll find him another car. I told him to take as much time as he needs. He said he just wanted this car, and he'd like to take delivery of it right away.
 
Finally the deal was done and he did take delivery that day.
 
But I was just shocked how some people will put things like a new car ahead of necessities like money in the bank or in this case food on the table. Or even ahead of having some financial freedom and not living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe to some a new car means more freedom than cash in the bank, but then his previous car wasn't all that bad or old anyways.
 
I see it all the time though. People with negative equity trading into something bigger, newer and more expensive. When I serve them payments, right away they will talk themselves into being able to afford that vehicle without me having to convince them. Then you see folks driving around in new cars, not being able to afford to put gas in the tank

Replies to this message:
• houdini1 (Jul 06, 2009 10:40 am)
  • verdugo (Jul 06, 2009 1:57 pm)
• oldfarmer50 (Jul 06, 2009 12:33 pm)
• driver100 (Jul 06, 2009 12:33 pm)
  • boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:26 pm)
• jmonroe (Jul 06, 2009 12:42 pm)
  • boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:28 pm)
    • tidester (Jul 06, 2009 3:48 pm)
• richard64 (Jul 06, 2009 7:04 pm)
  • boomchek (Jul 07, 2009 9:27 am)
  • roadburner (Jul 07, 2009 4:52 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 10:10 am)

Replies to this message:
• verdugo (Jul 06, 2009 1:57 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 10:10 am)

"...When I told my sales manager, he said he doesn't want to sell him a car..."
 
Man, you people in Canada are NICE! Some of the car lots I've been to down here I had the feeling that if I dropped dead in the parking lot they would go through my pockets for loose change and steal my shoes.
 
Of course, you know that if you didn't sell that guy his car he would have gone down the street and got it there.

Replying to: boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 10:10 am)

Replies to this message:
• boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:26 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 10:10 am)

Then you see folks driving around in new cars, not being able to afford to put gas in the tank
 
It seems that this kind of thinking isn't just limited to the USA. It's gotta be a continent thing.
 
I can't even begin to think like that but that's just me I guess.
 
jmonroe

Replies to this message:
• boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:28 pm)
  • tidester (Jul 06, 2009 3:48 pm)

Replying to: houdini1 (Jul 06, 2009 10:40 am)

Replying to: driver100 (Jul 06, 2009 12:33 pm)

Replying to: jmonroe (Jul 06, 2009 12:42 pm)

Replies to this message:
• tidester (Jul 06, 2009 3:48 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Jul 06, 2009 2:28 pm)