I sat for a couple of hours in my local (quite small) Mercedes dealer while my car was being serviced recently.
From where I was sitting I could see 5 salespeople sitting at their desks in the showroom, and they where pretty well all on the phone all the time.
They generally seemed to be making (rather than receiving) call after call. I was dying to know who they were ringing - the dealership isn't the busiest in the world - I'm bemused by what on earth they can have been up to.
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A colleague is just trying to sort out test drives for a lease and he is having the same problems. He wants to test drive a C-Max 1.6 diesel, a Golf Plus 1.9TDi and a Seat Altea 2.0 TDi. Seat have been brilliant and sorted out a two day loan within a day. Arranged with Ford but when he turned up someone had borrowed the 1.6 so he had a 2.0 diesel for a day - excellent poke, but at £18,000 for a mid range model he thought it was very expensive. Arranged a test drive with VW, went yesterday to be told it had been loaned to a customer on Saturday and they didn't know when it would be returned!
He thinks the Golf Plus will be his chosen model as although it's the highest list price the high residual means it's £100 a month cheaper than the C-max.
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He thinks the Golf Plus will be his chosen model as
I find it funny that even though the dealer is a twonk, they gave the car earmarked for him to test drive to someone else after all and that even though he hasn't actually driven the car, he's already made his mind up about the car he wants. what a waste of time and effort for everyone involved.
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Yup
and we wonder why car salesman cant be bothered.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I find it funny that even though the dealer is a twonk, they gave the car earmarked for him to test drive to someone else after all and that even though he hasn't actually driven the car, he's already made his mind up about the car he wants. what a waste of time and effort for everyone involved.
I'm sure that 99% (OK, I made that number up, but a lot anyway) of 'customers' are complete time-wasters. So a very small minority are serious potential customers. It's hard for sales people to devote time to serious purchasers because they're drowning in time-wasters (who of course don't generate any income). And while there are people who are prepared to buy from dealers regardless of how they're treated (see above) then things won't improve.
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I've been treated badly by some dealers, but OK by others.
In their defence, I think the number of time-wasters exceeds genuine punters massively, and dealers apply the law of averages to the enquiries.
This especially applies to company car lease purchasers, who want a test drive, etc. but who will be placing their business elsewhere. It must be very difficult for a dealer to generate enthusiasm for enquiries like this.
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I think Oldman (post further up) has it exactly right - this is just how I am.
With all due respect to other posters, I don't think any of you have been in the car selling business. Car dealers (esp. with the prestige brands) have every jumped-up little prat thinking that the dealer should run around after them and tug forelocks etc etc.
The vast majority of calls/visits to a dealer are from timewaters. A good salesman knows when you are genuine and not just 'ringing around to get prices and specs'.
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May be different when the next downturn comes, can't be long now a lot of economic figures are beginning to look a bit grim. I remember looking for a new car with my father back in 1993, salesmen were pleased to see you walk through the door.
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You think car dealers are bad try buying a bike.
With the honorable exceptions of BMW and Triumph. Big shout for Jack Lilleys in Shepperton best Triumph dealer in UK, it is almost impossible to get a test ride on ANY motorbike.
A major dealer chain which went bust said I could only test ride a bike if I signed a contact to buy it first. They said if I didn't like it they would rip up the contract. I said is it legally binding when I sign it. They said yes. I said so I am relying on you to rip it up then. They said yes.
I wrote to the Suzuki UK MD he wrote back saying tough.
Basically you want to test ride any bike other than BMW or Triumph you need to hire one for the day.
I bought a Triumph and a BMW and sent copies of the sales invoices to the Suzuki UK MD, no reply.
Most bike dealers are in the dark ages.
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>>Most bike dealers are in the dark ages.<<
I agree.
Most are just out for the biggest profit and might just as well be selling photocopiers. Things are even worse when it's time to service the bike.
I'd include H-D / Buell in the list of good guys, even though I've never bought one of their bikes. I'd also agree with your comment on Jack Lilleys.
I wouldn't mind renting the bike for a weekend - but often this is not possible (I wanted a Suzuki DL1000 / Kawasaki KL1000)
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When it comes to making a purchase I go by the spec and price and not whether the salesman is a twonk or not, after all I tend to research the product, usually end up knowing more about it than the salesman, I guess I decide to buy rather than allow myself to be sold to.
Competent aftersales is much more important than a non-twonky salesman IMO.
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I think some of the posts from the professionals are amazing. Too busy to ring people when you have said you would is just rude and ignorant, what else have these salesmen got to do. I wish I was their boss, they would soon be out of the door.
People who are timewasters probably become that because of the way they are treated by you. Many salesmen in prestige dealers are jealous of the customer because they can afford a car which you can't. Many salesmen at other dealers are just usless and too thick to bother.
I will tell you salespeople, you have not a clue whether a customer is a timewaster when they first come through the door. I have seen it all, wear working clothes and get ignored, wear a suit and get fawned all over.
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I think some of the posts from the professionals are amazing. Too busy to ring people when you have said you would is just rude and ignorant, what else have these salesmen got to do. I wish I was their boss, they would soon be out of the door.
No they wouldn't. Boss doesn't care so long as you earn your rations and turn a profit.
People who are timewasters probably become that because of the way they are treated by you. Many salesmen in prestige dealers are jealous of the customer because they can afford a car which you can't.
No, they aren't jealous. Many of these salesmen will be taking home more than their customers (who probably get a modest wage and a 3-series or C-class as a 'sweetner') AND they will get a new prestige car to drive around in every few months.
I will tell you salespeople, you have not a clue whether a customer is a timewaster when they first come through the door. I have seen it all, wear working clothes and get ignored, wear a suit and get fawned all over.
That's a myth. You 'qualify' a customer first. Also, not many people wear 'working' clothes these days (i.e. flat cap and donkey jacket - LOL!) - in fact quite the reverse. Its bus and lorry drivers and Dixons salesmen who wear the suits. A lot of 'professionals' wear casual gear to work.
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>>of answering my wives questions>>
A bigamist (at the least)?
I appreciate your points - in view of the cost of a car, as I stated earlier, you would think that dealership sales staff would be falling over themselves at the slightest opportunity of a sale.
But that's the general attitude today - that the world will come to your door and not vice versa.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Hey, censors - and just why was my post deleted? No swear words, just valid points.. what on earth is going on on this forum?
{Looking back through the logs, the word that you used where you substituted "ss" for "$$" in an attempt at evading the swearfilter was the reason for the deletion, as per the sticky message on swearing at the top of the page. Further discussion about moderation of this site by email only. However, if it's with regard to the swearing policy this site operates, then quite frankly I'm not interested in having further discussion on it as the policies in place already explain all you need to know. DD}
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He has already made up his mind purely on the financial aspects of the deal - the Golf provides the most car for the lowest monthly outlay. Nothing will be signed until he's had the car for 24 hours. If the Golf Plus doesn't tick the boxes he will be starting again!
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My best mate changes his Mondeos every two years (he and his business partner each have one).
Last year we went to a main North West Ford dealership and the salesman was very helpful, said they had the models he wanted at one of their other dealerships and that he would ring him in a day or so.
No phone call ever came despite a couple of requests by my mate to be rung back.
In the end he went to an Arnold Clark Liverpool dealership and received exactly the treatment he would reasonably have expected and at even better prices.
One of the particular models he wanted was based at a sister dealership some distance away, but this was no problem as it was collected the next day by a driver and delivered to his home.
So the Liverpool dealership sold two Mondeos and had two cracking equivalents in part exchange. Four lots of profit from one basic deal.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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BMW rang me constantly, even after I told them I'd bought a new car (although the lady did laugh when I said I'd bought a Vectra instead!)
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The dealer I use always calls back. Maybe they can smell a bit of money and return custom. I don't wear a suit.
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In January 2001, I was looking to buy a new car, went into some local main dealers, this is what happened:
Skoda, I spent 10 minutes looking all oves a car in an empty showroom, 1 salesman walked from the office & ignored me, a second walked to the office & ignored me, I decided to take my custom elsewhere.
Citroen, I went into the showroom wanting a Saxo, the young enthusiastic salesman took a lot of trouble going through a questionnaire with me & persisted in trying to sell me a Xsara, in the end, I thought the Saxo must be rubbish as he seemed reluctant to sell me one so I moved on.
Honda, I went to the reception, I was told "Fred" would be out to see me shortly, within a minute, another couple arrived announcing that they were here to see Fred, Fred came out & saw them, nobody else offered me a drink or any brochures etc so I moved on.
Fiat, what a delight, the salesman couldn't do enough, take the car out on a test drive for an hour, I bought a new Punto.
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otoh an existing customer had some problem and was given a loan car at short notice from dealer stock, possibly causing a problem for a possible customer. Could be a (rare) case of a vw dealer providing excellent *customer* service.
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