LOL, will be interesting to know if the lovable/huggable family treatment will be a case study in business school or a success story in knowing your customer.
Why do car lots answer emails by telling you to call them instead?
- Thread starter Whammo
- Start date
I pulled the monroney sticker when I knew my VIN but before I bought it. That junk was installed at the port/ middleman wholesaler. Toyota is stuck with these regional wholesalers, part of a contract they signed back in the 1950s when they came to America.
There's a chance the dealer hated that stuff too, mostly because it precluded them from adding it on. Not sure how they all split the profit on it, as I didn't give them any money. Just took my Truecar price/discount, gave them $500 down, and waited a couple weeks for the call-back that my preferred color and trim line was in. Told them the extra $395 for the red paint was fine but nothing else would fly and they bit. Watching the inventory website, those unwanted geegaws are applied randomly with no rhyme or reason to me. Probably an allocation thing.
Because they want to convince you to come in. No one sells you a car over the phone. A salesman's job is to set an appointment. Cars are an impulse buy. They need you to get emotional about the vehicle.
They also want to talk with you to convince you that they may have other makes and models that you may be interested in. Another great line is "whether you buy from us or not, and I hope you do, we would love to have an opportunity to purchase your current vehicle".
They also want to talk with you to convince you that they may have other makes and models that you may be interested in. Another great line is "whether you buy from us or not, and I hope you do, we would love to have an opportunity to purchase your current vehicle".
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The PURPOSE of an initial call (email) [from the salesman's perspective] is to set an appointment. The purpose of the appointment is to sell you a car. Buyers are liars and sellers are too. Short of the IRS and the owner or maybe his wife, NO ONE knows what the dealer actually paid for the car. There will be no walkouts without turnover. We can trade cars wholesale to wholesale or retail to retail, but everyone WANTS retail (for their trade-in) and wholesale for their new purchase. Ain't gonna happen. If you don't like the rules, go see a private party seller. As a prospective buyer, you'll get your best deals the last two days of any month. I worked at a new car Stealership back in the '80s. From what I've read on this thread, little has changed; maybe the means of communication, but none of the core principles.
I believe the bot calls explanation. Also they just want to try to sell you something and a phone call works for that (salespeople have slick language, like lawyers). Email exchanges are commonly question and answer, not much opportunity for chit chat.
Tell them that your phone number is 867-5309
It's the nature of the 'business'......when no 2 people pay the exact same price for the same product....there has to be lies, sleaze etc....
Honesty doesn't work. A new crew cab pickup has about $2500 markup. Most people think you have $25k markup in a $40k pickup.
Once had a coworker give a guy a price on a new pickup. He quoted $5k below our cost knowing that the guy would go to every other dealership expecting them to BEAT our price. Of course, we knew that when he went shopping, he would get an education and realize how ridiculous his expectations were. Do you think he came running over with his checkbook when he was quoted that price? Nope!!!! He said "Knock off another $500 and I MIGHT think about it".
As stated, people want wholesale for their purchase and retail (+ a grand or two) for their beat up oil burners with the check engine light on.
Salesman use jargon and psychology like any other good professional.v
I really wish manufacturers would eliminate rebates, just lower the cost to the dealership, and let dealers truly compete for your business.
my son has a small used dealership here in stl and good used vehicles are hard to buy right now. he has been buying whole sale for years and now does retail also. he only buys great cars, he is sooooo busy i get to speak to him for about 2 mins before hea has a potential customer, i want to buy one of his cars, a do e-mail phone etc . he never uses tricks and has repeat customers; here is one proud DAD
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
You won't be surprised to learn that after he said he will only go forward on the phone I lost all interest in that business. It's a shame. All I wanted to know was the condition of various components of the car and if the title was clean
His reply probably indirectly answered your questions. You are an educated Buyer- his lot is likely filled with vehicles that are not matches for educated buyers.
When I worked at a dealer I took “ups” on the phone and by email as well as on the lot- and I gave prices over the phone or by email. It was never an issue.
The reason a lot of dealers won’t quote a price over the phone or on email is because they believe that price will be shopped to other dealers- understandable but in my opinion it’s a short-sighted solution.
Also, being a dealership that sold a premium brand I didn’t get a lot of time-wasting tire kickers- and I never “pre-qualified” anyone.
The reason a lot of dealers won’t quote a price over the phone or on email is because they believe that price will be shopped to other dealers- understandable but in my opinion it’s a short-sighted solution.
Also, being a dealership that sold a premium brand I didn’t get a lot of time-wasting tire kickers- and I never “pre-qualified” anyone.
I don't believe the markup numbers, and I certainly don't believe salesmen are, in general, "good professionals". If they were, I would have at least met ONE in my lifetime. Just ONE.
Well, I've seen the invoices and I'm no longer in automotive sales so I have no reason to lie. It doesn't profit me in any way. Chevy Spark (micro) has $100 markup. Chevy Aveo $500 markup. Malibu/Impala $1500 markup. Full size pickup $2000-$2500 markup.
How much markup are you thinking that they have?
Does that include holdback and other manufacturer incentives? This program, "129 cars", gives some good insights into the sales process:
129 Cars - This American Life
One car dealership tries to make its monthly quota: 129 cars. It is way more chaotic than we expected.
www.thisamericanlife.org
Holdback varies. Other incentives are iffy and a gamble. Sure, they may get an incentive if they sell so many units. But that's a bonus to the dealership for doing well.
We definitely lost money on my first deal- not my fault, however. The previous NCM had punched the car as a loaner and for some reason that salient fact was not in the car’s file. As a result we applied incentives that only applied to new cars. We didn’t find out about the loaner status until a day after we sold it. Even though it was punched as a loaner it was never actually used as one.
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You know what? You have a really good point here (and I despise dealerships).
I can’t say I have any sympathy for the extra work and aggravation sales departments might have to put in dealing with internet customers, but I do see why it’s a hassle.
Bottom line as a customer, you have to shop around, you need to find a great price somewhere if you expect any leverage. Without a comparable low price, you dont have much of a leg to stand on. I find the internet great to find that low price. You don’t need to email anyone, just check out the prices online.
I have literally called on a car, told them that I can get that exact same car for (whatever I found) and asked them if they’d match it, right over the phone. Not all places will do this, but some will. I got put on hold, then they came back and said, yeah we’d take that. Done deal.
Thanks,
You get it. Just because I can see why doesn't mean I have any sympathy. But it does help to understand.
I've gone into a dealer on busy end of month Saturday AM and said we can bicker back and forth to end up with mini-deal or a no-sale or we can cut the BS, get the deal done so you can move on to the next "up."
Heck, I've even DROPPED my offer when a dealer was jerking me around, saying my time is worth money and the longer you make this process, the less I'm willing to pay for the car.
Since I buy used most of the time, sending out 100 e-mails doesn't really work as used is a bit different than new, and it does require more hands on to make sure the car is good.
