Ever wonder how car sales people are trained?

[Newreet]

Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Couple thoughts:

1. They way we buy cars in the US is insane. Here's an idea...a manufacture dictates all of it's cars must be sold for MSRP or a standard discount available to all dealerships in area no matter which dealership sells it. Want car X in this trim? It will be the exact same price no matter where you go. Until then I enter car negotiations like I'm going to war until the salesperson proves themselves nonthreatening to my wallet.

...
For 20 years that was how Saturn did it with their new car sales.

 

[Leo99]

My wife's ex was a car salesman so she hates them all. She has a very bad attitude when it comes time to buy a car. We go to our local Toyota dealer and she got into it with the sales manager.

That guy in the video really rubs me the wrong way.
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Couple thoughts:

1. They way we buy cars in the US is insane. Here's an idea...a manufacture dictates all of it's cars must be sold for MSRP or a standard discount available to all dealerships in area no matter which dealership sells it. Want car X in this trim? It will be the exact same price no matter where you go. Until then I enter car negotiations like I'm going to war until the salesperson proves themselves nonthreatening to my wallet.

2. That is not to say if the salesperson is being fair I'm not fair. With the internet it's just so easy to know what others have paid. My expectation is I should be able to get close. I'm not looking for 20% below invoice.

3. I do all my negotiation via email and I don't show up or meet anyone until the deal is ready to be signed. I start with the five closest dealers and just start crossing each one out as I go if they can't get close on price or play games.

4. The last couple cars have been easy purchases. Everyone doing internet sales seems to give pretty good initial quotes with the difference between 4 or 5 dealerships being off by a $50-300. One dealership quoted $2500 above everyone else....crossed them out right away. No upselling by finance manager. I showed up inspected the car, signed and done in 20 mins. I will never walk in and negotiate with a salesman on the floor.

5. I learned this from a friend who is a top Subaru salesman in the country - he specializes in internet sales. He gives great competitive quotes right away and doesn't want to see you until your ready to sign. He sits at a desk and can have ten deals going simultaneously why the floor guys can only deal with 1 or 2 people at a time. He makes his money selling volume. The faster you sign because the initial offer was good the sooner he can forget about you and move onto the next person deal.

6. NEVER be afraid to walk away. NEVER!!! Someone looks at me the wrong way and I walk...no matter how far into the process we are I'll walk.



My 2015 Camry purchase was very easy. Had an internet offer via email from dealership 1. Went to two other dealerships and they couldn't come close. Went to dealership 1 expecting some hidden charges or BS but there weren't any and they even found another $500 discount that I didn't even ask for.

Not every dealership will negotiate via email. That's their prerogative. I'll shop elsewhere.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted by Propflux01

My last car fiasco, this last December, was wanting to pay cash for the vehicle, then being told I would have to pay more because they were losing the kickback from the finance company. I left.


Best revenge is to finance then pay it off tomorrow.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted by BobsArmory

Ever wonder how car sales people are trained?


Simple Answer: VERY WEAKLY

 

[skyactiv]

The reality at most dealers is the salesman or saleswomen doesn't have much of anydecision making power regarding the deal.
Ever notice that the sales guy/gal always has to go back and forth to the manager in private?

 

[clarkflower]

Originally Posted by JustN89
The problem is the dealerships are trying to deal with the internet. When I was selling Honda, that was roughly $350 on average per new car sold. If the customer was halfway educated and prepared for purchasing a car, we rarely made money on just the sale of the car. We had to hold money on the trade-in or rely on our finance department to make money on the back end.


Don't believe them. Did you read the priors?
They average 3600 a car
That's why these guys like Hendricks are buying up all the stores.

They come in, cut the pay with games. In a very small city 1 dealer who keep the cheating to a bare minimum the average pay was 500 a car incl new and uses. The owners still did quite well. The big group came in bought it, and the pay dropped to 200 a car over night. That equaled 1,000,000 extra profit.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Newreet
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Couple thoughts:

1. They way we buy cars in the US is insane. Here's an idea...a manufacture dictates all of it's cars must be sold for MSRP or a standard discount available to all dealerships in area no matter which dealership sells it. Want car X in this trim? It will be the exact same price no matter where you go. Until then I enter car negotiations like I'm going to war until the salesperson proves themselves nonthreatening to my wallet.

...
For 20 years that was how Saturn did it with their new car sales.


Yep, and they went out of business too.

Everyone always tries to reinvent the wheel. Like people who complain when the lottery goes up to a really high amount, why don't they have just have smaller jackpots? Because nobody plays them like when it's a huge jackpot. Same with car sales, people like to haggle. There's a limited market for Tesla's model. Same with real estate sales, supposedly the internet was going to make my job obsolete. Had a great year last year.

 

[marine65]

the last 2 cars I've bought/leased were from a no negotiate Hyundai dealer.
it was fast with no brain damage and both cars were at the payment I wanted.
i dont have the patience or time to haggle with multiple dealers.
buying a car to me is like buying a pair of shoes.
do i like it,yes,is the price i can afford,yes,done deal.

 

[DaRider34]

Originally Posted by Wolf359


Yep, and they went out of business too.

Everyone always tries to reinvent the wheel. Like people who complain when the lottery goes up to a really high amount, why don't they have just have smaller jackpots? Because nobody plays them like when it's a huge jackpot. Same with car sales, people like to haggle. There's a limited market for Tesla's model. Same with real estate sales, supposedly the internet was going to make my job obsolete. Had a great year last year.


It just depends on the dealership some of them are there to move cars and others like to play games where you have to haggle on every extra fee

 

[FirstNissan]

I did electronics sales as a side-gig for several years. I am fortunate to have supplemented my living at the time however I absolutely hated it! So many people who try to buy products for below my cost. I appreciate a deal myself and I haggle when I can however when I haggle a price, I have a decent idea about market value of the item in question. So many people would quote unrealistic prices with no clue what they were talking about.

That or the people who would call, inquire about details, say they were on the way and then never show up.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
Car salesmen aren't trained, they are HATCHED!
;^)


Or "spawned". From Dictionary.com:
"Usually Disparaging . a swarming brood; numerous progeny: Diners at the restaurant were annoyed by the two inconsiderate parents and their unruly spawn."
(Sorry to the good salesmen out there. I actually have associated with a few of them)

 

[JTK]

In the clip linked in the original post, I would like to see Steve Richard's response had the pretend buyer simply said the "free oil changes and tire rotations" had zero value to him. A huge chunk of the negotiations revolved around the perceived value of these supposed services. I've never purchased a vehicle from a dealership that offered that, but right out of the gate I'd tell the sales person I do all my own basic maintenance, so that's a wash unless you are going to hand me 5qts of synthetic oil and a GM filter every 5000mi.

I've also never had them just add in a 5yr/100K mile extended warranty to what I'm buying right off the bat either. What a rip that was at over $2K or what ever it was.

Not that I'm an expert at this, but I've been through it so many times I'd almost look forward to this type of sales person. I don't act like a jerk back to them, but do stop them in their tracks and get the feeling they can't read me at all.

 

[ag_ghost]

On topic, but a half-century earlier 22 minute "video" in stunning monochrome...
Those of you old enough to have heard of Hugh Beaumont (aka Ward Cleaver), may be amused...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6_YUnPmhKo

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
Originally Posted by MCompact
Although I was the product specialist I could sell cars if everyone else was busy. The new car manager called me the "anti-salesman" because of my laidback approach. I had several customers return because they said they felt hustled at other dealers.


I was in the same boat when I did sales. Our GM hated me so much. He had a customer go up to him and thank for dealing with me because I "didn't pressure her at all". He stopped talking to me after she accepted my first offer and bought a fully loaded minivan. I won the spiff for that month. Traditionally, the GM handed us the check and shook our hand in front of everyone.

I found my check taped to the bottom of the middle drawer of my desk.

My approach was simple. Shoot the deal so straight that the customer was flabbergasted into buying the car. People called me "Trust Fund" because for some odd reason, well-to-do men kept asking for me to buy cars for their yound adult children, wives, and Mistresses. Somebody was putting me out there as the guy to go to for a no-bull deal on a car.

Don't regret the experience. Taught me a lot about how to sell and maintain a business.


In my case, the GM and NCM were constantly asking me to go into sales; I declined because I liked being a part-time salaried employee.

 

[DejaVue]

Originally Posted by StevieC
In some provinces, such as Ontario and British Columbia, automotive dealers and salespeople must be certified by their provincial licensing body, such as the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council or the Motor Vehicle Sales Authority of British Columbia.

That's sounds rather awful and a way to increase costs to the consumer while fattening the wallets and increasing the power of others. It's probably even worse than requiring a person be licensed to cut hair at a hair salon.

I know some car sales people are trained, or at least hired, from a third-party agency/person who holds a class/seminar to go over sales basics and also hype up how much money the person can make at the job. Then some of the people who show up for that and showed they might be good at the job are asked to come back for another class/seminar or two. Though those cost money. But the person is then guaranteed to get an interview to get the job. So, basically, the person is paying to get a job interview.

 

[CT8]

I look up the price on the internet and if an honest dealer shows the real invoice there are 3 prices on the bottom. . I am happy with the high dealer cost and and the Mfg discounts a dealer has lots of over head. I have had some great sales people that actually knew the product and I told them what i wanted and showed the vehicles that would fit my wants. Walk away from pos sales people and dealers.