Car salesmen need to go....

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They are useless. The entire car buying process is a joke. Cars should be a set price and the only variable at play should be the financing rate due to different credit scores. It's 2019 and we have the internet, not encyclopedia Britannica. I've never met a car salesman that knew more than I did going in to buy a car, and I'm not saying that in an arrogant manner. Point is, the information is available. They serve no purpose but to harass and act like intermediary dope between you and the overweight finance guy. I don't need someone to tell me the car has 4 wheels and a rear view mirror.
 
That's not really their purpose. It's to get you to sign on the dotted line and to qualify you. Believe it or not, it leads to higher sales otherwise they would just get rid of them. Saturn didn't do too well with fixed prices they went under.

Same with real estate agents...
 
Originally Posted by buster
Cars should be a set price and the only variable at play should be the financing rate due to different credit scores.


But then there's the value of the trade-in and most people have a trade-in. How do you standardize that?
 
I personally think they are here to stay. Humans are bad at judging price and always want people to pamper us telling us what we want to hear, emphasize on the right aspect of the product, etc.

Until people don't care about cars and they are all the same (won't die, all looks like a refrigerator, don't want to pay 1c more, etc), salesmen would be around. They may switch to a no haggle unless manufacturer incentives model, and each salesman will deal with 30 customers a day.

Dealership near me already went to a model that split the role into "demonstrator who doesn't sell" and a "negotiator who doesn't demonstrate" model.
 
You are right. I just find them incredibly annoying. Wishful thinking....
 
Buyers feel like they've won something negotiating the price. "Here's the price, take it or leave it" only works if every other seller is the same way.
 
If you don't like the deal, don't buy. It really is that simple.

While the sales rep seldom brings value to you, dealers wouldn't have them if they didn't bring value to them.

They don't work for you, so your only control in the game is the power of no.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Some states prevent manufacturers from selling direct to the public. Tesla had a legal fight over this in Virginia not long ago.

yeah and the question ought to be.....when will we get rid of antiquated laws like that. I'm with Tesla on that.
 
The way to get around sales people is to do your research online. Then, email multiple dealers and tell them what you will pay and ask them for their lowest and best offer. Take that one. No need to see the dealer or sales guy until the details are knocked out. I did that on a Honda Accord. The closest dealer would not match what I got offered about 20 miles away....(I asked). So I went a bit further. Never spent one second haggling with the over weight sales manager.
 
I've probably shared this before, but I once had a VW dealer knock on the B pillar and then ask if I saw how well built it was. He then asked if I was in love with it yet or what!? It was a base Jetta TDI....
 
In this day and age you can get so much info on the vehicle or vehicles you are looking at. I can check YouTube reviews and Internet forums. Most even have threads where people disclose how much they paid. Weed out the outliers and you have a pretty good idea of what you want and what price range you should go for.
 
I can't stand most of them. If you actually get one who knows what they are doing they can be great. Most people aren't like people on car forums and tend to need their hand held through the whole car buying process. Now the scummy sales managers and "consultants" who come in and pound into the new hires heads to "tell the customer what they need, don't listen to what they want" need to be taken out of the gene pool.
 
I bought a new car last week and had a wonderful experience...best ever. Yes, I knew more about the car than the salesman but it's a low-volume car, not a pickem'-up truck.

Here's how it went:

Walk into dealer and say I want to test drive a Regal TourX to the sales manager. Somebody went out and grabbed the car while I used the bathroom.

A Salesman hands me the keys and lets me go...no asking for a DL, no asking to ride along. "here you go, any questions?"

I return and say thanks and give the keys back. He thanks me and that's it.
A day later, I emailed the owner and asked what his best price was. The internet price was low aleady but he wants to move the cars...so anyone I want from the lot minus an additional $500. They were already less than other dealers based on my research and the money on the hood was all there. They had nearly the perfect configuration.

Asked the salesperson to send me a copy of the paperwork so I can review and get to my bank. My bank cuts a check, I show up and give it to the F&I guy and he says "thank you". I was in and out of his office in 5 minutes. I was shocked because every other car purchase took HOURS to get through the BS.

NO hard sell, no extended warranty pitch, no GM finance BS. Nothing. I was supposed to provide proof of owning a competing brand for the "conquest" cash but they didn't ask.​


I learned when picking up the car that the sales staff is 100% commission and the $500 additional discount didn't come out of his pay. Good on them.

I would recommend this dealer to anyone in this area. Please PM if in So. WI. No wonder I see their ID sticker on the back of cars hundreds of miles away from the town.
 
My brother just bought a Honda CRV 2019 and got the best deal by going through Sam's club. He said he obtained a much better deal then any other method of bargaining plus they gave him really decent money for his trade in which was a Chevrolet Impala that was about 8 years old with almost 100,000 rounds on it.
 
Management and ownership set the tone, salesman are just as much pawns in the game as the buyer.
 
As others mentioned, figure out what you want and poke local dealers.
I recently got a CR-V for my Dad's home caregiver as a thank you gift for 4 plus years of service.
I even threw in RAV4 dealers to keep 'em jumping.

When we went in, the price was set.
We got a trade in value for her Nissan Rogue; decided to accept it and started signing.
Still had to go through the paint protection, warranty and whatever spiel.

Or buy a Tesla.
Give 'em a credit card and do the rest on-line.
All good.
 
Over the past 3 years I was one of the top Subaru salesmen in the country working at two different dealerships in two different regions, I have also worked at two other dealerships for GM and Chrysler. You can complain all you want about salesmen (PC salespeople) but being someone who has not only sold cars with great success at two dealerships as well as sold at a dealership that went out of business and has also been a car buyer of several new cars I can tell you that many customers make the process as difficult as possible ON THEMSELVES and then complain about everything under the sun instead of taking responsibility for what they have chosen to do.

I run SubaruOutback.org and among the most popular discussions we've ever had on the site have been my threads on the car business in which I speak from my perspective from being in the business and as a customer. Most of the stuff I read from "expert car buyers" is pure rubbish, also most of the complainers are people who make things hard on themselves. I prefer to do things quickly and easily because it is not only YOUR money but also MY livelihood and I don't want to waste your time or my own. Among the top issues I have run into are people who do not value their time and are willing to spend excessive amounts of time AND MONEY in vain efforts to "save" money in a car deal. Many end up spending more money through their time wasting that they believe they'll end up saving. If you have a problem with the car business and you can figure out how you may be doing that you'll probably end up doing well for yourself and also by whoever you end up doing business with.
 
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