How do you prefer your salesperson?

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Elderado82

I really don’t care how a salesman dresses, as long as they’re clean and carry themselves well. What I actually love is when a salesman geeks the fuck out right along with me. Nothing’s worse than talking about the car I’m about to buy and realizing the salesman has no clue what I’m geeking out about.

Agreed. I was actually selling a car rather than buying one, but me and one of the sales guys geeked out about cars for like 30 minutes while I was waiting (the store was pretty slow). It was great to see a guy selling cars who actually knew about and loved cars. Honestly, if I'm ever looking for a used car it'd make me more likely to at least give that guy a shot.

Oh yeah – I don't have any recollection whatsoever as to what he was wearing. The memorable part was his attitude and enthusiasm.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by pz619

I prefer my sales person to be non-existent. It's 2025. Give me a price (the same one every pays) and I'll google questions on my own. As long as there is a support person, I'll figure out the rest.

It's legitimately the one thing that Tesla does that is excellent. Pretty much my sole interaction with a human was just handing some guy the bank check for the car.

You can do this with any vehicle purchase. As I mentioned previously, I don't deal with sales people. Internet manager or sales manager, and it's through email or text. The only time I set foot in the dealership is to pick up the car.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by JABCAT

You can do this with any vehicle purchase. As I mentioned previously, I don't deal with sales people. Internet manager or sales manager, and it's through email or text. The only time I set foot in the dealership is to pick up the car.

There is still significantly more effort involved, unlike the Tesla model.

That is what I typically do also, but you still have to find the dealers, figure out what's a "good deal" put the email together, try to get them to communicate via email, negotiate etc. You can avoid the sales person, but you can't avoid the hassle completely.

[TXSTYLE]

They MUST be "very knowledgeable" about the brand and model first and foremost!

An attractive female is a bonus/preferred.
Dressed to impress is also preferred.

[dreamingat30fps]

Ugh in the process now of trying to help my mom buy a Honda HR-V... what a fucking nightmare these dealers. I did the whole email thing, send out to probably 5-6 dealers. Only managed to get actual quotes from 3. One was absolutley assesnine and the other 2 were meh at best.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Ugh in the process now of trying to help my mom buy a Honda HR-V... what a fucking nightmare these dealers. I did the whole email thing, send out to probably 5-6 dealers. Only managed to get actual quotes from 3. One was absolutley assesnine and the other 2 were meh at best.

Use Costco. It's the only way to deal with dealers like Honda.

I have had zero good experiences with Honda dealers. Like literally every interaction I've had with a Honda store I've wanted to strangle people.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Use Costco. It's the only way to deal with dealers like Honda.

I have had zero good experiences with Honda dealers. Like literally every interaction I've had with a Honda store I've wanted to strangle people.

I did that but all I got was some email basically saying "To ensure you receive your low, prearranged price please let me know when you can visit the showroom." I feel like it's just going to be more of the same, especially since the dealership referenced has been one of the worst so far.

The best deal I've gotten is like $1k off MSRP (actually Honda has a $500 rebate so really $500 off MSRP with $500 rebate). Not sure if that's good or not. I always buy used and typically looking for a very specific trim color combo so my negotiations are usually totally different.

[Alfisti]

I just went through the process of buying a used car, modernish (2017 to 2020) and my biggest issue is the failure to answer direct questions. Brand/model/DOT of tyre, how much pad and rotor, any service records etc..... i usually get no response to these questions and almost AI like responses.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I did that but all I got was some email basically saying "To ensure you receive your low, prearranged price please let me know when you can visit the showroom." I feel like it's just going to be more of the same, especially since the dealership referenced has been one of the worst so far.

The best deal I've gotten is like $1k off MSRP (actually Honda has a $500 rebate so really $500 off MSRP with $500 rebate). Not sure if that's good or not. I always buy used and typically looking for a very specific trim color combo so my negotiations are usually totally different.

That's weird. My buddy used it for his Pilot and Costco like gave him a price, and then when the dealer and he talked over the phone it was no big deal, then when he showed up it was a different price and he said "wtf, that's not the price Costco said or you said over the phone", they did some tap dancing about how those prices expire, he said that it was like 4 days old and theeatens to call Costco about it, guy goes to talk to the manager and somehow they had "forgotten about the Costco price" and all was good... Several hours later of course.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

That's weird. My buddy used it for his Pilot and Costco like gave him a price, and then when the dealer and he talked over the phone it was no big deal, then when he showed up it was a different price and he said "wtf, that's not the price Costco said or you said over the phone", they did some tap dancing about how those prices expire, he said that it was like 4 days old and theeatens to call Costco about it, guy goes to talk to the manager and somehow they had "forgotten about the Costco price" and all was good... Several hours later of course.

I dunno, but I just noticed this on their email.

On the year, make, model and trim you selected, your Costco member Costco

Auto Program discount is as follows:
Optional Items: Protection Package 50% Discount

Nothing else in the email so it reads to me like the "deal" is 50% off their bs "protection package" whatever that is.

Anyways it's over, ended up going to the dealer that had agreed on the $1k discount and an OTD price over email AND they claimed to have the trim and color she wanted. As soon as we got there I knew we were fucked. The parking lot was a total cluster fuck, they had some valet parking which wasn't actually doing anything, they had food trucks out there (this is a tiny lot BTW) they had the salsa music blasting and about a million sales people running all around.

When we asked to speak to the supposed sales rep I did the deal with online they tell me they only handle online requests but they have all the info on the deal we agreed to and they have the car there and some other guy will help us. Of course that guy comes out and now our base trim car has disappeared and they only have the top trim car in that color. Anyways after making us be there all fucking day and having to walk away from the "deal" they magically found the car but it was like an hour away.

Long story short she did end up getting the deal she wanted (actually $500 better) but it was not easy or fun or would I ever buy from that dealer on purpose again.

One new scam which I had not seen before... before you could take your car they had to "verify" your insurance. Usually for every other car I've bought that's just show them your insurance card. Well these fucks had what was basically an insurance broker of some kind with desks right in the dealership and they were the ones you HAD to go see to have them verify your insurance. Basically just taking your info, running quotes to see if they could find anything to offer you then if not just claiming you were good to go. Never seen that one before, but hey I guess the experience wasn't shit enough already.

[JABCAT]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

I dunno, but I just noticed this on their email.

On the year, make, model and trim you selected, your Costco member Costco

Auto Program discount is as follows:
Optional Items: Protection Package 50% Discount

Nothing else in the email so it reads to me like the "deal" is 50% off their bs "protection package" whatever that is.

Anyways it's over, ended up going to the dealer that had agreed on the $1k discount and an OTD price over email AND they claimed to have the trim and color she wanted. As soon as we got there I knew we were fucked. The parking lot was a total cluster fuck, they had some valet parking which wasn't actually doing anything, they had food trucks out there (this is a tiny lot BTW) they had the salsa music blasting and about a million sales people running all around.

When we asked to speak to the supposed sales rep I did the deal with online they tell me they only handle online requests but they have all the info on the deal we agreed to and they have the car there and some other guy will help us. Of course that guy comes out and now our base trim car has disappeared and they only have the top trim car in that color. Anyways after making us be there all fucking day and having to walk away from the "deal" they magically found the car but it was like an hour away.

Long story short she did end up getting the deal she wanted (actually $500 better) but it was not easy or fun or would I ever buy from that dealer on purpose again.

One new scam which I had not seen before... before you could take your car they had to "verify" your insurance. Usually [...]

The insurance thing varies by dealership. My MiL & BiL both bought a new Subaru from the same dealership that I bought my daughter's Subaru from. They were great to deal with but did have to verify our insurance before they handed over the keys. They didn't have any sleazy insurance company in the dealership, we just had to verify the new car was added to our policy.

I haven't had to do that on any other vehicle purchase. I show them the card & usually call my agent after I get home.

[alex2364]

Where’s the option of I don’t give a damn of what you’re wearing?

[RM7]

Has anyone said medium-rare with butter and peppercorn sauce? Well-done would also be an acceptable answer.

[B58-M340iX]

What if you *are* 40?

[c1pher]

I think I care less about what they wear. I realize most salespeople selling higher end vehicles may not even be able to afford the cars they sell. What I do appreciate is them knowing what they are selling, being polite and professional, treating people respectfully. Dressing as professionally as possible, meaning no cutoffs, holey jeans etc is also a sign of taking your job seriously and being respectful to others. I realize for many of us here, these cars are a passion, but for people selling cars, it may just be a way for them to make ends meet. But I like them to know at least what I do when telling me about a car.

[Altamate]

I want the most car for the least money, I play one dealership off against the other, I go look at a lot of the exact same thing till I know everything about it. The MSRP on my last new car purchase was $63,400 (2019 GMC 1500). I paid $45,800, I gave them some money back when I added lifetime oil changes at 5000km intervals($1800) and extended full GM warranty to 7yrs and 140,000km ($2200) The three different guys I worked with all dressed well, the one who got the sale called me back to see where I was at in the purchase process and offered the best deal by $2000 and a few extra options I wanted but didn’t need. That guy got promoted to Sales Manager about 2-3 yrs later and then ended up in GM Canada.

The BMW we now have was a used purchase at a VW dealership who knew very little about the car, they advertised it poorly and with far too high a price on it for what was in the add. I called and asked questions and they really didn’t know what they had or how to market it, I waited more than 2 months for the price to drop, which it did 3 times before I called again to ask for more details. Still I was pleasantly surprised to find MPPSK and PPF on the front they were unable to notice/disclose over the phone but I found when I went to test drive and purchase. They were all well dressed and young.

[Phillies8008]

In a perfect world I'd love for every car salesman to know every car they're selling in-depth. That being said, I can, to some degree, forgive a guy selling used cars – there are a lot of different makes/models out there, and it would be difficult to know the ins and outs of all of them. Particularly if you've got a model on the lot that you don't see very often, I'd think.

However, if you're selling the same brand of car as the logo on the dealership door, you should know every model inside and out, forwards and backwards. There's no excuse not to – if you're asking people to spend that much money, the least you can do is know what the hell you're talking about.

[zx10guy]

Just had to go through the buying process again. My daily beater was rear ended and the at fault's insurance declared my car a total loss. To keep this on topic, I visited three dealerships: Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda. The Toyota and Subaru sales guys I worked with were business casual in dress. The sales guy at Mazda was very loosely business casual but not totally casual with holes in his jeans. I ended up buying from the Mazda dealership.

On the topic of sales guys knowing their product, I work in the world of sales on the IT side. I'm the nerd on the account team responsible to know the technical aspects of a specific opportunity. While that's my job, I don't know everything and know when to pull in specialists that do. I've worked with a bunch of sales guys in my career. Some are just sales people and others do know some technical details around the products/solutions we sell. It seems that auto sales would benefit from having one person as a resources who's only job is to know all the products inside and out but is not involved in the sales process.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Just had to go through the buying process again. My daily beater was rear ended and the at fault's insurance declared my car a total loss. To keep this on topic, I visited three dealerships: Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda. The Toyota and Subaru sales guys I worked with were business casual in dress. The sales guy at Mazda was very loosely business casual but not totally casual with holes in his jeans. I ended up buying from the Mazda dealership.

On the topic of sales guys knowing their product, I work in the world of sales on the IT side. I'm the nerd on the account team responsible to know the technical aspects of a specific opportunity. While that's my job, I don't know everything and know when to pull in specialists that do. I've worked with a bunch of sales guys in my career. Some are just sales people and others do know some technical details around the products/solutions we sell. It seems that auto sales would benefit from having one person as a resources who's only job is to know all the products inside and out but is not involved in the sales process.

Theoretically, this should be the dealership's BMW Genius(es). In practice, how much they know is also kind of hit-or-miss, as well as how utilized/available they are. I've had really good ones, and I've had not so great ones. One dealership I've purchased from had a Genius that knew the car inside and out and explained it very thoroughly when I picked it up. Another dealership had one, but he was hard to get a hold of and didn't seem to know much anyway. Like everything dealership-related the experience varies widely.

Even so, were I a car salesman (shudder!), I'd want to know everything about the car I'm trying to get someone to buy, if nothing else than as a point of professional pride. I certainly get the bring-in-the-expert strategy when it comes to complex systems, etc., but I really don't think a car falls into that category. Perhaps since they're getting more and more complicated every day it makes sense to have a post-sales BMW Genius-like position, but it seems to me that sales guys should be able to handle just about everything pre-sales, if they care enough to do so.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

I just went through the process of buying a used car, modernish (2017 to 2020) and my biggest issue is the failure to answer direct questions. Brand/model/DOT of tyre, how much pad and rotor, any service records etc..... i usually get no response to these questions and almost AI like responses.

So the guy I bought a car off was Ok to deal with and asked for a Google Review. I said sure, then got home and realised I did not have a copy of the work done by the dealer to prepare the car for delivery, like an oil change, fresh brakes etc.

It's been 3 business days and still has not sent me the record of work. Like mate, get a jiggle on.

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

So the guy I bought a car off was Ok to deal with and asked for a Google Review. I said sure, then got home and realised I did not have a copy of the work done by the dealer to prepare the car for delivery, like an oil change, fresh brakes etc.

It's been 3 business days and still has not sent me the record of work. Like mate, get a jiggle on.

I love when dealers (or anyone, really) specifically ask you to give them a 5-star review and to contact them before writing the review is there's anything they need to do to warrant it. I get where they're coming from, but it seems to me that I shouldn't have to ask you in the first place – if I do, it seems like it wasn't 5-star service to begin with. Taking 3 days+ to get you the documentation you should've already been provided with certainly doesn't feel like it.

It's kind of like if I go to a restaurant and they forget to bring out the appetizer and then comp it or whatever. That's great, but it's still not a 5-star experience, is it?

[OC40]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

I love when dealers (or anyone, really) specifically ask you to give them a 5-star review and to contact them before writing the review is there's anything they need to do to warrant it. I get where they're coming from, but it seems to me that I shouldn't have to ask you in the first place – if I do, it seems like it wasn't 5-star service to begin with. Taking 3 days+ to get you the documentation you should've already been provided with certainly doesn't feel like it.

It's kind of like if I go to a restaurant and they forget to bring out the appetizer and then comp it or whatever. That's great, but it's still not a 5-star experience, is it?

We had lunch recently and the restaurant had a lunch special. Pick two items (had eight options), a side of guacamole or queso and an iced tea. We each ordered it plus one appetizer.

We were supposed to get a beef taco and chicken quesadilla, but received a beef taco and a cheese quesadilla. Cheese quesadilla wasn’t an option to choose. It was super busy and we were starving, so we ate. I mentioned it to the server after we finished. She was super apologetic.

Two minutes later, the manager comes by. Also, super apologetic. I though she might comp the appetizer. She comped the appetizer plus one of the lunch special and wanted to bring us chicken quesadillas to go. We were full, so declined.

While I generally agree with you on this, I would say that was five star service right there.