I am convinced at time that skillset, ethics, sales know how (legit), people interactions, and strategic intent are all lacking in "car dealer sales readiness 101"....which reflects in each and every interaction!!! The good ones stick out like a sore thumb, since the majority are so under trained and skilled. The smart ones, lie most of us who are achievers in our own rights, read through it with ease, and hold the medicine.....our wallets on the buy, and walking out on the observation of bad behaviors.

 

Being from the same locale I know them well and have had the same experience.
The *other* dealer you refer to gives me the same treatment since I use them for service but not when I was buying.

Other dealers/brands in the area have given similar crappy treatment as the OP said -- and then they act surprised when I buy from someone else!

 

I cannot say that I have experienced anything poor from the *other* dealer, it was just the amount of turn-over caused me to look elsewhere and the treatment I was given at the second dealer was nothing less than stellar!

 

I would love to think that buying a car should be a process where the salesmanship and dealer didn't affect the outcome. Most times though, it just doesn't work that way for me. You never know how that first interaction is going to go ie. personality w/ sales person, etc. I can honestly say that if I were in your situation, I would have walked out when he seemed to be having more fun joking with a buddy than helping me buy a dream car. This reminds me of when I was looking at potential cars (eventually going with V6S) where I had had stopped to look at a Cayman S. Maybe the salesman didn't think I was serious or maybe he wasn't interested. Either way, it tarnished how I looked at Porsche as a brand and how they conduct business. A bit much? Maybe. But when I'm about to drop close to 100k on a car, the whole process needs to feel right.

I can happily say that my interaction with my local LR/Jag dealership was spectacular.

 

Wonder how many car salesman are given choice to to think long term?

 

Value is merely the perception of the buyer, and selling is supposed to be merely conveying the features/benefits of the product or service being considered for purchase. Anything that gets in the way is far from a successful outcome for either party. The sales person who does anything else but conveying and answering questions is destroying reputation, thus the reason the bad ones continue to jump from dealer to dealer, or from brand to brand. My son, his friend and I on a football Saturday decided a while ago to go to the same dealer that I purchased my F-Type at. 3 years ago we came in with jeans, sweatshirts, football jersey's and were looking around. Not "1" sales person approached us, and a few made fun that I caught a few times about these young adults looking and eluded to the fact that they were not buyers. I layed back and watched and when one of them approached me not recognizing I was with them, I said no thank you. We left.

3 years later, I had to take my other car in for service, and I looked at and fell in love with my current F-Type. The experience was a bit better with a different sales person. A pure give and take with a series of multiple "normal" cycles that turned out ok, but if I didn't fall in love with this car, I would have never purchased from this dealer out of principle.

In conclusion as we all stated in this thread, "You" and only you are in control as long as you hold the money!!! Notice the change in things when the money changes hands, and control shifts.....it usually deteriorates and it is the level of deterioration that makes the difference but it "will deteriorate" as the incentive from the sales people are usually far from strategic and almost always transactional, thus the reason that the automotive industry (excepting for Tesla types) dealership networks are so 50/60's thinking and haven't changed much in > half a century.

Selling conveys value, value is perception of the buyer and the best sales people are strategic thinkers that should think word of mouth and repeat sales! Most don't.

 

Well said Joe, as always!

Best regards,
Jay

 

Many years ago I was shopping for a car for my wife and pulled up next to a Corvette at closing time on a Fri. nite. The salesman comes out and I ask him what kind of deals they make on Corvettes and he says "you have obviously never bought a Corvette" and walks away. I drove right across the street and bought her a bright yellow Firebird, which they followed me home with at 10:30 pm. Less money better service. By the way I was driving an SL! Vegas was relatively small back then and the next time the owner of the Chev store came into my business he asked if I had gone over and looked at the Corvette . I just let it go as his son was a big customer of mine. The car business never changes.

 

original post off topic.

 

I'm sorry about your experience.


If you need any help in the future I'll be happy to assist you.




Paul Light

 

The Jaguar dealer in town was once owned by a dealer who sold Porsche and Audi at the same shop. Additionally they owned most of the luxury dealers in town. They had the terrible sales people, I eventually bought a XJL from them and hoped that someone else would purchase the Jag dealer next time I wanted to buy another Jag. Fortunately they did and they sold to a family owned dealer from whom we bought several Land Rovers. Our salesperson at the Land Rover dealer became our Jag salesman. We went in to drive the F-Type after lunch on a Saturday and ended up purchasing the car based on him offering us a reasonable discount before we even asked.

 

It's not rocket science. It's simply doing the "right thing" and treating people well - in all aspects of life - and not putting the all-mighty $ first. Do the former and the latter (usually) comes afterwards. They're out there...trick is finding them.

 

.

 

Wonder how many car salesman are given choice to to think long term?

Few to none....zero job security...

 

If you want to figure out where I'm from, you'll have to dig into my posts, other than that... I'm not talking about the area.

But the "sit-down" attitude from my dealer on the Jag (not Land Rover side) was "yeah, you're factory ordering, there's no margin on that, you want it, we have limited inventory anyway, you are going to LOVE it" was *weird*.

But.... how can I blame him? *All* of us ordering this are ahead of the curve, we want what we want, and we'll pay what it takes. I actually really like the guy, and his passive, zero and no pressure sales. Once or twice, I was like "come on work it a little".... but it is fine.

The sales people for a car like this are far and away a different breed for Mini, Toyota, Subaru, etc. These things sell themselves. We should be so lucky that these are not only affordable (comparatively), but production isn't deliberately throttled, nor are purchases denied, like Ferrari and the like.

 

so you drilled the guy for a price, he gave you his bottom line, and then you told him you were just stopping by....and are now confused why he lost interest

 

I really think Tesla has the right model. No negotiations, manufacturer direct to customer sales.

Car Dealers add a middle man and you never know what you're going to get.

 

A long time ago here in Georgia the car dealers got it written in to law that cars over a certain quantity have to be sold through dealerships. Now that Tesla has entered the market, the dealerships are trying to use the law to push Tesla out while throwing around money to keep state politicians from repealing the law. It's pretty ironic considering that Tesla basically wouldn't exist without government money.

 

The same is true in many states.

Also they got FedGov loans, but you're talking about state government dealer franchise laws. The FedGov has no jurisdiction over that.

 

You might be thinking about GM, Chevrolet who wouldn't exist without the government loans. It's been pretty well documented Tesla would have been just fine without those loans which they've already paid back early with interest.