quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
3 - Please keep the opinions and feedback to answers to my questions only.

Do you tell them at the beginning or let them pick up on your silence to their comments?

Since you and I have met and chatted, I bet you can guess how I handle this.

I miss the days when the salesman had a pinky horseshoe ring and kept telling you how honest he is.

Fun story a local sales manager contact of mine shared with me and a cautionary tale to 'all' salesmen.

An old guy wearing bib overalls, a t-shirt, and work boots walked into their dealership, and pretty much every salesman avoided the guy apparently thinking he was there to 'kick the tires'. Eventually my sales manager contact greeted the gentleman who immediately shook his hand and told him he wanted to buy the "Red F-350 Platinum Edition Dually (~$70k+) sitting in front of the dealership. When my contact asked "Ok, do you have a trade and how would you like to pay for it". The gentleman's response, "Nope no trade, and I'll be paying cash", after which he reached into the pockets of his 'bibs' and pulled out all the cash he needed to buy the truck. My sales contact said he almost fainted counting out the agreed upon purchase price in cash. What's that old saying about judging a book by its cover...

I've seen both ends of the spectrum between working in a couple dealerships, my dad being in the business 30 years & buying a few cars.

The best was buying my CPO Mercedes, salesman was non-pushy, knowledgeable & just a good guy.

Similar when I bought my F150, great salesman, knew the truck & features, and low pressure. Especially when the truck I intended to buy, a CPO '14 F150 Limited turned out to be affected by the brake recall & was withdrawn from sale.
Ended up in a new '16 F150 XLT at a great price.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Bought an old Dodge truck recently and there isn't a cupholder or USB port in sight.

Couldn't be happier.

What's wrong with a cup holder or USB port? You like driving around holding your coffee the whole time and not be able to charge your phone?

Last 3 cars I bought were a good buying experience All 3 salesman were good at their jobs. One was Ford, one was Buick and the other Toyota.

Hell, it's nothing new.
Some time in the 80's I was at a Ford dealership to service their computer. On my company car, a Ford LTD, I'd stuck one of those fake chrome "Turbo" badges after the LTD.

Three salesmen complimented me for having bought the Turbo version.

My 2017 Lexus came with owners manuals, and to make things really easy, a "quick reference guide"

I thought it quite funny that the "quick reference guide" is 100 pages long!

The owner's manual is like reading War and Peace.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
I've seen both ends of the spectrum between working in a couple dealerships, my dad being in the business 30 years & buying a few cars.

The best was buying my CPO Mercedes, salesman was non-pushy, knowledgeable & just a good guy.

Similar when I bought my F150, great salesman, knew the truck & features, and low pressure. Especially when the truck I intended to buy, a CPO '14 F150 Limited turned out to be affected by the brake recall & was withdrawn from sale.
Ended up in a new '16 F150 XLT at a great price.

Yep... both ends of the spectrum.
As in any other field, you will find some people who have little or no knowledge, and some who are completely professional.
After just a few minutes, you'll probably have a good idea which type you are talking to.

Asked a salesman if a showroom car was front or rear wheel drive. “No idea” was the answer.

try to find a med to large vehicle with a column transmission shifter,

you would think I was asking for a flying car

I may be misinterpreting, but some of the responses in this thread seem to imply that some of you buy a vehicle based on whether or not the salesperson, whose turn it just so happened to be, knows as much about a specific model as you do.

Who gives a shit what the salesperson knows or don't know?

If I want a Toyota, I'll buy a Toyota. I'd never go buy a Chevrolet, for example, just because the random Toyota salesperson wasn't as well informed as the random Chevy salesperson. You don't drive the salesperson home.

quote:

Originally posted by 7 Zark 7:
I may be misinterpreting, but some of the responses in this thread seem to imply that some of you buy a vehicle based on whether or not the salesperson, whose turn it just so happened to be, knows as much about a specific model as you do.

Who gives a shit what the salesperson knows or don't know?

If I want a Toyota, I'll buy a Toyota. I'd never go buy a Chevrolet, for example, just because the random Toyota salesperson wasn't as well informed as the random Chevy salesperson. You don't drive the salesperson home.

No, but it will certainly make more people choose the Toyota dealership who does have the better people (all else being equal).

In my case, I was more interested in the 4Runner, but my wife was more sweet on the Tahoe. It's her car so in the end she got what she wanted. The crappy Toyota salesman didn't help my cause at all. Whatever interest my wife had in the 4Runner completely evaporated after that experience. I have to admit though, I'm very happy we ended up with the Tahoe. Much better vehicle for our needs.

quote:

Originally posted by 7 Zark 7:
I may be misinterpreting, but some of the responses in this thread seem to imply that some of you buy a vehicle based on whether or not the salesperson, whose turn it just so happened to be, knows as much about a specific model as you do.

Who gives a shit what the salesperson knows or don't know?

If I want a Toyota, I'll buy a Toyota. I'd never go buy a Chevrolet, for example, just because the random Toyota salesperson wasn't as well informed as the random Chevy salesperson. You don't drive the salesperson home.

Nope, wrong approach. If you're forcing a salesperson at a customer if they want to look at a vehicle on your lot then you either need to send them an educated sales person familiar with the vehicle they're looking at, or just send them a lot boy with the keys to the car with the understanding they're on their own. Sales people who have no idea what they're hocking, or that throw out bogus info right and left, or that attack other manufacturers products, are a detriment to the process, and a huge part of the reason many people hate the new car buying process.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
try to find a med to large vehicle with a column transmission shifter,

you would think I was asking for a flying car

My F350 has a column shifter. I doesn't fly though.

quote:

Originally posted by 7 Zark 7:
You don't drive the salesperson home.

You might want too.

https://www.google.com/search?...0QAg&biw=962&bih=601

Many sales people don't know how to open the hood.

heck, most cars all you're going to see is the plastic cover over the engine.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
99.9% of everyone out there wouldn't even know what they are looking at under the hood of a modern vehicle anyway so I don't see it as a negative for the dealer.
What are you looking for anyway? IAC motor, MAP sensor?

I sold used cars for 20 years and tried to know as much about the cars as possible. I worked for a large insurance company and I was selling former company cars mostly. We tended to buy the same year after year and they were pretty easy to keep up with. We got other cars from time to time from our lease company and I always drove them and learned as much about them as I could.

I remember one guy who was looking for a used GM and he would only buy one if the transmission was made at a particular factory. This could only be determined by crawling under and looking for a code on the transmission. It was not coded into the VIN. I told him he was welcome to look. but I wasn't going to. This was when I still wore a suit to work.

I sold almost 4,000 cars in my 20 years and most of my clients were repeats or referrals so I must have done something right.

quote:

Originally posted by weiser09:
heck, most cars all you're going to see is the plastic cover over the engine.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
99.9% of everyone out there wouldn't even know what they are looking at under the hood of a modern vehicle anyway so I don't see it as a negative for the dealer.
What are you looking for anyway? IAC motor, MAP sensor?

This, on most cars all you see are plastic covers and cannot even see the engine.