New / used car sales exec - ask me anything

[Timeonmyhandsfornow]

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster!

Been selling cars a while now, and noticed someone asking about the trade in a thread asking for AMA topic suggestions - so feel free to ask - about how it was up to a month or two ago, anyway. Who knows what we're going back to? !

Timeonmyhandsfornow interesting AMA thank you

On the receiving end of the very annoying question do men regularly get asked if 'anyone else is involved in the final decision'? I get asked it a lot. I’m not aware of a man being asked this

@Ontheboardwalk As I said above, yes, by me at any rate!

Thanks, maybe they weren't being sexist then. However if I had been taking all the money out of a joint bank account without telling my husband I guess I'd have just lied. I don't recall ever being asked this before but I think he might have come with me for my previous car. He doesn't generally get very involved in our car buying decisions other than agreeing a budget.

Can you give me some advice for going used car shopping tomorrow for my sons first car. What do I need to look for in a garage? What questions should I ask? I don't know much about cars so don't want to be taken for a ride! (No pun intended!!)

@OhTheRoses I think that you had the misfortune of encountering a young, inexperienced bloke who also happens to be a bit of a pratt! If he carries on like that he won't make a successful career for himself in the car trade, or any other business dealing with people making a substantial purchase.

I understand where you're coming from, but would also respectfully suggest that if he'd been unfailingly polite and well mannered, but offered you a deal substantially worse than your expectation, that you wouldn't have bought a car from him. As you say, it's your prerogative to walk away for any reason you see fit.

Like any other customer facing role, it's about reading people as a sales person. I deal with a lot of highly successful people who approach a car purchase in what might be described as a highly aggressive manner. It's an assertion of control, and concentrating on being polite would cut little, if any ice with them. Others are more easy going, some people one can be jokey with, others wouldn't appreciate that.

I'm sorry you stumbled across him - experiences like that don't help the rest of us. However, I'm going to respectfully suggest that manners are certainly very important, but are not the be all and we've all for all people. I'm not suggesting that bad manners are in any way OK for clarity!

@Clarke45 Have a good look round any car of interest, including asking to see the documentation, service history, MOT etc. Ask about the dealer's after care package, warranty etc. Check it suits his needs, insurance costs etc and stick to a budget. For enhanced peace of mind you can always arrange for an AA or RAC inspection to be carried out to check the mechanical condition of the car - about £150 I believe. Good luck!

Above all, trust your instincts and walk away if you don't think you're being told the whole story.

With regard to being taken for a ride, due to Covid procedures you'll probably be sent out alone for a test drive, so you can take yourself for a ride unencumbered by a sales person sorting alongside you and / or your son!

@EasilyDelighted The rationale behind it is to try to discover whether I'm in a position to try to close the deal there and then. If there's another one or more people likely to need to be consulted I'm probably going to better off arranging a follow up appointment.

Well, it could have lost that person the sale. I was tempted to just walk out, but having sat through all the hard sell for finance that I had no intention of taking I couldn't be bothered to do it again somewhere else. It would have been better to ask at the start of the visit. I have to say that although I'll probably have forgotten by next time (I keep my cars for a long time) it has made me feel less like using a main dealership again.

I agree, much better for everyone to get that matter out in the open as early as possible, and it can be achieved in a very easy, conversational manner. None of it is rocket science, but then I've been doing it for over a quarter of a century so I suppose it's second nature to me now!

This person had certainly not been doing it for a quarter of a century, they probably weren't even that old. Perfectly nice otherwise.

I just felt that they might not have asked the same thing of a man coming in alone.

If my car has a couple of dings, I assume the dealership marks up the cost of fixing these - so is it always worth getting these done before pex?

Also, what do you think of the new electric hybrids?

We are viewing / test driving a car on Monday which we will be buying used with cash. The one we are seeing is 4 yrs old and mid range spec. The dealer network has another one that is newer and a higher spec and would have to be brought to our local dealer from 200 miles away.

Does this mean our dealer will effectively buy the car from the other dealership - then sell it to us?? So generally they would much rather we bought the one they already have??

We'd like to negotiate but realistically, the one we want (higher spec) is not the one they will want to sell us. Do you think it's still worth trying to negotiate on the one that's in a different dealership??

@JeSuisPoulet I wouldn't bother if I were you. When I'm looking round a car I'd allow £60 a panel for dents, plural. Our dentman, who is absolutely brilliant, charges us by the panel, but we normally have enough work for him to spend a whole morning with us each week. I don't think he undertakes work for the general public, but if he did I'd guess he'd charge £75 per dent. Same would apply to kerbed alloys, by the way, but at slightly higher unit cost.

Missed your question about hybrid vehicles. I think they're very good buys in lots of ways, but they're not particularly engaging to drive in my experience, so wouldn't be for me!

@FusionChefGeoff Unless the car 200m away is at a dealer within the same group as your local dealer, I'd advise making contact directly with that dealer. I wouldn't want to get involved in bidding another dealer for a car, transporting it 200m and trying to eek a profit out of it. Too many variables and unknowns.

@timeonmyhands - thank you so much, that is really useful.

Thank you - but yes it's the same overall group / company so they are saying they could bring it to our local dealership. But I understand a bit about dealer networks so thought perhaps the local DP would basically be buying it even though they are 'spinning' it as in the same network?

If it was reversed and the pricier one was local we'd be in a great position to negotiate

Crack on in that case! In our group cars are switched internally at their stand in value plus a nominal profit for the original dealer, and this is fairly common practice in my experience.

There will be costs associated with bringing the car to your local dealer, and they might have to do another used car check prior to delivery. I wouldn't be surprised if there's not much price movement in the offing if I were you, but all the best with it.

Marking for future reference