Theres is this local car dealership that i went and looked at today, and wow they are wioerd and picky. first i saw they had a 2001 Bullitt mustang. ask how much and miles they said 30K and $17,000, i thought that was a little low for how nice the car was, Then i saw an 03 cobra, ask same question, he said 20k and $24000. then i asked very nicly to hear the cobra, he siad "NO, i may if you were actually interested in the car." then i asked to see the engine just too see if they actually took care of all the car and he didnt even answer me. so i left. came back witha friend alittle later, still woudn't even open the door. i am mad at that place, how did he know i wasn't really interested in the car, i was asking and whole lot of REAL questions about it. CAR DEALERS are jerks period.

 

17 but i had a friend come with me the second time, and hes 22 and they still woudn't let us look

 

Yeah that is one of the only dealers in town that does that, but i think its because most of there cars a Classics. and i pulled up in my mustang. but it was pretty, and i wish i could have heard it but ohh well, what happed happed, and yeah last summer a friend and i went to the Mitsubishi dealer asked and they handed up keys to an eclipes, soo it was just the dealer

 

At 17 you can't legally sign a contract, you were just wasting the salesmans time.
He only wants to talk to people who can actually buy the car, not some dumbass who just wants to look.

 

how did he know that my dad wouldn't have signed the contract. For me to have the car i have right now i had to do all the looking i could, without my Parents help. maybe i was really interested in the car. Which i have been interested in cars where the salesperson has been a complete jerk cause my age, and that makes me not want to buy the car, BTW i would have been more likly to have wanted to by the Bullit the cobra is over kill for me..

 

When I use to work at the acura dealer I had 16 and 17 kids go in there asking me if they could test drive a acura tl which is a $34k car I would politely tell them to fawk off....Alot of salesman usually give you the finger when they know you can't buy a car. We actually had a policy that we weren't allowed to talk to minors pertaining to anything about the cars...

 

thats your problem. And when you came back with your friend you just pissed him off more because I guarantee he saw right through that little ploy

 

The dealership is just trying to protect themselves. Kids waste a lot of time and can damage a car. When I was buying my first car, I remember a sales men telling me that I could not test drive anything w/o a pre-approved letter from a bank.

The truth this, you were illegally discriminating against and could sue and win. Age is a protected class (just as sex, race religion, color, or creed). The mere fact that he asked you and this resulted in a "no" w/o having a policy posted is against the law.

He could have said "hey, we have a policy against allowing anyone under the age 18 to test drive. Are you under 18?" Or, he could say "I can show you the car, but we require a pre-approval letter from anyone under 21".

Next time someone asks how old you are, politely tell them "I have a legal driver's liscence" and leave it at that.

Yon can't even ask how old someone is on a job application unless the business has less then 50 employees or or you can prove "legal" discremination by showing that the information is a necessity to conducting business (such as with Hooters).

What kills me is that if gthe salesmen was dong something besides just eating a sandwich, would it have killed him to show you? Kids have parents and parents buy cars.

 

well being someone who sold cars for several years I have a lot of expereince with this. 9 times out of 10 a young guy is not really going to buy a car when they go to a dealership. sure they have a hard on for driving, looking and touching,,,but when it comes to actually buying it..its not going to happen. I when i first started out selling cars (chryslers and jeeps) the new 300C just came out. People were all over it old and young alike. we had to many people that just wanted to "drive" it, especially 17-22 yr old guys. what most people think is that a saleman makes and hourly wage, this is not so, its all commission based. so when you want to just look at a car and we already know there is not a chance you can A). not afford it, B). have no credit to even finance it for 15 minutes or C). have not known the touch of an actual woman, you're not touching the car...period. because I will not make money talking to you only selling to you, and if you cant buy I dont really talk. and as far as parents buying cars for kids, sure a lease payment of say $250 a month is ok, but how many parents fork out $500 a month on a used car for their 17 yr old? you figure $200 for every 10 k financed, with good credit so at 24 k you're dam close to $500 per month.

dont get pissed at the salesman, if he's old he hates young people even more than I did, but it depended on the attitude of the kid with me. but you did as they say in car business "stroke" him....i.e. wasting his time while another buying customer could've walked throught the door while he was talking to you. you're young and have lots of thing to learn about the real world but dont take it so hard, give it two months and you'll find a better car somewhere else.

 

Its may be the way you looked,too young and looking broke will not be a good way to get pampered. I noticed that the sales person from several delears were looking at my watch and wifes jewlery when I went car shopping. You dont have to dress nice but a watch is sometimes used to gauge your financial wealth and unfortunately some resort to this to see if you are a serious buyer. If you are not serious about buying a car dont waste their time just tell them you are just looking and if they insist on helping you then buy all means ask for a test drive.

 

Everything you want to know about buying a car at a Dealership:

Carbuyingtips.com

 

I will sum the whole website up.

1. dont be stupid, nothing i mean nothing is free.

2. always work your trade as a seperate deal from the new car purchase.

3. know your credit score and your ablilty to borrow.

4. extended warranties can save your *** if you keep cars longer than 5 years, but know the costs before walking in the door.

5. get it writing.....period.

6. be realistic about what your trade is worth...I cant drive a stereo system.

7. finally and the most important never, i do mean never act as though your better than the salesman, if your being a super-informed ******* to him/ her your head will get chopped off and you wont even know it. just play it cool, we do want to sell you a car, but we dont want to be belittled while doing it, plus its YOUR money you're giving us.

 

I have been in sales my entire, working life (except for the 4 years I was in the service). That adds up to 20+ years of professional sales experience.

While I never sold cars, I can tell you that any salesmen that tries to pre-judge a client based on outward appearances is one who could not sell his way out of a paper bag. But in reality, this happens all the time. We have all seen those shows where a white guy dresses as a black guy and no one will help him etc... this is life.

When I shop for a car, I shop for a salesmen at the same time. I don't buy from ******. If they try to size me up, I politely tell them it is none of their business. I have even been known to ask them the same questions.

While shopping with my wife once (she just about killed me) I could tell the salesmen was trying every way possible to "pre-qualify" me with his stupid questions. So finally I asked him "how much money do you make?". He was like "excuse me?". So I told him "If you don't make **** then you must suck as a salesmen and I don't want to spend my money with you. See how stupid your questions are now?" I bought a car from him and he learned a good lesson.

As a whole, cars salesmen do not get any training. If they did, they would get to know their clients, establish trust and earn credibility before advocating.

Fact is, though, while driving home from work in my new Saab tomorrow while wearing a suit, I would be treated a lot differently then if I drove to a lot in my mustang while wearing flip-flops, BUT I AM THE SAME DAM PERSON.

 

this man speaks the truth......this is a lame example, but if I'm coming home from work with a suit on and decide to stop and get a 6 pack of beer I NEVER get carded, but if I go to the same store with the same person working on a saturday with shorts and a t-shirt I get carded every time. ha ha....again, bad example, but WaterDR is correct.

Speaking of sales people....buying a car at a Lexus or BMW dealership is a MUCH different experience than purchasing a car at a Ford or Chevy dealership. They don't play games cause they know you have the money or wouldn't be there, they are usually better sales people and are way nicer....at least from my experience. No offense to anyone here, but I've always had the impression that Ford and Chevy sales people are low level sales people who are looking for experience so they can move on. I know there are some good ones out there, but that's been my experience.

 

sometimes you need to pre-qualify. when people want to get a hard look at the most expensive model you have, you need some sort of go sign you're not wasting your time. I remember this one time a nice older lady came in looking for a 05 grand cherokee, she worked for chrysler. She wanted the Hemi, leather, dvd, navigation..the works. I thought in my mind "****, she's proly a rock (solid credit), no worries...slam dunk." so i spend about 2 1/2 hours with her showing her the in and outs, test drive, the works. but i never really pre-qualified her, why should I, I bet she's got the cash or the credit......shes got nice clothes on, decent car in the parking lot, i figured I was set and never asked any real questions.
So she agrees on a 42k grand cherokee fully loaded. so im pumped, this is going to be around a $500+ commission for me if it goes through. credit check time, this lady couldn't finance a crave case of white castle sliders. she had so much **** in her credit report I dont know what the **** made her think she could even hope to afford this jeep let alone anything else. judgments, hospital bills, credit cards, plus she already took on car down and it got repoed. all the **** shows up on your credit report...all of it. that was it...no dice. she refused to get a co-signer. the deal was dead and my afternoon was shot. I was so ****ing pissed, my manger pulled me aside after, he was pissed, but not as much as I was. and he reminded me..thats why you pre-qualify people. 2 1/2 hours down the ****ing drain.

the moral is way to many people think and I do mean think they can afford something when they really can not. and the only guy that gets ****ed at the end of the day with the those deals in the salesman. customer goes home with no car..o well there postion never changed, salesman spends great amounts of time with someone who cant even buy something...they lose money. can salesman be ********, sure they can, can customers be ******, yes. but is it possible to have a great sales experience...absolutly. dont knock a salesman because hes try to get a feel for you, and if your really going to buy a car, or kick tires.

 

well, when was the last time Lexus or BMW had $250per month zero down lease specials? Most people are priced out of that market, you said it yourself, they wouldn't be there if they didnt have the money. I bet the guys dont get ****ed around by customers half as much as a chevy or ford dealer.
because the first thing out of anyones mouth is either which car has the most rebates or how much do i get off? that never gets said at a lexus or bmw dealership.

 

bcassette just made my point agian really....you can't always judge a book by it's cover for better or for worse. BUT, you gotta ask yourself, what is your goal as a car salesmen? To sell a car today, or sell a car next week. If you have the later attitude, I guarentee you will sell more cars today.

While your example could be looked at as a waste a time, she still could buy a car. What if she sent two friends to see you? What if her situation improves in six months because she gets married? Who really knows. Sure, sometimes you have to pick your battles and have to make a quick decision on your feet when deciding who you want to help.....we all in fact judge books by their cover....it is human nature to one extent or another. But no one likes to be judged and when you do it, it pisses people off.

Last time I bought a car, I visited the dealer 5 - 6 times....never got blown-off. When I bought my Mustang, I did it in one trip. In either case, I had no idea how things were gonna work out.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are many people out there with $400, $500, $700 car loans that in reality have no business financing that much. But, they still buy cars, don't they? Hell, look at half the guys on this board - lol

 

I bought my car new in 2004. And it was actually a good experience for me.. My salesman was really helpful and courteous. I had my wife with me (she's what I call the best haggler ever). I already had a check for the full amount for my car @ $26,900.. MSRP. Well we got al the discounts we could get. And he gave the final price he would accept. Then my wife asked to see the invoice for the car. LOL this took another hour or so before he agreed to drop another grand off the sales price. ( I knew I was paying more for the car than they did but I wanted to know how much). Car salesmen should let the customer know what the actual invoice for that car is.. I didn't mind my salesman making some bucks from me.. That's what he is there for. Plus the financial guy save me 1000 bucks by letting me finance through Ford. Then pay off the full amount after I financed.. It was a Fun day and everyone went home happy.. I ended up buying my Mustang for $23,500 with 5/75 warranty.

 

waterdr , I know what your saying. I may have judged by the cover on that lady, but it was to the good, not the bad and its didnt work out. its like finding a porno mag with a super hot chicks on the cover only to find out 3/4 the pages are stuck together. that lady turned into a super bitch cause we wouldn't just sell it to her and make it work. I was making a point of sometimes you have ask certain questions to see if this person really wants to buy something or is capable of buying.

example: I ask a customer walking uphow they are doing and what brings the to the dealership (i know that answer, but i still ask). then I ask what are looking to do , bigger car , smaller car, smaller payment? if the answer is bigger I would say " so you must've gotten a promotion at work, time to spend on yourself". and how they answer that gives me an idea about what they want. now if they say smaller, i ask "need to save on gas huh?" again how this is answered gives me an idea.
Are there ******* salesman, no doubt, when i first started selling cars i was the most honest salemans ever. fresh out of college, getting sales experience to move on in life. quickly i realized that the most honest saleman gets screwed more times than not. sure i was a hit with older people(i think i reminded them of grandchildren or something), but younger people didnt think twice about buying a car down the street after spending 2-3 hours with me. all they would do is have another salesman beat my price by 5 dollars or so, without giving me a chance to counteroffer. I would not find out until i did follow up call and they tell me the bought are already for $X a month. one time I lost a deal over $1 a month. I was so pissed i told the guy "if your so ****ing hard up for $12 i'll right you a check right now!" that didnt go over well with the owners son....
it wasnt until I starting lying to customers and playing games did actually start to make money, thats the sadest thing of all. and thats why i quit the business, thats not who i am. so i went to back college to get a construction MGT degree. so i hard work hard and make thing people will use for years to come, i find more satifaction in that over any pay check i recieved selling cars. but one thing is, i know the game from the inside.

 

I hear what your saying.....Maybe my example wasn't a good one because I think your dealing with a totally different cliental as well. (sp?). You bring up an interesting point though....it seems the sales people usually have the attitude the customer is trying to screw them over and the customer has the same opinion about the sales people....so there is a natural conflict right off the bat is seems like.

In all honesty I've purchased 4 mustangs from Ford and each time I go through the process I swear up and down I'm never buying another car from ford because it's a painful painful process. Hell buying my house was MUCH easier than purchasing a car from ford.

 

I noticed that the high end dealers (Lincoln,Lexus etc) from both imports and domestics treat you better than the lower end dealers (Ford,Honda). You do need to shop around for a car salesman as well as a dealer. My mother in law knew a Doc that has purchased several Cars from a certain Lexus Dealer and the salesperson was really nice. It may be that we survey him afterwards so looking for a dealer that gets a survey done after the sale may be a good thing.

I went to Acura to see the new MDX and the sales person was a dick, saying comments like "be a man", "everybody wants this","its the fastest" better than sliced bread according to him. He did not like when I told him that the 3rd row seats are useless, smurfs might fit in there plus you need a great amount of strength to fold and unfold those seats. You also need a rope to help you get out of those seats. The New Mazda cx9 is way better. The car is so great barely anything can be negotiated of sticker. I looked at him smiled and was laughing inside as Im sure my money is good elsewhere LOL.

 

I didn't mean anything by my smart assed remark bro, Just caught me at a bad moment.... sorry.
Ths jerk should have worked with you, especially after you came back with an adult as recognized by the law.
Once again, sorry.

 

I think one of the biggest challenges with selling cars is that the decision to purchase one if often an emotional decision and not one based on logic. People buy a car because they WANT it not because they NEED it. This is a lot different then B2B selling.

I would be willing to bet that more often then not, people end up buying exactly what they say they won't buy. This creates a lot of confusion with the salesmen. They learn like Pavlov's dog to keep asking irrelevant questions because they know in the end....they might be right.

This is why it is soo important to get to know the buyer. Earning trust will lower the tension barrier and get them to talk about their wants and not their needs, because they won't buy based on their needs anyway.

 

You are correct sir.. I drove a pickup for 10 years before I got my stang. I need a pickup for alot of reasons but I can borrow my mother in laws truck. I wanted an affordable (for my price range), nice looking, sports coupe.. And my car fit that bill. I knew I wanted it when I first saw it on the lot. Then after driving it and figuring that I could afford it, I actually HAD to have it. LOL, no turning back after that. I was going to go look at new trucks but that didn't happen. I got what I wanted.. Luckily my salesman was very thorough and didn't try to BS me. And I did fill out a survey for how he treated me.. He got the thumbs up. I talk to him when I go to get service on my car. he's a great guy. No doubt he makes a lot of sells..

 

At first my wife thought she wanted a CUV but turns out a 4 door is what we needed.