He offered me:
1) $1,900 trade on my C3.
2) A discount of ONLY $5,000 above sticker.
I can't believe they were serious about the offer for your car. You'd think they'd say "we can't make an offer on your car- its not part of our busines model".
To make an offer to someone for that little is expected... but still insulting. I understand its "just a car" and "just business", but a good sales person recognizes when they can't meet the needs of the customer and so they come up with another way to meet you where you are. I've seen good dealers use internal bulletin boards, talk to mechanics or other folks who work their who they know are looking for classic cars, post internal classifieds, and even offer consignement sales. The intent is to
foster a relationship with the potential customer.
Cars are acommodity... and dealers tend to forget that. Good cars, great service, a great sales experience, and great people are what sets a dealer apart from their competeition. Those pieces are differentiaing.
Really- do they think they are the only show in town? Has Ebay, craigslist, Autabuy, AutoTrader, CarMax and others
NOT taught them anything about the nature of competition? When they can't compete on product... there
MUST be something else that stands above the others.
At the end of the day... FWIW- the good dealer rests their laurels on a unique service/selling experience because that builds the book of business and brings back repeat buyers, their friends, and others... again and again. Profit will come when peope feel comfortable to risk
their money with someone
they trust. Otherwise- they'll go down the street.
I'll be honest...
I have NEVER had a good experience dealing with big box, chain dealerships- such as Bill Heard, Sam Swope, Terry Labonte Chevrolet, etc. The frontline sales people they use aren't professionals. They are usually amateurs who work for peanuts until they get fired for lack of production. The sales management philosophy is that they hire based on cost savings, fire based on sales targets, and the cycle continues. They waste money on advertising for these positions, waste money on training people who are disposeable, and the significant turnover rate kills motivation, customer service, book of busines retention, and so forth.
Case in point: I was at a dealership two years ago and test drove a slightly used GTO. The car was fine. I never make impulse purchases- it isn't my style.
I declined the new sales asscoiate's offer. It was really sad. No budgingon the price, nothing that made it worthwhile to me. The car... well, its a commodity. So, I got up to leave.
The saleman then got in my way and put his arm across the door.
He said "we've been working a deal this morning- you can't leave yet. You aren't leaving without making a deal!" His face got red and he became clearly angry.
I told him I he had two choices: voluntarily drop his arm and let me leave or I'd break it. Either way- I was STILL leaving and I wasn't making any deals with him. I didn't serve almost eight years in the Army without getting lots of hand to hand combat training- I've used it before and was willing to use it again... this time on him if need be!
ad
True, not every dealer is like that... but the story still stands out in my mind- even two years later. A bad experience haunts the customer and can come back to ruin a reputation for the dealer.
What so many of the sales mangers forget as they struggle to meet their sales goals is that
one bad experience for a prospect reults in the loss of
ten sales.
My best experiences have been with mom and pop style small business dealerships. I don't need a service department- I do my own repairs (mechanical, body, electric, etc). I want people who are honest and truthful. The desire to make a buck doesn't outweigh integrity.
I'm willing to pay a little more for QUALITY. Quality interactions, quality vehicles, and quality people. Integrity is
NOT negotiable.
I hope the dealer doesn't call you back. I hope they come to their sense and stop jerking people around.
They pave the way for New Car Dealerships and Big Used Car Chains to put people Upside Down in the vehicle right off the bat!! Grab the $$$$ and run,Leave no $$$$ on the table!! Just how many of these so called 50 and 100 point inspections are really carried out or anything repaired after found!! Far less than you think!!Unless it's purdy obvious they usually just set them on the lot and if a customer notices something inoperative,they just say we'll get it in to service and get it checked out!!
