Not really a reply, but one time when I was in the finance office finalizing the lease of a Spark EV, the finance lady tried to sell me an engine maintenance add-on package with lifetime oil changes. After she finished her spiel, I was like “uhh…this car doesn’t have an engine nor ever need oil changes…it’s all electric”.
She gave me a dumbfounded look, then went “Oh! Didn’t even know we sold electric Sparks! Nevermind then!”.
A rejection from a dealership is perfectly acceptable and the way it should be. I lose respect for salesmen who can’t simply be honest about trying to make profit. In the past I’ve definitely paid more on a car for dealers who were honest about what their bottom lines were and where they wanted to be.
I know you’re usually sarcastic as sh*t, but at least you wet the expectations for where they should be.
Correct
imho its been to keep the conversation from closing completely.
If a dealer says flat out no, that lead is effectively is dead in the water. Then the dealership has a recovery system where it tries to reach out in X number of days and infinite number of times until the lead is converted back into a maybe or simply just gets lost (either they unsubscribe from contact or the recovery emails get sent to spam).
Customers are probably trying to do the same thing, but instead of having an expensive program automate everything, their literally hoping to do the same with their choice of canned replies in that last contact…“well Dealer A gave me those numbers.”
All in all its like @RustyDaemon said best, “part of the dance”
Yes the goal is to be acceptably sarcastic and professional while still moving metal.
I don’t have a problem with any dealer tactics, but when you insult me by calling me “greedy”, that is not acceptable to me. I do not think he would have said that in person. And I’m sure 99% of customers have no idea what a money factor is or why it is so important.
A BDC rep would invite you to come on down to say something to your face because they would get paid for the appt show. Salespeople probably not - we are mostly in poor shape because cheeseburgers.
I feel that more people need to start walking out of the dealerships or better yet refuse to go in there until the deal is made and again walk out if the deal changes after they came to the dealership.
It’s bad enough that 90% of the time waste is from the sales managers being arm’s length, but then more lies keep getting added at every step. Now don’t get me wrong, if the customer acts like a grade A d-bag, fine, but if the customer is clearly not playing games, these idiotic attempts to squeeze a dollar are counterproductive.
Clearly me and people on this forum are in the minority, but damn it’s annoying. I’ve had situations where I told the sales guy if I wanted a comedy routine I would go to a comedy show. I’ve had situations where I walked out and they ran after me with alternate deals. I had situations where deals fell apart in finance office, etc… And then car dealers wonder why everyone hates their guts. /rant
Print it on the official Leasehackr T-shirt!
I made the mistake of reaching out to a large GMC store via FB Marketplace a couple of months ago on a reasonably priced '19 RR Supercharged. First sales person that reached out provided a Carfax, I told them I’m passing as it was a prior Canadian truck.
Since then, all within a few days, I received responses from six (6) additional sales people via email about the same particular car. On got downright pissy that I wasn’t responding to him (I mean should I really have to email the same thing to seven different people at the same store?)… Blows my mind that this is how their CRM is set up.
this right here is where your first mistake was
No doubt. It was a Sunday, or I would have just called.
Just tell them you don’t like the speedometer, oh wait, does it have digital dash, never mind
I posted about an absurd response I received last year from a Volvo dealership.
I’d requested a quote on a specific vehicle w/ specific terms, and let him know that I was shopping other dealerships in the region. He wouldn’t give a quote via email, asserted that you never get a good price shopping online because such prices are either a “low ball just to get you in the door” or a “price in favor of the dealership.” He concluded, therefore that I “come in and sit down with the sales manager” to get the best price. (Thereby attempting to “get me in the door,” a practice he had just warned about!)
Oh, and this was from the Internet Sales Specialist.
This was in late February 2020 Do you think they shut down due a month later due to the pandemic or pivoted to an online friendly shopping experience??? …Well, I just checked and the dealer website features a banner ad offering online shopping and complimentary home delivery.
That doesn’t mean they are going to give you a good deal ‘online’
I submitted an online request with the note: “I’m looking to do a 39/10 lease on your LT1 Camaro, stock #xxxxx. I am in NJ and would not be coming in. I would do the deal completely remote. I am aware of the MF, RV, and incentives, so all I would need to know is your best pre-incentive sale price and any dealer fees. Thank you.”
First reply: “I would be happy to assist you in your next vehicle search. Great selection on the LT1 this is one of my favorite trims of the Camaro, I see you had some questions about leasing pricing. Here is the link to the vehicle with incentives and rebates. With a lease this is different all comes down to your duration and mileage allotment. This vehicle is in transit right now but will not last long once it hits our lot. Please give me a call once you get this to go over some details.”
Me: “Hello, and thank you for your response. I am aware of the MF, RV, and incentives, so all I would need to know is your best pre-incentive sale price and any dealer fees. Thank you.”
Him: “I would be happy to put that together for you, I just have a couple questions:
Will you need a new tag?
How much money were you putting down?
What zip code will the vehicle be registered at?
Are you active or retired military?
Have you or anyone in your family ever worked for GM?
Where are you currently employed?
Do you have a 2007 or newer non gm vehicle registered at your house?”
Me: “I am aware of the MF, RV, and incentives, so all I would need to know is your best pre-incentive sale price and any dealer fees. Thank you.”
Him: " I would need that information if you would like to put a quote together for you."
Me: “I really don’t want a monthly quote. But as long as your quote let’s me know the pre-incentive sale price, that’s fine, too. Answers below.”
Him, 24 hours later: “What is the year make and model of that non GM vehicle?”
Me within 5 mins: “2018 BMW X2.”
Me 2 days later: “Hi. Just following up for an update on this. Thanks.”
Him 2 weeks later: “Good Afternoon,
Are you still in the market for this Camaro, new incentives this month that are better than last month let me know if you are still in the market and we can put together some numbers for you.”
Just finished phone convo with one of the sales managers, I assume, since he called me and was clickiting/clackiting on his keyboard doing what sounded like deal desking just as we spoke:
SM: hello I see you were interested in one of our vehicles?
Me: yes I was, looking for a dealer who will do my deal
SM: great! what’s the deal?
Me: giving him all details
SM: clickity/clackity, under breath ok, plate transfer $197, unintelligible clickity clackity
Now, we’re very close, but since you’re at xxx MSRP, and we only have zzz MSRP in stock (400 more than I said), just because of that, your monthly will be more.
Me: how much more?
SM: $38
Me:
He must have been on the 12-mo lease program.