That makes sense, although I did test-drive several audis without any issue as recent as couple of weeks back.
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Pro tip. Ask to BVA a loaner or demo if available.
Most sales and service departments barely tolerate each other. They are two separate entities. But you had no intentions of buying a car and when they called you on your BS, you suddenly donât like games being played.
What game am I playing exactly? Wanting to test drive a car in order to decide if I want to lease it?
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They donât have loaners at Toyota lollll maybe before the pandemic only for a huge warranty claim
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This part. If you arenât seriously in the market to buy a car, you are just wasting everyoneâs time.
Riiiight. By not urgent I mean, that I need a car so badly I will put a deposit down to even test drive it. I actually defend dealers more often than not; my top liked post in my time on LH is one defending a BMW dealers marketplace ad. You know what I did instead? I used the free time I had to go test drive the Audi and went to Land Rover, test drove a Defender, and now have a deposit down on an inbound unit. Donât act like your time as a dealer employee is more valuable than a customers, it is not. Ever.
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Yeah not now. In fact probably offer to buy you out of if these days.
You have never lived in Soviet Union, I presume, where time of any salesman (not only cars, mind you. Just a grocery associate!) was incredibly more valuable than any shopper, because there is shortage of items and no shortage of shoppers? Time of the side which is in short supply is always more valuable than time of the side which is abudant.
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Fair enough. It did not come across that way on the post.
I am more patient than almost all of the other sales people I know to where it can be a problem (for real, I am not embellishing), but when someone starts taking up too much of my time when there will not be a return or there are too many red flags, it is time to move on. I am not going to go on 5 test drives because someone is indecisive or a guy wants to drive a 911 to try to show off to his new girlfriend (happens more than you think). If I donât value my time, then I canât expect a customer to value mine either and that is when customers start changing delivery times, missing appointments, etc.
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Sorry if Iâm not reading the room, but details on the defender. Msrp?
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100% and I appreciate that your time is a resource you have to allocate where it is most productive. I had great experiences with BMW, LR and Volvo even though the deals stunk. I am a multi Audi owner which is what irks me the most about their behavior.
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I think Audi is more of a wild card than the other German brands since they are the last to establish success stateside (say 2010ish vs 80s/90s for BMW and MB). The group I worked for was fantastic. Some old school stuff every here and there from older management but the average age in the building was 30 including managers, so it was a fun atmosphere. I heard horror stories from the dealer just north of us and I continue to hear them every now and then years later.
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I see some janky shit from time to time no matter what brand but CDJR shops by far and large tend to take the cake on shenanigans in my own experience.
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This is the truth, the only truth, and the holy truth.
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Always a few outliers. That is just what I have noticed from my area and what others report. Amazingly I ran into a great Hyundai dealer the other day. Granted it was on an off-brand used car (I now have a winter beater), it felt like I was in a Rolls-Royce dealer after my past Hyundai experience.
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They also were adding a $1500 ceramic coating to all new units as a requirement. Just scummy all around.
If I encountered that the first thing Iâd do is look for paint swirls. Most dealers are going to swirl paint when they wash and Iâd tell them I need to polish off the coating as part of the fix.
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Totally understandable from your point of view to have 5 @Siejammyâs. And also understandable from one @Siejammyâs point of view.
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Agreed. However,
This. I used to be in consumer sales & one of the skills you had (have) to develop is identifying browsers/time wasters. i encountered many but i never treated them badly. Cuz you never know when they come back & only ask for you cuz you were the one who treated them well.
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In a strange twist on this type of story, I was in buying a car and was ready to get a 500e, the salesman really didnât even care, no test drive, no pitch, no nothing. Then I walked over to a 500L, all of a sudden his eyes lit up he wanted to know if I wanted to test drive it, the whole shebang. But then I decided the L wasnât for me and went back to the 500e. You could see the lights leave his eyes and all of a sudden he didnât care again.
All this in a span of 1 hour. I guess he was getting a bonus on the âLâ and wasnât making squat on the âeâ.