Exactly, but the salesmen do stereotype (Including me). Especially in my area. If you don’t stereotype, then I’m sorry, but you’re not a good sales person because you will waste a lot of time not selling any cars. The difference between Asians and Indians despite similar negotiation tactics is that Asians will at least buy the car at the end of the day. Indians usually waste 6 hours to not buy the car from you. TooHighs don’t describe a race, but Patels, Dots and Habibis certainly do. I’m trying to give these guys some insight into the industry, even though I didn’t sell cars for very long (2 years), I picked up a few things.
That being said, if you are on this forum, you are the 1%. Chances are you won’t pull the annoying stunts that they usually pull and you will be a model customer, despite getting an insane deal.
That’s true, but in my area, most everyone is incredibly wealthy/high income. They have to be afford all of the shitty 50 year old 2000 sq ft houses that are selling for $650k. That being said, even though they make a lot of money, they tend to buy the cheapest cars.
Indian-American here (the dot kind as you pleasantly like to describe us as). Personally my family, including my parents who immigrated here in the 80s, and I have spent over $500K on cars in the past 10 years alone, probably not getting great deals on most of them since I didn’t discover this website till this past year. We never went in low-balling and walking out after test driving a bunch of cars. Many of my good friends are also Indian, specifically Patel, and I know they don’t do that either.
You have to understand that every ethnicity has a diverse group of people, and that’s what they are, people. I’m sure there are people from different ethnic backgrounds (including yours) that have the same consumer behavior you described above.
You are welcome to be appalled, but if you don’t want to read my opinions and views, then don’t. No one is forcing you to be here. The issue with stereotyping is that there’s some truth in it, that’s why it’s offensive, but also true. Because it points out the worst quality in a certain group of people. You have to learn to either ignore it or embrace it. Maybe make a funny joke about something else and change the subject, you know? I’ve been stereotyped and the largest stereotype in the car industry is with young people. No one wants to deal with teenagers/early 20’s because everyone thinks that they don’t have money. This is something I’ve had an issue with as well personally. Stereotyping usually isn’t ignorant, because a majority of the population has to do it for it to become a stereotype. All of my comments are made with glee, just my happy go lucky personality shining through the keyboard.
Of course. I’m not trying to offend anyone, that wasn’t my intention, although it appears I struck a nerve with @ReneL. I’m trying to explain what car salesmen typically think of a certain group of people. Like I’ve said, some of the best experiences I’ve had were also with Indians, but so were some of the worst. It’s really like a lottery. There’s nothing wrong with getting a good deal and sticking to your numbers and not budging (If they are reasonable numbers). The issue is when someone thinks that coming in right before we close will get them a better deal. We want to go home and relax, not test drive a car at 10PM. I’m glad that your family has a good taste in cars and doesn’t just buy the new Camry every few years. I’m Russian and have met many Russians that are a PITA to deal with as well.
Some of the things I’ve posted seem out there and ridiculous and offensive, but the fact of the matter is, that’s how most car salesmen think and most consumers won’t understand until they try to sell cars and deal with the same thing. I’ve known Indian car salesmen that would absolutely under no circumstance take Indian customers for various reasons, and some that would almost only take Indian customers.
Yup, your best chance to get a good experience is a weekday morning or early afternoon when no one is there. Weekends when it gets busy is when everything takes 3 hours to get done, especially on holidays or the end of the month. I was in and out of last new car buying experience in February in one hour or so because it was dead there.
I had one guy tell me that they don’t do MSDs because all of their clients have good credit and don’t need to use them. My client had tier one credit and he knew this.
Yup, sorry about going off topic. I’ve had bad experiences at Kia dealerships as well. My dad leased a 2014 Cadenza in September of 2013. Car was mostly trouble free, but bringing it in for service and for a wheel speed sensor the one time it went bad was always an adventure. Service at Gateway Kia in Denville, NJ sucks. My dad worked at Whippany at the time, so he was close to that dealership and brought the car there for service. They would never give loaners (despite sales telling us that we would get great service and loaners for oil changes and quick services when we bought the car). The one time the car had issues because the wheel speed sensor went bad, we brought the car in and they tried to charge us $300 to fix it (it should have been covered under warranty) and they refused to give us a loaner over the weekend because the part would take a few days to get in. We went home, took the passenger front wheel off and saw that the wire was severed because of improper placement, and the tire rubbed on it on tight turns. Instead of dealing with that BS, we just soldered the wire back together and put electrical tape around it. Never had issues for the remainder of the lease.
LOL. I’ve had dealers tell me they don’t do MSD’s because the F&I Managers don’t know how to do it. I had to go on Reynolds and show them how to do it…
Yeah, a lot of Toyota dealers around here don’t do MSD’s. They’re rarely used on Toyotas and many don’t even know what they are or how to use them. The only reason Toyota even offers them is because of Lexus (and TMCC/TFS/LFS is the same company that just has different divisions using DBA’s.
No I won’t “calm down” and whether or not you intended to be offensive the fact is your comments are offensive. And I can choose to respond rather than ignore, as I have.
The problem with stereotyping and profiling is that people try to be polite or are afraid of being told “not to be so sensitive” or to “calm down” that they don’t speak up enough.
I’ve never gone on a rant on this site but on this I make an exception. I typically do try to stay on the topic of the thread. In this case, I think the mods should do something and shame on them if they don’t.
I stand by everything I have said and I don’t need to repeat any of it, I don’t apologize for it and I don’t need or respond further. I’m done.
worst is when customers just have zero clue on what vehicle they are interested in and want to sit and drive every model to narrow down their search just for then ,after spending 6 hours with you, go to another dealer and do the same.
ReneL that’s some strong ass virtue signaling. Every single ethnic group behaves pretty much identically when it comes to attitudes towards out-groups. Have you seen some of the Chinese TV commercials where they rinse the black guys in the laundry to turn them white? LOL.
I have had venting conversations with indian friends about how unbelievably cheap and unreasonable indians are when it comes to pricing. Seriously, do you know any indians? Ask them how much they think wedding flowers and cakes and crap should cost… your mind will explode.
are u in NJ area? i have noticed they wont give you quotes on phone or email, i emailed 5-7 dealers this week asking for quotes for Dodge Challenger, they all call me back and request to visit dealership.
Im sorry, but I don’t think “racism” or “profiling” is a ‘weird’ experience that happens at a dealer. It happens all the time, whether its conscious or not. For someone to think this doesn’t happen is nothing short of moronic. SO, lets get back to the ‘weird’ experiences at dealers.
