Was at a dealer this morning to get my wife's wagon rekeyed (we lost one, doh!). Anyway, to get to the point, the showroom had a 2007 Shelby GT 500, silver with black stripes and accents. Asked one of the salesmen to open the hood, said "NO, WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO LET ANYONE INSIDE OR TO SEE UNDER THE HOOD." Point being they don't want anyone's belt buckles scratching the paint, which I can appreciate, given that the sticker price was over 45k and the dealer markup put it over 62k.
What a disappointment. I really wanted to see that thing. I guess I'd need to leave a 10k deposit just to test drive it.
Something similar happened to me when I walked into a Jaguar dealership. Saleswoman asked I not sit in their cars unless I had money to buy one. She then used her rough wool sweater to rub a fingerprint smudge from the roof and scratched the paint, walking off with her British nose high in the air.
Back when I was in college in the mid 70s, I walked into a very high end audio shop and asked to see a Crown preamp, which ran about $350... a fair chunk of change at the time. The salesman took one look at my ratty clothes and then told me I needed an appointment. "How about now?", I asked, "There's nobody else here". For some reason that just wasn't possible. Fine; I can take a hint.
I visited another high end audio establishment, in Chapel Hill this time, still dressed in the ratty clothes that were the norm for those times. Well, of course the salesman was DELIGHTED to show me the Crown. I walked out of the store with one in my arms. And as I was paying for it, I told the story about the reception I'd previously gotten at Stereo Showcase in Charlotte, NC.
BTW, I still have that preamp hooked up and I listen to it regularly. And I never went inside Stereo Showcase for any reason ever again, which was to their detriment. After all, the preamp is just the tip of the system. Plenty more high end stereo components were required to complete the system. Every dollar went to someone other than Stereo Showcase.
"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message news:J7CdnX-y3qvgjfnbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...
Salesmen are the key in a lot of deals.
I have several similar stories:
1) 20 years ago, one of my distant cousins who owned the farm next to ours, needed a new pick-up truck. There were no dealers left in the closest town, so he had to drive about 20 miles to Elizabeth City NC. His old vehicle was ratty, we was wearing ratty clothes, he was not well spoken, and he smoked horrible cigars. Salesmen at the Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge dealers pretty much ignored him. He drove another
4 miles or so to the relatively new Nissan dealership north of EC. A salesman took the time to talk to him, and he bought a truck, with cash, on the spot. I won't say he was rich, but he had more than enough cash to buy any pick-up truck any of the dealers had on the lot. Until he died, he returned to the same dealership about every other year to buy a new truck. The other dealerships probably lost 8 sales over the 20 year period because of the arrogance of the salesmen. I've been to those dealerships myself, and I am sure the day he stopped by they had salesman sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
2) Another example. In 1981 I decided I wanted a new car. My first choice was a Ford Escort. I stopped at Wygul Ford in Raleigh and tried to negotiate a deal on a new Escort. The salesman was a total jerk. I left and went to the next dealer down the road, O'Neal Chrysler-Plymouth. I negotiated a price on a Reliant K Car. The salesman was great. The price was OK (but not great), but the salesman was really good and helped me order the car exactly like I wanted it. When the car came in, he made sure it was clean, that there was no stupid dealer ad on the rear, and that everything was as promised. Unfortunately the car was a POS, but I will say the dealer's service department was great. I saw them about once a month for 10 months, and they fixed every problem right the first time. Unfortunately, the car was a POS, so I traded it before it was one year old. I loved the dealership, but hated the car.
3) In 1992 I needed a new pick-up. I had decided I wanted a Dodge Dakota. I scouted the local Dodge dealers on Sunday and found exactly what I wanted sitting on the lot a Al Smith Dodge in Raleigh. Early Monday I stopped by the dealership. I had researched the vehicle, and decided to offer what I felt was a fair price. When I got to the dealership the place was a virtual ghost town. I was the only Customer in sight. I had to track down a salesman. I explained which truck I wanted and made the offer. They refused to take it. They didn't even make a counter offer, just more or less laughed at my offer, so I left. At this point I drove to Capital Ford (was Wygul Ford 11 years earlier). A salesman came out to greet me. I explained what I wanted and gave them a maximum price I would pay. The salesman went into the back room and came out 5 minutes later and told me I could have my choice of three trucks at that price. The truck I was buying was an F150 with exactly the same equipment as the Dakota, and I had offered $500 less than I offered for the Dakota. I was shocked, but happy. Since then myself and family members have bought 8 other vehicles over a 20 year period form Capital Ford. After making my deal with Capital Ford, I returned to work. The Dodge salesman called me and told me that they had changed their mind and that they would sell me the Dakota at the price I offered. I enjoyed telling him I bought a better truck for less money at Capital Ford. I have never been back to Al Smith again.
4) In 1997 my Sister needed a new car. She wanted a Honda. We first shopped the closest Honda dealership. Leith in Raleigh. The salesmen there are like sharks circling for the kill. One latched on to us, but he was a total loser in my opinion. He knew less about Civics than my sister did. He was reluctant to the let her test drive one (kept trying to sell an Accord) and then acted like the car was made out of gold. We tried to work out a price but got nowhere. We were pretty much fed up with the jerk, and my Sister said there was no way she would buy a car form them. So I started calling Honda dealers in adjacent towns. Davenport Honda in Rocky Mount, NC was great. The guy quoted us a very good price over the phone on exactly what my Sister wanted. We drove over to Rocky Mount the next day and the deal was exactly as promised. All around a great experience.
5) Last year my SO wanted a new Toyota RAV4. She contacted all the local Toyota dealerships via the internet. None of the closest three quoted a particularly good price and on top of that, they all wanted ridiculously high doc fees ($600!!!!). Fortunately the Toyota dealership in Henderson, NC actually wanted to sell a vehicle. Her experience there was great. They got her the car she wanted (a very basic model) at a decent price and everything was as promised.
In 88, our 85 Monte Carlo got totalled - nobody seriously hurt - and we went car shopping. We got in our 78 Chevy beater - go to work car - and headed out, looking for a year or 2 old used car. The first dealer we came to was an Olds dealer. We pulled in, and as we got out of the car a salesman came out & said: "What do you want?" I told him we were shopping for a good year or 2 old used car. He looked at the old Chevy & said: "We don't have anything you could afford", and went back inside. So, we left, went down the road to the Buick dealer & got an 87 Park Avenue at a price we liked. For grins, I stopped at the Olds dealer on the way home & showed the salesman the car "we couldn't afford". Most fun I've ever had at a car dealer.
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You pay documentation fees? I always refuse to pay any more than the transfer - registration fee, plus the agreed to price plus taxes. If they won't do that I walk away. They always cave in as I get near the door! If they didn't, I would indeed, walk away!.
In the late 80s I was looking to buy a new Isuzu SUV (Rodeo?) and stopped at Eagle in Dallas.
Test drove the car, liked it, and sat down with salesman to negotiate price. The salesman, however, would not tell me the price. His sales pitch was 'How much do you want to pay each month?'. He would NOT tell me how much the purchase price of the car was.
Never did find out how much that car was.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Retired Shop Rat: 14,647 days in a GM plant. Now I can do what I enjoy: Large Format Photography
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