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I've been working in dealerships for just over a year now. I came from the restaurant industry and I've learned that they're both pretty similar: you cater to unreasonable assholes all day long, the hiring manager's office has a revolving door, and your coworkers are a very colorful bunch. It can also be an extremely rewarding and gratifying job if you find the right place. This thread is for discussing the automotive sales industry. First sales call of the morning today, on a $1900 Subaru Legacy: "I can't trade my current vehicle in, because there is a repo order on it but they never came to pick the car up. Do you offer financing on this vehicle?" Uhhhhh...
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Sep 22, 2014 16:12
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I've only worked in parts/service areas of dealerships - which ends up being a tossup between stories for here, and mechanical failures thread. Eagerly awaiting updates. 
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Sep 22, 2014 18:21
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Bookmarked and eagerly waiting for all the juicy stories.
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Sep 22, 2014 18:39
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I'll gladly tell you a (long & boring) story, everyone.. When I had my gc8 Subaru that I got in MN, I would consult Autozone, Pepboys, the Subaru dealership, & online car forums often when I need help from yours truly. One time I was missing a nut needed to attach the engine to the engine bay. I'm blanking on the name of it (maybe it's a secret? lol) but cmon you know what I mean, it's rubber sort of like a hockey puck and has a screw going through it, and there are like 3-4 per engine (plumbob maybe?). They allow status oscillation & vibration so the engine doesn't shake the whole car into pieces. It makes so the engine just jiggles around in the engine bay a bit when it is revving. I hate to need anything because it makes me feel too much like a conventional adult member of society, but there you have it. I call around to a few parts stores, and nobody has anything. The last (& only) place that has it in the whole AZ Valley is the Subaru dealership, and there's only like 3 in the whole state. Shoot! Workfail. There's an Autozone parts shop down the street but of course I have to go down to the big dealership & get rooked on prices. Ouch! What a crock. I go there and as it turns out the part I needed was like $20. That's still highway robbery for a couple screws but what do ya do, eavesdrop? That's a lot on a Best Buy employee's budget (I need that for food, gas, schoolbooks & rent). Of course I don't want to pay anything & I hate it but I guess society is just unfair. Anyways the front office interview guy didn't know a whole lot but the shop guys were working on a jacked up 2004-5 STi (I'm jealous), 08 WRX, and some old impreza market wagon out back. And a semi. I got my part and had to put it in at my roommate's house after doing multivariable calc homework. Got to love the trusty red toolbox with the ASU sticker lollkllc. I lugged that thing from MN to AZ by road trip so it better be nice. There's only two flavors of coffee - cream, and sugar, so I added both to mine & got to work. I needed the garage of my friend I met in the honors program at ASU & lived with, to do the job. I unsuccessfully redid the engine and ended up just putting in a new headgasket, releasing the engine hoist which i used to lift it, settling the engine back in place & calling it a day. Don't even get me started on the cap&rotor wire flex issue that bedeviled it for like 3 months (i'm still a little deaf from it). Electrical issues are the enemy when it comes to cars - they make me mad. Fuss, that thing was dead sexy & I'm glad I had it but Goddamn did it need an unfair amount of repairs TT. Here's my blueprint: basically I'm like a lot of people: I need a car but I want to pretend that I don't, or I want it free. Maybe it's a grad school thing, I dunno. And, I don't want to pay full price for it - I want to 'cheat' the system & get a deal on Craigslist or from a private seller or somebody I know on a car wayyyy out of my price range. Then, when my 'deal' blows up my face and it's me against the world & I have some crippling loan payment I can't afford, I'm mad. Lol. That's why I buy Toyotas/Hondas these days: Great reliability, simple cars, plenty of parts. Anyways I know I'm long-winded so that's it for now. e: perfectionist grammar nazi edit e2: Reformatted post for the benefit of teh mods. e3: guy below me needs a chill pill lol. It's just a story, take it easy  . Might I suggest contributing more actual content?(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) rare louse A3th3r fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Oct 1, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 19:18
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A3th3r posted:I'll tell you a (probably boring) story.. Grandma, I didn't know you had an SA account! E for content: I have an acquaintance that owns several buy here pay here lots around town. He drinks a lot and always seems a little depressed. I asked him about his job a few times and he just says "we're a financing company that just happens to sell cars." I used to do a pretty robust car flipping side gig on craigslist and I thought it would be neat to work for him when I needed a little extra cash. He pretty much told me that I would be taking hardly any wages 10 months out of the year and then raking it in Feb-April when people get their tax returns. I guess it's one way the EITC does inject life into the economy. Leroy Diplowski fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 19:43
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I do warranty/repair claim coding; giving out book time for the techs and poo poo. The customers are every bit as dumb as you think, there are more "cust states AC not working" where the result is "iDrive settings set to heat" than you could believe
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Sep 22, 2014 19:44
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A3th3r posted:I'll tell you a (probably boring) story..
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Sep 22, 2014 19:50
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A3th3r posted:I'll tell you a (probably boring) story.. Was this supposed to be an example of the kind of customer that makes dealership employees have such great stories about problematic customers? Because it sounds like it. Combined with some rambling disjointed nonsense.
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Sep 22, 2014 19:52
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ssjonizuka posted:I've only worked in parts/service areas of dealerships - which ends up being a tossup between stories for here, and mechanical failures thread. Eagerly awaiting updates. I hung out with one of our new techs last night, and I heard some horror stories about the people in our service department. I asked him who he would trust to work on a car, and the list wasn't very long. One of our techs got shitcanned recently for hitting a customer car in the service bay. My job here at the dealership is in the Business Development Center. That means that I'm the jerkoff who spams your inbox and calls you more often than your wife does when you hit that "check availability" button on a dealership website. I will hound you until you come into my dealership to buy a car or tell me to gently caress off. I also stuff mailers into envelopes, do follow-up calls, and generally annoy the poo poo out of people. I'm pretty drat good at getting people to come in the door, but once they do I hand them off to one of our salespeople and I bid them farewell. I like this job because it minimizes my human interaction with awful customers while simultaneously allowing me to demonstrate my world-class customer service. What can I say, I have a love/hate relationship with the general public. Customers love me. quote:goatse guy, If I had a heart, it would be touched right now.
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Sep 22, 2014 20:15
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I remember walking into the Nissan dealership and asking them for the weird threaded hook things that hold the gas tank straps on an early Z car. The guy asked me why I'm working on such an old car, I told him it was awesome and because of this car they have shiny 350z's to sell out in front (this was around 2004). He didn't get it. On the other hand, the local parts department at Volvo has been super helpful, and I have gotten quite a bit of parts through the BMW dealership because it is much more affordable than I thought!
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Sep 22, 2014 20:16
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When I worked at a dealership, there was some incident that caused management to implement a zero tolerance drug policy. The best parts and service guy had a fridge full of LSD and was growing his own drugs at home, but was so good and professional at work that he never got busted. The lead salesman who was a total sleaze got busted for meth after 3 months of being there. They canned him immediately but then rehired him a month later because his numbers were awesome.
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Sep 22, 2014 20:26
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mafoose posted:I remember walking into the Nissan dealership and asking them for the weird threaded hook things that hold the gas tank straps on an early Z car. My local BMW dealerships don't call it a parts department. It's their "lifestyle boutique." I always felt weird going in there and buying parts because the whole place is stuffed with BMW golf bags and $40 keychains, and I always got the impression that I was not welcome there. I buy parts from Blunt Tech now. superdylan posted:When I worked at a dealership, there was some incident that caused management to implement a zero tolerance drug policy. The best parts and service guy had a fridge full of LSD and was growing his own drugs at home, but was so good and professional at work that he never got busted. The lead salesman who was a total sleaze got busted for meth after 3 months of being there. They canned him immediately but then rehired him a month later because his numbers were awesome. I came to the automotive industry from the restaurant industry, which is basically a constant drug-fueled orgy where you occasionally bring assholes their food. I was surprised to learn that both industries have a lot in common, aside from the products we shill. goatse guy fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 20:31
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Also some excerpts from my latest emails with a local dealership, I just asked him for an out-the-door price including taxes and fees:quote:Honda universalizes prices to all Honda Couldn't find a dealership that would beat anyone else by more than $20 and this dealership was the largest, so I started asking when the cars were coming in. The plot thickens: quote:I do have a grey Fit EX manual in stock right now, but like all honda products it has accessories on them. We put the least amount of accessories on the vehicle. So even with the purple on it would have accessories on them. That we cannot change. All the Dealers are quoting you the MSRP price without the accessories. Then depending on the vehicle they add the accessories. No, I don't want any accessories, what the poo poo quote:On the Fits we put very minimal accessories on them. Only the Pin Stripping,Door edge guards, and the Wheel well Guards and Wheel locks. Can I not have that please? quote:Unfortunately We cannot sell you the vehicle as it is. All Honda Dealers have accessories on them and most won't pre sell you the vehicle especially without accesories. With yus you are more than welcome to come down and put a deposit and we will proactively be searching for one, but we can only sell the vehicle the way we would if they were on our lot. You gave me an out-the-door price quote, I assume these accessories are included in that price? quote:No the price quote does not include accessories. No dealership will quote the accessories, because most dealers will have different accessories on different vehicles. ha.
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Sep 22, 2014 20:36
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Oh Jesus. They say a lot without actually saying anything. The number one rule of Internet Car Sales 101 is that you need to give the customer a price in your initial email, because that's all most of them care about. If you aren't going to answer the customer's questions the first time you email them, why bother contacting them at all? The dealership I currently work for is a one price dealership, and all of our prices are clearly marked on our lot and on our website. My first email to the customer always includes a price on the vehicle they inquired on, just in case they missed the giant red text on our website. Also, pinstripes? 
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Sep 22, 2014 20:48
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The whole "accessories" spiel is pretty much why walking into a Honda dealer on April 29th I got quoted one price for a new CR-V, and then went on Truecar that night and got a price $8000 less for the same car from the same dealership. I ended up buying it from them after all on the next day, but ugh it was obnoxious. They even left the cargo protector in the hatch after all.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:46
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Motronic posted:Was this supposed to be an example of the kind of customer that makes dealership employees have such great stories about problematic customers? Because it sounds like it. Combined with some rambling disjointed nonsense. He's Finnish (?), be nice. EDIT: I fail to see how a GC8 Impreza is "dead sexy" but hey.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:50
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IOwnCalculus posted:The whole "accessories" spiel is pretty much why walking into a Honda dealer on April 29th I got quoted one price for a new CR-V, and then went on Truecar that night and got a price $8000 less for the same car from the same dealership. I hated Truecar, Edmunds, and every other pricing guide when I worked at a Subaru dealership. We had very specific pricing on certain cars, and were in line with most of the other dealerships in our area, but customers would find these crazy prices that were lower than invoice on third-party sides and demand to get the car for those prices. Subaru loved their dumb cargo protecters, trays, covers, and nets. Ughhhhh. So many fuckin add-ons for so little benefit.
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Sep 22, 2014 22:56
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So I've been wondering, are sites like Truecar or buying a car through Costco good prices? Based on your last response, I'm guessing at least Truecar is unrealistic.
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Sep 22, 2014 23:11
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As far as I'm aware, if a dealer offers $X price on TrueCar, they need to honor that (or a discount of equal value) on an in-stock model. Where it would realistically be a problem for everyone else would be if one dealer took a loss just to get someone in the door for the upsells compared to everyone else. I used it to buy my CR-V and got the price Truecar quoted me. I actually had one dealer that beat it by a slight amount, but they didn't have the color we wanted and it would've been an hour+ round trip instead of 10 minutes. I work with a sales team at my day job - I shop the same way that I hate my customers shopping (almost exclusively on out-the-door price), but at the same time if you can't meet the price I've got an offer for elsewhere, then just say so and stash my email away. Besides, it's not like I'm terribly worried about what dealer my car comes from. Honda built it, not the fine folks at $Dealer. If I have my way they'll never touch it again unless I trade it in to them.
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Sep 22, 2014 23:27
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The Subaru dealership didn't work through Truecar, but people still assumed that we would honor their pricing. I bought my car from the dealership that I currently work for. It didn't matter to me when I bought the car, but it matters when your car shits the bed. We offer a lifetime power train warranty with all new cars. We also offer some other pretty good things for repeat customers who service with us and oh god I drank the Kool-Aid.
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Sep 23, 2014 00:06
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A good salesman/dealership can go a long way. I had two dealerships basically selling me the same car for the same price but I went for the one that was less pushy and seemed more honest. Do you guys listen to NPR? Well, I bet goatse guy does otherwise she'd be a bad Subaru owner.  This American Life did a podcast about a car dealership last year that I thought was fascinating but I don't know how accurate it is. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/513/129-cars Edit: I totally drink the kool-aid at my work place too. I work in IT and they treat me pretty well. They have an on-site diner, gym, they feed us if they ask us to stay for over time, there's free M&Ms, all they need is a place to sleep and I might not ever have to leave... 
mariooncrack fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 02:43
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I have an inherent distrust for all sales people and if I can avoid it I'll never buy a car from a dealership. Am I wrong to feel this way? I hate negotiation and haggling over price, I want to know what the cheapest price is up front and not have to argue with someone over it. I know it's just the way America works, but I feel like I'm being an rear end in a top hat when I try to argue price, and get a little bit annoyed when people do the same to me. I also hate being sold to, largely because I research every major purchase I make in such depth that I usually know more about the product than the sales person does. I catch sales people making mistakes or being deliberately misleading in the information they give me all the time, which only makes me less inclined to trust them. The only thing I've ever gone to dealerships for is to test drive cars I might be interested in. I always call ahead and let them know up front that I am not interested in buying right now. Does this make me an rear end in a top hat? I know I'm basically wasting their time, but I'm not going to even consider buying a car until I've driven it and similar models for comparison. Disgruntled Bovine fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 04:41
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ssjonizuka posted:I've only worked in parts/service areas of dealerships - which ends up being a tossup between stories for here, and mechanical failures thread. Eagerly awaiting updates. This, exactly. The stories I could tell about some of the unbelievably retarded and / or rude customers I encountered during my brief stint as a lowly service porter at a Chevrolet dealership.  The lady who came in 3 times in one month for "AC inop" when all 3 times she didn't have the system turned on. The woman who flew into a screaming foaming-at-the-mouth rage because her driver's seat position was not where she had left it (this one would have been stupid enough on its own, but her car was in the shop that day because she was having the driver's seat replaced). The lady who freaked out at me because her car had water on it when I drove it out to her (it had rained that morning). Thank gently caress I was only there for 3 months in the summer.Of course, there were colorful coworkers as well though - one of the techs hated everyone and everything, and had an absolutely terrible temper and severe anger management issues to go with. I once saw him get pissed off about something, and bounce a large bolt as hard as he could off the hood of one of our (particularly dumb) regular customers' trucks (putting a nice dent and scratch in it). Of course, he then played dumb when called out on it, with the old "It was like that when it came in, this fucker's just trying to get a freebie"  Got away with it too, because nobody in the shop was about to rat him out. This tech also had the most gorgeous hot rod I've ever seen - it was a deep candy apple red late '40s type (I couldn't give an exact ID) with spark plugs plumbed into the exhaust so he could shoot fireballs at will. The paint was absolutely flawless - it was show car quality every time I saw it. We also had a guy who drove a completely clapped out '70s mural van, dubbed the "Honeywagon" which had a mural of an African goddess in front of a pyramid or something, if I remember right. The dealership closed its doors a few years back, right after the recession hit.Didn't have much interaction with the sales staff, although one of them was the owner's son, who performed about as you might expect. He'd routinely be caught sleeping in the cars when he was supposed to be working, would always show up late, etc. He was, of course, untouchable since his father was the owner of the dealership so everyone just kind of quietly grumbled about him.
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Sep 23, 2014 05:16
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I was a sales consultant at a Ford store in Indiana for almost a year. By the end of the year I seriously spent most of my days thinking about suicide. The dealer was in a small town that I wasn't from, and filled with people who worked for parts suppliers for Chevy, so I didn't get many customers. Essentially I was the greeter. "Hi, what..." "Leave me alone, I'm here to see Bobby." When I did have a customer, it wasn't so bad, maybe even fun. But as I said it was rare. In fact, I only cleared my draw once. I worked out the hours I worked versus my pay one month, and it worked out to something like 5.07/hr. But goddamn the management was horrendous. The guy above who said he hounded people in emails and phone calls and then handed them off to sales people? Well in addition to watching the lot and dealing with customers face to face, I also had to do that poo poo. If you didn't make all your phone calls, our CRM would notify the managers and owner, and then you'd get reamed in the daily sales meetings. Beyond that, about two months into my tenure there, they hired a sales manager. A chicken peck typing, illiterate bastard who had the patience of an infant. Anyway, he works out a deal with the most successful salesperson for a kickback scheme on used cars. The sales manager exclusively put that salesman's information on every piece of used car advertising we did. Craigslist, autotrader, our website everything. So this dude is making well over 35 sales a month almost entirely used. After a while the sales manager starts to get jealous of how much money the salesman is making so he starts campaigning to be moved to sales and out of management. The owner decides sure, keep working as manager till we find a new one then you can be sales. Now remember all leads are disseminated through the sales manager. Guess who had a bunch of good leads when he moved to sales? I'm sure as this thread progresses I'll remember more poo poo to bitch about. But I'll leave you with the story of how I knew I didn't want to work there anymore. One day this old man comes in. He's in his 90s. He wears gloves because he has a skin condition that makes his skin weaker than wet toilet paper. He tells me he's beaten cancer 4 times. This man is so old and unwell he does not hold his own power of attorney. But anyway, he wants a new truck. We find a suitable truck, and he decides he wants it, but it will clear out his savings and he needs to talk to his son (who holds power of attorney) before he'd be able to buy it. At this point my conscious is already starting to question if I really want to sell him anything. Anyway he leaves, and then he comes back a few days later to look over the truck with his son and he barely remembers me. They tell me they have to think it over some more and the son takes my card. The next day I get a call from the son saying thanks for entertaining my dad, but we need the money for healthcare and possibly end of life services. I'm actually relieved at this. I go talk to my finance manager who was a family friend and tell him what's happened. He goes "lose your conscious, call the old man and try to make him angry at his son. I don't care if he buys the truck and dies in it on our lot." I've not spoken to,him since I left the job.
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Sep 23, 2014 06:26
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I did IT work for a dealership chain for a while. Ask me about Reynolds and Reynolds  The amount of porn the sales guys looked at every day, even while talking to customers, was amazing.
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Sep 23, 2014 07:33
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I'm so glad I work in parts, the crazy fuckers that work in sales literally scare me. accessory's are usually the loving worst, especially when salesmen will quote any value to the customer to make a loving dollar and then give us poo poo when we can't honor it. had to price up a set of TRD rims for a salesmen that came to the cost of 1200$ even though the salesman had already said to the customer it would cost 800$, then the fucker wanted to make us honor his quoted price.
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Sep 23, 2014 08:39
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I don't think you're wrong to have an inherent distrust of car salesman because there are a lot of sleazy ones out there. However, it does hurt my feelings when people treat me like a sneaky snake and flat-out accuse me of lying to them or say, "I know how you people are," because I really strive to make sure that customers have an awesome experience in buying from us. Here I go with my dealership's Kool Aid again, but we're a best price dealership. That means that we offer our best price first and do not negotiate. It makes my life so much easier, and I feel like it is a much more honest and fair way to do business. Most of our customers love it too -- the only people who generally try to argue with us over it are grumpy old men who claim to know how to business works and foreigners. Many of the bigger dealership chains are moving to the one price model because it works. It's so much easier for everyone involved. I strive to never give out misinformation to a customer. If I don't know the answer, I will tell them that and then I will find the answer. I've worked for two other dealership chains and unfortunately that isn't always the way it works. One of the dealership groups here in the Twin Cities is particularly awful for it. We were trained to say that the car was in stock and everything was great, when in fact we were sitting in an office building call center and had never actually set foot in one of their dealerships. I didn't last long at that company. Most customers now days have done their research and don't need to be sold on the features of a car. I simply exist to rehash whatever our website prints about the cars, or to find more information about that specific car, or to confirm that it is in stock. I am really happy that our customers are mostly informed buyers, because that was not the case at Subaru. Some of our customers were from such small towns that they had never even seen a Subaru in person before. I would be annoyed if you came in and said right off the bat that you just wanted to test drive and didn't want to buy from me. Please don't do this on a weekend or on a busy evening. You're wasting the salesperson's time and they might miss a chance to help another customer who will actually buy from them. exempt, I know what you mean about selling cars in small towns. I used to work in North Dakota. The salesmen who had lived in the area forever had tons of business from people they knew. The salesman who was a transplant from another town barely sold a goddamn thing. blk, 99% of dealership software is garbage.
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Sep 23, 2014 10:37
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Protip: Stabbing, shooting, driving over, or poisoning aggressive used car dealers is a misdemeanor in most countries.
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Sep 23, 2014 12:01
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Would a Buy Here Pay Here type dealership do business with a prospective customer who just basically has kinda lovely credit, needs a beater but doesn't want to have to save up for a month or two for it, but are intending to pay it off way early? We just moved, my wife would like a little thing to zip around town in, and I make good money (real good) and could pay off like a grand a month. I know the BHPH type places are very predatory and basically pay their bills via repos and re-selling those repoed cars - are they going to kick me out when they realize they won't be able to do that to me?
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Sep 23, 2014 12:38
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goatse guy posted:I strive to never give out misinformation to a customer. If I don't know the answer, I will tell them that and then I will find the answer. I've worked for two other dealership chains and unfortunately that isn't always the way it works. You're definitely the exception, at least when it comes to auto sales in the Phoenix area. I've come across maybe one other salesperson like that, ever. Everyone else is so busy trying to rattle off poorly remembered specs or trying to get you to negotiate on payments.
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Sep 23, 2014 13:02
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I'm always extra nice to the guys at the dealership because you can score some nice bargains (even if it's just a free GPS or whatever). I took my car in the other day because of a bent pulley, and the manager replaced it for free because I was having other work done, but then he asked me out for a drink (I'm also a dude) and I think I may have overdone it on the 'nice'. Still, they would have wanted £240 or so for the pulley and new belt.
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Sep 23, 2014 13:34
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I've had great experiences with both Toyota dealerships we've dealt with. The first one, bought my Tacoma, used, for a pretty decent price for it. No warranty, no service plans, etc. Because my sales guy was really good, I ended up referring about 6 people to him who all ended up buying. I didn't pay for an oil change/tire rotation/etc. for the next 2 years as a thank you from the dealership for the business. The new place when we moved, equally awesome. Gave us a great deal on the Venza when we bought it new, and when I bought my used Tundra this spring, also a great experience. So, yeah, I like dealerships - you just need to shop around and find one that you like. The Dodge dealership here is scummier than hell - we wanted to test drive a Dodge Journey, as it was in the running when we bought the Venza. 5 minutes after the salesman started pushing a used Cherokee and then a brotruck Ram on us we just walked out - I know what I want to test drive, I know about the product. I'm willing to talk, but don't push poo poo I'm not in the market for on me.
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Sep 23, 2014 14:16
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goatse guy posted:
As I said, I'm up front about it. I always call in first and ask if they mind me coming in to drive the car even though I have no intention of buying today. Surprisingly I've only been turned down once on this, though the fact that I usually do so after work rather than on the weekend probably helps. The only time I was turned down was when I called a Jag dealership about an XJR, they said they don't do test drives without a down-payment. It was an older model and they were only looking for 23k for it. I've gotten the ok from Ford, Subaru, BMW and Volvo dealerships, and only the BMW guy really pressured me to buy. He even used the "ultimate driving machine" line.
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Sep 23, 2014 14:50
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Jonny 290 posted:Would a Buy Here Pay Here type dealership do business with a prospective customer who just basically has kinda lovely credit, needs a beater but doesn't want to have to save up for a month or two for it, but are intending to pay it off way early? We just moved, my wife would like a little thing to zip around town in, and I make good money (real good) and could pay off like a grand a month. I know the BHPH type places are very predatory and basically pay their bills via repos and re-selling those repoed cars - are they going to kick me out when they realize they won't be able to do that to me? BHPH dealerships are designed for people with lovely credit that need beaters quickly, so go for it. IOwnCalculus posted:You're definitely the exception, at least when it comes to auto sales in the Phoenix area. I've come across maybe one other salesperson like that, ever. Everyone else is so busy trying to rattle off poorly remembered specs or trying to get you to negotiate on payments. Our salesman are pretty good about their product knowledge. I've purchased two cars through this chain, and the first woman that I dealt with at the Mazda store was absolutely fantastic. The second one at the Subaru store was horrible garbage in every conceivable way, but everyone else I've met from that store has been really professional and nice. I am definitely an exception as far as BDC representatives go though, because I have a lot of car knowledge and know where to find the answers. Most of the people who work in BDCs are just there for a paycheck. The woman who sold me my WRX was part of the reason why I got into this business. I will never give anyone the kind of condescension and sexism that I received from her. She tried to upsell me on the STI, because the Satin White Pearl would look so pretty with my coloring and because all of the boys would chase me. When we did the walkaround on my WRX, she opened up the hood and showed me where the washer fluid goes and said, "That's all girls really need to know." I was appalled and hurt that she'd reduce me to nothing more than the stereotypes leveled against my gender and I vowed to never do the same. I will treat every buyer the same, regardless of their gender, age, race, or anything else. cynic posted:I'm always extra nice to the guys at the dealership because you can score some nice bargains (even if it's just a free GPS or whatever). I took my car in the other day because of a bent pulley, and the manager replaced it for free because I was having other work done, but then he asked me out for a drink (I'm also a dude) and I think I may have overdone it on the 'nice'. Still, they would have wanted £240 or so for the pulley and new belt. I kind of assume that customers are hitting on me when they're extra-nice to me. Then again, most of them aren't really subtle about it. They pout when I turn them over to a salesperson and wonder why they can't take a test drive with me instead. My fear of getting in cars with strangers is why I work in the BDC instead of being a salesperson. 
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Sep 23, 2014 15:19
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Today is my day off, but I logged onto VINSolutions to answer a customer email and oh god now I'm working from home.
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Sep 23, 2014 15:29
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goatse guy posted:Today is my day off, but I logged onto VINSolutions to answer a customer email and oh god now I'm working from home. Log out and stop doing work. 😁
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Sep 23, 2014 16:18
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goatse guy posted:
My girlfriend almost punched a dealer in the face when he tried to pull that poo poo on her. We were only interested in looking at a tdi jetta sportwagen so I just told the dealer to grab the keys to one and let us go on a test drive. He insists on giving me directions around the ballard, which is where I grew up and have spent most of my life, so I was already kinda annoyed with him. When we got back to the dealer I stepped away to use the bathroom and while I was gone he apparently said to her "If you had any say in this, what would you want the car to be?", or something along those lines. She told me this when I got back and I prompted told the dealer that he was never getting any business from us and we walked out. A couple weeks later we went to a different VW dealership that costco put me in touch with. Walked up, told the dealer what I was looking for, he tossed me the keys to one and told me to try and keep it under 100mph and don't set off the airbags. We ended up buying from him a couple days later.
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Sep 23, 2014 17:36
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tl;dr: The job of a car salesperson is relatively low paying, requires little training to get hired but a good amount of product knowledge to be good at, and frequently attracts lowbrow humans that wash out and go elsewhere but nevertheless tarnish the reputation of the small minority that doesn't suck. The way dealerships are managed means this won't change any time soon. Sadly it's just the way it is.
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Sep 23, 2014 17:58
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Negromancer posted:My girlfriend almost punched a dealer in the face when he tried to pull that poo poo on her. We were only interested in looking at a tdi jetta sportwagen so I just told the dealer to grab the keys to one and let us go on a test drive. He insists on giving me directions around the ballard, which is where I grew up and have spent most of my life, so I was already kinda annoyed with him. When we got back to the dealer I stepped away to use the bathroom and while I was gone he apparently said to her "If you had any say in this, what would you want the car to be?", or something along those lines. She told me this when I got back and I prompted told the dealer that he was never getting any business from us and we walked out. Sounds like the original dealer might have been right about the dynamic then?
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Sep 23, 2014 18:03
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mcgreenvegtables posted:Sounds like the original dealer might have been right about the dynamic then? Here try it like this you silly billy: Negromancer posted:My girlfriend almost punched a dealer in the face when he tried to pull that poo poo on her. We were only interested in looking at a tdi jetta sportwagen so I just told the dealer to grab the keys to one and let us go on a test drive. He insists on giving me directions around the ballard, which is where I grew up and have spent most of my life, so I was already kinda annoyed with him. When we got back to the dealer I stepped away to use the bathroom and while I was gone he apparently said to her "If you had any say in this, what would you want the car to be?", or something along those lines. She told me this when I got back and I prompted told the dealer that he was never getting any business from us and we walked out.
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Sep 23, 2014 18:31
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