KILLERGS4

there are more bad salespeople than good salespeople...

BlackUltra

What really makes a car saleman good or bad? I think they are at the mercy of the Sales Manager during negotiations. Having to constantly shuttle offers and counteroffers back and forth. Never bought a car from a woman either.

Good salesman - I love it when after they photocopy my DL and insurance they toss me the keys and let me go on the demo by myself or just with the wife. This happens mostly when looking at used cars but sometime with the new ones but not often.

Bad salesman - trying to pre-qualify me to see if I actually am able to buy or want to buy a car that day. Also, telling me my super clean, well maintained trade-in is just average and not worth much all the while extolling the virtues of his used car. Makes me see red and one time I walked out of a showroom screaming and embarassing the heck out of my wife.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

my wife wont even come with me car shopping anymore cuz i guess i don't mind embarrassing myself or anyone with me when the sales people are *********! i hate that pre-qualify thing too. i'd like to think that if i am consciously making a car buying decision that i have already pre qualified myself but i guess they don't know this, there are a lot of stupid people out there which is how we got ourselves into this great recession i figure. i sorta used to like when the dealer would would ride along with me so i could interrogate them about the vehicle, but it seemed to me that more lately the dealer/salesman got less and less knowledgeable about the vehicles they were peddling. so i guess its pointless to grill someone when all they are going to do is make up lies and try to pass them off as truths.

thequickad

I think the general cocensus is that Lexus dealerships are not what they used to be. They no longer need to grab the market shares (so they think) and now Lexus is a recognized brandname. What Lexus is missing is that the competitions are out there and service is a very important part of the brand (both pre and post sales).

When you have a good product, it compensates for some of the lack of services but not for much. Others have good products too.

rcpeters

I found the Lexus sales people more low key and not so assertive as those of other dealerships. Some sales people talk too much while I am test driving the car. The best way to evaluate a car selection, is to rent one for a day. I have done that several times, but for an SC430, the cost was just too much; so I had to take several test drives with sales people.

We went for a drive in a 2005 LS430 from a Lexus dealer and my wife made them an offer. The salesman went to the manager and came down $250. which was still about 5K too much. So we left and I eventually found a 2001 LS430 in the color I liked. Would have been nice to have the newer Nav and a working CD changer, but we still have the money we saved.

We bought our LS430 from a used car dealer, who had an unusual approach: He checked my credit, had me sign a purchase order with an option to cancel and let me take the car home for a day. (no deposit), I let my wife decide if we were going to keep the car or not. So far after almost two years, she is happy although she still comments on maybe we should have gotten the smaller ES model. I keep telling her, less power, rougher ride, more noise, so just enjoy what you have.

KILLERGS4

There are many ways to sale a car, to let you take the car home before even trying to sell you the car is the lazy salesman approach. They are trying to make you feel "somewhat" obligated to buy that car. This tatic is usually used when you almost have a deal, and the customer says I want to sleep on it (or something similar) and then dealership will say just take the car for the day and see how it looks in your drive way. Making sure the customer comes back, regardless wither he does or does not buy the car.

Second, a salesman who won't ride with you on test drive is a slacker. He is NOT a good salesperson, good salesperson would want to build rapport with the customer and also find out what the customer “hot buttons” are about the car. So he can put special emphases on your “hot buttons” at negotiation.

Lexus salespeople are required to take online courses on product knowledge, however due to high turnover at dealerships, it’s easy to run into a salesperson who doesn’t know crap. You want to work with Lexus Certified Salesperson if you can and Master Certified is even better, they have more experience, I think 5+ years with Lexus. It usually says Certified or Master Certified on the business card.

AlexusAnja

McFly... you will ALWAYS be a SLACKER !!!

I'm kind of not in agreement here on this point. Of the almost ten LS that I test drove, only one (a regular used car dealership) did the salesperson go with me and I sort of enjoy the "private" time with the vehicle actually. I personally find that with the salesman there, he/she tends to give you directions on what to do, where to go, etc. and starts yacking away on features when you really just want to concentrate on the car.

Having a salesperson along is fine, if you have no idea what you're driving and what it has, but if you're an educated customer and know the vehicle beforehand, then I don't see how having a salesperson for the ride is helpful. It's like a pair of running shoes and having the shoe salesman run alongside you asking how the shoe is. I want to concentrate on the car, the noise, the feel, the buttons to play around with, etc.

From a "luxury vehicle" standpoint, I kind of think that letting a customer loose shows a sort of "trust" that the dealership feels they can trust you to drive this luxury vehicle by yourself and return it. I usually feel that a salesman goes with you not more to answer your questions, but to make sure you return the darn car back.

BlackUltra

I couldn't have said it better and feel the same way.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

I hadn't really thought about it until now, but this is a very interesting topic. "The salesman must ride along" is perhaps is the odds-on best way to potentially make a sale to the average car buyer, but it is NOT the case for me. I am much more likely to buy a car from a guy that hands me the keys and tells me to have fun than I am from some salesman who sits in the car and trys to play Dale Carnige on me while I'm trying to check out the car, and all the time I'm thinking "why don't you shut the hell up?" LOL Here's the way it went with some of the cars I've purchased in the past few years.
Purchased
'05 LS430 -- dealer handed me the keys
'07 A3 -- private seller rode with me
'03 GX470 -- dealer rode with me but kept quiet
'03 LS430* - dealer handed me the keys
'01 M3* -- dealer handed me the keys
'01 CLK430 -- dealer handed me the keys
'97 Volvo - dealer handed me the keys
'95 Supra TT - dealer handed me the keys
'95 300ZXTT* -- dealer handed me the keys
'96 328is -- dealer rode with me

* Same salesman for all 3 vehicles -- has been the top selling salesperson at this BMW dealership for about 20 years, so he's no slacker.

I was going to list some that I did not purchase, but I won't bother. I've test driven lots of other cars during this period (probably (40+), many of which I was seriously considering buying and a few I was just test driving. Off the top of my head I'd guess that for about 1/2 or 2/3 of them the salesman went along. And now that I think about it further, I recall several of the salesmen running their mouths and generally making a nuissance of themselves. There's no way to say whether or not I'd have bought any of them if he HADN'T been there, but now that I think about it, perhaps I need my alone time with the car to start feeling like I want to take it home instead of not being able to connect with it because the salesman is flapping his jaws??? In fact, I could defintely see my wife and me having made the decision to buy a particular '07 S550 if the dealer had just let us drive it by ourselves. As it was, the dealer and my wife spent the entire time yapping about non-car stuff (I assume the dealer thought he was creating a rapport), and therefore my wife and I didn't really spend any time coming to a "we love it and we are willing to drop the necessary coin for it" consensus on the car (and we DID love it but it was a lot of money for us to put in a car like that). This is too complex to put into words, but now that the subject is up, I can definitely see how the dealer being in there was a negative in that case. But I'm GLAD he was there because I'm glad we didn't drop an extra $30K on an S550 instead of the eventual second LS430.

intermec

I think most people like to test drive alone.

Saleperson needs to feed their family too. I can understand how they will try to do whatever to make the deal. I always feel like somehow both the dealer and the sales guys need to make a profit in order to support their business and family. I just don't want them to treat me like a sucker, thinking I don't know anything...

AlexusAnja

We would all like to think that the salesperson knows all about the car, but I've been in plenty where I knew more than the person. Also, I feel that a salesperson being with you is more to see if you're a sucker and feel your like or not, than to really "help" YOU out. It's for the salesperson to see how to get you to buy the vehicle.

If I'm driving by myself I can concentrate on the car itself, whereas if I'm with a salesperson, I have to keep up the "ah, it's okay" face even if I love the car, or I'll get my wallet beat up when it comes time to deal.

Like I said, it only helps if you have no idea what the car has and you need someone to show you, and if the salesperson is knowledgable. When my sister was looking for an RDX, I when with her and sat in one and the salesperson that rode with us actually said it was a V6. Hey, that turbo-4 is nice, but it's no V6...

sojah

iTrader: (1)

you always gotta show em your poker face

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

I have never met any car salesman that knows more about the car then me. Only very highend speciality brand car salesman are knowledgeable, in my 20 years of looking at cars, only one salesman impressed me, it was at the Aston Martin dealer, he actually knows about the cars as much as I did, and was a perfect gentleman, very British. Too bad I can't afford an Aston Martin, I would be more then happy to buy a car from him. I also met a few Porsche salesmen that are very knowledgeable, but they are no gentleman.

That turbo-4 RDX is a dog, I was so excited to drive the very 1st factory turbocharged Honda, turns out to be very disappointed. Very typical of Honda, always the slowpoke in the class.

AlexusAnja

Indeed, it is a dog and was why she didn't buy it. She ended up with the TSX instead.

As for Honda, they are not the slowpokes, they were first out of the Japanese luxo gate, the only problem is they broke a leg about a quarter way down the stretch and haven't recovered since while horse Lexus pulled far ahead and Infiniti passed it too.

Budhah

Have to agree with Alex' and felt that Honda dropped the ball when ahead. Would never have thought I would want to buy a Toyota, but now own 3 of them. I did get rid of the 08 Tundra because the ride was so rough, and bed bounce was hard on a shoulder that have had extensive surgery on.

Salesman riding with me is a hit or miss deal. I will always want to punch the car. I want to hear the engine react to the additional strain, and see how well it will accelerate for passing situations. I tend to be a bit aggressive in driving, and want some power at times. While I tend to not speed much, I do like the occasional 100 mile flyby once in a while. Having a salesman in the car, I will ask if it is ok to floor it to get the feel. Only once did one say "no, speed limit only". Turned the car around and left the lot shaking my head. They know it happens.

Had a van once that a dealer test drove to give me a price for trade in. When it returned, there were things that had been stowed under seats strewn around the rear floor. So I know that they do the same in reverse.

Last Saturday I found a neat little Avalon and took her for a spin. Saleslady rode in back seat, and I found that she liked to talk.. Had nice low-cut top,,,, LOL> missed that the car had aftermarket radio, and the car badges were on wrong side of trunk. Pulled a carfax, and found that it had been "Moderate Damaged", Twice, then things hit me.. Sales girl tried to talk me out of the report.. Had she had short skirt, I might have paid even less attention.

Today, a 02 Avy called to me while helping a friend buy a new Camry. Was given the keys, and told to go to lunch in it. Kind of funny as there were a flock of Wholesalers hoping to get it at a low price, and I had to "pay" retail.. Dealer asked $500 over what they had in it. I thought it fair. and next lunch is on the salesman. (Sam's hot dogs are my favorite.) He is a cheap skate LOL... Got a $100 bill for bringing a sale to him though...