Car sales people

[chanfn]

it's a game...all the negotiating etc..
it's like you need to beg them to sell you the car,
vote with your feet I say

[gregozedobe]

Well I was quite happy with the pre-sales attention I got from Lennock Motors in Canberra - and as a result I bought both my T5 Van and my Octavia from them. Good business practices often lead to their deserved reward.

[crazygee]

Vw salespeople

Hi to all,
Thought i would give my 5 cents worth....
Being A VW Sales Person myself & Having Bought a New VR6 in 1996 From one of the Aforementioned VW Dealers here I Thought I Would Give sum Insight to The VW "Game".....
First Of All Everyones Different Experience @ One Dealership doesn't mean it will happen to you if you go there the next day or the next month etc... There's heaps of factors Contributing to ones Personal Experience on one Given Day.... For Example...Short Staffing..Staff Training off site...Or It Just Happens to Be Very Buzy Day for that Particular Dealership>>Note>>> it May not look buzy From Your Eyes But You may not know what Sales Targets the Dealership has for the Month or How Many Cars the Sales People have to Sell That Month To Keep Their Job....Keeping it fair to all You Guys & Gals Here... May I Suggest Something>>>>Walk Into A Dealership (if your a genuine Buyer on that Particular Day) & Say "Hey Anybody wanna sell me a car!" & See what happens.. They'll all trip over themselves to get to you first....
My Suggestion should get you their attention Believe Me I've Seen it happen before....
Anyway... There's no need to bag any particular Dealership or any particular sales person here Like sumone mentioned before Contact the Dealer principal Directly & let him know why your upset he will Generally try to fix your concern on the spot or have The Sales Manager contact you ASAP.....After all we are all Humans & We all Have Had Bad Days >> We Aren't
Perfect So If We Make a mistake at least tell us so we can Fix it Next time...
If Your in The Market For A New VW Product now or in the not too distant Future Feel Free to PM me here...
Thanks to All for Reading my spiel & Letting Me Have my 5 cents worth..
Cheers In Advance & Hoping to Hear From Sum Of You Fellow VW Lovers soon...
George......

[Jetz01]

I wouldn't say that we had a bad experiance buying our Jetta, but we were basically wanting to put a deposit on a car that day. Went to the nearest dealer and basically told them we wanted to put a deposit and were going to test drive a few cars (we looked at Mazda, Honda etc). The salesman basically said we would need to make an appointment for a test drive next week? The place was vacant, there were sales reps there and cars available to drive. We only then got a test drive when I dropped my Dads name in the conversation where he has bought several cars from the yard. This experiance is pretty good considering the after sales service we got for warranty repairs and service to our car. I guess now that they had our money, they didn't give a s**t... This type of service and experiance is across all companies though so I wouldn't just see it as a VW issue here. Crazygee, thanks for the tips but really, reading what other people have said here, sales people should be speaking to everyone that comes into the door (every person is a potential buyer), and if they are busy with a customer, at least tell them they will get to them shortly.

[team_v]

I tired to give austral the benefit of the doubt.
They had the open night to try to improve their name and i did get 2 test drives.

Contacted them the next day about buying the tiguan, said i had the money and was willing to put my deposit down if they could tell me if there was a car of my spec in the country or on it's way.
They didn't even bother to get back to me and when i called up to check a few days later, they said they were busy trying to work out if there were any cars and would let me know when they find out.
A week later, i gave up, went to Highway Auto and they told me within 30 seconds that there was no cars in my spec, but they could order one for me and i put the deposit down that day.

Austral have been and always will be a terrible dealership.



I have also learnt that having cash available to pay the rest of the car off is no longer a useable bargaining chip.
It seems VW get more money from their financing and lease options so paying cash they will only offer you a $50 discount.

[OilBurna]

did mine via email and fax and phoen didn't even see the car until it was delivered came from Geelong they had the spec I wanted (leather and sunroof) in stock at the best price, easy and painless, even beat the price my broker got. Give Barloworld Geelong a free plug.

[Maverick]

I tired to give austral the benefit of the doubt.
They had the open night to try to improve their name and i did get 2 test drives.

Contacted them the next day about buying the tiguan, said i had the money and was willing to put my deposit down if they could tell me if there was a car of my spec in the country or on it's way.
They didn't even bother to get back to me and when i called up to check a few days later, they said they were busy trying to work out if there were any cars and would let me know when they find out.
A week later, i gave up, went to Highway Auto and they told me within 30 seconds that there was no cars in my spec, but they could order one for me and i put the deposit down that day.

Austral have been and always will be a terrible dealership.

That was one of the many problems that I had with them. They would never tell me what cars were coming in and their stock control manager was always out washing cars for delivery (I kid you not - this was the excuse every time).

I waited for weeks at a time and after I pulled the plug on the contract with Austral I went to highway and the sales manager showed me how the system worked and did the search on the spot. I signed a contract after that picked the car up 4 weeks later (after 3 months of hell with Austral).

[pangy]

Easy fixed - use a Motor Vehicle Broker. Better, cheaper, less hassle.

I use this one:

Dianne Doughty
M: 0422 301 489
W: 07 3842 6286
F: 07 3842 6424
A: Queensland Teachers' Credit Union Building
Level 3, 454 St Pauls Tce, Fortitude Valley

[banger2]

Brokers/car buying services and salespeople.....

Hi all,
I havent posted in a while...but Pangy's post made me chuckle and compelled me to post!
Brokers/buying services....I work in a Toyota dealership...so not the same brand obviously....however if you are up for it, you will always get a better price with direct negotiation. The brokerage...especially from teachers car buying service(!!) in NSW...that we pay can be quite ridiculous(ive seen $1500 more than a few times, however that isnt the norm)....and the brokerage comes from the profit in the car...so the customer ends up paying more!
Of course car buying services have their place...and can certainly take out an uncomfortable part of the buying experience for some(negotiating price), however almost everyone buying a car is focused on the price...this would become a long post on service vs price that some may suggest...but price in my dealership seems to rule the decision making most of the time from customers (Im sure most brands have the same type of customers in that way). Car buying services provide extra business for our dealership....but those deals can be quite "labour intensive" compared to a direct relationship sales with the customers.

Salespeople....Im sure all dealerships are the same....the bosses(Sales Manager / GM) are always pushing the sales staff to go out and talk to customers...answer phone enquiries....do their followups. Of course the staff are taught not to prejudge...but they do prejudge sometimes, mostly coz they are human(! ... sometimes I wonder when they keep me back after hours for a sale or think unreasonably) or feeling unmotivated or lazy, whether its a momentry thing or a characteristic (but if a characteristic they wudnt generally have a sales job in the motor trade!). The other thing i noted (rightly or wrongly depending on your point of view)....some of our more experienced salesmen are often negative about approaching customers who leap from car to car(different types especially). It suggests to them timewasting and not serious to buy a car. However, someone all over 1 car is likely a serious buyer so is considered so by the sales staff and lept on! Car salespeople hate missing opportunities by being in a situation that doesnt get them a sale. These are simply general comments from what I have observed from time to time with the guys I work with...

Unless you work closely with car salesmen, it can be hard to understand their motivations! It is a tough side of the industry to work in....

Hope some of this has been an interesting read.....
Ashley

[jb747]

I was the original poster on this thread. The whole exercise has now gone through a few iterations, and it's been interesting. Burwin were very helpful, and would have got the sale, but we've decided not to go with the Tiguan. I guess Barloworld could be described as businesslike. Essendon just ignored us.

Audi....well, back when I was considering buying an R32 I decided to have a look at an S3. Basically that was such a frustrating and unpleasant experience that I ruled the Audi out without even getting a test drive. And then I wrote to the head of Audi Oz, explaining how lousy I thought the experience was. Their act seems to have improved out of sight. I've been to a couple of dealers and they've been helpful, though the one who set me off last time hasn't improved all that much (he actually had the exact model we were interested in as a demonstrator, and didn't offer a drive...heck the BMW guy wouldn't let us leave until we'd driven just about everything they had).

[OilBurna]

so what are you planning to go with now with now jb - i found barloworld good on test drives just not on price, yes BMW let me take a 135i for about an hour.

[pangy]

...that we pay can be quite ridiculous(ive seen $1500 more than a few times, however that isnt the norm)....

Understand what you're saying banger2, but I've tested this a few times, and it keeps working out. Also, I suspect that $1500 is at the bottom end of the scale.

The only way a salesperson in a dealership can compete with a broker is if he could:

- buy from other dealers aged floorplan stock (nationally)
- sell trades away from a dealer (interstate)
- not mark up after market add-ons (they make shedloads on this)

Maybe its a brand and location thing. But an example of how a dealer can rip you off is the $thousands in dealer delivery - makes the $1500 seem like small change...OR massive markup in after market stuff like window tinting. (mine was a Teachers Credit Union thingy - not a teacher though)

The difference in my GTi was $7000, and (its not all about money):

The local dealer couldn't have 1 in stock for 6 months either so that just solidifies my belief in brokers.

I still got a better deal - as did my wife (VW), and a friend (BMW 3 series),and another friend (Toyota Yaris!). They got more money for my trade by selling it out of the state. I've seen examples of brokers bringing cars over from Perth on cheap backfill transport at huge discounts to the Brisbane dealers.

Simple rule - use a broker.

[DJC]

I called Chatswood Classic Cars this week on three occasions! The first two guys I spoke to said they would call me back........STILL WAITING.

Then I rang and got the receptionist and told her of the poor service I had received and she assured me she would personally get a sales person to call me back, guess what.......STILL WAITING

Well I guess im not waiting any more as they can bash it! They seem to forget there are other dealer options!

[G-rig]

End result is that they won't even be offered the chance to quote on the vehicle. If they can't be bothered to offer service before they have your money, then I don't expect they'll be any chop afterwards. I've seen this before, but I thought it was mostly confined to Audi and BMW dealerships.

That's what I thought too. Pretty average, they don't deserve the sale and best off going somewhere else.

At least you have a lot of dealers down there ot choose from.

[Kenju]

I am currently in the process of buying a 2nd hand jetta. One thing I have found is that walking in off the street gets you ignored. Sending email enquiry via CarSales.com.au means you get a phone call the next day or even the same day and can organise test drives, appointments etc.

Lennock in Canberra have been helpful so far.

The other VW dealer had attitude and sneered at me when I queried the cost of getting DSG serviced at the intervals.

By the way, I'm looking for a 2.0 FSI turbo or a 2.0 tdi (either gearbox) low kms if anyone knows of one with good service history waiting for a new owner.