http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/ar ... ticle.html
Edmunds sent an editor undercover to work at a couple car dealerships to see how they operate. Long read, but interesting.
Confessions of a car salesman
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Vindicator
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To me, trying to hold a $1500 profit on a $25,000 purchase is much less "slimy" than the plumber who charges you $500 for 45 minutes work. He knows you'll pay or have to go to the gas station to take a ★■◆●. I really think car salespeople get a bad rap. In any type of business there are good honest people and there are snakes.
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CUDA
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the article is sh*t, the guy went into the dealership with an agenda and he got the results that he wanted to get not looking at the other side, I work at a mega dealership ( I manage the bodyshop ) and have no love for salesmen, they will promise the moon to get a sale, THATS SALES and its not limited to the auto industry, the guy was hired by a magazine to go dig up as much dirt as he could, so he went in biased and that EXACTLY how his article comes across, maybe he got a bad dealership I dont know, I do know that at our store Tonkin Honda in Portland, 1 of 16 dealerships and 22 car lines in the corporation. the sales managers want happy customers, happy customers come back. screwed customers do not. we give away thousands of dollars in free parts and labor every month that we could charge customers for but we dont. this is not an example of reporting a story. it an example of making a story and its SH*T through and through 
I'm with cuda. I worked at a small chevy dealership as a salesman for 5 years when I was a kid. The most successful sales reps were experts in product knowledge and could get in touch with a customer's needs. There was very little underhanded stuff going on. If someone was caught messing with the numbers or trying to cheat someone, they were fired. The fact is, most cars that we sold went out the door at less than 10% markup, and lots of times, we gave the cars away for the invoice price. That doesn't mean that they werent making any money on the cars. There's something called "holdback", which is about 8% that never gets given away, unless it's a demonstrator model or a car that was ordered wrong (ie with no air conditioning). But for the most part, there's very little profit in new cars to begin with. I'd venture a guess to say that on an entry level car like a Dodge Neon, there's somewhere in the nieghborhood of $700 that can be discounted (not counting rebates and special financing). So is selling the car to a customer for sticker price to be considered ripping someone off? I dont think so. $700 bucks on a $12,000 item to me is a less than fair profit margin.
The real criminals are the manufacturers. Even back when I was selling cars, the new models would come out and you'd notice the sticker price went up by $500, but the invoice price went up by $700, thus decreasing the profit margin for the dealers to work with. It's a way of getting people to think the car didn't go up so much in price, when actually it did. Another money maker for the manufacturers are the "preferred equipment packages". lets say you want leather seats in your car. In some cases, in order to get the leather seats, you have to buy a $3000 package that includes a sunroof and other crap you might not want. It's a way of forcing the customer to buy more options.
I knew many car sales reps. Most of them were family men that were just trying to make an honest living. Once in a while, you'd run across a snake, but for the most part, I think that this stereotype is a gross misconception. As I mentioned in my other post, what about the plumber or appliance repair guy that has you under his thumb and is charging $110 an hour to fix your dishwasher as well as marking the parts up 100%? Car buying guides are a dime a dozen. It's so easy to get a good deal on a new car. But try negotiating with the furnace repair man and see how far you get.
Personally, I think cars should sell for the price on the sticker. Why does have to be like buying chickens at a bazaar in New Delhi?
Oh, and JMeat. Dont think for an instant that racial stereotyping is unique to car dealerships. That happens with everyone from mortgage brokers, to cab drivers, to pizza delivery guys.
The real criminals are the manufacturers. Even back when I was selling cars, the new models would come out and you'd notice the sticker price went up by $500, but the invoice price went up by $700, thus decreasing the profit margin for the dealers to work with. It's a way of getting people to think the car didn't go up so much in price, when actually it did. Another money maker for the manufacturers are the "preferred equipment packages". lets say you want leather seats in your car. In some cases, in order to get the leather seats, you have to buy a $3000 package that includes a sunroof and other crap you might not want. It's a way of forcing the customer to buy more options.
I knew many car sales reps. Most of them were family men that were just trying to make an honest living. Once in a while, you'd run across a snake, but for the most part, I think that this stereotype is a gross misconception. As I mentioned in my other post, what about the plumber or appliance repair guy that has you under his thumb and is charging $110 an hour to fix your dishwasher as well as marking the parts up 100%? Car buying guides are a dime a dozen. It's so easy to get a good deal on a new car. But try negotiating with the furnace repair man and see how far you get.
Personally, I think cars should sell for the price on the sticker. Why does have to be like buying chickens at a bazaar in New Delhi?
Oh, and JMeat. Dont think for an instant that racial stereotyping is unique to car dealerships. That happens with everyone from mortgage brokers, to cab drivers, to pizza delivery guys.
I've never had the pleasure of working sales, so I don't understand on the level someone who has would. If you have what it takes to do that on a daily basis, good for you. I don't think I could lie to people and actively deceive them...
You gotta do what you gotta do to feed the family and pay the bills though.
You gotta do what you gotta do to feed the family and pay the bills though.
Now who's stereotyping, JMEat? There's where the misunderstanding comes into play. You dont have to lie to be good at sales. I'd reckon some sales reps lie to compensate for their lack of skill, but well trained sales professionals dont have to lie or decieve anyone. You've probably bulls**ted your own mother more than a good sales rep would bulls**t you.
Mmmhmm. I was referring to the article's take on car sales. I didn't mean to imply all sales positions are like that. Cool down there buddy.punisher wrote:Now who's stereotyping, JMEat? There's where the misunderstanding comes into play. You dont have to lie to be good at sales. I'd reckon some sales reps lie to compensate for their lack of skill, but well trained sales professionals dont have to lie or decieve anyone. You've probably bulls**ted your own mother more than a good sales rep would bulls**t you.
That depends on how motivated you are. If you're a pro, they'll be kissing your ass and buying you dinner. I always enjoyed not having a limit on my income. Even today, as an entrepreneur, my income is directly related to my management skills. I like it this way.bash wrote:Actually, if you toughed it out through the entire article it wasn't overly disparaging toward salesfolks, but rather the managers putting the fear of God in them. Commission-only gigs suck.
How is pointing out the the benefits of a product a "trick"?Wang_Lo wrote:lol, me and vindi went to a few dealers today, and looked around. a few of those "tricks" were used like telling us how good the mileage was.
punisher wrote:That depends on how motivated you are. If you're a pro, they'll be kissing your *** and buying you dinner. I always enjoyed not having a limit on my income. Even today, as an entrepreneur, my income is directly related to my management skills. I like it this way.bash wrote:Actually, if you toughed it out through the entire article it wasn't overly disparaging toward salesfolks, but rather the managers putting the fear of God in them. Commission-only gigs suck.
How is pointing out the the benefits of a product a "trick"?Wang_Lo wrote:lol, me and vindi went to a few dealers today, and looked around. a few of those "tricks" were used like telling us how good the mileage was.
actually that is why i put it in "" so called "tricks"
well here is how i look at it, as a consumer we gotta fight the good fight, try to beat the system and make off with a little more money, the seller, is fighting their own war, trying to keep us consumers from stealing the whole dealership.
Quite frankly folks, we got bills to pay and mouths to feed, if it is legal by all means have at it!
Quite frankly folks, we got bills to pay and mouths to feed, if it is legal by all means have at it!
Here in Chicago theres a mile long strip of south Western Avenue that's filled with seedy used car dealerships full of $500 junkers with $2000 price tags on em. In the car biz they call that the mudlot district. If there's any underhanded stuff going on in the car business, it's happening there. God knows who would buy from them or how they survive. But like they say in the car biz, "There's an ass for every seat." Completely different animal from a reputable car dealership, however.Duper wrote:LOL Cuda..
you obviously have never bought a car down on McLaughlin.
That street is so slimy, they need to lay degreaser down twice day.
Colfax blvd in Denver is the same way. a couple miles..well.. about 10, of car lots and tatoo parlors. 
To Cuda's credit, he works for a very reputable car dealer here in town in thier shop. They do a very good business and sell the full spectrum of price ranges. From the rare and elite to the Hyandai.
To Cuda's credit, he works for a very reputable car dealer here in town in thier shop. They do a very good business and sell the full spectrum of price ranges. From the rare and elite to the Hyandai.