I have mixed feelings on salesmen. My problem has been once the salesman has to talk to his manager about price. Then stuff seems to get shady. I hate that back and forth and how prices come at you, but then the interest rate goes up when price goes down, but that is not stated....then the interest rate is asked and they avoid it and say, your monthly payment will be this....Argg. Got me so frustrated that I just decided to buy a used car so I could pay cash and not have to worry about financing...lol

Hey Sir...i've noticed two different car dealers have told me xxx car with xxx color is on the lot....then I go half hour later and it's sold or pending financing....is that a common ploy or coincidence?

 

CORRECTIMUNDO!
There are even entire companies that I will not name who are notorious for being shady as hell.
My boss used to work for one, but he decided to "pursue other career opportunities" when they tried to get him to participate in the overall shadyness. He is an attorney but makes his living as a claims manager so he knows when companies are doing crap they shouldn't be (sometimes even legally questionable activities.) If anyone is interested I could provide a story but I don't want to be a thread stealing postwhore.

 

i am interested in the story.

also, last weekend I was watching fargo. Great movie. Watchign Jerry Lungdegard trying to sell the sealant is a typical car sales ploy.

 

The main story that comes to mind goes like this: My manager was located in Jackson, MS at the time...working as a regional claims manager for one of the BIG insurance companies. Every time a check for more than $10,000 was issued, it had to be sent to Atlanta, GA to be "signed" or "approved." The people in Atlanta, GA would then sit on that check for about 30 days before sending it back. My boss's thoughts on this were, the company was trying to keep their money for as long as possible in the pursuit of more interest gained. So they would pull crap like that. he said the only way he could get them to stop was if the claimant had an attorney, he would tell the attorney to draft a letter stating the settlement would be void if they did not receive their money within 10 days. But claimants that didn't have attorneys were pretty much SOL. He said he heard lots of begging, crying, etc.. because people would have settled, but they would be sitting there for over a month waiting for their check. Shorlty after that crap started happening he decided to leave that company.

 

that's disturbing, but really not surprising....insurance is, after all, a business.

 

Sometimes yes sometimes no (depends on the dealership), the trend seems to be (seriously) that once someone starts looking at a car, or two people look at a car it will sell within a few hours to a few days, we've had people come in on newspaper ads to buy a car and they showed up 30 minutes to late they want to look at it as I'm signing someone up to buy it. Or they drive on the lot as the car they wanted drives off with it's new owners. I have heard of some lots using that though. Not the pending finance one but the oh by the way that sold this morning.

And the funny thing about interest rates (this applies more to boats than cars) is that the amount financed affects not only the rate but the term. I have done deals where someone is buying a 27,000 boat and wants to put $5,000 down and I run it into the bank at 27,000 with 2,000 down and they get a longer term and better interest rate, then just make an addition 3,000 payment for their first payment and pay extra when they can... I don't know if it's that way everywhere but Montana works like that.

Sales is a tough thing because no matter what you say most people have heard it before as a line. So when you tell someone the honest truth they still think you're full of BS. I have even went so far as to show someone how much we paid for the car, our actual purchase price of the vehicle as compared to how much we were selling it to him for and they wouldn't believe me. Some consumers do some "iffy" things at times as well. We've run ads with coupons for a certain amount off of a vehicle and people will come in and talk about a price, work out a price, then say "oh, by the way I want to trade this car in too" so you go through all of that stuff, come to a new, lower price that includes the trade and the whole "oops, almost forgot I get an additional $500.00 off..." and if you even think about telling them that it states in bold letters "MUST BE PRESENT PRIOR TO NEGOTIATIONS" people get mad because they feel that the fine print doesn't apply. It's a strange business that's for sure. Luckily I work in a fairly small town at a decent sized dealership so we won't do that kind of junk because it would kill us, word spreads to quickly...

 

I think the reason its so tough is that the bad apples tend to spoil the whole barrel. Everyone has a story about getting bent over by a car dealer, whether it really was the car dealer, or throguh their own perceptions, as sir described above. Because of that, people will naturally be extra skeptical and on their guard the moment they step on to a lot.

 

^ ditto for insurance claims adjusters[sm=violin.gif]

 

sir nasty-

I sold powerboats for about 20 years. If somebody slips in a trade on you after you're discussing price & finance that'syour fault. It happened to me once as a rookie and never again. We've all done it but it's a tough lesson that first time. As it turned out the trade was a POS so I called in the wholesalers and managed to keep the deal together but it was touch and go for a while.

 

isnt that one of the number one rules of buying a car? discuss price, finance, and trade all separately...with trade at the end?