Double B

Train all you want, but if someone is already a person that prejudges people, I don't care how much training you get, there are still people who are going to do it. You can only speak for yourself and cannot say that all salespersons are not going to discriminate. This goes for all types of sales.

Before I buy a car, I do the research first and because I "Walk" into a dealership does not me that I am there to buy today, so don't assume anything.

Also, if I want to test drive a car, that is my right to do so without buying. Why would I buy a car before I know how it handles, feels and what kind of confort it may or may not have. As much as I can read about the car, that is someone else's opinion. If you are in the busines to assume that everyone is going to buy from you the minute they walk in, then good luck to you, but I know most of us are not going to buy the first walk in and that is just good shopping.

SiR_YO

awsome responses so far guys... the thing I don't get sometimes is why customers DON'T want to test drive a car... like why... you're interested in a civic, great, you've never driven it.... great, lets drive one, no I just want to know how much it is... well what if it was $1 would you buy it? what if you hated the car... I mean I'm using extrememes but you get the idea

fingolfin

I've been asked if I want to test drive a car and I said no. i wasn't at the stage of the buying process yet to test drive. thats all.

SiR_YO

what stage were you in? I guess what Robb was trying to say, is that unless you totally know you don't want the car, there wouldn't be much point in being at a dealership... his assumption is that if you're there, although you could be in your initial stages, you are going to buy a car... whether it's that day, next week, or 6 months down the road.... even if you're 6 months away, you still wouldn't want to test drive to see if you even like it or not? possibly to narrow down your choices?

Double B

Prime example, and Ed, you know what my intent was.

I was not ready to buy a car until my lease was up in April/May. I even contacted Ed to keep an eye out and he knew what kind of car I was looking for, and it was for my wife. She was dead set on buying an Altima. I wanted to get the V6 if we did, so my intention was to get the SE. My wife and I have never driven the Altima, so I didn't know if she would have liked it or not, the decision was more on her than me as it would be her primary car. We ended up going to Ajax Nissan to test drive one. It so happens that they had an SE-R they just got in. We test drove it, loved it and bought it that day. Only reason is, I did the research long before and wanted one IF we could find one. The chances of that car being there later was slim to none, so we jumped on it. That has to be a record for me. Usually I take a long time before buying a car, but couldn't pass this up.

So even though my intent was not to buy that day, I ended up doing so.

Never assume!

Nova_Dust

My dad bought his old Civic out of surprise. I told my mother that we were just gonna go there to see the trade-in value and check out some car. He test drove the 6th gen SiR and settled on the Civic Si, all in the same day.

gatherer

I can shed some light on this... it happens that While I'm in dealerships I always have a look around ... I'm basically broswing and window shopping with no intention to buy this is ussually while I have some work done on my car in the service bays...

Well I was looking at an accord the other day and saw that it was stick shift so I figured "hey I want to see what this car feels like to sit behind the wheel" Again with no intention to purchase.. so I got in and got comfortable. a sales person came up and asked if I wanted to take it for a test drive... I told them nope I'm just looking. I didn't want to waste their time because I had no intention of buying the car.

if I don't intend to buy the car I'm not going to test drive it.

Double B

I don't agree. If you are not in the market, why shouldn't you test drive a car? Supposing things change for you and you are in a position to buy a new vehicle, and you remember that day you test drove the Accord, chances are, if you test drove it, even though you are not buying, you will return for a longer test drive or might decided that hey, this is the car for me.

Do you think that electronic stores put their stereo's out for you to play with when you walk in just to buy some wire accessories? They are there to be tested and to entice you to buy. Period. Same reason some dealerships sometimes will give you an upgrade car to drive when your car is being serviced. Its to plant that seed.

gatherer

I don't disagree with you .. if I had more time I might of said yes .. but I knew I wasn't going to be there too long in that specific example.

Ed was wondering why some customers don't want to take a car for a test drive, I was offering one possibility.

Double B

Understood!

Nova_Dust

I don't know, if you walk down Church street, do you get a free test drive? :P

Double B

Bahahahahahaha!! Good one C!

Cynikal.Mindset

the best is when they just let you take the car without them being with you...but I guess you feel obligated to atleast discuss purchasing the car with them after they let you test drive it...which is understandable

jdesouz

i agree with the prejudging. i used to do it all the time at future shop. Some scruffy dude walk in id ignore him, 80% of the time those scruffy dudes walk out with high end laptop or desktop warranty services everything. The way i saw it was 100-150$ commission walked right out of my pocket becuz i prejudge. I was trained not to, but still i have my own mantality too. All the training in the world wont help, its us as humans we like to prejudge something we do, jus like breathing!

SiR_YO

that's perfectly fine... we actually have greeters at our dealership that will come to you before any salesman will approach you and do a "pre-qualify" to see if you need any assistance... if you're a service customer that's "just looking" np... no one will bug you until you need help (if you did)...

szuberi

hi...i have an appointment with ED....oh he is busy...can i help you in anyway? lol..one of your greeters went with me for the test drive....she was quiet though while i was hitting vtec in the si.

SiR_YO

ya, I apologize for not being able to go on that test drive with you Sal, was it a saturday that you came in? they're so unpredicatable sometimes... customers are swarmed inside... but it all worked out at the end.. and that greeter was cool to go with you for me

07Ex

I have to say that my general impression of car salespeople is not very good. Every time I walk in a dealership I have this impression that all they are after is themselves, and not the customer.

There are times when I go to the dealerships just to look at cars and see what they look like inside, what they feel like when you sit in them, etc. but not wanting to buy anything. I tell them from the beginning that I am not looking to buy, but rather look around, and they still push me to buy. I just don't understand that.

To me it doesn't matter if the dealership is #1 in sales or #1 in the province or whatever. What I care for is getting a good deal on a new car. I don't even care much about the service because I don't usually service the car at the dealership.

I would much rather buy a car from a salesperson who I like and I feel is honest and not pushy, than go to the next dealership and buy the car from there only because their offer is $100 less than the 1st dealership. That actually happened to me when I got my current car.

More to come when I think about the other experiences I had with dealerships.

Robb

iTrader: (1)

Ok then go do that at ferrari dealership or Lambo dealership... just watch them smirk and laugh at you..Im sure they will leave you alone there...

If you do that at a Honda dealer, they will go up to you and ask you if you need help..and then if you show any interest, they will try and sell you are car.. that's their job.