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Car buying lessons.
Things I have learned from the car buying experience:
-Take note, sales people – Dan is really easy to wear down. If you get him tired, it’s even easier. Just talk long enough, and he will probably buy your set of knives/special offer/whatever you are selling.
-The scripts/buzz words salespeople use at car dealerships are awful. I’m pretty sure I was blatantly rolling my eyes while we were signing paperwork.
-The automobile industry in this country needs to look at the idea of ‘paperless’ or at least ‘recycled paper.’
-New car smell apparently lasts at least 3.5 months.
-If you test drive cars in the South and you are a woman, who is car shopping with a man, the sales guy will NOT assume you want to test drive, or ask if you want to, except in rare cases (thank you Vokswagen guy!)
-Trash talking about other car manufacturers. I wasn’t expecting it, but wow, it must be encouraged.
If/when you have bought/leased a car, what did you learn?
I’ve learned:
– Negotiations: I’m actually pretty good. I may have been worried enough about stereotypes to take my male friend with me 3 times to the same dealer, but my negotiating alone brought them down $4000 and me up only $200. It took me 3 days, but I won! Dan, take lessons :รพ
– Test driving: They knew I was the one with the money so assumed I wanted to test drive. But they also assumed my friend did too. He did not. MY CAR.
Well… being me I would research the vehicles I want to see to death. Yeah, I look at specs but i mostly read thorough reviews and comparisons. Also check out enthusiasts websites to see common problems and how easily it is to work on them. And research not just pricing but pricing with various options and possible permutations.
Anyways, all this really does is frustrates me because I end up knowing more than the sales guy and he can’t provide a quick answer. In a way I do it to myself since I just ask a question already knowing the answer to gauge the level of knowledge of the sales guy. Most of the time it’s not much. That’s what frustrating. When it comes time to buying it’s fun telling them stuff I shouldn’t be paying for. It also seems the higher up you go in the luxury brand scale the more knowledgeable they are.
Mini – Nice guy. He sat in the back for the test drive. Directed me to a curvy back road and kept telling me to push it.
VW – Very nice service. For the test drive he didn’t even tag along! He let me take the car home the first night with no commitment (old car as collateral). I could come back the next day and return it or buy it (obviously I bought it). He also filled up the tank after we were done! Price was cheaper than sticker and other options already on the car he didn’t charge for.
Chevy – Again nice people but they were pretty stubborn on the price. The price was low anyways but it didn’t hurt to try. Involved the sales manager a couple times but they held their ground. I got a decent rate out of it though.
Porsche – Once was in a Cayenne GTS manual transmission. That guy was really knowledgeable. He was telling the ins and outs of buying/selling their top models.
Recently just test drove the 2011 911 Carrera S. The guy just handed us the keys and we were gone. Didn’t want our license or anything. Really no interaction with this guy. Came back and returned the keys.
okay hopefully, knock-on-the-fake-wood-laminate-at-my-desk-at-work-oops-yes-i’m-goofing-off-at-work, i won’t have to buy a car for several more years…but when i do…my advice is to bring franklin and meghan. otherwise this is how that sales interaction would go
laura: “does it have an auxiliary input to hook up an ipod directly through the speaker system and not through the FM radio?”
salesperson: “yes”
laura: “here is a blank check. go crazy”
heart you.
HAHAHAHA laura b. i heart you too!