Automotive Forums

I have been in the car business for over 30 years. I have sold cars, served in every position of management (sales, service, parts, internet, used, etc)
I was a dealer. I am now a consultant. I own my business and I train dealership personnel.

The most important thing I can tell you about buying a vehicle (any make, model/price) is GET A RECOMMENDATION. A satisfied customer is not always a loyal customer. Ask the person making the recommendation if it is their first purchase and if the know other who have bought there.

Next you want the salesperson who has been there the longest time and has fewer complaints. I'd ask a Service Advisor to recommend a salesperson. They know who has customers who have to come back to service due to poor sales experience or delivery.

With the large number of years in the business, I know first hand the money we made in the 70s and 80s. But it is not there anymore. Just like the hardware store, local grocery or dry cleaners. Customer can determine exactly what they want to pay and who they where they want to deal in just a couple of clicks of a mouse.

Find out what dealerships provide exceptional training for their sales staff. NOT how to sell and make money! But how to satisfy customers. Product knowledge. Communication skills. If you are treated poorly by a dealership---Write directly to the Dealer. If it is a "Big Box Store"
You know--the large publicly held corps---remember, the owner isn't in the store. Which may be why the person shopping at a small dealership had a better experience.

Oh well enough. There is a dealerships website that offers advise to customers wanting to buy a vehicle. I think it is pretty good and tells customers exactly what it is like to make car buying fun again.
The Dealership is Deerbrook Forest Chrysler Jeep in Kingwood, Tx.

Sorry so long. I just get a little riled. Since car salepeople work long hours for little pay anymore. It takes tenure at a store and great customer service to make money. Going beyond those Joe Verdi trained stores.  

I can tell you all this.

I am a former car salesman of over 8 years.

I had the second most hated profession in the world (next to lawyers).

During my time on the inside I learned a lot of things... mainly, where the dealership made it's money. The sale of NEW cars was NOT one of them. Trades and used vehicles brought in the bulk of the money.

I have recently turned the tables on the dealerships though. I am now a professional negotiator for the CUSTOMER! I no longer work for any dealership,  instead, the customer contacts me and tells me what they are looking for. I locate the vehicle at a nearby lot, contact the dealership, negotiate their deal, have them have the vehicle cleaned and ready to go when the customer gets there. The best part of it all is, the dealership pays me and not the customer!

I've helped many many people get a very low price on their new vehicles. Not only that, but I have saved them hours upon hours of working with salesman who know "every trick in the book" to get them to pay more! Since I know all those tricks, I also know how to get around them.

I'd be happy to answer anyone's questions regarding this... just email me at haggle4you at gmail .com

Good luck to all!!!  

I think its good idea for those giving customers advice on purchasing a car to set apart the process of buying a new car from and a used car. The used car purchase is more difficult than a new purchase due to the customer having less information about the used car. For example, you can use KBB, NADA or Edmunds.com TMV for a used car and the numbers will sometimes be thousands of dollars apart, whereas for new cars, invoice price will always be pretty much the same between them.  

Interesting,

I can relate to the above, as I started at a Mercedes, Porche and Audi dealer back in the 80's and learned just how crooked dealers were. I was a car nut, and gave up a career so I could do what I thought I would enjoy given I was German car nut, not just a nut. lol

What I learned not to do led me to opening an independent leasing company since my background was corporate fleet leasing.  My most memorable point at the dealer was refusing to sell a used car do what turned out to be chief of staff at local hospital.  There was a 300SD in champagne on front line which looked presentable, but I knew it was bought from wholesaler and was three shades of gold, so I knew it was hit at least two times.

Long story short, I was up and was chased out the door to attack Doctor and so I did, then when he asked about that car, I simply said, I am sorry, but I can't sell you that car.  He looked at me as if I was crazy, and then asked, are you a salesperson?  I said yes, and then he said, oh, you are new cars only?  I said no, and then I started to go around car giving him a lesson on how to detect hit and repaired cars.  I blew his mind, and given he was so interested in this education, I was with him for an hour showing him all the clues, and sales manager thought I was selling my butt off. lol

Needless to say, I didn't sell him that car, in fact, I never sold him a car, but he told everyone at the hospital that I was the first honest car salesman he had ever met.  He was the resident car expert when it came to shopping for Mercedes, Porsche and Audi and everyone came to him for advice as he changed cars every year.  As many know in the industry, most doctors are out to lunch when it comes to buying cars, so when he told his story to hundreds of his staff, you know what happened next.

I was the new kid at dealership, no referrals, no repeat customers, plus I was up against the old pro's, the skaters elite, if you know what I mean. Well, what happened next is I had a long line of customers who all were asking for me, and me alone over the next six months.  Nobody could figure it out, not even the old pro's.  In fact, even their old customers were coming in asking for me. lol  They thought I was giving cars away, so talk about learning what not to do, as well as what to do, it all starts and ends with being honest.

I ended up opening up an independent auto lease and finace consultants office and took all the local professionals with me.  It was a great little business being independent, and I was able to undercut all the local dealer and still make a ton of money, so let that be a lesson to anyone considering becoming a car salesperson, be honest.  Oh, by the way, this dealer was probably the only highline dealer to ever go out of business, and I know I had something to do with it, so I made my mark in history.

Good luck to all, Mike  
www.Free-Extended-Warranties-Distributorship.com

I think the most important thing you can do is get educated. Do your homework before you even think of going into a car dealership.

I found some great tips on dealing with car salesmen and learning how to negotiate at http://www.buyingadvice.com/  

the automotive industry as a whole suffers a lot of damage from a few bad apples. There are a bunch of things that you can do to make sure you're not victimized by con artists. Go check out the new and/or used car section on http://www.myautocafe.com . There is a lot of useful information to help guide you when going through the stressful process of buying a car.

Additionally, there is over 30 000 automotive businesses that you can read and leave feedback about.

But keep this one thing in mind. People are inclined to do whatever is best for themselves. Dealer, or buyer, if you get that bad feeling in the back of your head... just walk away, there are plenty of other fish in the car buying sea.