<VV> Re: Car Salesmen/Manufactures (no Corvair)

[Bill Elliott]

I don't buy new cars, but I do buy the occasional used car from an 
established dealership.

When I decided I wanted a  Suburban, but didn't want to play the 
standard dealership games, I went to the local Chevy dealership, spoke 
to a sales manager, and told him if he would basically sell me a used 
car at wholesale plus a reasonable profit for them, I'd but it direct. 
He just laughed and asked why should he sell at wholesale to me when he 
could make several thousand more by waiting for the right buyer. I knew 
then I was in the wrong place.

I went to another Chevy dealership, made the same offer, and the saleman 
enthusiastically agreed to the deal... then proceded to jerk me around. 
But I don't think it was his fault...it was the short-sighted manager. 
The bright salemen was sweating and veins bulging before he got what I 
wanted from the not-so-bright sales manager. I tried to explain that 
they both wasted a lot of their time (and mine) as I had made my 
expectations perfectly clear when I walked in.  The salesman profusely 
apologized and quietly acknowledged that it was absolutely a systemic 
issue and that he realized that they could greatly increase their sales 
by catering to folks like me as well as the more usual (read "high 
profit margin") customers. Getting a better website up and running was 
one of his goals... Then he asked if my organization had any sales 
openings... that he'd like to work for folks that negotiated like I did...

Fast forward a few months... my kid totalled the Suburban, so I walked 
back into the dealership. This time my bright salesman WAS the sales 
manager. I told him what I wanted, he showed me three vehicles, gave me 
the bottom line price on all three (interestingly, the bottom line price 
was based on what they had invested in the truck...so the best truck was 
not the most expensive...). The prices were actually LESS than I had 
anticpiated and I bought a truck within 30 minutes of walking in. From 
that point on, the salesman would routinely call or email when they got 
an interesting car in (or when they were offered something 
non-mainstream as a trade... the salesman ended up with a top of the 
line Range Rover as his personal car when I told him what a deal he had 
on his hands...) I ended up buying several more vehicles from him over 
the years... all at prices less than I estimated... and though I'm now 
1000 miles way I always check with him first before I buy something...

While he never made a huge profit from me, he gained a steady repeat 
customer. I'll always take a steady income over a one-time bonus... but 
too many sales reps (many not even remotely in the car business) try to 
live from big bonus to big bonus... they usually burn out and disappear...

Bill

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