It is a long time ago now but when my parents died I inherited a small amount of money and our old car a Volvo 145 DL was showing its age. Talking it over with Sue she agreed a new car would be nice, so off I go during my lunch break still wearing my BT uniform to a Volvo showroom in Merton Surrey. In the showroom was a new Volvo 240 dl estate, exactly what I was looking for , price about £7,000 or there abouts. So typical of a buyer I had a look around it inside and out and then up came this snotty middle aged salesman.
First thing he said is “clear off sonny you can’t afford it”. This instantly got my back up so l let him have it with both barrels blasting in my extremely loud and powerful voice.
I said solmething like you should be sacked how do you know I can’t afford it. I will have you know I was going to buy it from an inheritance, but with your attitude towards prospective customers who are cash buyers you can bloody well stuff you car you know where.
This went on for some time, infact the volvo manager came down to see what the noise was about. So I told him the same I was going to buy it with inheritance money but your ass H*le of a sales man told me to clear off sonny. I said if this is how you hope to sell cars what or how bad is the sevicing. So I walked out with the manager trying to apoligise behind me. No way was i putting up with this. I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear what the manager said to the salesman
There also was a Volvo salesroom in Banstead so on another day I toddled off to there and what a difference . There was a young lad saving to get married and eager to sell and so helpful it was a real pleasure buying one from him instead
I don’t deal with them. I always get my cars from the same place. A family garage in Perth that can sort anything and get any type car you want. Been going there for over 40 years, the owner used to play darts and domino’s on the same team as my husband and the son was/is a pal of my 2. He’s always done buying/selling as a sideline to the garage, and usually has a good mix for sale. If I’m looking for a car change I phone him and tell him, and the next time I’m in Perth there’s a 4x4 with my name on it waiting for me.
We stayed in Perth all my married life, I only started living up in Caithness a few years after my marriage ended. I still have my house in Perth and I’m there several times a year. So it’s no bother for me to go to where I trust.
I’m genuinely surprised by a lot of your experience.
First, car sales people for major brands go through a lot of training. They often need to. But one of the big issues in the past was dealing with sales people assumptions. You know, asking women what colour of car they wanted rather talking about performance. This, I thought, was largely addressed. So your example sounds like an untrainable oink who should be sidelined by the dealership you went to.
But, also, £7k for a new Volvo? No. Surely not. For that sort of bargain I’d have put up with no end of abuse.
Lastly, if a middle aged sales person calls you ‘sonny’ then how old are you? Presumably not over 50. Of course you may have an unusually youthful complexion.
This was way back in the mid 1970’s at least about 50 years ago and that was the price of a new one . Possible you were not old enough if even born back then but I got married in 1972. Things were a lot different back then but maybe you wern’t old enough to know. My first car was a Ford Anglia 100e second hand 1950s model for £125. this was in 1962 when I learnt to drive
So tell me, Do car salesmen still toddle off for nearly an hour to talk to their manager and all they probably say is, Rhubarb, Rhubarb to each other?
This was a ruse used by them and l always wondered if they were secretly listening to you discussing the ‘will l buy’ conversation you were having with whoever was with you.
If you didn’t buy, they would still bombard you with phone calls for days with their ‘best price’.
I wouldn’t trust a car salesman as far as l could throw them! That’s why l would offer what l thought l wanted to pay and they’ve got two choices.
I would use phrases like… a bird in the hand and all that… or, I’ll find a man who can.
I always won!!
he last car we bought was Sue’s Honda Civic Estate .It was still their demo car and we got it at a great price wth only a few miles on the clock. It was actually out on the road for some other people to try out before we had a go. That is the best way to buy I think to save money.
What I don’t understand a new car can have "delivery "miles on the clock and still be classified as new. to my mind if it has more than 10 miles on the clock it is no longer “new” and should not be sold as
such.
Always pays to push for the extras such as better floor carpet/mat or even proper spare wheel instead of a squirty bottle thingy.
Art
they toddle of as part of a ploy so it doesn’t look as you are beng pressured into buying. If you have someone constantly doing the hard sell it can put people of wondering why so keen to get rid of.
But I have dealt with a lot of sales people in my life and really enjoy it! Give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves and I know all their ploys…….
Buying a car can be a nerve wracking experience and you could end up paying more, salespeople have certain tactics they employ to get your hard earned cash, going to see the manager is just one ploy, that’s to give you a few minutes to think about it, they don’t make much money on selling a new/nearly new car, no, their money comes from the add ons, paint protection, tyre insurance ect,ect, and, they don’t really want a cash sale, there’s more money to be had through finance,
One ploy is , if you arrive with your partner, the salesperson will quickly identify who’s boss and play one off against the other, I quite enjoy buying a car as I’m wise to most tactics used by them and can use them right back,
We had a similar experience as you @realspeed In the mid 90s, also with a Volvo dealership, with the rep taking one look at us and concluding that we’d never be able to afford one of their cars. We, like you, he was totally wrong. Their loss, and Ford’s gain…we bought a new Mondeo instead.
What really P****s me off with new cars these days is lack of a spare wheel. Since when is a spare wheel an extra? that stupid wee thing you get in some cars is a joke.
I would never buy a car that had no spare.
Yep. Can’t stand the spacesavers. And there’s something just not right with the idea of squirting what is some kind of fast setting builder’s foam into a tyre, which must not only make it a real PITA for a garage to remove, but also guarantees that the tyre cannot be repaired. So a simple nail hole, which could have been fixed for a tenner will now cost you an entire new tyre.
I have said before I persuaded Sue to get a proper spare wheel off ebay as a lot cheaper than main dealers. Lucky i did as not long aftwards she hit a pothole in the road and wrecked the tyre . The first thing the breakdown man asked “do you have a spare wheel?”.
My wife kerbed a tyre once. Only then did it come to our attention that someone had stolen the spare, which should have been stored externally in a wire frame under the boot. Whoever nicked it had bent the clip aside, but had the “decency” to use a cable tie to hold the now empty frame in place.
When we phoned the AA (we were members) for help, they were reluctant initially since they viewed the absence of the spare as an “alteration” to the vehicle.
Few cars come with a free spare tyre nowadays, it was done to save weight and therefore manufacturers were able to meet their emission targets and a nice little earner for them on the options list
Since when is a spare wheel an extra? that stupid wee thing you get in some cars is a joke. 