Car Dealers are they all useless?
 

I have bought my last 4 or 5 vehicles over the phone or email, I knew what I wanted and just contacted a dealer/agent and order what I wanted.

I went to a Nissan dealer on Saturday to look at a Pathfinder, a lot of the cars on the car lot looked liked they had been cleaned by stevie wonder and had obvious scrapes and marks on them ( do they not patch this up before putting them on the forecourt?)

Guy came out to me, asked if they had a navara or pathfinder, he didnt think so :wonder: . He then realised they did have a pathfinder, he went and got the key, I looked in side it and asked was it a customer car, "oh no its for sale" he said but the car was full of crumbs, grass, the tyres were dirty no floor mats etc

Me: What's the length?
dealer: dont know?
me: what's the mpg
dealer: not sure
me: whats the difference between this and navara apart from the pickup back
Dealer: 7 seats , navara 5 seats thats it
Me: how much is servicing
dealer: don't know

and it went on!

Am i expecting too much? I would of thought a dealer would know all of this stuff inside out?, according to his card he is senior sales manager or something!

Not very impressed when i want to spend £20k to £30k!

If i didnt know better i'd have guessed you went to Keighley Trade Centre! lol

:lol1::lol1:

in response to your thread title...... yes they are :thumb:

Nice generalisation - one poor dealer and they're all ****e?

very few dealer are any good,best find a small family owned dealer rather than a supermarket type,they normally change staff like most people change underware:D

Have a look at the thread title, then look at the end of the words and you should see a question mark, a question mark makes the statement a rhetorical question.

Having not been to a dealer before, I don't know if they are all like this, hence the question!

in response to your answer..... yes they are :thumb:

around here anyways especially ford

Mostly it is a kid on his/her weekend work placement .... they cannot do a thing without 'referring' to 'The Manager' - they are your 'Till Assistant' if you like.

Then when you talk to 'The Manager' you get the usual Car Dealer, he opens with bullsh1t, fills in with bullsh1t, then rounds it all off with bullsh1t ........ so - no, they are not useless - they are exactly what you would expect.

Every last foofing one of them :mad:

trust this clears up any doubt


Cheers
Rob

some of the questions you asked though are complete tyre kicker questions, i mean the length thing...surely you must have thought that if you are limited to a certain length you would have checked it out first. theres no point going to buy one then finding out it won't fit where ever it's going by 2 inches, you would have checked first so why ask? and if the length thing isn't that big an issue then why ask in the first place?

the mpg thing... again did you not think to look it up first so you were armed with figures? if he said it does 40 mpg would you believe him? probably not so why ask if your not going to believe him and you don't know any better.

what service did you want to know the price of? if they were all one price he may have known but i dare say there are 3 or 4 different services which is why there is a service dept, go and ask them thats what they are for. i wouldn't ask a service dept how much it would cost to buy a car thats why there is a sales dept.

and decide on an amount you have to spend, a 10k difference is to big a difference when buying cars to say somewhere between x and y

he probably thought what a timewaster asking silly questions and doesn't no how much he has to spend i'll just fob him off to get rid of him.

next time go in armed with more info than he will no about so you will know how honest he's being and with a definate figure on how much you have to spend and you will appear more positive and he won't think your a tyrekicker.

:thumb:

Not even tyre kicker , you could find these things online

Exactly what I was thinking. 'How long is it'? FFS! :rolleyes: You sound like a dealers pain in the backside.

Most dealers I have dealt with are ok. :thumb: But then again, I never turn up and ask those types of questions that you did. I do my research before I go, compare the prices, inspect the condition of the car and then decide if I want to haggle on the price or walk away. Very simple.

Perhaps car dealers shouldn't write everyone off as a `tyre kicker`, as this person was in the market for a car. Also, whether the questions were deemed silly or not, the car dealer should know is product and should of answered them.

SBK

Was it a Nissan dealer? Or a general used car dealer?

+1


Iv'e been in the situation of having a shortlist of cars to choose from, and been at the dealers with my cheque book in my pocket before, asked him a few questions about the car, and he's been a right knobhead trying to fob me off, so he's made my mind up for me, i went to the other dealer in town, and ordered the other car there and then, and when it arrived a few weeks later i took great pleasure in pulling onto his forecourt and then going in and explaining to him what a knob he was, and he would never be getting my business again. :lol1:

Exactly. They are there to sell you a car... if they can't answer any questions you have, or, if they don't know, find out for you, what use are they?

The cars should be clean too, that's just lazy.

I agree about the presentation of the cars, a dirty car would really put me off and I would expect someone who knew his job properly serving me too.

Do they still have YTS posts, and was he one do you think?

Les

WTF is it with people expecting you to do the job of the car salesperson yourself before going to visit the showroom and speaking to the salesperson?????
It's their bloody job so they should know it inside out. I'm fed up these days of ignorant sales staff knowing eff all about the products they stock. This isn't just the motor trade it is across-the-board. And telling the OP to look on the internet to get all the information needed doesn't fly. I, when looking at buying my current car searched the internet for all the info I would need and on checking the vehicle size and performance figures on 2 reputable motoring magazine sites found they gave completely different figures to the manufacturers site as well as to each other. So I had 3 sets of figures to go by including size of boot and MPG. So had no idea of the true figures and when I visited the showroom I had to ask the salesperson. Luckily they knew what they were talking about and I got the car I wanted.
And sometimes when you get no bloody information about a car you are after then there is bugger all left to do but kick the tyres. So there :)

Car dealers seem to feel that THEY are doing YOU the favour, in allowing you to have one of thier cars.

We are all tyre kickers unless we walk in, cheque book in hand, ready to buy anything the salesman suggests, at full asking price. Anything outside this line of thinking, then you are a tyre kicker or time waster.

Whether cars, bikes, IT equipment, `customer is always right` and you have to know your product and put up with the `stupid questions` and aim for the sale. I deal with some right wallies in my game but put up with it.

SBK

The pathfinder is a huge car (well its actually a 4x4) I would of thought knowing the length would be a standard bit of info they would know, i was expecting him to say something like " its about 4.8metres, but I can double check for you if needed do you need to fit it in a specific size garage?"

I don't have a budget as such so I said 20 to 30k, i just want to buy the car and get a deal, I was expecting him to say something like "why buy new when we have a pre reg 6 month old for 5k off the list!"

He didn't know the cost of any service! not even a clue or idea!

He didnt know the mpg i was expecting him to say "you should get 20mpg around town and 30mpg on a run."

I know I can look all this info up online but its nice to get some reasurance when spending £30k and so that you have some faith in your dealer for the future.

Maybe I am just expecting too much when spending my money :wonder:

forgot to add this was a main dealer, and I think a senior salesman

I like the Nissan Pathfinder. I had a look at one in my local dealer, some special model, and boy it was fully loaded. I did a bit of research on them and they seem to have gearbox issues ( auto ). Also, the imports have meant that UK ones depriecate more, as there are more out there.

I like them, but found the dash a bit plastic and had doubts on how long it would last / wear.

Still, for the right price, would be a good truck, especially if you have kids !

SBK

Get a Toyota Landcruiser, much better car, and very very reliable if serviced properly.

From what I have read online they have fixed the clutch/gearbox issue with a whole new unit and I have looked at the landcruiser but they are £20k more for newish one than a pathfinder.

The dash is a bit plastic/jap style but then isn't nearly everything from the east! I would rather have a plastic dash and reliable car, than a money pit range rover!

I don't think you have to know all the details of every car you sell but I would always use the power of the internet to find the answers to questions a customer asked. I know some sales people get annoyed with those who use the dealer as a reference point to get details of the car get a test drive then buy privately but its pretty much an unaviodable hazard of the job.

I have seen both good and bad dealerships / salesmen. Bought my first ever used car from a dealership. They swindled an old geezer out of his MG Metro when it was 5 years old, offering him £750 trade in allowance. They put the same car on the forecourt at £2750.

I bought an ex demo seat leon in 2001 from a local dealership, dealing directly with the general manager, it could not have been a better experience. No matter what I wanted from the deal we were able to come to an arrangement that I was happy with. Had a few minor issues on warranty, again, couldn't fault them, never any quibbles, they just took the car and got on with it.

I visited a Honda dealership in Macclesfield to look at an ex demo civic for my Mother In Law, the salesman there had no idea about cars in general, and knew little about the product he was selling. I wouldn't be put off by a car bei.g not cleaned, that to me is a bargaining point for a few hundred quid my way.

Gawd there's some b0ll0cks being spouted in this thread (no change ScoobyNet!)

Will echo some points on here - the customer is the important one. The salesman/dealership are there to sell cars!!! If that involves answering questions (regardless how petty the salesman MAY think they are), it should be done.
It's all about building up a relationship between customer/dealer. Aside from a house, a car is usually one of THE biggest purchases/commitments, so customer confidence is of tantamount importance.

And you wonder why dealers get such a poor rep? :D

When I bought my Golf, it was my first exposure to the VW dealer network. I went through 6 dealers until I found one that would extend me the courtesy of (a) calling me back, (b) answering my questions - such as do you have any GTIs?, or what will you give me as a part-ex on my existing car? OR if I travel 60 miles to see you, will you have a car.
And of course, treat me with a modicum of respect, and greet me with a smile.

One dealer even sent out the lacky to tell me that the sales team were too busy in a meeting to talk to me - whilst they're all laughing and joking in the other room (I saw).

When I eventually found a dealership (I didn't give up!), saw the car, was treated politely, answered my questions, and I bought the car there and then :)

All the customer asks for is to be treated with a bit of respect - not some scum who's getting in their way whilst they try and get in the receptionist's knickers, and any resulting "service" is doing them a favour!

Dealers need to remember that without the customer they're fooked.

I'm sure there are some good dealers and salesmen, in their defence, but they are becoming fewer and far between :(
Most customers now walk into a dealership (and in all fairness, most other sales events) expecting to treated badly.

Doubt it happens in other countries - another example of Brits thinking they're hard done by :mad:

Any one see that US TV program on Bravo, "King of Cars" with Chop ?? About a Dodge dealership in Los Vegas ?? They go above and beyond to sell cars, literally running after the car of the customer as they drive in ! :-)

SBK