Car Sales / Showrooms etc

Richie

Richie

Richie

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After a few different posts on here and elsewhere I thought I'd see what people's thoughts were on the whole Car Sales area. In particular I am referring to the "professional" side i.e. not private sales.

Are car sales people and showrooms still needed or should we now have moved to an online type of experience a'la Amazon etc??

I dont have a definitive opinion yet... I am throwing this out to the forum to see points I may have not thought about but I do think perhaps a bit more modernisation is needed both for the public but also for the people that work in these places...


Have at it Motors :D :D
 
After recent dealings with a Fiat salesman after I made an enquiry about an abarth 595 competizione I'd rather they got rid but they won't. I made it quite apparent I wasn't interested anymore and the guy was either sending me an email or ringing me multiple times a day for weeks on end.
 
Used a showroom to test drive ... tried to haggle on a price but didnt get close to what i wanted , ended up using a broker to get almost £7K off list price.

Im on the hunt for the next car for the other half using the same combo. I visited a dealer this weekend , but they didnt have the model that i wanted to look at, plus no effort at all to try and get it or talk me into another model which they have on display.

There is still a need imo for a showroom , i.e the point above for test driving , looking at the motor physically etc etc , but they do need to up their game or ill just take my business elsewhere.
 
It's going online. The big question is how/if the retailer network plays a part in fulfilment. It's largely a political/legal issue, not a technical one.
 
A luxurious showroom probably adds quite a bit of overhead, which means dealers are unable to knock their prices down much.

I would imagine for most people that they'd rather have just a very basic looking showroom and be able to get a decent discount. Than some fancy looking showroom and not getting any discount.

For high-end manufacturers, this becomes less relevant.
 
If they weren't needed / didn't work - they wouldn't exist.

When you're looking for a new car, it's handy to be able to see one in the flesh.
 
I'm not the type to go buying cars from a posh dealer anyway so that side of it doesn't bother me.

I do however find it frustrating that manufacturers don't seem to have any interest in putting their parts systems online and allowing joe public to buy genuine parts online. If I want to know how much a genuine part costs I've no option but to speak to someone at a dealers.
 
Do people not test drive cars anymore?

I would only buy online after giving all the models I like a test drive and then picking one from that experience.
 
My experience of big car dealerships is not great. I've found many of the sales men and women will flat out lie about things to start with (car spec/options/etc).

I accompanied a friend who was test driving a few BMW's and the 'BMW Genius' lad who was sat with us said the 520d is a 'lovely v6 engine' - which I immediately pulled him up on and he just shrugged...

The Mercedes dealers seem more focused on getting a tarty receptionist to make you a drink than anything else.

It really boils down to the people in the dealership. Ultimately though you can have the whole dealership experience, and then go home and order the car via lease or broker, so it's win/win really.
 
They are still needed. I'm not sure why anyone would go and buy a car without test driving it, and having a chance to look around it.

That's not to say that they can't have a huge amount of cars in storage, which are advertised on the internet, which they then bring out onto the forecourt when someone enquires and comes to look at it.
 
Maundie said:
Do people not test drive cars anymore?

I would only buy online after giving all the models I like a test drive and then picking one from that experience.
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This is part of the problem though.

My brother works in a Jag dealership and he's mentioned the sales guys won't even give you the time of the day if they feel that they won't get a sale out of you.

The classic seems to be people who get company cars, and obviously want to test drive a few models before choosing one. As soon as you've mentioned that, you're swiftly escorted from the showroom. Frankly i can see why, why would they spend time/money on effectively time-wasters when there will never be a sale there.
 
Semple said:
This is part of the problem though.

My brother works in a Jag dealership and he's mentioned the sales guys won't even give you the time of the day if they feel that they won't get a sale out of you.

The classic seems to be people who get company cars, and obviously want to test drive a few models before choosing one. As soon as you've mentioned that, you're swiftly escorted from the showroom. Frankly i can see why, why would they spend time/money on effectively time-wasters when there will never be a sale there.
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It's a very shortsighted mindset, though. Perhaps they're not buyers today, but when they do want a new car for themselves, you can bet they won't go back to the dealership that treated them badly!
 
Had fun turning up to dealers trying to get a drive in the GT86 in a 7 year old hatchback, none of them would take me seriously. All 3 of the dealers had one in their showroom on display but their demo was "owned" by a staff member who was never in so getting a drive was difficult. Eventually I managed to get a test at all 3 dealers, but one was weeks after I first asked and I had already put a deposit down to buy from a dealer who actually offered money off instead of just saying "list price is list price"... but that still took over an hour of negotiating because they were trying to charge extra for included features.

Then come the sales calls, which when you've asked 3 dealers for cars you seem to get 3x as many. They lie about discounts or test drive availability to get you back into the showroom, constant "manager's discount" event leaflets posted out using words I don't think even DFS would use to describe their sale.

However if you own a 3 year old car that looks like it cost a bit new, trying to get a test drive anywhere else seems a lot easier because they assume you have the cash and run the car on PCP (I'd paid it off already) so you're happy to change it in for anything as long as the monthly figure looks right.

Research beforehand, get a WBAC quote for your trade in and a CarWow quote for the new one. If the figures they offer after the test drive don't come anywhere close then get out ASAP otherwise the pressure tactics usually kick in.
 
I think they have a place but need to pick up the discounts more, I only have experience with BMW who were to be fair really good about test drives and letting you look at the cars but fell down on what they actually knew about the options and the deal they could do.
If you walk into a dealer the discount they say can be offered is the "dealer contribution" of a couple of thousand on the car but if you know what your doing you can get around 20%+
The fact that two people can walk in and buy the same car for such different amounts is wrong really, the best deal should be the best deal.
I know having a showroom costs a fair amount and in BMW's case i'm pretty sure this showroom has to be to a certain standard but the disparity in price of two walk in customers is appalling.
 
Car Salespeople should really be renamed Finance Salespeople based on my recent experience as they were far more interested and knowledgeable about their finance packages than they were about the car. I ended up walking out of a BMW Dealership as I was fed up with being talked down to by someone with zero knowledge of financial situation who couldn't stop recommending stupid deals.

The only one that didn't infuriate me were Lexus, who as usual offered fantastic, subtle & knowledgeable service. Just a shame I didn't like the car.
 
Basher said:
It's a very shortsighted mindset, though. Perhaps they're not buyers today, but when they do want a new car for themselves, you can bet they won't go back to the dealership that treated them badly!
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Yep it's a fair comment, but i can't see any sales guy in the country willing to accept a "what if they come back in 10 years time to buy one themselves".

Most are so commission-driven that they probably don't actually care about whether someone might come back in another 5 years time - they might not even work there anymore.
 
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