Is it just me that it bothers me to see people sell car/parts in suits?
 

So I was watching some SEMA video and I see the people introducing their products in a suit. Then something popped in my mind.. It really bothered me that I see them in suits and not really knowing what they were talking about. I really would rather have my sales person at a dealership to be a mechanic. Someone who knows about a car they are selling.

Maybe it wouldn't be bothering me as much if they were dressed in normal clothes, it might make me think they are not ripping me off to buy more fancy suits.

What do you think?

The salesperson that sold me mine wore a really, really tight sweater with a low neckline and short but classy skirt. Unfortunately I have run out of semi valid excuses to go back and visit without bordering on stalking!
Don't think there was a suit in sight in the whole dealership though,
What do you classify as "normal cloths"? Believe it or not, even now, suits are "normal cloths" for many people.
There is a list showing the average age of new car buyers on another thread and currently it runs at around 50 years old (even for Scions). To this age group wearing a suit still represents professionalism even if the practice is dying off.
Not sure how I would respond if a salesman wearing a GWAR tee shirt and worn out shorts approached me and asked "Whatca lookn' for Dude?"

In my dealership, one toyota in norcal, the sales actually wore red polo(dealership sign color) and dress pant. I really prefer that a lot more.

I really preferred the tight sweater and short skirt but ya the guys at mine all had polo shirts and khakis.
Now at the Lexus dealer that was attached they all had suits on.

I'm sure I would love the tight skirts too ("wink") but unfortunately I didn't see any female salesperson

The suits worry me because i wonder , how many are failed lawyers , accountants , directors or politicians.
Especially during the hot aussie summer.

Or how many are just normal guys in $50 off the shelf suits.

Nah. Guys look lousy in tight sweaters and short skirts. :thumbdown:

Ya that is true!

Wow, I have never seen a guy dress in that manner

Neither have I thank god! And pretty sure I never want to in person.

I agree. Not a fan of suits in car dealerships or anywhere for that matter. Suits remind me of attorneys. Think about it. Suits. Lawsuits. Suits also remind me of politians ... Which are typically attorneys.

If I see suits at a dealership ... I just think pretentious shits. Especially at a Lexus dealership. I've walked into Ferrari and Audi places where the staff wear professional attire rather than stuffy suits.

yeah i dont really trust a guy in a suit. last guy who sold me a car was wearing a blue polo shirt. but if he was wearing a GWAR shirt, i'd probably high-five him and buy the car anyway lol

I prefer being sold a car by a mechanic/technician that has a passion for cars rather than a suit that studied business.

That being said, my salesman had the motorsport gleam in his eye and that was much appreciated. (Also, just khakis and a polo)

I would buy cars from these guys no matter what they were wearing.

http://i.imgur.com/i82TEQg.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yrtK3IO.jpg

bahahahahahaahahaahah

She's prolly tired of you asking her to demo how to get in and out of an FR-S, too.

What do mean you want me to take you on another test drive? You have had the car for 4 months!

Really depends, walking into a luxury dealership Id expect a little step up in terms of clothing they wear. Similar to when you walk into a fancy restaurant you wouldn't expect them to bring you a lobster in cut off shorts , flip flops and a tank. On another note some mechanics are the biggest thieves I've ever met. I think you might just have a stigma against a suit..

In something like Lexus it probably would make sense to wear a suit but I assume 95% of the buyers on a weekend with their family in the dealership would probably be wearing tshirts and jeans.

Imagine yourself walking in a dealership where everyone is wearing a suit, you and your family are wearing casual tshirts and jeans. Of course they won't give you the look because you are their valuable customer but you would feel uncomfortable by the atmosphere.

It's similar to walking in a fancy restaurant dressed casually.

In the UK it is the norm for the front of house staff in car dealerships to be suited & booted. It's not uncomfortable - they're at work and wanting to present a professional appearance to the customer, you. Some of the luxury dealerships get a little snotty if you're in casuals but it's there loss as you simply go to another one. Sometimes it's the whole dealership but other times it's a particular sales exec. It's always funny walking into a dealership for the cars break-in service & saying 'hi' to the salesman who got all snotty at you.

Nice perspective of the original analogy, I guess I agree to some extent but often I think it really depends on the level of comfortability? I know a lot of indian people who go in wearing their business's uniform on and dont mind at all. Different strokes I guess!

other than a female(more you show, the more I'll buy), how many of you are being "tricked" by someone in a suit?

Wearing nice clothes/suit is professional. You wanna see a new product shown off by a dirty mechanic? Would that complete the fantasy for you?

[QUOTE=Shutter;2026603]other than a female(more you show, the more I'll buy), QUOTE]
Did the rest of you guys not pay $45K for your cars???????
HMMMMM maybe I can go in tomorrow and ask her to show me how to turn on the heated mirrors.

[quote=Tcoat;2026630]haha. Do it.

and bring pens. Lots of pens.

And keep dropping them, ask her to be a sweetie and pick them up.

[quote=Shutter;2026674] Don't need to as that is creepy!
Just need to keep learning about the features in my lowered car is fine (still creepy but I am ok with that)

sad to see that people associate suits and stiffs. Class > Swag.

suits > polo and dress pants. The latter screams, "I work a retail or low service job".

Yet then again our global double standard has preferred women's dress as more business-like than not in most upper service/retail environments

I'm surprised no one has asked you to point a dashcam in your car for your next dealer visit yet.

As long as she isn't reading all this!!!!!!!!! If so just jokes N!
I did give the site to their sales force so they could be a bit better informed.

For me, it isn't what you wear but how you wear it. I've been to BMW dealers where the salesman was wearing a cheap suit that hadn't been cleaned or pressed in a couple of weeks and was too big for him. He was in his 30's but looked like he was borrowing his dad's suit.

I went to a Hyundai dealer where the salesman was wearing a light blue Hyundai embroidered polo shirt and khakis. The khakis were down around his butt and his shirt was just barely tucked in and would have run out of fabric to tuck if he didn't hold his pants up as he walked. I didn't trust or want to talk to either of these guys. My Scion dealer had pressed dress slacks and a clean white dress shirt. He was polite and admitted that he didn't know as much about the FR-S as I did so he laughed and stood back saying he'll try his best to answer any questions. I appreciated his honesty and that he knew the best way to sell me a car was to not say anything stupid.

On that same note, my parents had a bar several years ago that closed down. They liquidated everything, the tables and chairs they sold to a church while the bar itself was bought by some bikers who started a Harley maintenance shop and wanted to install a hangout for the club. The church gave a huge run around "I'll pick it up Thurs.", "Ok I couldn't make it yesterday but I'll come next Friday.", when they did show up they didn't have the full amount of money with them and wanted to pay us the rest later. Had to keep following up and drive out to them to get the full amount. They never had a good reason like "we don't have the money because we used it to feed the homeless", they were just clean cut bad people.

The bikers settled on a price, showed up with a truck and 10 guys with tools. They arrived on the agreed day, at the agreed time, disassembled the bar themselves, loaded it into their truck and were off. I couldn't think of a single negative thing to say about them, they even asked if they should sweep the dust they left from the dis assembly!

If you don't like a salesman in a suit, I think it is likely that your initial reaction is caution around the suit, and then their douchebaggery confirms your suspicion.

You have to remember that most of these companies at SEMA are major corporations, or components of major corporations, and need to present themselves as professionals. A lot of those guys you see in suits at SEMA aren't just sales/marketing, there are quite a few engineers there too. Plus, many salesmen/marketers in the auto industry are true automotive enthusiasts too. I should know, because I was working AAPEX/SEMA wearing a suit and I am incredibly passionate about cars.

You can tell a lot about someone who takes pride in their appearance and professional demeanor. That sort of person is probably someone who takes pride in the quality of their product as well. I think you're letting the used car salesman in a cheap suit and rich dude in an expensive suit, who scams people out of their money before driving off in his Ferrari, get the better of your judgement.

I'm sorry, but your generalization is incredibly baseless and ignorant.

don't apologize for telling it how it is! ^

I agree with @that_one_guy wholeheartedly.. it isn't about what you wear, but how you wear it

I think a lot of people confuse hating a suit with hating a **** in a suit. A knowledgeable polite and genuine guy will pull off a $50 Macy's suit way better than a scum bag in a $1,200 boutique suit. Like I said before, its possible that a person sees you in a suit and thinks "oh boy, here we go..." but if you are a genuine guy, that feeling will fade quickly.

I recently saw a quote somewhere that said, "A man in a suit is to a woman, what a woman in a bikini is to a man." Can we put together a classy car meet? We all get dressed up for cocktails (responsible drinking only!!!), maybe even make it a networking event? Sorry, just a random thought I had just now...:offtopic:

Oh, I completely agree. However, the OP's view seems to be that anyone in a suit at SEMA is nothing more than an uneducated grifter trying to pitch you a product he doesn't really know about or has any passion for. That's what I was making my point against.

There are plenty of guys in cheap suits who are great guys, and rich dudes in expensive suits who are scumbags. Hell, the suit I normally wear is $150 thing from H&M (even though I own a couple of really nice and expensive suits as well).

And I'm totally down for a fancy car meet. I actually enjoy wearing a suit. As the quote you mentioned says, girls like a guy in a suit. Or, translated for some of the less classy folks out there: I'ma wear a suit for that bitch. Bitches love suits. ;)

The very worst in my view are the guys that won't commit one way or the other.
You know what I mean! The golf shirt, dress pants and mismatched sports coat. Or the dirty jeans, running shoes nice pressed collared dress shirt.

Like you said it works both ways when talking about a clothing/lifestyle based bias.
Back in 08 my wife and I were doing some yard work and had to run out for some supplies. I was wearing dirty jeans and an old Rage Against the Machine concert tee and she was only slightly better dressed.
After getting our stuff we passed the local Mitsu dealer and up on a ramp, in all it's shining glory, was the new model, blue Lancer GTS. As we were already at that end of town, my 03 Lancer had a bazillion miles on it and my wife had the basest of base model Outlanders I said let's stop and take a look.
She heads over and starts looking at the top line Outlander GT and I am drooling over the new design of the Lancer. So I start looking for a salesman and finely spot two leaning against the counter chatting and watching us like we are trying to steal parts off the cars.
I ask if they want to sell cars or talk about their lunch and one comes over obviously thinking he is wasting his time.
We tell him what we want (both top of the line GTs) and he just looks at me and says "you know how much that will cost?" and tried to steer us toward the lower models. I said "no these are what we want".
By this time I was getting pretty pissed at his attitude but wanted that car damn it!
So we start to do up some paperwork to at least start the bank approval (still needed to do trade in values even though he had set a price I found acceptable) and he asks for income numbers.
Well ... at the time I made just under six figures and my wife made about 75% of what I did so it was a pretty high number in total.
Once I told him our incomes there was a very abrupt change in his whole personality. All of a sudden coffee appeared, he wanted to show us the features of the cars and could not do enough for us. In fact he changed so much that no matter how bad I wanted the car I was not going to buy it from him! We took up a bit more of his time and when he said sign here I just said "Nope I think we will shop around a bit more" and got up and left. My wife thought I had lost my mind.
Went back the next day (all cleaned up and dressed better) and when he came over wagging like a little puppy I just walked past him to another sales person that had not been there the day before and told them what we were after. We completed the deal (even better then the one he had offered) and he never saw a penny out of me.
Now if I had shown up in my office casual cloths I am sure we would have been treated totally different right from the start.

Very recent! As recently as post #7 in this thread!
I would really enjoy a "formal" themed meet! It would frek people right out and probably be the only one that I could ever get the wife to come out for (she loves to dress up).
Don't see it happening anyplace close to me though.

You're only 7 hours from me! We could do a spring formal meet in Kalamazoo at the Bell's Brewery! :cheers:

:bonk: Haha, I was thinking it was a post on facebook. I've got the memory of a goldfish so I'm not surprised that I JUST read it and act like I read it two weeks ago...:slap:

Well we are all too far to organize a classy meet, so maybe we'll start a picture thread for classy 86ers?! Post a pic of you in your suit/tux/dress/gown? I'll give extra points for anyone in a whiteout wearing a white tux attending P-Diddy's white party. Nothing classier than that!