Scions Complete Lack of interest in AE86

[Slartibartfast]

I work at a Scion dealership, and I can tell you that most salespeople are NOT car enthusiasts. And for 99% of customers they don't need to be. Of the 15 salespeople we have, maybe two of them know what an AE86 is. That said, they are great at finding the right car for the people that come through the door. They may not know everything about the FR-S, but a good salesperson will find out for you. (That usually involves them tracking me down... Lol)

Also, in their defense, Toyota (Canada) has not yet offered training for the FR-S, and there is very little literature available from Toyota/Scion yet.

I completely agree that salespeople should know more about the history of Toyota's sports car heritage. But for a salesperson, it's more important to memorize the rear legroom of the Corolla.

We, in this forum, are enthusiasts. We're nuts about this stuff. We love it. We're freaks. It's our passion. (There was a 10+ page thread about the trunk liner the other day) We know more than the salespeople because we're fanatics! :-)

I should also say their are some great knowledgable salespeople out there too. When you find one, always go back to them. They will often be as excited as you when you pick up your car, because they know what it represents.

[7thgear]

Dealerships, just like any retail outlet, charge a premium for providing customer service. Which is all fine and dandy, consumers have enjoyed this business model for a long time... since the day of fur loin-cloths and mud huts.

However, some time around the mid 90s everything changed.

Retail outlets have traditionally been points of education for a consumer, who quite logically could not know anything about a product before its release. But now, the internet provides smart consumers with a giant vault of information for assimilation. Consumers who were interested about a product no longer have to listen to a sales man, they will educate themselves. At which point the only thing they want from a retailer is to sell them the thing, at the lowest price and as quickly as possible.


Luckily for retailers the general public is rather dense and still prefer the old fashioned way of doing things. As an example, this past weekend i was at the airport and there were two lines for check in. One traditional (where you let the luggage person process you) and one for "web/kiosk" users. The first one had about 100-120 people in it, the 2nd one had 10. To get into the short line all you had to do was use one of the 12 terminals RIGHT NEXT TO THE LINE to check yourself in... anyway i think you get the point of which route i took.


So since i can't buy a car from Toyota directly, i'm essentially being forced to use a retailer and pay a premium for the atmosphere of a car purchase. If i'm going to be charged more money than i could theoretically spend otherwise, THE VERY LEAST the dealership can do is keep up with me in terms of product knowledge, otherwise, what am i paying for?

Having a salesman know less than me, or in this particular case, nearly NOTHING about a car, makes me feel down right cheated, scammed and bamboozled.

Like buying crack from a local, reputable dealer while he's holding a clear plastic bag with an AJAX box inside , telling me they got the really good stuff. I know the crack is probably ALRIGHT, but you can't help but feel worried, gnomesane?

[Marloon]

[7thgear]

horse isn't dead... in fact, it hasn't even been born yet!

[Enemies]

Originally Posted by Marloon

[WingsofWar]

MMM some man heat love in this thread.

Right now Im in contact with a few dealers in Washington in both Scion Dealers and Subaru and only a hand full of sales reps among them know any sort of history and legacy of the FRS/BRZ.

This is not a bad thing! You see its not really that important! and sales reps deal with enthusiasts very little to have that knowledge memorized for every vehicle in their product lineup. What is important for sales reps is to know stats and most importantly how to translate what the customer wants in terms of comfort, safety, economy and price.

So i understand what you are saying OP. But if they seem a bit retarded in a subject they should know about their own product, don't knock on them because of it.

Should a hot dog vendor know where the hotdog he is selling was first made? how its made? and so on? or should a hot dog vendor know how much calories fat/carbs/protein each one has? or how to make the hot dog extra tasty for the customers. Some knowledge are more priority than others, doesn't mean its necessary to be all knowledgeable to a good hot dog vendor.

[Turbowned]

I'm with Slartibartfast on this one (awesome name by the way!).

I think we all need to be mindful of the fact that the auto industry as a whole represents approximately 25% of the GLOBAL ECONOMY. That's a lot of workers in the industry! There are far too many jobs in the industry to be taken up entirely by auto enthusiasts. I must admit being a car nut that I was very disappointed to start work at my first dealership (Toyota) to find that all but about 2 or 3 people including myself had zero passion for cars. Then I realized it's a common occurrence.

I'll reinforce what was already said: a salesman's job is to determine which car best meets your wants and needs, determine what colors and options you prefer, find the car in inventory that best matches those specifications, and offer alternatives if no options currently exist (i.e. substitute another color, locate one at another dealer, offer a factory order). Once the right vehicle has been selected, their job is to get you a price. That's it. Find the right car, get you the "best" price. And again it's already been said, a salesman will know much more about the cars that sell the most, not the ones that sell the least. A salesman's time should be first spent following up with customers, going on test drives, structuring finance and lease deals, and selling/delivering cars. If they have downtime to learn more about the product, great. But they all expect that anyone coming in the door will already know more about the car than we do, so all we have to do is smile and nod.

That being said, certain brands do offer more education about their product than others. At Audi, we are all required to do multiple hours of online and classroom training, learning the history and core values of the brand, where it's been and where it's going, and learning in minute detail all of the most important features and advantages of our vehicles. The national trainers are both car nuts like me; one has experience racing in his home country of Ireland, and the other is the daughter of a Porsche factory driver. They both follow Audi in ALMS and Le Mans competition, and know a great deal about Audi's past motorsports history. It's really in their blood!

Comparatively to become a Scion specialist, you have to watch a few videos about Scion's target demographic, how hip and cool Scion is, and play "arcade games" where you click on Scion's competition's cars to identify them. It's a f***ing joke.
Here are some lovely screenshots of the "training" for you. I'm sure you'll get just as pissed off as I did:






Oh yeah buddy, with that hat on I'm sure to take you seriously!

[colHolm]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

MMM some man heat love in this thread.

Right now Im in contact with a few dealers in Washington in both Scion Dealers and Subaru and only a hand full of sales reps among them know any sort of history and legacy of the FRS/BRZ.

This is not a bad thing! You see its not really that important! and sales reps deal with enthusiasts very little to have that knowledge memorized for every vehicle in their product lineup. What is important for sales reps is to know stats and most importantly how to translate what the customer wants in terms of comfort, safety, economy and price.

So i understand what you are saying OP. But if they seem a bit retarded in a subject they should know about their own product, don't knock on them because of it.

Should a hot dog vendor know where the hotdog he is selling was first made? how its made? and so on? or should a hot dog vendor know how much calories fat/carbs/protein each one has? or how to make the hot dog extra tasty for the customers. Some knowledge are more priority than others, doesn't mean its necessary to be all knowledgeable to a good hot dog vendor.

I want a hot dog now.

[mattles]

ouch, as a part of gen y that last one is particularly offensive. I will say though I do prefer a car thats fun to drive. However, being fun to drive for me may not be fun to drive for the next guy, its incredibly subjective depending on if your target audience is a car enthusiast or not.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

MMM some man heat love in this thread.

Right now Im in contact with a few dealers in Washington in both Scion Dealers and Subaru and only a hand full of sales reps among them know any sort of history and legacy of the FRS/BRZ.

This is not a bad thing! You see its not really that important! and sales reps deal with enthusiasts very little to have that knowledge memorized for every vehicle in their product lineup. What is important for sales reps is to know stats and most importantly how to translate what the customer wants in terms of comfort, safety, economy and price.

So i understand what you are saying OP. But if they seem a bit retarded in a subject they should know about their own product, don't knock on them because of it.

Should a hot dog vendor know where the hotdog he is selling was first made? how its made? and so on? or should a hot dog vendor know how much calories fat/carbs/protein each one has? or how to make the hot dog extra tasty for the customers. Some knowledge are more priority than others, doesn't mean its necessary to be all knowledgeable to a good hot dog vendor.

But these same clueless dealers are also trying to tack on document fees.

So they don't know what they are selling AND are trying to get paid twice for the only part of their job that they can maybe do.

It's not about having a wonderful, ball-fluffing buying experience for everyone. It's about not having a terrible one. I can't help but think of the Fry 'Shut up and take my money' pic. But except in a frustrated way. I will be aware the whole time that a clueless sycophant is making commission money off of my passion and knowledge, I will not be happy.

The drive home better be epic.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by WingsofWar

Should a hot dog vendor know where the hotdog he is selling was first made? how its made? and so on? or should a hot dog vendor know how much calories fat/carbs/protein each one has? or how to make the hot dog extra tasty for the customers. Some knowledge are more priority than others, doesn't mean its necessary to be all knowledgeable to a good hot dog vendor.

sure

but have you ever felt good about buying hotdogs at Airports or Sports Arenas?

They try to justify the cost, saying things like convenience, helping you enjoy your favorite game, adding to the atmosphere. They do this with big smiling faces but the only thing on your mind is how the hell are you willingly paying 10 bucks for a 50cent, store-bought wiener.