Clueless dealers do the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ no favors

[bcj]

Originally Posted by JoeSubaru

SMH...

I sell Subies for a living, I'd like to think I know my product pretty well...

I'll acknowledge that *some* salespersons know their stuff.

When I did my test drive the salesdroid thought that the really cool thing about the 86s was that they run on regular gasoline.

There's just no hope for them.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

I totally get your POV, I never sold a car but I have had quite a few friends that have spent time in the automotive sales industry. I think the issue that the majority of people posting in this thread is dealing with pompous sales people that instead of saying



say



I respect salesperson #1 a lot more than salesperson #2. My experience was a decent one, the saleswoman didn't know much about the car other than research she did through the purchase process, but she got the "enthusiast" element of my desire to buy the car (her husband has had a love affair with Mustangs for decades). She was also willing to admit when she didn't know something, and got back to me fairly quickly with answers. I was also fortunate that the guy that did my financial I had previous dealings with (he had been recently promoted from service rep), so the normal BS he would throw at me was left off after a "Are you interested in any of the other stuff? No? Ok, good, moving on..."

Lastly, in my experience, there are Three (3) types of car salespeople--Those who care about the cars, those who sell the cars, and people who just need the job. In that order is the level to which they "know" or care about the product beyond an income stream. Unfortunately, those people that care about the cars are usually the shortest-lived in the position and become jaded very quickly. With the day and age we live in (the internet age), I think a Tesla-style experience, with minimal interaction with a sales force, is what people really want.

There are also a shitload of people complaining about salesmen here that know way less than they think they do and even if the salesman was totally correct they would say he didn't know anything.
Hell, we can't get 4 people to agree on facts between ourselves sometimes so the sales guys don't stand a chance.

[JoeSubaru]

I totally get that there are clueless salespeople out there.

I try my hardest not to be "that" guy.

I am passionate about my product and love what I sell (except for the Hybrid lol)

Hearing these stories does make me feel good about how I do my job, and the way I approach selling cars.

[obscene_gesture]

Personally, I've never needed a salesperson to be knowledgeable about the car I was shopping for. I do most of my research online or at car shows way before I set foot in a dealership. However, even for me it improves the buying experience when the sales staff are educated and enthusiastic about the product especially if it's a sports car. Instead of purely negotiating the purchase of the car and going through all the paperwork, which can be stressful, you can have a fun conversation about what you can do with the car.

There are two other things I do before I go to test drive a car.

1. Ask friends and family about their opinions of different dealerships. Online reviews of dealerships haven't really matched up with my own experiences.

2. Request quotes via email for the out the door price of the models the dealership has in stock. This does two things:

First, which is most relevant to this thread, I think it shows the dealer that you're a serious shopper and not someone who will just to take an 86 for a quick spin. Now this is my own personal opinion on that. Maybe, in reality, this doesn't make an impression on the dealer, so take that with a grain of salt.

Second, it tells you which dealerships are going to be up-front with you and which ones are going to mess around with you when it's time to make the purchase. A bad dealership will email you back with canned responses and be evasive when you reiterate your request for a quote. A good dealership will send you back and a non-canned email response and/or call you with some questions before giving you a quote. A better dealership will just send you the quote via email immediately without needing to ask you any questions.

It's also a good idea to read the fine print of any quote or any ad they've posted online. Some of the sucky Scion dealerships will include the Toyota college or military discount in their price. The really sucky ones have the outrageous $99 or more nitrogen fee. I don't know if Subaru dealerships have the same sort of shenanigans.

All that being said, the dealership that responded the best to my quote inquiry happened to be the place I had bought my Prius from a while back. As with my previous experience there, they just handed me the key to the car and let me drive off on my own. Maybe it had helped that I had contacted them ahead of time to show my interest. Maybe they're just a cool dealership to deal with and it didn't matter.