Can't Stand the Dealers

[CelicaJoe]

Okay I know there's a thousand forums about how awful the dealers are, but seriously, is there anyway to have a semi decent time when you go? I went to both a Scion and a Subaru dealer really just to look at the cars and ask a couple questions (both were on my home from work) and both places shrugged me off and treated me like I was 5.

Scion was first up, I was greeted immediately by 7 or 8 workers lounging outside by their pointing at me and sneering in the most rude manner possible. Then one of them approached me and said "Looking to trade in that piece of junk for a new car?" at which point I wanted to run him over. He proceeded to tell me about their brand new frs, how it is superior to all of it's previous models and a bunch of incorrect information (This car only has 200 hp, but you'll be surprised when you launch past every mustang on the street). Then he informed me, without my asking, that I didn't have a chance at trying to test drive one because another "mindless kid your age scraped the curb a few months ago in one of these and I'm not taking the chance that you'll be just as stupid as he was." As soon as he said that I left.

But hey, some people are just rude, and the subaru dealer was literally a street down. I figured I'd go there instead. Not a single person would even talk to me for the first 15 minutes. Then when one guy walked by and I grabbed him real quick he smiled and said "where's your parents, little one?". I get it, I'm 19 and young, but I don't look 7. After a lot of the stuff that happened at the Scion dealer began to repeat I just said, "Sorry but I should be going" and he muttered under his breath waste of time, and then smiled and waved to me. On the way out I saw him motion a few of his coworkers and I watched through the window as he pointed over at me and shook his head.

Guess I ranted on about that a lot longer than I thought, but come on. I'm trying to seriously look into buying soon and I can't be taken seriously anywhere I go. Besides, isn't this car marketed towards the younger crowd?

[Veloist]

Come to California I'll let you test drive a BRZ, my dad will let you test drive an FR-S.

What makes your experience different is the personality of the salesperson. One person may not have the same experience as another person if they're talking about the same dealership because they dealt with two different sales consultants.

I'm 22 years old but I take every customer seriously. I've gone on a lot of BRZ test drives and I don't even take the dealership route...I take them to the twisty roads because that's where you truly experience the car.

If a person doesn't want to buy the car, all I do is give them my business card and wait for them to call me. I don't even ask for their number unless they ask me if I want it.

Everyone is different. It's too bad you're out in Florida. I'm positive I could give you an experience you'd never expect especially since I'm an enthusiast for the car

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by CelicaJoe

Okay I know there's a thousand forums about how awful the dealers are, but seriously, is there anyway to have a semi decent time when you go? I went to both a Scion and a Subaru dealer really just to look at the cars and ask a couple questions (both were on my home from work) and both places shrugged me off and treated me like I was 5.

Scion was first up, I was greeted immediately by 7 or 8 workers lounging outside by their pointing at me and sneering in the most rude manner possible. Then one of them approached me and said "Looking to trade in that piece of junk for a new car?" at which point I wanted to run him over. He proceeded to tell me about their brand new frs, how it is superior to all of it's previous models and a bunch of incorrect information (This car only has 200 hp, but you'll be surprised when you launch past every mustang on the street). Then he informed me, without my asking, that I didn't have a chance at trying to test drive one because another "mindless kid your age scraped the curb a few months ago in one of these and I'm not taking the chance that you'll be just as stupid as he was." As soon as he said that I left.

But hey, some people are just rude, and the subaru dealer was literally a street down. I figured I'd go there instead. Not a single person would even talk to me for the first 15 minutes. Then when one guy walked by and I grabbed him real quick he smiled and said "where's your parents, little one?". I get it, I'm 19 and young, but I don't look 7. After a lot of the stuff that happened at the Scion dealer began to repeat I just said, "Sorry but I should be going" and he muttered under his breath waste of time, and then smiled and waved to me. On the way out I saw him motion a few of his coworkers and I watched through the window as he pointed over at me and shook his head.

Guess I ranted on about that a lot longer than I thought, but come on. I'm trying to seriously look into buying soon and I can't be taken seriously anywhere I go. Besides, isn't this car marketed towards the younger crowd?

Well if you are up for a 20 hours drive my dealer will take care of you. There are good and bad in everything and you may just of had the crappy luck to hit the bad ones each time.

[CelicaJoe]

Originally Posted by Veloist

Come to California I'll let you test drive a BRZ, my dad will let you test drive an FR-S.

What makes your experience different is the personality of the salesperson. One person may not have the same experience as another person if they're talking about the same dealership because they dealt with two different sales consultants.

I'm 22 years old but I take every customer seriously. I've gone on a lot of BRZ test drives and I don't even take the dealership route...I take them to the twisty roads because that's where you truly experience the car.

If a person doesn't want to buy the car, all I do is give them my business card and wait for them to call me. I don't even ask for their number unless they ask me if I want it.

Everyone is different. It's too bad you're out in Florida. I'm positive I could give you an experience you'd never expect especially since I'm an enthusiast for the car

That's what I was truly hoping for! Finding someone that really has a love for the car. I remember a little bit ago my parents were in the market for a new car and the person that was showing them knew every little detail about it and just raved and raved about how happy he was with his. He even showed us his car. I know there's good salesmen out there but I'm astounded that some are this bad.

[DemonRawr]

Sweet Jesus! I mean, I knew there were a-hole dealerships out there, but the ones you've encounter has to be some of the shittiest experiences from just trying to check out the vehicles. At this point, I would just forget them and find other dealerships that are ACTUALLY willing to work with you. Good luck!

[Turbo95eg6]

Originally Posted by CelicaJoe

I'm trying to seriously look into buying soon and I can't be taken seriously anywhere I go.

The key word is "soon", you're 19 and not ready. They see this a mile away, next time bring a parent.

[CelicaJoe]

Originally Posted by Turbo95eg6

The key word is "soon", you're 19 and not ready. They see this a mile away, next time bring a parent.

I'd actually still be 19 when I buy this car. But all I was trying to do was have a conversation with the people, not anything crazy. If I wanted to I could've walked away with the car that day as well because I have enough saved up. I'm just trying to save 6 months to a year of payments for security. But my parents live quite some distance away and also don't agree with me buying a different car so it would be nearly impossible to bring them.

[pinski]

Originally Posted by CelicaJoe

Guess I ranted on about that a lot longer than I thought, but come on. I'm trying to seriously look into buying soon and I can't be taken seriously anywhere I go. Besides, isn't this car marketed towards the younger crowd?

At your age, I got similar reactions from dealers. It just goes with the territory. It doesn't make it right, but they see hundreds of flakes that act interested and then just want to tear up a new car.

Just curious about a couple things:

What's your Celica like? Is it clean and in good shape?
You said you came on your way home from work - what were you wearing?

Those things shouldn't matter, but they do.

My recommendation would be to find a third dealer, preferably one from the Whitelist on this forum, one that has the exact car you want to buy, if you like it. Contact them through the internet, leave a phone number or email addy (as long as your email addy isn't ballaboi696969@aol.com, or something else idiotic). When they get back with you, tell them what you want and set an appointment.

Arrive on time, your car clean (it'll increase its trade value, potentially) and dress somewhat nicely, like nice pants and a polo or button up.

If you can, arrange financing ahead of time that you're comfortable with, if you need it. That'll also reduce the chance of shenanigans once you hit the F&I office in the dealer.

Don't go if you're only wanting to beat on the car or aren't ready to buy today as you'll only reinforce the negative stereotype you've been experiencing.

[HunterGreene]

#ThisiswhyFloridaSucks

I know at a couple of dealerships I have been at, both salespeople would have been fired pretty damn quickly if you had gone to talk to a GM after that. I would have asked to speak to an actual sales professional were I in your shoes, not some know-nothing who just works at the dealership for the discount.

I'm not in car sales, but I can tell you that insulting your customer and their car as soon as they drive up is just a pure recipe for failure.

[CelicaJoe]

Originally Posted by pinski

At your age, I got similar reactions from dealers. It just goes with the territory. It doesn't make it right, but they see hundreds of flakes that act interested and then just want to tear up a new car.

Just curious about a couple things:

What's your Celica like? Is it clean and in good shape?
You said you came on your way home from work - what were you wearing?

Those things shouldn't matter, but they do.

My recommendation would be to find a third dealer, preferably one from the Whitelist on this forum, one that has the exact car you want to buy, if you like it. Contact them through the internet, leave a phone number or email addy (as long as your email addy isn't ballaboi696969@aol.com, or something else idiotic). When they get back with you, tell them what you want and set an appointment.

Arrive on time, your car clean (it'll increase its trade value, potentially) and dress somewhat nicely, like nice pants and a polo or button up.

If you can, arrange financing ahead of time that you're comfortable with, if you need it. That'll also reduce the chance of shenanigans once you hit the F&I office in the dealer.

Don't go if you're only wanting to beat on the car or aren't ready to buy today as you'll only reinforce the negative stereotype you've been experiencing.

It's in fairly good shape with the exception of the drivers door, but that door was always facing away from them so there wasn't a chance they could've seen it. I was wearing my work uniform which consisted of gray button up shirt (no tie) and black pants. I'm not too upset about them not taking me seriously as I understand for my age, what I'm upset about was their rude tone and insulting comments they threw at me every other sentence. No matter where you work that's not allowed, especially in a job where your pay largely depends on your friendliness. If I were to ever speak to a customer like that I'd be fired immediately.
But thanks for the tips!

[CelicaJoe]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

#ThisiswhyFloridaSucks

I know at a couple of dealerships I have been at, both salespeople would have been fired pretty damn quickly if you had gone to talk to a GM after that. I would have asked to speak to an actual sales professional were I in your shoes, not some know-nothing who just works at the dealership for the discount.

I'm not in car sales, but I can tell you that insulting your customer and their car as soon as they drive up is just a pure recipe for failure.

Hey, Cleveland! That's where I'm from!
That's exactly how I feel. I'm always on the edge about complaining to management because I don't like to think they deserve to lose their job over something so insignificant, but at the same time they should have some common courtesy. Their personalities were simply distasteful.

[xrs]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

#ThisiswhyFloridaSucks

I know at a couple of dealerships I have been at, both salespeople would have been fired pretty damn quickly if you had gone to talk to a GM after that. I would have asked to speak to an actual sales professional were I in your shoes, not some know-nothing who just works at the dealership for the discount.

I'm not in car sales, but I can tell you that insulting your customer and their car as soon as they drive up is just a pure recipe for failure.

Don't count on that bro. As my sales manager at the dealership I used to work at says, "Shit runs downhill." Chances are that he gets a lot of that attitude from the people he works with which includes management. I fortunately got to work with an awesome management team and great GM and that trickled down to the rest of the team. This resulted in high sales with high customer satisfaction ratings.

[xrs]

Originally Posted by pinski

At your age, I got similar reactions from dealers. It just goes with the territory. It doesn't make it right, but they see hundreds of flakes that act interested and then just want to tear up a new car.

LOL, it's definitely tough to not pre-judge but to have an attitude like that is uncalled for. I remember my sales manager tossing me a 89 year old man looking at an RX-8 thinking he was a secret shopper. I did my thing, took my time to show him the car, took him for a test drive, and he ended up buying it that day. They were only expecting me to re-iterate how our dealership did business (we were one of the first dealerships to have a pre-negotiated non-commission business model in our area at the time), then pretty much show him the door.

[ryoma]

if someone acted like that to me, I would have gone out of my way to make sure they no longer worked at that dealership. how do people like that even get into a customer orientated job in the first place? it's ridiculous