Oh what am I saying of course the personalized service at a Mercedes or Lexus dealer is exactly the same as it is at the Chevy place. Profit does show up in the level of service, wether or not your salesman cares about you enough to give that service is really up to you to determine before you sign on the line. Taking the car to a dealer other than the one you bought it from will surely make fro a very generic experience.
You are right a service writer does not know what was paid for the car, unless the salesman is making his clients service appointments for him and telling the writer "hey this is a good one, make certain they are handled with care" which is how I handled my customers visits to service, I always knew when they would be in and what the status of thier situation was so I could head off probelms or delays before they happened. I have given my customers my car for the day if they could not get a rental because thier repairs are not rental covered. I have dropped clients off at airports because they needed to leave thier car in service, made extra keys and paid for them out of my pocket, drove to a customer who ran out of gas because of a broken fuel guage, sent xmas and birthday gifts, etc. Would you do these things for the guy who grinded away the last 25$ of profit in your product and kept you off the sales floor for 4 hours. Hmmm nope. My customers have taken my wife and I out to dinner after thier sales experience and sent xmas and birthday gifts to me. Making the experience pleasant is not hard but it takes somthing from both sides of the table to accomplish it. You say you can go to any of a thousand dealers, well that is true but no matter which one you go to I can assure you they nor your salesman will be willing to go the extra mile for you if they made 100$ on a product that costs 40 grand...

The salesman may be seen as an employee of the dealer, but in reality he is self employed. A good salesman looks out for the interests of his clients, in the end that is who he works for, the dealer only counts out his cut of the sale, the money still comes from the customer. Your salesman is the guy who stands between you and the faceless dealer, he is your ambassador and he does not work for free. I will say it again, choose carefully and if your saleman does not measure up don't be afraid to ask for someone else to help you.

 

And, in this corner, the dealers point of view. There are times when not selling the vehicle is far better than selling the vehicle. I'm not sure what you meant by "I am usually not pleasant to negotiate with," but we do pleasant at our store. If the initial negotiations start out on an unfriendly or argumentative note, it's time to cut our losses and run the other direction. Why? Because past experience tells us that it won't get any better if you do hand the keys over- the service nightmares have just begun. Finally, invariably, when a bad customer survey gets turned into Ford or Chevy, and we look up the deal to see the specifics, guess what we find.... in thirty years, I've never seen an exception.

Surprised?

On a personal note- I was retired for five years before I got back into the business. When you don't have to show up at an office, you can be a little pickier as to who you work for, when, and under what circumstances. Simply put, if it isn't going to be a pleasant experience for myself and the customer- I'm not going there.

 

mamasford "Oh what am I saying of course the personalized service at a Mercedes or Lexus dealer is exactly the same as it is at the Chevy place. Profit does show up in the level of service, wether or not your salesman cares about you enough to give that service is really up to you to determine before you sign on the line. Taking the car to a dealer other than the one you bought it from will surely make fro a very generic experience.
You are right a service writer does not know what was paid for the car, unless the salesman is making his clients service appointments for him and telling the writer "hey this is a good one, make certain they are handled with care" which is how I handled my customers visits to service, I always knew when they would be in and what the status of thier situation was so I could head off probelms or delays before they happened. I have given my customers my car for the day if they could not get a rental because thier repairs are not rental covered. I have dropped clients off at airports because they needed to leave thier car in service, made extra keys and paid for them out of my pocket, drove to a customer who ran out of gas because of a broken fuel guage, sent xmas and birthday gifts, etc. Would you do these things for the guy who grinded away the last 25$ of profit in your product and kept you off the sales floor for 4 hours. Hmmm nope. My customers have taken my wife and I out to dinner after thier sales experience and sent xmas and birthday gifts to me. Making the experience pleasant is not hard but it takes somthing from both sides of the table to accomplish it. You say you can go to any of a thousand dealers, well that is true but no matter which one you go to I can assure you they nor your salesman will be willing to go the extra mile for you if they made 100$ on a product that costs 40 grand...

The salesman may be seen as an employee of the dealer, but in reality he is self employed. A good salesman looks out for the interests of his clients, in the end that is who he works for, the dealer only counts out his cut of the sale, the money still comes from the customer. Your salesman is the guy who stands between you and the faceless dealer, he is your ambassador and he does not work for free. I will say it again, choose carefully and if your saleman does not measure up don't be afraid to ask for someone else to help you."

Thanks for an outstanding description of a professional salesperson as opposed to.....well, the other variety.

 

That is a pretty good description of my sales experience I have experienced with my vehical purchases Mamma. I never have had a confrontational experience in the sales department or the service department for that matter. He-ll, I send send em Christmas card, and have tried to buy a lunch or two. I appreciate the time that was spent to try and please me. And on the later Ford's survey form I always commend the salesmgr I deal with by name. And when I go in for service, I always try and visit with him a little bit to see what is new and what is on special. He always gives me some of his time, even though he knows I am in for service. Very pleasant place for me to do business.

I think Polar is right, if I feel the sales experience becoming confrontational, or uncomfortable, it is time to run for the door as it won't get any better for either party.

 

Got it.

 

My simple point is::
If your gonna hold it against the customer for negotiating a little better then DON'T agree to the terms! Done sell the vehicle to the customer... I mean it only makes sense right? Dealers don't sell vehicles just because. There are always reasons they want to get vehicles off their lot. It's always in their best interest one way or another.

IF THEY AGREE TO TERMS THEN THE CUSTOMER SHOULDN'T BE PENALIZED.

By penalized I mean they should receive the same amount basic customer service that anyone else will at the dealership. I don't expect the dealership to go out of their way to repair my vehicle. I don't expect airport taxis and free gas or keys. All I expect is that the problem is diagnosed and fixed quickly in a professional manner.

 

To summarize, you want to buy the product for the cheapest price humanly possible, but expect the same level of service that anyone else would get- in a nutshell.

 

yes, agreed....

 

Then all I can say is you understand price, but don't understand value. There's not much more I can add to that.

 

if a dealer sells me a vehicle and we both agree on price....then i expect:

.............THE SAME BASIC PROFESSIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE....

SAME and BASIC being the KEY POINTS HERE.....

that anyone else would recieve, including the morons that may MSRP for their vehicles....

the morons recieve at least the SAME BASIC BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE...and they recieve more is what your saying because they pay more than what they should pay....

I don't want free gas or keys or to have my salesman take me out to dinner.. i don't care about that stuff..it's more important for me to get the best deal.. the customer service that FORD grades their Dealerships on is ENOUGH for me.... basically, REPAIR MY VEHICLE IN A TIMELY MANNER and for FREE if it's under Warranty....

i understand value... i just told you want my value is....my value is in $$$ because i work for a living like most of us and every buck counts...

 

I agree with this, there is an expected and deserved level of professional service that every customer is entitled to.
The guy who grinds at the table should not be treated poorly because he negotiated with fervor. In fact I tend to see them as more of an intellectual challenge to practice my skills and become better even if I don't always "win".
I also function under the idea that in a compromise both sides give up somthing equal.


I have allowed customers to leave who turned down a car that we agreed to sell for 100$ over invoice and still wanted more off. You simply cannot spend too much time on those deals because even if you sold 20 cars a month for 100$ over invoice you would only be paid 2000$ before taxes or less depending on the dealer. The pay is better at a McJob than that. (although the uniform is not nearly as nice

 

including the morons that may MSRP for their vehicles....

I sell quite a few of those "morons." It's called the Corvette business. I'll clue you in on a secret too- most of those folks didn't accumulate that kind of money for a toy by being morons. What they do share is a very high expectation of customer service. They fully expect the Red Carpet to be rolled out when they walk through the door- and we cheerfully accomodate them. We speak the Corvette language here.

However, Corvettes are sold out of a Chevrolet franchise. You see where I'm going with this, right? Good.

the morons recieve at least the SAME BASIC BASIC CUSTOMER SERVICE...and they recieve more is what your saying because they pay more than what they should pay....

Until you get appointed the God of Pricing, it's not for you to say what one should or shouldn't pay. An elderly gentleman recently told me this, as he was taking delivery of a new Corvette. "So many people talk about how I could have gotten a better price for this car back East, or down South, or whatever. Heck, I've got plenty of money- what I'm short of is time."

Self-made multi-millionaire said that. I chased over 1000 miles to get the Corvette in a unique color combination that he wanted, and wouldn't/couldn't wait for a factory order. He also keeps sending me business- of which I'm deeply appreciative.

 

their value is in being pampered... or in the gentlemans case, time....

my value is in $$$, i don't want a red carpet, would take it if it was free, cuz i am all about free, remember my value is $$$, and i would venture to say 99% of us out here feel the same way....

MOST of the people out there that pay way too much for their vehicles don't expect "special" customer service after the deal.... they have no idea they're paying too much....most of them probably go on and get the same basic service as someone who paid invoice for their vehicle.....

your example i am sure is the exception and not the rule........remember MOST of us aren't wealthy enough to NOT care about price...

 

my value is in $$$, i don't want a red carpet, would take it if it was free, cuz i am all about free, remember my value is $$$,
It's OK- but your priority is price- not value. Value is the big picture, price is....well, price.

your example i am sure is the exception and not the rule........

You obviously haven't spent a day in my office. Or at the dealership.

Question, though- why is this an issue for you? Most folks could care less what other people pay, or what kind of service the other guy gets?

 

A moron guy like me is occasionally trading vehicals. I probably will leave a couple of hundred on the table if I get what I perceive is a good deal from a salesman and dealership I trust and know will be there for me if I have a problem down the road. What's $200 on a $30,000 or more purchase expecially knowing I am dealing with folks who are not fly by night and are in it for the long run. As it turns out that way they might have an extra dollar or two to spare so when you walk in you will get it. My hat is off to you for being a good negotiator, and to the dealership for selling both of us a vehical and being able to average in a decent profit from the two sales to stay in business.

The only thing you probably should be aware of, tho, is if there is one vehical on the lot both of us are wanting, while you are busy trying to negotiate out that last $200 on the price with the salesman, this moron will get it bought!