So I was on my way to the gym last night. . .(long)
10-30-2003, 05:50 AM
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So I was on my way to the gym last night. . .(long)
and I see a sweet green S6 for sale on the side of the road. Kamei grille, 18" AT's, slammed, clear corners, pioneer HU, 5spd, etc. I just want to glance at it b/c I was curious. Big mistake. . .
As soon as I cup my hands around my face to see the interior better, I see a sales kid (I'm only 23 so if I think it's a kid he MUST be young) walking towards me in the widow's reflection. "Here we go," I thought.
"Hey man, sweet ride huh? It's got 18's and a cold air intake."
"Uh huh. What kind of intake? I wouldn't run 18's around here."
"Um, not sure about the intake, but those wheels are at least $450 a piece! They look cool huh?"
"Actually, I didn't notice that they were chrome until I walked up close. I hate chrome. You can get AT's for $300 on Tirerack."
"Oh. Wanna take it for a spin?"
"Um, okay." Why not, might as well wail on an S6 for a few miles. What else do I have to do tonight? So we get in and I flip on the lights, or at least I thought I did. A feeble glow from the instrument panel looked back at me. "How many miles are on this friggin' thing? I can't even see the odometer!"
"Right around 135k. Runs smooth though huh?"
The car shuddered as the rpms dropped to 500. Ominous, and funny to say the least. So we pull out and the kid comments on how quiet the car was (it actually was, but so is my A4) and the "cool blue lights." That the previous owner had put in. I'm really trying to get on this car as we start driving. Near redline I think, but I couldn't really see the dash so I can't verify that. Not overly impressed with the turbo lag. Think it was past its prime to say the least.
"I used to have a Mustang GT, but now I have an Eclipse RS, so I like fast cars," he tells me.
"Cool," I reply, as 'Eclipse RS is a chick car' ran through my thoughts.
"Smooth, clean car huh?"
"The wheels need balancing and I think a smoker owned this."
"Well, I don't think it was smoked in, but 18's ride rough anyways."
'Enough to make the wheel shake? Where's the cigarette lighter? How come there's ash in the ashtray?' I thought.
We pull into the dealer and the kid says,
"Sweet *** ride huh? I've had a lot of calls on this car already. You like it enough to own it?"
"I don't like that the dash doesn't light up. I consider that to be dangerous."
"Well, lets go inside and we'll see if I can make you happy."
At this point I'm just sticking around to see how many cheesy sales lines this kid will actually pull out, and always am up for a learning experience when it comes to car negotiations. We go into the office and the kid says,
"What is your best offer? How can I make a sale to you right now?"
"Look man, I'm not buying a car from you after driving it 5 miles, and looking at it for 10 minutes. I need to research this model, look into it's pricing, find out how much it would cost to fix the dash, and ask the AW guys about this model."
"Do you really need to do that? I can assure you I've had that car looked at by our best guys. There is nothing wrong with it?"
"Then how come your pricing it at $10700 when I saw one in Portsmouth three months ago for $15k?"
"Hey man, I like you. I don't want to screw with you. My prices are very aggressive. What can I do to make you happy?"
"I would have to think about that."
"You mean we can't make a deal right now?"
"Um no." Keep in mind that total time elapsed from me seeing the car to this point was no more than 45 minutes. I'm impulsive, but not that impulsive!
"Well, I can't guarantee the car will be there for very long, sir."
"I understand. It is a nice car, I'm not asking you to hold it for me. Good luck selling it. I've got your card and I'll call you, don't bother calling me."
In summary: It's fun to see how many cliche lines one can drag out of am aggressive salesman when you really don't want to buy the car. I got some more negotiating experience. I got to drive an S6, and I got the "get a different car" bug out of me for another few months. I feel bad about wasting that kid's time, but I'm sure he wouldn't have cared when the S6 blew up on me 6 weeks later.
As soon as I cup my hands around my face to see the interior better, I see a sales kid (I'm only 23 so if I think it's a kid he MUST be young) walking towards me in the widow's reflection. "Here we go," I thought.
"Hey man, sweet ride huh? It's got 18's and a cold air intake."
"Uh huh. What kind of intake? I wouldn't run 18's around here."
"Um, not sure about the intake, but those wheels are at least $450 a piece! They look cool huh?"
"Actually, I didn't notice that they were chrome until I walked up close. I hate chrome. You can get AT's for $300 on Tirerack."
"Oh. Wanna take it for a spin?"
"Um, okay." Why not, might as well wail on an S6 for a few miles. What else do I have to do tonight? So we get in and I flip on the lights, or at least I thought I did. A feeble glow from the instrument panel looked back at me. "How many miles are on this friggin' thing? I can't even see the odometer!"
"Right around 135k. Runs smooth though huh?"
The car shuddered as the rpms dropped to 500. Ominous, and funny to say the least. So we pull out and the kid comments on how quiet the car was (it actually was, but so is my A4) and the "cool blue lights." That the previous owner had put in. I'm really trying to get on this car as we start driving. Near redline I think, but I couldn't really see the dash so I can't verify that. Not overly impressed with the turbo lag. Think it was past its prime to say the least.
"I used to have a Mustang GT, but now I have an Eclipse RS, so I like fast cars," he tells me.
"Cool," I reply, as 'Eclipse RS is a chick car' ran through my thoughts.
"Smooth, clean car huh?"
"The wheels need balancing and I think a smoker owned this."
"Well, I don't think it was smoked in, but 18's ride rough anyways."
'Enough to make the wheel shake? Where's the cigarette lighter? How come there's ash in the ashtray?' I thought.
We pull into the dealer and the kid says,
"Sweet *** ride huh? I've had a lot of calls on this car already. You like it enough to own it?"
"I don't like that the dash doesn't light up. I consider that to be dangerous."
"Well, lets go inside and we'll see if I can make you happy."
At this point I'm just sticking around to see how many cheesy sales lines this kid will actually pull out, and always am up for a learning experience when it comes to car negotiations. We go into the office and the kid says,
"What is your best offer? How can I make a sale to you right now?"
"Look man, I'm not buying a car from you after driving it 5 miles, and looking at it for 10 minutes. I need to research this model, look into it's pricing, find out how much it would cost to fix the dash, and ask the AW guys about this model."
"Do you really need to do that? I can assure you I've had that car looked at by our best guys. There is nothing wrong with it?"
"Then how come your pricing it at $10700 when I saw one in Portsmouth three months ago for $15k?"
"Hey man, I like you. I don't want to screw with you. My prices are very aggressive. What can I do to make you happy?"
"I would have to think about that."
"You mean we can't make a deal right now?"
"Um no." Keep in mind that total time elapsed from me seeing the car to this point was no more than 45 minutes. I'm impulsive, but not that impulsive!
"Well, I can't guarantee the car will be there for very long, sir."
"I understand. It is a nice car, I'm not asking you to hold it for me. Good luck selling it. I've got your card and I'll call you, don't bother calling me."
In summary: It's fun to see how many cliche lines one can drag out of am aggressive salesman when you really don't want to buy the car. I got some more negotiating experience. I got to drive an S6, and I got the "get a different car" bug out of me for another few months. I feel bad about wasting that kid's time, but I'm sure he wouldn't have cared when the S6 blew up on me 6 weeks later.
10-30-2003, 06:03 AM
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i love doing that, my favorite was convincing a dealer to let me drive an M3
he wasn't supposed to let anyone touch it(it was at a chrysler dealership) according to his managers instructions, but i talked circles around him, and fed him junk about this Audi S4 i was looking at in the town over, which would probably be better cause of the awd and stuff(when there obviously was no S4 and i wasn't even in the market for a car), but he let me drive it, i hammered on it, and it was good.
10-30-2003, 06:29 AM
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Certain ones are morons, I agree. . .
but my ex-girlfirend's father is a car salesman though, and he makes six figures doing it! He's been sales manager at a bunch of dealerships. I think he's so good b/c he's really laid back. You either want the car or you don't, he's not ging to pressure you. The kid I dealt with was way too agressive. I was amazed at the lines he was pulling. I almost laughed a few times.
10-30-2003, 06:45 AM
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Off topic, but regarding salesmen (bit of a story, too)
I'll keep it short. It's a contrast of two salesmen. I'm looking to buy a couch in a place down the street. The salesmen comes up and says "you like it? $400. you want it?". That was his pitch. Nothing about the couch or any kind of stain gaurds I can get or offer of delivery. That was it. He repeated that squence a few times and after a short while, I was finished shopping there. In another situation, I'm looking to buy a bed. The salesmen sees me looking at different beds and picks up on the ones I'm most interested in. He comes over, tells me about which ones are on sale, the warranty, when they can deliver, and he didn't bug me about it. He put all the information on the table and let me decide. That man got a sale that night and I hope he earned commission, because he deserved it. When buying a product I don't know much about, I need a proper presentation and I can't be harrassed.
10-30-2003, 06:49 AM
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holloween car...very scary
that reminds of the time that i test drove a mustang SVO about 15 years ago to the day. the tire's steel was showing and this car made noises that i didn't know a car could make. needless to say the salesman countered with all the canned responses that yours did. that holloween car was a haunted house on wheels!
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10-30-2003, 07:04 AM
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Yeah no kidding. I always wondered about buying high end cars
like Bentleys. I can't imagine haggling over those kinds of cars.
"Here's the price."
"Thank you. Here's the money."
"Thank you. Golf later?"
"You're most welcome. Yes. Golf indeed."
"Here's the price."
"Thank you. Here's the money."
"Thank you. Golf later?"
"You're most welcome. Yes. Golf indeed."
