Truck salesmen are idiots

[wayfun]

I've got a new trailer on order, a Laredo 322RL. At 36 ft and 7500 lbs I know it's going to be a stretch for my current tow vehicle, a 6.2L Tahoe. So I had a little time yesterday and stopped by a couple of dealerships to look at trucks.

First I pulled in to a Dodge store to look at Rams. I only need to pull the trailer twice a year for about 200 miles on relatively level terrain (Florida). Once in the fall to put it on our winter lot and again in the spring to put it back in storage. I explained to the salesman what I needed to pull and when I stopped at a 2500 I commented that the truck was huge and I really didn't care to drive something that large as my daily driver. He had an immediate solution, "you could get a 1500. They're not like regular truck engines, it's got a HEMI". I then questioned him about payload and axle ratings and all I got was a glazed look. The 1500 had lower payload ratings than my Tahoe.

So I then went across the street to the Toyota store. A friend had told me how nice the new Tundra was and they could pull 10,000 lbs. The Tundra seemed like a nice truck. I looked at the door sticker and the payload was a little light at about 1300 lbs, again less than my Tahoe. I asked the salesman if they offered an upgraded tow model such as a max tow. To his credit he didn't try to BS me. We went inside to check the literature. He went to the back and came out with some old guy that was their truck specialist. After explaining my purpose he responded that they didn't have a max tow type package. He assured me I wouldn't have a problem because "the Tundra can tow the Space Shuttle". I started to discuss payload and axle limits but stopped. I figured it was a waste of my breath.

No wonder you see overloaded vehicles going down the road. I'll keep looking.

Dennis

[noteven]

Big Toe I agree.

[BigToe]

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

Consider the sales person's point of view...

Their dealership may have the policy of whoever greets the customer first gets the customer, and therefor gets the commission (or part of it) if the customer buys.

Hence the "pouncing" as soon as you arrive. Their haste to help you might be because they are literally competing with every other salesman on that lot in the first few seconds of your arrival. They are not racing toward you for how attractive you are. They are racing each other for the opportunity to earn a tiny token to help feed their family that night.

So after you tell them you are just looking, they still stick around. Why? Because their sales manager decreed that if they DON"T stick with you, then you are fair game for another sales person to take over, and they lose out, even though they were the first to greet you. So they follow you, and even when you ask them to leave you to "think" or to talk it over with your spouse in private, they move a certain distance away, but they still hover. They HAVE to, because either they will lose their commission, or lose their job. Often times both.

Imagine if you had to work under those circumstances?

Do you think they grew up dreaming of being a car salesman? Do you think they harbored career aspirations to cater to online expert know it alls who act like jerks to them? Do you think they can't wait for another day to play brake light reverse light games with insensitive adults, training their children to be just as insensitive, who feel free to fart around on the private property of an employer who demands that every customer who enters the lot be catered to?

Many people who sell cars do so as a last resort. Their situation is already desperate. They cannot afford a single one of the cars or trucks that you know so much about. They may be struggling through a career transition, when their manufacturing job got outsourced overseas. They may have returned home from 10 years as a combat soldier, without a college degree or any work experience in a civilian trade. They may have earned a doctorate degree in the Ukraine, and are here to escape the conflict. They may have raised a family as a stay at home parent, and through a sudden divorce after the kids are grown, find themselves needing to earn a living in a world that passed them by while they were attending to their children. They may speak 5 languages. They may have traveled the world. They have have done anything. Or nothing. But they are human beings.

Treat them like it. They might surprise you, and treat you like a human being also.

Treat them like "idiots", and, well, you might already have experienced what to expect.

[larry_barnhart]

A truck saleman will sell any truck you want to buy so it really is on both ends of the deal. The work idiot word can be applied for both. I would like to use un informed. This word fits most of the USA of today.

chevman

[Bedlam]

I had a good experience buying my current truck and tracked down the guy after 9 years to possibly sell me my next one. He is a commercial/fleet sales guy for years and now works out of his home for a dealership hundreds of miles away with just repeat customers like myself.

Ford isn't the only one to have a few good salesmen. The Ram dealer I visited was also versed in what he sold without trying to push to buy something off his lot. I can tell you my next purchase will be based on the merits of the truck because neither will dinged on the performance of the dealership.

Buying my VW was a completely different experience. There is one dealership that was so rude and pushy, I have blacklisted them from any future purchase of vehicle, parts or service plus I have dissuaded at least five of their sales.

[Cummins12V98]

nipster wrote:
Truck salesmen are too used to selling "more truck than they need" to people like soccer moms and guys with office jobs who buy 1 ton FX4 Dually Diesels to commute back and forth to work every day and never tow/haul or go off road

Yea but at least they can tow most anything they want instead of applying BandAids!

[RedRocket204]

JALLEN4 wrote:
As soon as the retail customer starts paying MSRP for the vehicle, puts what they will take for the trade on the windshield, and hands the salesman a credit app when they arrive will be when you will know the real price of the vehicle without asking.

That makes no sense.


BTW, if a salesperson is put out by a potential customer asking questions and then the customer doesn't buy from them...maybe it's time for that sales person to find another job!

[nipster]

Truck salesmen are too used to selling "more truck than they need" to people like soccer moms and guys with office jobs who buy 1 ton FX4 Dually Diesels to commute back and forth to work every day and never tow/haul or go off road

[JALLEN4]

monkey44 wrote:

bigorange wrote:

JALLEN4 wrote:

Car/Truck dealerships are not amusement parks nor are they Disney Land rides. Millions were spent to build them and millions more to stock them. There is only one purpose for their existence and that is to make money. If the folks wandering through the inventory of unlocked vehicles are not constantly watched, a percentage of them will treat the vehicles as their own personal parts inventory which is very expensive for the dealer.

Salesmen are paid by commission which means don't sell...don't eat. They are not paid to wander silently along with you and if your absolutely not going to buy anything, you shouldn't be there wasting their time. At least 90% of trucks are purchased by people who know even less than the "idiot salesman" and the most important question they have is "Does it come in red?"

This is a very good point...in my experience if you're up-front that you're seriously just looking and not buying it often goes better. No need to waste their time and they won't waste yours trying to point you in the wrong direction to "buy something." Although sometimes hard to get a legitimate question answered once they know you're not in a buying mood.

Except, unlike a market where you can see what you're buying, AND the price is right there in front of you, and you can pick the brand (Green Giant, Del Mote, Kellog's, etc) AND see the price, you cannot do that on vehicle. SO, it REQUIRES us to wander in order to see what is offered, and how it's equipped - dealer inventory are all different options.

IF a dealer would put the price RIGHT THERE on the truck (the REAL price, not MSRP, and include DP and other BS markups), and let us look at it without jumping down our throat and pushing the sale, maybe a guy could decide on one and NOT waste the salesman's time.

An advertisement inviting us to "Come on down and shop" gives us the right to shop at our leisure. The minute a salesman walks up to us without us asking, he's on his own nickel.

Dealers will NOT put the 'real deal on the table' - so a dealer is chilling his own bath water in my book. A dealer ALWAYS hides the sale price, so we have no qualms about taking up the time to get the information we need to make our choice. Spending that kind of money, you can bet we'll take as much time as we need to choose a truck.

We just bought a 2015 Chevy 2500HD, and we talked to several salesman (GMC, Chevy, Ford) and drove several trucks before we decided. Several salesman would not even tell us the price unless we were sitting down ready to buy it (Dumb, sure, tell us the price AFTER we decide we want the truck - no thanks) ... they did not get our sale.

But the salesman that gave us his best price in an email when we asked, and stuck with it after we compared other trucks and brands, he sold us our new truck.

Old style sales strategy is heading out the door in vehicle sales now, because the potential for a buyer to know more is real and obvious. Any dealer or salesman that tries to hide information, or pricing will not fare well with more sophisticated buyers out there, and the amount of money it costs for a truck nowadays. People are much more cDel Monte..

DelMonte sells very few items for $30,000 plus. Their retailers also don't trade back in what you don't use and certainly don't service the item after the sale.

As soon as the retail customer starts paying MSRP for the vehicle, puts what they will take for the trade on the windshield, and hands the salesman a credit app when they arrive will be when you will know the real price of the vehicle without asking.

[Vulcaneer]

DBL Post...sorry Puter Snafu

[Vulcaneer]

wayfun wrote:
They took my key and went to appraise my trade in. I made them an offer which they didn't take. The sales manager then comes in trying to brow-beat me wanting to know how I came up with my number. That didn't go well for him. I explained to him that I made an offer and his only answer needed to be yes or no. He wanted to get into a debate and didn't want to return my car key so we could leave.

Similar happened to me years ago. i picked up the phone on the salesman's desk, dialed 9 to get an outside line and then called 911. That got my keys back in a hurry. And as my wife and I were on our way out the door, some goon was throwing us out of the dealership and telling us to never come back. He didn't need to do that.

Now with cell phones they have less tendency to keep your keys as hostage.

[wayfun]

When I started this thread I only meant to show the idiotic statements that sales people will throw out to get you to buy like "it can tow the space shuttle". Having had a brother-in-law that owned a Chrysler store I have seen first hand how unscrupulous dealers can be. There salespeople get far more training on how to separate you from your money than training on the products.

When I was first approached by the salesman I let him know why I was there. He chose to waste his time following me around and annoying me. As has been said, the dealers invite you to their lots. Having bought dozens of vehicles over the years, cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles and trailers I know how "I" shop for a vehicle. I can't say that I have ever been "sold" in that a salesman has enticed me to buy. I do my research in person, online and by talking to others. When I decide what I want it is my opinion that if the deal can't be completed in 30 minutes it won't get done. I'll leave.

A few years ago I went into an Infiniti store buy my wife a new car. I knew she would be home in 40 minutes and I wanted the car in the garage when she got home. I knew what I wanted went to the dealer, made the trade, and was on my way home in 20 minutes.

I recently attempted to buy a Lexus. My wife and I went there, test drove the car and liked it. They took my key and went to appraise my trade in. I made them an offer which they didn't take. The sales manager then comes in trying to brow-beat me wanting to know how I came up with my number. That didn't go well for him. I explained to him that I made an offer and his only answer needed to be yes or no. He wanted to get into a debate and didn't want to return my car key so we could leave. I was at my 30 minute mark then and had the salesman, who was a nice guy not have stepped in and retrieved my key things were going to get ugly quick. I can promise you, that Lexus dealer will never sell me a car.

Another one of my gripes is going on a test drive with the salesman in the car with you and he won't shut up. I've had to ask them to be quiet before. I see nothing wrong with browsing car lots. Just let the salespeople know your intentions.

[monkey44]

bigorange wrote:

JALLEN4 wrote:

Car/Truck dealerships are not amusement parks nor are they Disney Land rides. Millions were spent to build them and millions more to stock them. There is only one purpose for their existence and that is to make money. If the folks wandering through the inventory of unlocked vehicles are not constantly watched, a percentage of them will treat the vehicles as their own personal parts inventory which is very expensive for the dealer.

Salesmen are paid by commission which means don't sell...don't eat. They are not paid to wander silently along with you and if your absolutely not going to buy anything, you shouldn't be there wasting their time. At least 90% of trucks are purchased by people who know even less than the "idiot salesman" and the most important question they have is "Does it come in red?"

This is a very good point...in my experience if you're up-front that you're seriously just looking and not buying it often goes better. No need to waste their time and they won't waste yours trying to point you in the wrong direction to "buy something." Although sometimes hard to get a legitimate question answered once they know you're not in a buying mood.

Except, unlike a market where you can see what you're buying, AND the price is right there in front of you, and you can pick the brand (Green Giant, Del Mote, Kellog's, etc) AND see the price, you cannot do that on vehicle. SO, it REQUIRES us to wander in order to see what is offered, and how it's equipped - dealer inventory are all different options.

IF a dealer would put the price RIGHT THERE on the truck (the REAL price, not MSRP, and include DP and other BS markups), and let us look at it without jumping down our throat and pushing the sale, maybe a guy could decide on one and NOT waste the salesman's time.

An advertisement inviting us to "Come on down and shop" gives us the right to shop at our leisure. The minute a salesman walks up to us without us asking, he's on his own nickel.

Dealers will NOT put the 'real deal on the table' - so a dealer is chilling his own bath water in my book. A dealer ALWAYS hides the sale price, so we have no qualms about taking up the time to get the information we need to make our choice. Spending that kind of money, you can bet we'll take as much time as we need to choose a truck.

We just bought a 2015 Chevy 2500HD, and we talked to several salesman (GMC, Chevy, Ford) and drove several trucks before we decided. Several salesman would not even tell us the price unless we were sitting down ready to buy it (Dumb, sure, tell us the price AFTER we decide we want the truck - no thanks) ... they did not get our sale.

But the salesman that gave us his best price in an email when we asked, and stuck with it after we compared other trucks and brands, he sold us our new truck.

Old style sales strategy is heading out the door in vehicle sales now, because the potential for a buyer to know more is real and obvious. Any dealer or salesman that tries to hide information, or pricing will not fare well with more sophisticated buyers out there, and the amount of money it costs for a truck nowadays. People are much more careful ...

[bigorange]

JALLEN4 wrote:

Car/Truck dealerships are not amusement parks nor are they Disney Land rides. Millions were spent to build them and millions more to stock them. There is only one purpose for their existence and that is to make money. If the folks wandering through the inventory of unlocked vehicles are not constantly watched, a percentage of them will treat the vehicles as their own personal parts inventory which is very expensive for the dealer.

Salesmen are paid by commission which means don't sell...don't eat. They are not paid to wander silently along with you and if your absolutely not going to buy anything, you shouldn't be there wasting their time. At least 90% of trucks are purchased by people who know even less than the "idiot salesman" and the most important question they have is "Does it come in red?"

This is a very good point...in my experience if you're up-front that you're seriously just looking and not buying it often goes better. No need to waste their time and they won't waste yours trying to point you in the wrong direction to "buy something." Although sometimes hard to get a legitimate question answered once they know you're not in a buying mood.

[bigorange]

wayfun wrote:
I would like to add, I didn't ask the salesman for their advice on what I needed. I already knew that. I just found the statements they made to get me to buy something a bit amusing.

Dennis

Yeah...it's their job to get you to buy something. They'll say anything of course. Only good advice I got when shopping tow vehicles was at the Ford dealer where the salesman wouldn't even show me the Powerstroke 6.0...I was already going to avoid the 6.0, but was nice to at least have him not try to sell me one.

[JALLEN4]

wayfun wrote:
As the OP, I need to point out that I did not go to the salesman on each lot "seeking their advice". I merely had some time to kill and wanted to stop by and look at a couple of trucks and check out the capacity tags on the doors. They pounce on you as soon as you get out of your car. If and when I decide to buy a new tow vehicle I'll know what I need before I get to the dealer. Usually when I want to "look around" I'll stop by on a Sunday when they're closed just so I don't have to deal with the sales staff. This time I needed the vehicles unlocked so I could look at the door tags. I find it annoying that you can't just tell them you're looking with no intention of buying right then and be left alone. They insist on following you around spewing BS.

Car/Truck dealerships are not amusement parks nor are they Disney Land rides. Millions were spent to build them and millions more to stock them. There is only one purpose for their existence and that is to make money. If the folks wandering through the inventory of unlocked vehicles are not constantly watched, a percentage of them will treat the vehicles as their own personal parts inventory which is very expensive for the dealer.

Salesmen are paid by commission which means don't sell...don't eat. They are not paid to wander silently along with you and if your absolutely not going to buy anything, you shouldn't be there wasting their time. At least 90% of trucks are purchased by people who know even less than the "idiot salesman" and the most important question they have is "Does it come in red?"