Almost everyone I know has a story about at least one bad experience at a car dealership and it is interesting to look at some of the things they will do to try to make a sale. I can remember hearing about someone having the keys to their car thrown on the roof of the dealership so they couldn’t leave, granted that was a while ago.
Most dealerships have rigid sales systems that they follow to ensure that they get the highest profits and close as many sales as they possibly can. One of the main components of the system is the salesman. In case you didn’t know it, the reason these salespeople will fight for an hour over $100 is because they typically receive 20-35% of it as commission for making the sale! This is also the reason why YOU must be educated and look out for yourself because the salesman is definitely looking out for themselves.
Dealerships spend thousands of dollars on training systems to teach salespeople all the closing techniques and “tricks” to turn shoppers into buyers and increase profits. There is a multi-million dollar industry in training automotive sales people. These companies usually come to the dealership and teach salespeople through audio, videos, and seminars and many guarantee results to the dealership so they are confident in their methods.
One thing that many dealers are trying to do now to get past the old image of the car salesman is to have the salesperson present themselves as a “trusted advisor”. You need to always remember that almost all dealers still pay their salespeople by commission with the exception of Saturn, and even those that pay a flat rate usually pay bonuses for more sales so they still have something to gain to get the sale. Don’t trust the car salesman, that would be like letting the fox in the henhouse!
Another key part of the system is the advertising. I am sure you see tons of advertising in your area from car dealers. They usually dominate local Sunday papers and the visions of the screaming car dealer on TV will stay with us forever. It is quite obvious that these businesses make a lot of money; otherwise they could not spend so much on advertising. One of the tricks that they still use that is amazing to me is the old bait and switch. That’s where they will have an ad in the paper with a car at a super low price and then in tiny print it they list a stock number and says only one available at this price. You go to the dealer and it has already been sold. Don’t get taken by this.
Hopefully this has helped you to see some of the tactics used by auto dealers.
Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida with his 16 year old son. For great car care products for your car go to http://www.stopwaxing.com
