Life of a Car Salesman

In this post I will go through the things I deal with daily as a car salesman

Good evening fellow Imgurians!! I am a long time lurker and few times poster but after being in the business for a while I figured I would give you all some insider knowledge about one of the most dreaded things people do, buy a car.

Firstly, yes dealerships are businesses. Their goal is to make money, but the amount of money they make is not what you think it might be. Buying a car is a large purchase, the 2nd largest purchase for most (1st being a house). That being said, even though the price tag is larger than somewhere like wal-mart, they have a larger percentage markup per item at wal-mart than dealerships have in new cars. Dealership owners have employees they need to feed, lights to pay bills on, and MANY other overheads that the average consumer doesn't know about.

Relating to the last image

We are no longer in the 80's and 90's when it comes to the way the car business is handled. Because of our favorite thing in the world, the internet, the car business has changed drastically in the past 5 years or so. Consumers can get online and look around and know what vehicles cost, you can even price them on the brand websites. I have a couple pieces of advice for you savvy shoppers to educate you on the current state of affairs :D

1: Miami to Seattle, New York to L.A. and everywhere in-between dealers pay the factory the same exact price for vehicles. The factory sends out the window sticker pre stuck inside vehicles. The dealerships that you need to be weary of are the ones who either dont have a window sticker in the window or ones who add addendum stickers (accessories pre installed for over factory pricing). If a dealership has no pre installed accessories and a brand certified window sticker stuck in the window, is probably an honest dealership.

2: Don't get your vehicle information for trade-ins from Kelly Blue Book. KBB doesn't sell vehicles, dealerships do. Banks use NADA Black Book pricing for loan allowances and dealerships mostly use the Manheim Auto Auction which is real-time auction info on how much vehicles are selling for at the nation's largest auto auction.

3: If you want to know what a vehicle should cost you, build your own vehicle on the brand website and print it out. Take it to your dealer and see if they have something similar or if they can find you one exactly like it. However, dealers much prefer sell the vehicles on their own lot for many reasons rather than DT'ing (Dealer trading) one in. There is a LOT that goes into a DT, which means there are lots of things that can go wrong with one. Trust me, vehicle color is something that can easily grow on you.

When buying a new car

First, let's define some words in the TLDR fashion us imgurians like.

Rebate: Factory dollars that are given off of the sale to the consumer and repaid to the dealership by the manufacturer

Cash-Back: Factory dollars that can be used in a variety of ways, either as rebate off total amount or a check given back to the customer

Negative Equity or NegEq (Pronounced NeggEkk): The amount owed on your trade in vs how much it is worth in trade in (much more detail later)

Discount: Money that comes out of the dealership pocket to help meet payment or bottom-line goals. Used to come out of markup but as stated before with reduced amounts of markup, large discounts are nearly impossible to come by.

We can be average imgurians like yourself!!

Most of us are guys who did one of two things, either couldn't afford to go to college and found it as an option or were people who graduated college but could not find a job in our field so decided to sell as a last resort.

We are humans, we have feelings but we also have thick skin. We are hated before people even meet us so I'm here to try to bridge the gap between us and you. To make this easier I will guide you through some things to say in the next image to help you get into your new ride with as little issues as possible.

Your roadmap to an awesome car buying experience.

When you first pull up to the dealership and the bright eyed bushy tailed salesman with the patchy shave job comes out to meet you PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF OUR GOOD LORD HELIX dont let the first thing be out of your mouth be "How much can you get me off of this "X"". That will immediately alert the salesman you care nothing about the vehicle or what awesome technologies are on it.

We as salesmen spend hours taking javascript boring-ass product knowledge tests to get certified to sell. Give us an opportunity to not waste that effort and teach you the new technologies on the newest models that help keep our brand competitive and working for you to get you the best vehicle for you!

Before you come, identify some key things about yourself as a car buyer. In my time I have identified many types of buyers

1: The Payment Buyer: This is our chaotic good buyer, they want a payment to be X or really close to it and normally doesn't have a particular model in mind but needs a new ride for a certain payment and doesn't care how you get there.

2: The Bottom Line buyer: Our neutral good buyer, if they can get a vehicle for X amount, they will take it home. Normally a cash buyer or large down payment buyer with a trade with solid equity. We love these guys, makes both our jobs easy as a salesman and a consumer.

3: The Budget Buyer: Lawful Good buyer that comes in, normally looking for a used car. Looking to upgrade their 1999 Pontiac Sunfire to maybe a 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Follows a strict code of payment and bottom line and who have probably done lots of homework about used vehicles for days before coming in.

4: The Needy: True Neutral buyer who needs transportation right now, doesnt have a payment goal in mind but has a junker trade and they dont trust it any more. Asks salesman for knowledge on best market vehicles right now and will buy either new or used, doesn't matter just needs a trusty ride ASAP.

5: The Deal Hunter: Lawful Evil buyer who only goes from lot to lot hunting the absolute best deal on a car, will not hesitate to call another dealership with the numbers they have just been presented (don't do this, it is rude AF). will ask for all the information in the world and wont give any back like name or phone number while wasting a salesman's entire day trying to cut and cut a deal down and then picking up the deal and walks it to another dealership until they exhaust themselves and end up breaking down and buying at like their 5th stop because they find out everyone has offered them the same deal. They have wasted many salesman's time and chances to catch serious buyers. You will be hated.

6: The Never-Good-Enough: Neutral Evil buyer who looks through every car at a dealership, wont tell the salesman what they are looking for and expect us to read their mind. Then they ask for numbers on one after 3 hours in the hot sun, but wont let you evaluate their trade because they may or may not trade it, has 4 more cars at home, all old but dealers didn't give them enough for it in trade so now it is worth NOTHING in their lawn because they dont drive it anymore after they put a window chalk price on it for more than they paid for it. After presented with numbers, wont fill out a credit app because we "cant get a good enough rate" then leaves and says "you got a card? I'll call you back" and never does.

7: The Bogue: Chaotic Evil. Terrible Credit, rude, no money down with no job but expects a bank to lend them money. Wants a $300 payment on a lifted 4WD fully loaded pickup that costs $56,000. Will cuss you and poke you in the chest while spraying dip spit through their 3 rotten teeth. Yes, they exist.

Your roadmap, cont.

If you are a bottom line buyer or a payment buyer, tell the salesman ahead of time. If payment is most important to you don't be offended if they ask you for a credit app if you are not a cash buyer. Credit determines rate, which determines payment. An interest rate of 1.9% and 24.99% make a huge difference in payment.

If you are a bottom line buyer don't be offended if a salesman guides you to a vehicle they believe will fit that goal. We see these cars every day and work numbers every day, just tell us what amenities (leather, navigation, 3rd row, DVD, etc) you need in one and let us do our job for you.

If you are rebate hunting, don't say "What can you get me off of X". Say things like "what incentives are currently being offered on this model" or "do you have any factory specials going on" or "what incentives might I qualify for if I were to buy today". These things imply education and lets the salesman know you are in the market. People who are wishy washy and hesitate on a deal or good offer get angry if the vehicle they drove and loved sells because they didn't pull the trigger.

If you know you have poor credit, say so ahead of time. It is nothing to be ashamed of, everyone falls on hard times. It makes things much smoother getting a credit app early in the process. If you spend hours selecting your vehicle and you know you cannot get a loan on it, it wastes the salesman's time and yours too. We don't mind if you tell us, honestly, it's okay. Lots of dealerships have credit acceptance programs that can help you get on your feet with a new auto loan.

Know simple math. If you want a $55,000 truck and a $350 payment over 72 months....do that math, it doesn't exist with no money down and no equity in your trade.

Know how NegEq affects a deal. Banks will only loan so much money on any particular vehicle. If you are upside down, or flipped, in your trade by let's say $6000 and the salesman finds you $3000 in rebates, you will still owe $3000 on that car you are trying to trade out of. That money can most of the time be tied into the loan as long as it is not over 5-6 grand in neg after rebates.
Let's say you have average credit at 650. Banks wont be fighting over taking that loan but one likely will with a little increased rate, let's say 9.99%. At a rate like that every $1000 in NegEq will affect your payment by $17-$20 a month. So your original payment on a $32,000 shiny new leather car with nav and a sunroof was probably around $488, but uh oh, that extra $3000 in neg pushes you to probably $542.

Sampson

PUPPY TAX!!!! Upvote for terrible experiences I've had with customers!!!