Do they really want to sell cars?

[bensherman]

Mid way through this year I decided I would change my car.
I decided the ideal choice was a VW Tiguan.
I went to the VW dealer in Southport, and assessed one. I calculated the spec, age, price I was prepared to pay.
I sat and talked to a sales person for half an hour or so. They did not have one in stock at the time, which was OK as I explained I wasn't in a hurry. I also said that if they could source one to my requirements they would have a definite sale.
I asked if they could view VW dealer stocks nationally, and if they could source a car from that if one came up.
Six weeks later I returned from holiday and decided to accelerate the car acquisition. I used an app that could show me all VW stocks in the UK, and within two weeks found a car that met all my requirements.
This was a VW dealer in Cambridge. On November 1 I collected the car from them.
I still have had no response from the dealer in Southport.
Do they really want to sell cars?

[said]

Mid way through this year I decided I would change my car.
I decided the ideal choice was a VW Tiguan.
I went to the VW dealer in Southport, and assessed one. I calculated the spec, age, price I was prepared to pay.
I sat and talked to a sales person for half an hour or so. They did not have one in stock at the time, which was OK as I explained I wasn't in a hurry. I also said that if they could source one to my requirements they would have a definite sale.
I asked if they could view VW dealer stocks nationally, and if they could source a car from that if one came up.
Six weeks later I returned from holiday and decided to accelerate the car acquisition. I used an app that could show me all VW stocks in the UK, and within two weeks found a car that met all my requirements.
This was a VW dealer in Cambridge. On November 1 I collected the car from them.
I still have had no response from the dealer in Southport.
Do they really want to sell cars?

I had the same problem. Eventually went to Warrington. The place was very busy. I test drove about six cars and eventually chose a superb car at best price around and nothing was too much trouble.

[Steed]

Went into the Mercedes dealership in Preston, when the staff eventually took the trouble to speak to me, I got the impression that they didn’t think that I should be there (I’d gone straight from work, in my work clothes and van).
Walked out and went to a different MB dealership who bent over backwards and did a cracking deal on a brand new car (I was looking at a 12 month old one)
I then wrote a scathing email to MB’s UK head office and got a reply back saying that they would launch a full investigation and they sent me a MB goody pack by way of an apology.

[Albion102]

I bought a Tiguan earlier this year. My start point was Carwow, which I thoroughly recommend. One VW Dealership messed us around no end and could not find anybody to talk to us. Another, and in fact the closest, could not have been more helpful. We had the model we wanted, not quite our favourite colour.

Our preference was for the 1.4 Petrol model, but at the time there was a 9 month waiting list.

It has always been a gripe of mine that you get better and more courteous service spending £1.09 on 4 pts of milk than you do spending £28k on a car.

My favourite was walking into a deserted Honda showroom in Wigan. The salesman there refused to engage with me because "he didn't do fleet sales and the guy who did was on lunch". I never came back.

[silver fox]

Went into the Mercedes dealership in Preston, when the staff eventually took the trouble to speak to me, I got the impression that they didn’t think that I should be there (I’d gone straight from work, in my work clothes and van).
Walked out and went to a different MB dealership who bent over backwards and did a cracking deal on a brand new car (I was looking at a 12 month old one)
I then wrote a scathing email to MB’s UK head office and got a reply back saying that they would launch a full investigation and they sent me a MB goody pack by way of an apology.

I spent many years in the car trade, was working for a Saab dealership at the time, when a snotty bunch at a Merc dealership gifted me the biggest single day private sale ever.

Had been dealing with a business gent looking to take a car on lease through his business, told me at the time that his business partner and his own wife were more interested in Merc, called in one sunny Sunday, quiet day, told me he was heading off to the Merc dealers to sort out the Mercs then calling back to sign up for his own car, within a half hour he was back with a screech of brakes, almost taking the side door with him as he came in

Got him a cuppa and a cig (standard routine in the day) let him calm down and he was joined by his wife along with his business partner and his wife, apparently as they were all dressed casually (it was a sunny Sunday after all) they had all been ignored by the "sales staff", the upshot was that not only did he take his car, his business partner also selected and signed for a similar deal, in the meantime the two ladies had become interested in Saab convertibles, quick demo and test drive, 2 more cars in the bag, final total for a quiet day, 4 high end cars two fully private, two on business leases.

I still raise a glass now and then to the snooty sales people of this world.

[KissThis]

Mid way through this year I decided I would change my car.
I decided the ideal choice was a VW Tiguan.
I went to the VW dealer in Southport, and assessed one. I calculated the spec, age, price I was prepared to pay.
I sat and talked to a sales person for half an hour or so. They did not have one in stock at the time, which was OK as I explained I wasn't in a hurry. I also said that if they could source one to my requirements they would have a definite sale.
I asked if they could view VW dealer stocks nationally, and if they could source a car from that if one came up.
Six weeks later I returned from holiday and decided to accelerate the car acquisition. I used an app that could show me all VW stocks in the UK, and within two weeks found a car that met all my requirements.
This was a VW dealer in Cambridge. On November 1 I collected the car from them.
I still have had no response from the dealer in Southport.
Do they really want to sell cars?

Is this the place in Crossens? (There may only be the one, I'm not well up on car salesrooms)
If so, then I am surprised. My daughter and son-in-law went there to buy their car, and the salesman was fabulous. Questioned their requirements and also their needs, which brought me in to the equation then, because of my disabilities. On his advice, I was then taken down so they could see if it was easy enough for me to access the car, was there room for a wheelchair, also one day in the future a pram. Many things were raised and discussed, and my daughter and S.I.L are over the moon with their lovely VW Golf. I think the salesman was called Clive or maybe Clyde.
We were really well looked after, so from that experience I would confidently recommend them to anybody. Or, maybe I should say, 'I would confidently recommend Clive/Clyde to anybody, and my daughter and her husband were extremely happy with the service.'.
I actually find it quite interesting how different people can have such very different experiences relating to one place, not just this place, but anywhere. If it is just down to one member of staff, then it just goes to show how vitally important people skills are, and also how important it is to listen to your customer/s.

ETA. Myles. The salesman's name was Myles

[silver fox]

Is this the place in Crossens? (There may only be the one, I'm not well up on car salesrooms)
If so, then I am surprised. My daughter and son-in-law went there to buy their car, and the salesman was fabulous. Questioned their requirements and also their needs, which brought me in to the equation then, because of my disabilities. On his advice, I was then taken down so they could see if it was easy enough for me to access the car, was there room for a wheelchair, also one day in the future a pram. Many things were raised and discussed, and my daughter and S.I.L are over the moon with their lovely VW Golf. I think the salesman was called Clive or maybe Clyde.
We were really well looked after, so from that experience I would confidently recommend them to anybody. Or, maybe I should say, 'I would confidently recommend Clive/Clyde to anybody, and my daughter and her husband were extremely happy with the service.'.
I actually find it quite interesting how different people can have such very different experiences relating to one place, not just this place, but anywhere. If it is just down to one member of staff, then it just goes to show how vitally important people skills are, and also how important it is to listen to your customer/s.

It is remarkable how different some experiences can be even within the same dealership, incidentally your last point is the most relevant, first thing I was told when I started in the trade, "you have two eyes, two ears, one mouth, use them in the same proportion"

[Sandpies]

I had the same problem. Eventually went to Warrington. The place was very busy. I test drove about six cars and eventually chose a superb car at best price around and nothing was too much trouble.

Similar episode, saw an ex-display model Passat. I made the enquiry only to be told that the car had been promised to someone else but they were haggling over the part exchange. The salesman told me that they weren't going to budge on their valuation but they were going to give him another couple of days to accept their offer. The sales guy told me he'd contact me if the other person decided not to go ahead.
After not hearing from them for almost a week I thought the chap must have bought the car, so I decided to go and see if they had anything similar.
I met the salesman while I was looking round and mentioned to him about the Passat and asked if the chap had bought it?
He told me that the chap had rung up and decided not go ahead with the deal.
I said to him is it still available but his answer left me astounded. He said a lady came in the next day and bought the car.
When I pointed out to him that I'd been interested in the car and was ready to purchase it, he muttered that the lady was really adamant that she wanted the car so he decided to do a deal with her.
Needless to say, I made a hasty retreat for the door.
Later that day I saw an identical model (ex-demonstration) on Auto Trader with Arnold Clarke, £800 cheaper and they threw in 12 months road tax.
Fabulous car and great company to deal with, my loss at Corkills was my gain at Arnold Clarke.
Thank you Corkills.

[KissThis]

It is remarkable how different some experiences can be even within the same dealership, incidentally your last point is the most relevant, first thing I was told when I started in the trade, "you have two eyes, two ears, one mouth, use them in the same proportion"

I like that! Applies to so many aspects of life in general too 👍 👍

[bensherman]

About 10 years ago I did some work for Toyota in several of their dealerships.

It began with "mystery shopper" visits, and there were some interesting insights.
One time a woman went in to say she wanted to buy for cash a
Landcruiser and it took her 15 minutes to find a sales person prepared to take her seriously.
We also found they were apparently unaware that there was a model in their range called the Camry. It didn't sell in big numbers but some of the sales people seemed to have deleted it from memory

[silver fox]

About 10 years ago I did some work for Toyota in several of their dealerships.

It began with "mystery shopper" visits, and there were some interesting insights.
One time a woman went in to say she wanted to buy for cash a
Landcruiser and it took her 15 minutes to find a sales person prepared to take her seriously.
We also found they were apparently unaware that there was a model in their range called the Camry. It didn't sell in big numbers but some of the sales people seemed to have deleted it from memory

If your first "mystery shopper" was talking cash as in "folding money" no-one would take her on without some explanation, simply because by then, most dealers would not accept more than £1,000 in cash due to money laundering legislation.

Your second case totally inexcusable in any franchised dealer, for sales staff not to be aware of the product range.

Incidentally "mystery shoppers" could be the bane of sales staff's life, was mystery shopped twice while still a salesman, the first was a lady not very accomplished, I realised what was going on and managed to catch sight of the camera, I therefore asked the lady to turn off her camera and we would discuss sales or she could halt the exercise, gave me a lousy write up and appraisal, fortunately the video came to my rescue.

The second one was a "company car user" his company had a direct fleet deal with Ford Motor Company, but he wanted to test drive a couple of cars then he could send his request in to the company, most put out when I was too busy, did have one good effect Ford Motor Company at the time expected dealers to fall over themselves looking after direct fleet users, not surprisingly neither dealers nor sales staff agreed with wasting their time, fuel and demo cars on someone who couldn't buy from them anyway, Ford after coming across resistance everywhere agreed to pay dealers and sales staff a commission for catering to fleet users.

[bensherman]

If your first "mystery shopper" was talking cash as in "folding money" no-one would take her on without some explanation, simply because by then, most dealers would not accept more than £1,000 in cash due to money laundering legislation.

Your second case totally inexcusable in any franchised dealer, for sales staff not to be aware of the product range.

Incidentally "mystery shoppers" could be the bane of sales staff's life, was mystery shopped twice while still a salesman, the first was a lady not very accomplished, I realised what was going on and managed to catch sight of the camera, I therefore asked the lady to turn off her camera and we would discuss sales or she could halt the exercise, gave me a lousy write up and appraisal, fortunately the video came to my rescue.

The second one was a "company car user" his company had a direct fleet deal with Ford Motor Company, but he wanted to test drive a couple of cars then he could send his request in to the company, most put out when I was too busy, did have one good effect Ford Motor Company at the time expected dealers to fall over themselves looking after direct fleet users, not surprisingly neither dealers nor sales staff agreed with wasting their time, fuel and demo cars on someone who couldn't buy from them anyway, Ford after coming across resistance everywhere agreed to pay dealers and sales staff a commission for catering to fleet users.

One of the things you could see from what I was doing was that the big used car centres ( like Carcraft, Motorpoint and so on) were in effect relying on people to check out their choice of cars from a main dealer before coming to them for the lowest price.

Much the same thing happened to Comet. People would come in, spend time looking at fridges or whatever, ask a few questions then go home and order on line.

A tip I got during the Toyota work. If you are shopping around for a new used car, avoid the garages who open all their hatchbacks rear doors and leave them open for the day...they thought this indicated a real failure to understand how to sell cars.