Sunday, June 22, 2008

Things you don't want to hear car salesmen say

Over the next couple of weeks I'm continuing my search for another car. Today I went to three dealerships looking for a decent used car. I saw a 2004 granny Concorde with 33,000 miles out the door for around $8,000. A 2002 Liberty Jeep Limited Edition for $8,000. It looks great, so I'm wondering what the catch is. And, I drove a 2001 Honda Civic LX with a sour milk smell and torn floorboard carpet priced at $8,000 out the door. Walking in with old jeans, hooded sweatshirt, no makeup or jewelry and a little bit of a baby cougar attitude, here are a few things I never want to hear a salesman say again:

- So, what do you consider a large monthly payment? (Hint: Never say what you want to pay per month. Those turkeys will figure a way to get more money out of you playing with interest rates. Focus on the bottom line and then tell them you're getting your loan at the credit union.)
-"Why don't you take that $8,000 and use it as a downpayment and then your monthly payments will be really small." (ha ha)
- "Follow me." (They lead you to the back of the used car section to the cars they think you can afford.)
-"That's all in." (That's their best offer so if it's not good enough, you get all out of there.)
- "We don't even give our employees those prices."
- "We're only making $150 on this deal. I'm being honest." (No, you're not.)
- "My manager says I can only go this low." (I'm going to see if the manager across the street will go lower.)

Tips
So, for car salesmen and the rest of us that sell anything, from ideas to boats, check out these links for customer service tips:
-Customer Service Tips and Techniques
- The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service
- Customer Service Tips and Advice

P.S. Thank you Andrew for letting me scoot around to the dealerships and work in your awesome truck.

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