Car dealers don't take me seriously...

gilbert_and_sullivan

To be honest i'm not surprised at the dealers being reluctant to go straight down the test drive route with you.

Nothing to do with you being a lone female, i'm a middle aged chap and i wouldn't wander onto a used car lot and expect everything to be dropped so i could see what a certain car was like to drive.

I'd expect to inspect and approve the overall condition of a car i was interested in and go through preliminary negotiations to see if we were reading from the same hymnsheet, and only then would i expect to be offered the test drive to see if the particular vehicle is up to standard.

A dealer otherwise would be pestered constantly by all sorts of people wanting to test various cars who once they've found a model they like would be off to search the internet for the cheapest one available.

Maybe the dealer thought you didn't fit his normal customer profile, and exercised his right to hope you go away, similarly you may well have disliked the dealer and done the same.
I hope thats not offensive to you, just saying that there could be many reasons an experienced car sales site was reluctant to offer instant test drives.

BrandNewDay

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

To be honest i'm not surprised at the dealers being reluctant to go straight down the test drive route with you.

Nothing to do with you being a lone female, i'm a middle aged chap and i wouldn't wander onto a used car lot and expect everything to be dropped so i could see what a certain car was like to drive.

I'd expect to inspect and approve the overall condition of a car i was interested in and go through preliminary negotiations to see if we were reading from the same hymnsheet, and only then would i expect to be offered the test drive to see if the particular vehicle is up to standard.

A dealer otherwise would be pestered constantly by all sorts of people wanting to test various cars who once they've found a model they like would be off to search the internet for the cheapest one available.

Maybe the dealer thought you didn't fit his normal customer profile, and exercised his right to hope you go away, similarly you may well have disliked the dealer and done the same.
I hope thats not offensive to you, just saying that there could be many reasons an experienced car sales site was reluctant to offer instant test drives.

I completely agree with you. I think my expectations were skewed and I saw how busy it was and I actually realized: it's a sellers market for USED cars right now. Both lots were busy every time I was there. The economy may be bad, but people still need cars. They just can't get finance like they used to so they're buying the cheaper used cars.

I had to go to the lot several times, talk about which cars I wanted and why I was interested, tell him my husband had been by to look and had narrowed it down to two, tell him that he'd told me to pick the one I want and that I hoped to buy the car this weekend, and asked permission to come by at a later time to test drive them. Then he was willing to let me drive them.

It was a lot of work for him to get them out for me - he had to get someone come down to move a bunch of cars, all of them needed their batteries charged up, and then he had to put some petrol in one.

Anyway, it worked out and I bought the one I liked.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Well done BND, i hope your new car works out well for you.

Any

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

Your wrong worried jim.


They are qualifying the customer.

IE is that married woman going to buy the car without her husband today when I can make money elsewhere because I need to pay my mortgage.

Am I wasting my time with this one? Can a deal be done today because Saturday is when I can earn money to feed my kids?

Answer.

1) A MAJORITY (not a small majority, A VAST MAJORITY) of married women WILL NOT buy a car without their husband involved BUT if you ask them would they buy one now they all say they can OR get insulted that you have asked.

2) If the deal is to be done with a part ex & its not there a DEAL will not be done today.

Question

Would you waste time/money test driving on a Saturday on the hope that a customer may come back in a few days time (if they havent found a car somewhere else in the meantime) on the added hope that the person you have been selling to for the last hour will then pass all the information onto their husband who you have to repeat yourself for another 1hr & do another 30 min test drive a few days later on the additional/additional hope that the part-ex is offered at the right price & the deal isnt !!!!!!ed by the husband insisting on a set of mats & a full tank of fuel? & in the meantime 5 qualified customers walking around?

If you say yes then DO NOT ever take a career in car sales, you will NEVER make it & will starve you family in the process.

And you seriously think, that if you behave like this to that woman she will come back again with her husband if she will like the car?????

If you say yes, then you are wrong, because all she will think is that you are a sexistic pig and she will rather go and buy a new car then to have to talk to you ever again.

Throbbe

Any wrote: »

And you seriously think, that if you behave like this to that woman she will come back again with her husband if she will like the car?????

If you say yes, then you are wrong, because all she will think is that you are a sexistic pig and she will rather go and buy a new car then to have to talk to you ever again.

Yes it's a generalisation and not always true, but i suppose on a busy day they have to play the percentages. The number of sales lost in the way you describe doesn't outweigh the number lost by allowing other customers to wander off.

It can backfire, as in the case of the poor young lad who get several strips torn off him by Mrs Throbbe in front of his manager. :rotfl:

I would try to go and see a car on a weekday away from lunchtimes as you are far more likely to get decent service and a test drive (as others have said, call first).

Any

And by the way - the woman is on the end the driving force behind buying a car - she has to like it and be happy with it. I haven't seen a man yet to go out and buy a car without his wife agreeing the colour, the heated seats and whether the baby fits in!!!! If you pi** off the wife, that is the end for you...

And once the scapping £2k scheme backed by govermnent scheme comes in, that will be the end of second hand car sales... Well, interest in them anyway.

Any

Throbbe wrote: »

Yes it's a generalisation and not always true, but i suppose on a busy day they have to play the percentages. The number of sales lost in the way you describe doesn't outweigh the number lost by allowing other customers to wander off.

It can backfire, as in the case of the poor young lad who get several strips torn off him by Mrs Throbbe in front of his manager. :rotfl:

I would try to go and see a car on a weekday away from lunchtimes as you are far more likely to get decent service and a test drive (as others have said, call first).

If woman is not interested seriously in the car, she wouldn't even ask. I like to go around and just look without being bothered. Once I ask, that is because I am actually willing to make a deal if the car is right. Women don't wonder into man teritory without meaning a business.

Hintza

Any wrote: »

And by the way - the woman is on the end the driving force behind buying a car - she has to like it and be happy with it. I haven't seen a man yet to go out and buy a car without his wife agreeing the colour, the heated seats and whether the baby fits in!!!! If you pi** off the wife, that is the end for you...

My OH doesn't get say in the car at all, she will just come home one day and it will have changed.

Any

And my OH doesn't have the say in my car. And when he wants his car changed, I do the money dealing. He is crap at this kind of thing.

Everyone is different, and you have to live in this century and realise this and not judge people by their sex. Otherwise your kids will starve.

I am a fleet support executive. And my directors when ordering a new car go home and talk about the colour etc. One of them actually told me just last week:
" I have to ask which colour I actually like:-))

Pee

I buy my car and my boyfriend buys his car. I don't tell him what kind of car he should get, and he doesn't tell me. If I was going to take someone with me, it would be a friend who knew about cars - admittedly all the friends I have who know about cars are male.