Car Purchase Deposits?

scotsbob

Mobeer wrote: »

Your question should really be, why do people buy cars they don't want?

Because they lack resistance to sales pressure. Salesmen go on courses to learn how to pressure sell, they do it every day and are experienced at it.
Buyers don't go on courses to learn to resist pressure and don't have to do it every day.
When they get home they regret buying under pressure and want to get out of the deal.

I never leave a deposit on anything, not on cars, furniture, white goods, nothing. The only thing that attitude has lost me in nearly thirty years is a pair of shoes.

If a deposit is demanded, they lose a sale, no skin off my nose I just buy elsewhere.

motorguy

scotsbob wrote: »

If a deposit is demanded, they lose a sale, no skin off my nose I just buy elsewhere.

Fair enough but i doubt anyone will take an order for a new car off you with no deposit.

Also, no deposit = no sale as far as i'm concerned.

Whilst this clearly wouldnt bother you personally, for a business (myself included) if someone doesnt leave a deposit you either

(a) keep the car for sale and risk them taking the hump
(b) remove the car for sale and then later find (usually due to them ignoring your attempts to contact them) that they're not going to take the car after all.

A deposit is therefore a commitment of intent.

You may say well, no world shortage of cars, but as many people who look at crap misdescribed car after another, there is actually a shortage of good cars.

TradePro

scotsbob wrote: »

I never leave a deposit on anything, not on cars, furniture, white goods, nothing.

I would have to assume from that Bob that you only buy 'low demand' stuff?

And if I may say, I have sold around 140 cars year to date, almost always with a £500 deposit, and NEVER by pressuring anyone (persuading, maybe).

Only one person has cancelled, and that was for a pretty genuine reason.

scotsbob

TradePro wrote: »

and NEVER by pressuring anyone (persuading, maybe)

That's just a typical salesmans ploy of playing semantics.

Just for you let me adjust my original statement


Because they lack resistance to sales persuasion. Salesmen go on courses to learn how to sell by persuasion, they do it every day and are experienced at it.
Buyers don't go on courses to learn to resist persuasion and don't have to do it every day.
When they get home they regret buying under persuasion and want to get out of the deal.

motorguy

scotsbob wrote: »

That's just a typical salesmans ploy of playing semantics.

Just for you let me adjust my original statement


Because they lack resistance to sales persuasion. Salesmen go on courses to learn how to sell by persuasion, they do it every day and are experienced at it.
Buyers don't go on courses to learn to resist persuasion and don't have to do it every day.
When they get home they regret buying under persuasion and want to get out of the deal.

I personally doubt that most car dealers will have much issue with someone who has been in the night before ringing first thing in the morning and saying they've had a think and they've changed their mind. (the caveat to that being IF a car was ordered there and then on a system that cant then be cancelled)

Also a *good* car salesman will know if the customer is really committed to buying as opposed to feeling pressured / persuaded. I would have every sympathy for someone who had been put in that position by a salesman.

The problem is people 'change their mind' for various reasons of which 'feeling pressured' is probably quite in the minority.

Very annoying when you've had to tell other prospective customers that the car is sold (irrespective of any financial implications) only for the original buyer to ring up the night before handover and say they dont want it.

poppasmurf_bewdley

When I bought my current car, I paid a £500 deposit by Credit Card.

I did it AFTER I was convinced that I was happy to buy the car at the price I agreed to pay, that I was happy with the price they were paying me for my old car, and that I was satisfied the car AND dealer were sound and reliable. I also found out what the road tax was beforehand.

By paying the deposit by Credit Card, I had the knowledge that I had protection should anything go wrong, such as the dealer going bankrupt, etc.

If I had had any doubts whatsoever, I wouldn't have left even a £10 deposit. I am firmly of the opinion that once a deposit is paid, then the deal is final.

colino

I think deposits on second hand cars (all that I deal in) should be in cash and at a rate assessed to be painful to the potential buyer if they needlessly pull out and small enough to go into the petty cash and not be an issue for the trader. I blame plastic for the increase in "how do I get my several hundred pounds deposit back" stories. All too easy to part with ethereal money when you don't see it as hard cash.
Additionally I am still amazed of the number of people who can clearly type and access the internet who are able to put those skills into action after a, from a safe distance, stupid error, and ask for help about the mugger who has taken them for a ride, but who fail to do any web research on the car, trader or buying mechanism beforehand.

fivetide

scotsbob wrote: »

That's just a typical salesmans ploy of playing semantics.

Just for you let me adjust my original statement


Because they lack resistance to sales persuasion. Salesmen go on courses to learn how to sell by persuasion, they do it every day and are experienced at it.
Buyers don't go on courses to learn to resist persuasion and don't have to do it every day.
When they get home they regret buying under persuasion and want to get out of the deal.

Spot on. Nice to see all the traders thanking the sacastic response to davyjp's post but the fact is, the majority of people will be buying from large dealerships with very incentivised workforces, sales targets, commission and performance reviews as to why they failed to make a sale to someone.

All this "if we can do a deal today" business.

To deny that sales staff use a lot of pressure/persuasion to get someone to sign up to a car they might not be 100% sure about is flat out wrong.

Whilst I am sure that Paul, TradePro et al are above reproach in the way that they do business the fact remains that a lot of people get stung. Simply see this board as evidence!

Personally I will pay a deposit if I want to car but it would be propotional to the car. £500 on a £30k car? Ok. £500 on a £2k car? No chance.

jackc12

My mother nearly bought a new Corsa last week. Had gone to the garage alone to test drive one with no intention of making a purchase that day. A few hours later she's on the phone to me at work "if I don't put the deposit down now someone else will buy it". Luckily I managed to get her to back down on that with a bit of logic, but I think it's a mixture of excitement, naivety and very determined salesmen that causes this.

Buzby

Your last reason is simply the salesman doing what he is supposed to do! You don't need to pay any deposit to buy a car - it just ensures you get the exact item you see (or ordered, if a special).

If the customer has an inability to resist, that is their failing or naïvet! - not the salesman's.