Deceptive car salesman loses a sale

[Speedbird001]

It's just the way the business works. Nothing personal against you. If you like this particular Venza and they offer it something less than $10K OTD, buy it.

Scott

Agreed, I am seeing that more often now; "Ai" for lack of a better word is calling most of the shots in terms of pricing. There are only a handful of managers that can look at it from another angle and override the system. These salesmen are mostly just marketing + relationship building and closing the sale... Sucks for sales when the dominant factor for most (Price) is out of their hands.

I would bet $20 the Manager in OP situation, was really just a dude plugging #s into a semi complex database, it spits out the # and that's that. ($5 Side bet: they are using SalesForce (I do NOT care for it)

 

[fantastic]

They lost a sale...vote w/your dollar.

 

[CarbonToast]

Maybe. But it is equally possible that the OP was working with a green salesperson who was poorly trained on how to close deals.

I agree, or they are not paying attention enough to remember the specifics over multiple days. I like to assume that a sales person is not going to remember the exact specific details and chain of events. They aren't invested in the situation, and are just making as little effort as possible to keep it alive. This comes off as deceptive.

I have noticed a trend where on high value details the sales person is the exact opposite. They know it by heart, word for word.

On a used venza with a customer asking for >10% off, probably not.

 

[Greenbeforeblue]

A murderer will kill and a thief will steal, but you never know where you stand with a liar.

 

[Number_35]

I've always wondered whether or not the salesman actually knows the minimum price the sales manager will accept.

There was a Dilbert comic some years ago - Dilbert's company had built a biosphere and populated it with car salesmen. A desperate salesman pounded on the glass and held up a sign saying "NO PLANTS - NO OXYGEN. LET US OUT!"

Dilbert replied "Let me write it up and take it in to the boss and see what he says."

 

[Pablo]

Let me see......gas station sushi, dollar store oil, wet farts, mining towns in South America, used car salesmen, driveway recoaters walking with tar buckets...........I'm struggling here to differentiate...........

 

[BISCUT]

I would respond with: "You have a deal at a number between $9,500 OTD and $10K OTD. Go work it out with your manager and let me know when you're ready for my check."

This is how you deal with them. Know what your willing to pay and eventually stop the BS and drop a range. If they bite, all yours. If not, walk.

 

[eljefino]

Wait, so you agreed to 10k then tried for 9500 later? Am I reading this right?

 

[JoelB]

I don't really see any deception. They aren't going to bring every single possible deal directly to a manager. He's feeling you out at 10k see if you show real interest. Then he took your $9500 offer as real interest and went to the manager. Seems pretty normal for used car negotiation.

 

[MrJayhawk]

Maybe. But it is equally possible that the OP was working with a green salesperson who was poorly trained on how to close deals.

This seems pretty likely as the OTD is usually what check is written for, not price + more addons. Saleman seems green on terminology.

 

[Pew]

Let me see......gas station sushi, dollar store oil, wet farts, mining towns in South America, used car salesmen, driveway recoaters walking with tar buckets...........I'm struggling here to differentiate...........

I had to double check the topic to make sure I didn't click the wrong one.....

 

[Pablo]

I had to double check the topic to make sure I didn't click the wrong one.....

I don't even trust RE deals. In writing!

 

[97prizm]

This is a screenshot of a text conversation between myself (green) and a salesman. I test drove a Toyota Venza last week and he had texted me a couple of times to try to convince me to come back in and buy the car, which I was actually strongly considering. I responded to the last of his messages with "Make me an offer" and the rest of the exchange is below.

View attachment 259992

I was prepared for him to tell me $10K OTD was a firm price, but I was not prepared for him to tell me it was an imaginary one. There's no way I'm rewarding these tactics with a sale even if he comes back down to the initial dishonest offer. Doesn't his offer of $10K appear to be a legitimate offer, not "throwing out numbers," or am I wrong here?

I've been stuck on the sales side of things. I've taken the initiative to get someone in the door to have managers hose me. I never gave out a price over the phone or by text. I did have a manager at VW not reach out to a couple of ladies looking for a finalized price on a Diesel Touareg and the bought a land cruiser instead. One one hand they have to make money on the other hand either the manager hosed the sales associate or it was a fluff offer and should be honored as it was sent to you in writing.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Let me see......gas station sushi, dollar store oil, wet farts, mining towns in South America, used car salesmen, driveway recoaters walking with tar buckets...........I'm struggling here to differentiate...........

Come on now - driveway recoating is an honorable profession.

 

[Elkins45]

Wait, so you agreed to 10k then tried for 9500 later? Am I reading this right?

No, I never agreed to anything. He made me an offer and I took a shot with a counter offer, then magically his offer went up nearly $1000. My point was that he shouldn’t have offered $10k if it wasn’t real.

 

[cptbarkey]

Wait, so you agreed to 10k then tried for 9500 later? Am I reading this right?

Anecdotes like what OP posted are usually best kept to themselves imo. What is a good deal is subjective, what the buyer agrees to is always results in gaslighting themselves, and the seller always wins.

 

[Pablo]

Anecdotes like what OP posted are usually best kept to themselves imo. What is a good deal is subjective, what the buyer agrees to is always results in gaslighting themselves, and the seller always wins.

Man. That's deep.

I'm thinking I'm not judging, just being entertained.

 

[KrisZ]

He probably just threw a number to get you to come in. Once you’re there, they will try to get you excited and work you on the price. It’s the oldest sales tactic in the book.

When shopping used, I never talk price without seeing the vehicle first and I ignore anybody that tries to do it. Whether I’m selling or buying, I stick to this rule.

 

[doitmyself]

I was prepared for him to tell me $10K OTD was a firm price, but I was not prepared for him to tell me it was an imaginary one. There's no way I'm rewarding these tactics with a sale even if he comes back down to the initial dishonest offer. Doesn't his offer of $10K appear to be a legitimate offer, not "throwing out numbers," or am I wrong here?

My opinion is you are wrong. Classic "cut off your nose to spite your face". "Rewarding tactics"? Beyond having empathy that the guy has to eek out a living, who cares about anything else except that you end up with the car you want at the price you want? This is a business transaction, not a Kumbaya, hand holding event.

Reminds me of my tactic as a 5 year old to punish my mom. If I was mad at my mom, on a cold winter night I would go to bed without the covers on to punish HER. "I'll show her", LOL. I also remember her rocking me to sleep at 2 a.m. in the living room on a cold winter night that I was very sick. She died this past December 26 after a full life of 91 years. Still processing the memories and everything (apologies, but it feels good to share).

 

[Leo99]

Anecdotes like what OP posted are usually best kept to themselves imo. What is a good deal is subjective, what the buyer agrees to is always results in gaslighting themselves, and the seller always wins.

I'm a math minded man. I look at it like this: If you sent 99 other people and me in to buy the Venza, we'd come out with 100 different out the door prices. Graphing those prices would look like a bell curve. As long I'm less than the mean, I think I did ok. You can't compare yourself to what the lowest price paid because only 1/100 people were able to get that price. Those times in the past when I was less experienced and paid more than I should have, I chalk up to educational costs.