Attack of the Killer Car Salesman

Since my car has sadly passed into the great beyond, I spent my Saturday checking out new cars to lease. While I enjoy checking out new cars, I do not usually enjoy dealing with salesmen, or saleswomen, whichever the case maybe. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, the salespeople are pleasant to talk to, informative without being pushy, etc. Other times, more often than not, they are overbearing, loud, pushy and obnoxious.

The first salesman we encountered on our travels yesterday was very nice, knew what he was talking about, knew the car, and was totally not pushy at all. He came with us on the test drive, and I actually didn't mind that he did. Although I was not completely sold on the car, I would give that particular salesman extra consideration just because dealing with him was pleasant.

The second one we went to however, not so good. The sales guy was much younger than I, and was very very very very eager to make a sale. We took a walk around the lot, looking at different models and that kind of thing, but they didn't seem to be in any sort of order, which was annoying. The whole time we were walking around though, this sales guy was watching us through the window, like a vulture. It was kind of unnerving.

When we decided to go in, this guy opens the door, and attacks us, "HI MY NAME IS...." He tells us we are welcome to his fine auto dealership, at which point I wanted to ask what would happen if we weren't welcome, would he leave us alone to look at the cars? He wants to know what kind of car we want, what options, lease or finance just as soon as we walk in the door. I don't think I have ever had a salesperson get in my face so fast in my entire life. I literally looked at the car I was interested in for about 30 seconds before he was pulling me away to crunch some numbers, and he had an offer to lease form already out and ready to fill in. Alarm bells were going off in my head, and red flags were waving, let me tell you.

Once we got back from the test drive, this guy really turned on the hard sell, saying how he used to work for the competition, so he could trashtalk them, everything he said and did was obviously part of a pitch. All of this was delivered in a booming voice. When it was made clear to him (again) that we weren't buying that day, he tried to play the urgency card, "Well, today has been a slow day, so my boss would be more willing to deal today, I don't know if she will be next week, probably not". Ok, look pal, I used to work with a bunch of salesmen, I know the routine, and that was probably the clumsiest way to create a sense of urgency in a customer. Also, telling me you don't care if you sell cars, you just wanna make your customers happy is complete and utter bullshit, since selling cars puts food on your table. Are you telling me you don't care if you eat? What turnip truck do you think I fell off of?

I would like to say that I dealt with a salesperson at the third dealership we went to, but alas, no one really bothered to talk to us so we left.

The last person we dealt with was very similiar to the first, asked a few questions about us without being nosy, asked us what kind of car we were interested in, gave us time to look, gave us space to talk together, that kind of thing. Not only that, but the car was amazing too, so we shall see what happens. I will keep the general public informed as to what car we wind up getting.

So ends my little tirade, I'm sure there will be plenty more as time goes on.

John