PLEASE HELP! Can anyone suggest a decent car salesperson in the bergen county new jersey area. i just went to the nissan dealer in bergenfield and left feeling bullied. NO I WILL NOT GO BACK. Thank You
I guess I wonder why you’re relying on the salesperson for anything more than the paperwork to buy the car. With all the information available on the internet today, you can decide which cars you’d like to test drive and also what you’re willing to pay. The salesperson doesn’t have any real leverage anymore unless YOU allow them to have it. Do your research, decide what you want and make them an offer. If they refuse, there’s always the next car lot down the road. Heck, you can even buy from some of them on-line. Well, actually reserve it anyway for a given price and then just go in to complete the formalities. If you run into a jerk, don’t be afraid to ask for the manager and tell them why you’d like to buy a car from them but not through that particular salesperson. If they want your business (and they do), they will make sure you’re treated appropriately. Just don’t allow yourself to be pushed around. Car sales are WAY down, they can’t afford to allow someone willing to buy to walk. Use that to your advantage. Don’t make it personal. You’re using them to get a car not visa versa. Get it?
“Decent” and “car salesperson” are mutually exclusive terms. The customers are, literally, their meals, like an antelope is a meal to a lioness.
Your best bet is to do your own research, enter the dealership knowing exactly what you want to choose from, exactly what options you do and do not want, and exactly how you want to handle the finances, and take command of the situation. If you’re not an assertive person, take a friend who is. And do not show weakness, you are in charge.
Preparatory materials, such as the Consumer Reports New Car Preview and mortgage amortization charts, can be obtained at your local bookstore. Info about specific cars can be obtained from the specific manufacturer’s websites.
Sincere best.
I believe there are actually some decent salespersons. The guy who sold me my Toyota earlier this year was a retired farmer, who was quite mechanically inclined and actually liked cars. Most important, he did not need to work for a living!
I had googled the exact car I wanted and phoned him 2 weeks in advance that I might be dropping by, since I spent quite some time away from home base.
The day I wanted to buy a car; he got me a decent price and located the exact model at an other dealarship.The car was spotless, washed and filled with gas. After the sale he said he had to offer me extended warranty, show me the service department, and the shop with all the accessories, since this was part of Toyota’s trainig program. I graciously declined the items, and gave him high marks in Toyota’s very detailed follow up survey.
Try to figure out what you want before you go in. Know as much as you can about the cars on your list. Then look for them on the internet. For instance, go to the Nissan web site and (http://www.nissanusa.com/) and click on the locate a dealer icon in the lower left after you enter your zip code. Click “view dealer details” and look at the inventory. Do this for several dealers near you. You can contact the dealer via email and express interest in a car. See how they respond. If you find someone that is low key, you could go in for a test drive.
You may also have seen “no hassle” dealerships advertised. They tend to cater to people like you. At least the ones I’ve seen around here seem to be. Good luck!
Another method is to develop a thick skin and know that only you determine how you spend your money. That’s how I do it. I am the consumer, and they are consumed.
If you really don’t want to deal with them, just hire an auto broker to do it for you.
True. I actually know a decent salesperson. But I won’t admit it. I’m trying to keep my senility a secret.
kudos for recognizing yours in the survey.
You’re taking this all wrong and too personal. Car sales is a brutal business and those salesman are under pressure that you cannot imagine.
No matter what happens to cause a deal to fall through the salesman is going to get blamed for it. The salesman HAS to apply pressure and try to coerce you into a deal. If he does not he’ll be unemployed by the end of the day, or sooner.
Most car salesmen are expendable commodities and are some of the most mistreated people on the face of the earth. Only a small percentage have the ability to do this job well and not get eaten alive by tension.
Develop a thick skin, decide on the car you want, the price you’re willing to give, and avoid any prolonged discussion on the sale. The longer you talk the more the ball is in their court.
As Mr. Meehan says, tell them they get one shot at the price and if you don’t like it you’re walking. Do not even sit down when doing this.
Don’t get upset over pushy sales tactics; it’s strictly business, just as it should be on your part.
Kinda like Fletch asking for the name of a chemical company that makes a poisonous chemical. “Just give me the ones that aren’t in New Jersey.” There was only one.
Thanks for this thoughtful perspective. Salespeople are human, too, and have a different perspective than consumers do. Still, they do make a tasty meal when I go car shopping every 5 years or so!
They do exist, although I will grant you that they are difficult to find. I have purchased my last two cars from a saleswoman who is intelligent enough to know that high pressure does not work on everyone, but then again, the entire dealership is rather low-key. As a result of her attitude, plus the way that the dealership does business, it is very likely that I will return there for my next car purchase in 2 years or so.
But, even if the dealership is a high-pressure establishment, you can learn to deal with them on your own terms. Before I bought a Honda Accord, back in '91, I got a price print-out from AAA, and I investigated everything regarding the price for the Accord as well as the trade-in value of my Taurus at several dealerships before I visited the dealership where I thought that I actually wanted to buy the car. I then wrote the price that I would be willing to pay on a piece of paper.
I went into the Honda dealership (one that is fairly high-pressure) and described what I wanted to buy, as well as what I was trading in. The salesman quoted a bottom-line price that was considerably higher than what I was willing to pay. He also wanted to push some cars that had “dealer packs” (useless, low-quality junk that is installed by the dealership and sold at inflated prices).
I informed him that I would not buy a car with a dealer-pack. Then I pulled out the piece of paper and I told him, “Why don’t we save both of us a lot of time. I don’t care how you break the price down in terms of the new car price and the trade-in value, but this is the maximum that I am willing to pay”. I smiled, and I was civil, but I also projected the idea that I was serious about doing business on my terms.
He looked at the paper, took it to his manager, and within a few minutes he came back and agreed to my deal. Once they know that they are dealing with a person who is not going to play by their rules, they usually see it your way.
After all, a sale is a sale, and even if they make a smaller profit on a few customers, they can always make it up on the next few naive customers who come through the door. Just don’t be one of the naive ones!
In my lifetime of 65 years, I have bought 3 new cars. I tried to buy a lot more, but the sales people drove me away.
Once, in the early 70’s, I went looking for a VW. The salesman was okay, but he commented that people came in, said they had money to buy a new Porsche, but chose not to do it. He said it in a very sarcastic way. Alas, I had enough money to buy a new Porsche but chose not to do it, what kind of idiot would spend all his savings on a luxury vehicle, but because of his offensive remark I also chose not to buy a new car from him. 
Later, I went to the Dodge dealer. They had last year’s model, um, Dart? just like I wanted, on the lot, and the new models were there, too. Thus, one would reasonably assume a decent discount, right?
He went through some razzle-dazzle, then talked to the manager, and offered me $100 off window sticker price. I went home and bought a used car. A week later, this idiot called me up and offered a $250 discount. In those days, that was a decent discount. If he had offered that in the first place, he would have sold me a car.
In 1988, I went out of town a few miles, to a place which offered lowest prices in the area. I wanted a 1988 Nova (Corolla by GM) for my daughter to commute to the State University. I told him in plain English, “Give me your best price, you get one shot at me.”
Clearly, not believing me, he knocked off peanuts. I went back into the city and got several thousand dollars off, from the local dealer. We bought it and were driving it for several days, when the out of town guy called up offering a more substantial discount, though he had been warned he had his one shot at me.
I have concluded that for unknown reasons, I appear much more stupid than I really am. So, I tell them right out what my rules are, and when, not if, they ignore the warning, they lose the sale. That Nova went 248,000 miles, it was junked only because we couldn’t get good parts, no new carbs available, and rebuilt carbs went bad every 13 months, and no one would do a rebuild on the carb, and a rebuilt water pump installed during rebuild went bad at 48,000 miles.
In October, 2001, (think!) I wanted a new Sienna. I went to the dealer in McAllen,and told them I wanted a bottom line Sienna, I didn’t need all sorts of luxuries, but needed to keep the price down. He told me they might make me a real good deal on a mid-line car, and asked for a chance to talk to his manager, since I had told them the maximum price I wanted to pay for a simple Sienna.
He came back and asked if we would go another $1500 for the mid-line vehicle, It was definitely a much nicer vehicle, I think the sticker price was something like $5000 higher. My wife and I decided we would go the extra. I am not going to say we got a good deal, but if you remember what was happening about that time, I think maybe we did, not many people were buying cars right then. But, it isn’t likely we will ever do that well again. (At least I hope not!)
That car has around 133,500 miles on it. There have been a couple minor problems, such as sliding door problems, a sensor, and now an intermittent gas tank pressure scanner code issue. But, we drive that car all over the US and Mexico, and it has been by far the best car we have ever owned. 24 mpg at 70 mph, and at lower speeds mileage goes up fast. We tend to take out seats and can haul an incredible amount of junk with us on our trips. (Car is in Cordoba, Ver., Mexico right now.)
Sorry for off-topic, but it just came out.
No way could I ever be a car salesman. Those guys can be salesman of the month for 10 years straight and get canned for having a few bad weeks.
After working for dealers a number of years, and even though I had nothing to do with the sales dept., I found myself a number of times feeling pretty sorry for those guys after seeing and hearing about some of the garbage they go through.
The attitude is the sale MUST go through. If it does not then it’s the salesman’s fault even if it’s 110% certain the customer is going to walk out anyway.
It’s not the customer’s priority to provide the salesman with a sale, commission, or job security though, so go after 'em and never fret about it!
My biggest issue with car salespeople is that so many of them don’t really know much about the cars they are selling. I do my homework when I am ready to buy a vehicle and I appreciate a salesperson who knows the product. I’ve taught mathematics, statistics and computer science for more than 40 years. I have to know my subject and I have to be able to sell it to my students so that they will invest their time in doing the work necessary to master the material. I expect an automobile sales person to know his product so that he earns the commission I pay him when he sells the automobile.
My favorite “dumb car salesman story”:
Several years back, my brother was shopping for a car. As he was sitting in one of the showroom models, he asked the salesman about the function of a button on the dashboard marked “Traction Control”. (Note: My brother knew all about traction control, and was merely trying to assess the salesman’s knowledge of the product.)
So, what was the salesman’s response? That dimwit said, “Oh, when you push that button, the car gets heavier”. My brother replied, “I am really impressed that this car can defy the laws of physics by merely pushing a button”, and he promptly walked out of the dealership, rather than having to deal with someone as stupid as that salesman was.
You need to learn how to negotiate when buying a car. I’m about 10 years younger then you and believe it or not I actually LOVE the process of buying a car…And if the salesman gives me crap…I give it right back. There’s more then ONE dealer in my area to buy a car from…and I make sure the salesman knows it. Many times I’ve walked out of a dealership with the salemans begging me for my business…
One thing you CAN’T do is buy during PEAK times…Spring is the absolute WORSE time to buy a car. That is their biggest sales time…and if you won’t buy from them at their price they have about 10 other people waiting in the wings that will. Buying now through early March is a very good time to buy…Sales are slow and they need the business.
You must ALWAYS do your research BEFORE you step into a showroom. You need to know the EXACT car you want with all the features you want and the price. You should know what the dealer price is…and what a decent price that you should pay. This can all be found on the internet with just a few hours of searching. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.
Some vehicles are hotter then others…So the discount will be less. But I always found that a couple hundred dollars over what the dealer paid for the vehicle is a good price. The dealer will actually make more then that depending upon their buyback agreement with the manufacturer. We bought my wifes new Lexus a few months ago…and we were able to buy it for about $150 over dealer invoice…Got the car and color and options we/she wanted.
My BIL is a very successful car salesman who moved onto running a small dealership then heading major dealership financing. He admits not caring a single bit about cars and knows only a bit about each. He has gotten a brand new car every 6000 miles for the last 7 years I knew him.
He knows enough about each feature what it does/benefit (enough for bulk of customers) but not the technical aspects why it works nor cares. He must be really good at selling because me makes well over a six figure income and admits to barely passing high school.
I despise car buying but found my first experience was dragged out(2hrs!) at the dealership when I negotiated at dealer. My 2nd purchase at same place for wife she borrowed car for 1/2 day to test drive and fell in love. I called two days later and got a first offer of invoice - rebate + title/doc fee and said ok and gave credit card for deposit and it was done in 6 minutes. We picked up the car a day latter in <30 minutes. I have seen bullying at the dealer and then heard great things too. So it all depends.
My best experiences have been with smaller dealerships rather than big ones.
Some years ago I was looking at buying a Pontiac, and dropped into the local dealer. The salesman on the floor could not answer the simplest question about engine availability, and bucket seats vs bench. He also seemed totally reluctant to look in the big GM dealer book they had at that time, showing all the options.
when I started leving he gave me his card and said to come back when I was ready to buy! I looked at his card, and it was from a Chrysler dealership just down the street, where he had apparently worked before!! I looked him straight in the eye and said with a loud voice:“ARE YOU SURE YOU WORK HERE?”