My test drive/inscrutible dealers

Hi all:
Sales staff, at the dealership, are there to sell vehicles. When you “take-up” their valuable time, you are stealing from them! ------ Time has value! ---- Time with you is being wasted, because you are not ready to make a purchase!
Best regards. -------- Dwayne2

What a load of ----.

Give me the name of your dealership (your post indicates to me you work at one) so I can make a point to avoid it.

(Time is wasted, etc) Most dealerships are dead to dead slow right now thanks to a tanked economy.

I went into a GM dealership 2 days ago and two sales people came at me at the same time.
I don’t want sales people coming at me the second I walk in the door. (Perhaps some do)

If time was valuable, only one would have offered to help. (or maybe none, seeing as how they are so ‘busy’)

No, I’m not ready to make a purchase yet either, but that’s not the point.

Unlike some, I do a LOT of research before I spend my money.

Visiting dealerships and talking to people who are SUPPOSED to know their product is part of that research. Way too many don’t have a clue about what they’re trying to sell.

As far as ‘stealing from them’ goes, talking with a knowledgeable sales person (IMO) helps me make a decision and also tells them I will contact this person when and if I decide to buy.

The van I bought last (4 years ago) came from a wholesaler (via off lease auction) who tried to sell me a third party extended warranty. This was after I’d visited the lot 3 previous times.

When I asked him if it came free, he just looked at me as though I had two heads.
(I have absolutely NO use for any type of extended warranty, as I’ve never (in 40 years of buying vehicles) had an occasion where it would have paid for itself)

His next statement was, (while filling out the bill of sale) " plus $300 for administration fees". WHOA.

I told him he could either keep the van or pass on the admin. fees as well.

He said he couldn’t do that. Fine, no problem, I’ll look elsewhere, thanks for your time.
I walked out the door to my car and just as I got there, I heard my name called out.

There was the owner of the place asking to speak with me. Sure.

10 minutes later we had a deal. NO admin fees either. $300 is NOT going to be a deal breaker.

Now, IMHO, this is where the dealer (sales people) try to ‘steal’ from the potential customer.

No offense meant, just MHO is all.

Well, it’s the computer age… If we should approach a dealership only when we’re ready to buy (not to test-drive, ask questions, gather information), why not just order it online and eliminate the middle-man? Then no one’s time will be wasted…

Seriously, let us know which dealership you work for and we’ll all be sure to avoid that one.