You Lot!

[vwsurfbum]

Have handed my notice in at work, (Parkstone Seat).
I thought i would share this with you guys so you will understand where the car trade is heading!

I have been in the motor trade for 15 years and up until 2 years ago earned reasonably well out of it,(not amazing but ok).
With the invention of internet searching and every one demanding huge discounts! it has taken all the profit out of the cars that we sell, i am one of only a few sales people who now cant afford to live as the result of this. I will put this into proportion for you guys. For the hours that we work it would work out less than minimum wage!
Obviously i cannot say to people stop asking for discounts, but what i will say is have a thought for the sales people who work for dealerships (not stealers) when they say there's no money left in the car to give you more of a discount!
If this method of buying continues there will be no where else to buy new cars and parts from!!
in the last two weeks there has been two Seat dealers go under and i'm sure many more to follow! Its not just Seat but all of the motor trade even the german giant BMW are suffering! Big discounts to be had there!

well rant over, I will be around still but just not as much

Ian. Ex Sales executive!

 

[GreyKnight]

Sorry to hear that mate. I've never worked in car sales, but as an ex-computer salesman I know how irritating it is to have customers continually asking for a discount I don't think I've ever bought a car with discount, but usually get extras thrown in. I agree that the public opinion of the amount of money that can be chopped off a deal is totally out of proportion. The customer sees their sum of £18,000 or so and thinks it's all pure profit!

We seem to live in a discount culture and it really irritates me. When I'm selling stuff people pay the price on the tag and if they don't want to pay then they don't get the item!

 

[Kam]

Man I hope you find a new job soon!

I used to get my Leon serviced at Parkstone. Thought they did reasonably well.

 

[Empi5]

I sympathise with you fella, but its the rough with the smooth i suppose, In any industry there are highs and lows, at the height im sure there was a lot of money to be made, and as the saying goes, make hay whilst the Sun shines,

We are never going to be happy with paying the ticket price, it is the world that we live in, and retailers have to respond.

I hope you find something soon M8.

 

[warren_cox]

Problem is VAT on new cars makes something like a Leon seem expensive.

The R is about £15.5k before VAT, so you're working against 2.5K of VAT before you begin. I have to admit I've been pretty mercenary with buying new cars of late as the guy who sold me my first LCR said it would be only 1 of 1,500 in the UK. OK, so he may have believed it to be the case at the time, but with the second I didn't take the same chance. Got it for £17.1k with GAP insurance, metallic paint, mats and gearknob. Paid £19.1k for the first one

I'm sorry to hear you've moved on. Any ideas what you're going to do next. Sell BMW's - they sell in volume and you can teach the clientelle what the stick on the LHS of the steering whell does as part of the demo (when you're handing over the certificate of outside land entitlement)

 

[kiwi_cordy]

sorry to hear about the job.

would the fact that dealers are closing also be due to a more competative market and a more demanding customer base?

i think a lot of business demise in general is due to the increase in customer knowledge and thus the demands they place on the businesses. Some companies can respond quickly to this and some not?

the days of dodgy car salesmen are over, customers demand more and more for their money, but doesnt that make sense?

i work in IT outsourcing, and our industry is in a similar position where in order to gain new business we have to cut costs, profit margins shrink. due to competition from our competitors you have to reduce costs in order to survive. this then means the sales guys have to work even harder for their money.

its harsh but i think its how industry is at the moment

 

[dalepearson]

Sorry to hear you have quit. Nothing is cheap, and the more discount I can get on anything the better. I assume that as you dont like discount, you never took advantage of discount from your dealers for cars for yourself, family etc and paid the full amount.

Sorry, but everyone wants something as cheap as possible within reason. Its how the world works, when I was looking for my LCR local dealer wouldnt do a deal, so got none of my money, thats competition for you, always someone prepared to do a deal, or add in an extra.

 

[vwsurfbum]

i agree with most of the posts, and your right i rarley pay full price for anything! (thank god for ebay)
when you look at car prices, they have not moved much sinch the early 80's! back then a 1.6 escort ghia was 12k ish, now a foucus 1.6 ghia is not far off that!
i will look around but no plans to get back into car sales just yet, but you never know as it has a strange pull. Definatly wont be selling BMW's! lol

 

[Arctic]

Its not just car sales the net has killed, the whole of the high street is struggling at the moment, thanks to ebay and online stores etc

Hope you get a new job quick

 

[traumapat]

i work in retail . stores and manufacturers are dropping like flys. i work twice as hard now as i ever did. the internet has damaged the high street im faced with web address quotes im sposed to match. im all for getting a good and fair deal but how can a shop compete with a guy working out of a bedroom? ive seen customers walk in , try the products in the showroom and then demand the same internet price... cant work.

bad luck mate.... what are you gonna do ... im thinking of retraining myself

 

[k11jrp]

Welcome to the REAL world, your no different to anyone else.

 

[vern]

So what you telling us that you shafted us "the customer" for 13 years
and this no longer pays anymore

 

[vern]

Welcome to the REAL world, your no different to anyone else.

TRUE!!!!!!!!!!! you can take that to the bank

 

[k11jrp]

pmsl, right on. sympathy seekers pah....

 

[orca]

Shame but can you honestly say you have never sought a discount on anything YOU have bought? i hope so.

 

[traumapat]

nothing wrong with any discounting, but when the shops have gone and the showrooms close will we all be happy to buy via the net? some things id rather try before i buy. but that wont be an option

changing times

 

[Martyn]

Poor aftersales and service kills SEAT dealerships, not the car prices!

 

[Icecavern]

I think people are forgetting something here. What Ian is saying is that now everyone is asking for massive discounts ( mainly because of imports sold over the net ) there's no commission in selling cars any more. No commision = no wage. How many of you guys would work for less than it costs to live?

Oh and BTW if the salesman make no money, neither does the garage, then the garage closes... So where do you get your car serviced?

Nobody is saying you shouldn't haggle for a discount. I think the issue here is getting thousands off the list price of a car means there's no profit for the middle man which means he goes out of business.

Pete

 

[Icecavern]

Poor aftersales and service kills SEAT dealerships, not the car prices!

The problem is Martyn that only the very big dealers stay afloat, and they don't have great aftersales. The small dealers that couldn't do enough for the customer are all gone or will be very soon.

 

[warren_cox]

I think one of the big problems with sales is finding a slaesman who wants to sell you something because YOU ARE A CUSTOMER, not PURELY A COMMISSION PAYMENT.

Give you an example of VW service. Walked into a VW showroom. I'd bought a Lupo GTi from them. Got in a spanking new R32. Looked around it. Old lady walks in, looks at a Polo and the salesmen swarm after her. 15 minutes later I leave as no-one has come near me. So I go down the road and buy a Cupra R (80 miles down the road infact) as they were interested, prepared to do deals etc...

I was going to buy an R32 that day. However my love affair with VW is pretty much over. 2 LCR's and 2 Ibiza's later (FR TDi & 1.2S) and VW have lost 4 potential sales because of their arrogance. I'm now a SEAT convert.

Too many sales people have no passion about what they do so if you can go to a well informed web site you may as well cut out the middleman for the value they add. I couldn't do it with cars as I like to drive them first, but for average products (eg fridges) do I need a teenager at Comet telling me which fridge he'd buy (the one that nets most commission this month)??

Its a shame as its obviously affecting the real salesmen out there who have a passion about what they sell.

Best of luck VWSURFBUM, hope you find a suitable new job mate.