Everything you need to know about buying and selling cars online
Here are some easy ways to find out how much your car is worth.
problem solved
When I was selling Volkswagens, a couple came in to look at the new Passat. They chose a dark blue SE with beige interior and drove it. The woman then found a gray car with a black interior and asked to drive in that as well. After we finished, they seemed to like the gray one, so we went inside to look at the numbers. After about 30 minutes of haggling, we agreed on a price and I asked the man who was the lead negotiator to sign on the dotted line.
At that point, his wife said she noticed a dark red car there and asked, “Can I drive that?” I didn’t really want to add a third car at that point, but I knew the deal wouldn’t go through if she wasn’t happy with it, so of course I said yes.
After the test drive, I went back inside and calculated the numbers for the second car. Just as her husband was about to sign, the woman spoke up again. “As you know, I don’t think you’ll be satisfied with a red car. May I consider a blue car again?”
What should I say?
After the fourth test drive, we finally agreed on a price for the blue SE and my husband signed the paperwork. At that moment, that very moment, he put down his pen, looked at his watch, and said, “Do you know how long it will take? We really need to get back home.”
I learned two valuable lessons from this. The first is to make sure the buyer is “settled” or settled on a specific vehicle before you begin negotiations.
And two, customers don’t realize that what they’re doing is taking time. they just perceive what does the clerk do It kind of takes up their time. In my experience, it takes about 3-5 hours to buy a car at a dealership. Realistically, you should block out half of your day. And the question everyone asks me is why is it taking so long?
There are many reasons, but there are four main ones, three of which I will discuss here.
1. Salesperson
Salespeople are leaders throughout the buying process. He or she knows how everything works (or should) and carefully guides the customer through the process of selecting a car, negotiating the price, completing the paperwork, and delivering the car. Ideally, this is done in such a way that the customer chooses the car that is suitable for him, never feels pressured and everything is completed in a reasonable time.
However, salespeople are also human and sometimes make mistakes. A customer tells a salesperson, “My monthly budget is $400,” and the inexperienced salesperson shows him a $40,000 car. This equates to approximately $800 per month. A complete waste of time.
It is also important to collect the correct information. If a salesperson enters incorrect information (such as a zip code) into the computer, taxes may not be calculated correctly and the customer may end up paying several dollars more each month. A small mistake like that has ruined many a car transaction. Even worse, if the salesperson enters the wrong VIN number or Vehicle Identification Number, the following can happen: All paperwork will need to be redone. Let’s talk about angry customers.
Unfortunately, management can also be a bottleneck. When dealerships get busy, sales managers can feel overwhelmed by the overwhelming workload. One of them may be pulled away to deal with other issues, such as a “heat case” (angry customer) during service. And never try to buy a car during football season. Some managers may be more interested in talking about the big game than getting the paperwork done.
2. Finance department
As soon as a price is agreed upon, the salesperson goes wild. First, a number of documents need to be collected, including driver’s licenses, insurance cards, trade rights for all buyers, and customers will have to fill out a credit application. The salesperson has to fill up the car with gas and give it a thorough cleaning. Then begins the most difficult part for many: breaking into the financial industry.
The finance department prepares and signs all final documents. It would take a whole article to explain all the duties of a financial manager, but here’s a quick overview.
The finance manager will submit your transaction to the lender to obtain loan approval, register the vehicle in the correct county, pay sales tax, assign a license plate to the vehicle, issue a temporary tag, and countless other procedures. And of course, we also try to sell great products like extended warranties and tire and wheel packages.
You never see what happens in the financial industry, but it’s a huge amount of work and everything has to be perfect. The time taken is compounded by the fact that the various software used by the finance department don’t necessarily communicate with the one used by salespeople. Therefore, you usually have to enter a lot of information manually. This takes time.
Contrary to popular belief, dealers will not keep you waiting as a deliberate strategy to tire you out. It is in our best interest to get you in and out as quickly as possible. We want to sell as many cars as possible, so speed and efficiency are important. Making you wait will only hurt us. Also, the longer you wait, the more likely you are to change your mind. we don’t want that.
3. Shipping
Finally, just when you think you’re done, you have to make a delivery. In the past, the shipping process consisted of “three seas.” Can you see the car? Can you see the key? See you then! No more. These days, all manufacturers have long delivery processes designed to ensure they get the right surveys.
However, the process is too complicated and time-consuming. One dealership I worked at had a checklist consisting of nine modules, each covering 15 different features of the vehicle, including a short video that the customer was supposed to watch. Next, they needed to enroll the customer in the subscription satellite service and online accessory ordering tool, set up their first service appointment, and introduce them to a service advisor.
Phew. Try doing all of this to a hungry, exhausted customer at 9 p.m. Frankly, we’ve reached ‘challenge saturation’ when it comes to what customers expect when they buy a new car. There simply isn’t enough time in the world for manufacturers and retailers to package everything they want to package for shipping. Must be shortened.
Next time, we’ll look at reason #4, the customer’s role in all of this, and how to get them in and out of the dealership quickly.
Photo Credit: Getty Images; Illustration: Ryan Lugo
