I just wanted to make a post for (2) reasons one that I installed my GTR start button and im happy with the result its a pretty cool small detail. Also I wanna let you guys know I quit my job in car sales with Infiniti I worked for Nissan/Infiniti for 16 Months. It was quite a experience to say the least lol! My buddy texted me a picture of a FX they just got in with the rebranded QX70 Logo so I just wanted to let you know the assimilation of the brand has begun! If you would like any insight on the car buying process or working as a car salesman comment below and I will try and answer best as possible. I sold 125 cars while at Infiniti and won Salesman of the month twice. Which made me $50,000 over a year with no college degree and my 2nd or 3rd year I would have probably made more around the 80-100K park. However it is not worth the horrendous hours, stress, and lack of self fulfillment basically I am tired of working for others and am working on getting my own start up going very soon. Anyways just wanted to make a cool thread discussing life as a car salesman so feel free to ask me some stuff I can give you some great insight if you are gonna go buy a car at a dealership. I threw in a pic of a Q-50 and a Masserratti Quadroportay at the end of the post for fun because I sold the Mass to a friend right before I left and its probably the nicest car I have sold other than a Bentley GT "Speed" I sold to my dads Lawyer a few months earlier. Anyways hope you enjoy the post the Q-50's were just getting in stock to our dealer before I left.

 

Congrats on working for yourself! Good luck.

 

What r some dos and donts as a consumer when buying?

What were some of the lines you would use as a salesman?

 

As a car salesman, did you find yourself compromising your ethics in order to make or maximize a sale? Was this why you quit, or was it just the long hours?

BTW, the GTR start button looks great. I've always wanted to do this too, but every time I think about it while sitting in the car, I realize that I can't actually see the button, and I talk myself out of it. Probably had that decision dance a half dozen times, LOL!

 

Justin, sounds like you were really good at what you do, must've been a tough decision. Best of luck w/ your future plans.

BTW, how many times have you sold "undercoating" lol

 

The million dollar question:

"How can a consumer find out the dealer invoice and holdback on a car they want to buy, without actually having an insider at that particular dealer?"

 

Or, "Simonize" !

 

How many people pay the "documentation fee" what a load of crap that is. Pay the dealer to do your paperwork. LOL Glad you got out.

 

Im gonna try and give somewhat brief clear useful answers to each of you because there is so much involved in every car deal and some of the details can be very exstensive.
@Gooniej12- for the first part of you question the do's and do nots... Car salesman get paid according to the gross profit on each car they sell at the dealership, where I worked we had a nice pay plan where the salesman earned 25% of front end gross. So for example I had a old friend more like a acquaintance come see me at Infiniti to trade in his camaro for a Used Lincoln MKZ we had, nothing is better for a car salesman than selling used cars this is where you make your money and its half the work of selling new cars. On this particular deal my client didnt engage in any type of negotiations on either the price of the vehicle or the price of his trade in. So he pretty much let us tee him up to make some money since we are a business and we rely on profits to make a nice living and stay in business, I grossed somewhere around $5,000 profit for the dealer and I was paid a commission on $1,250 for that day and probably like an hour worth of real work. Keep in mind these type of deals are few and far between. So as far as big dos and do nots if your going to the dealer be familiar with pricing and your budget. If you are going to go in and look for used cars check the dealers website before hand to see the prices on his used cars and write down prices to the cars you are interested and bring that information with you. Dealers have a (Lot Price/Window sticker) and they have a (Internet price) on each preowned vehicle on the lot. The internet price is always there lowest price and thats the deal you want. The lot price usually is the internet price + anywhere from $2,000-6,000 more. So if you go in and have a used Infiniti your looking at and you have the internet price in hand on that vehicle you want and you tell the salesman you saw this on there website for X$ they cant high gross you as easily with the window price. If your buying a new car you can be much more intent on recieving a nice discount, the dealers have to reach certain quotas on new cars and my best advice on buying new is do not lay down and sign off first pencil make them work really hard to earn your business check out other dealers and compare. Tell them your gonna think about it and compare to other models they will often quickly start to expand that discount to earn your business on a new car that day. That business lives and dies by each day, they dont care to hear you say im gonna come back tommorrow because that is never a sure thing.

 

Ive never been able to get completely out of a doc fee. Ive forced the dealer to explain it to me, and in the case of buying my G, most of it made sense. \

Since I was from CT buying in VA they handled all of the VA to CT DMV stuff, got my CT plates sent to me, etc. There was also the stuff involved in setting up financing thru IFS. I realize some of it is pure profit on their part, but Im also realistic enough to know this stuff does cost money (i.e. built into that fee was the 2 yrs of registration in CT, etc). That doesnt bother me as much as the wild variance of cost of documentation fee. Some are "normal" (150 or so), some are just outrageous (450 or higher). I feel with the luxury brand (Acura, Infiniti, Lexus, etc) you get a fair-er shake on that stuff since they have a rep to keep up. But the non-luxury brands just want to shove fees down your throat whenever they get a chance.

What got me was an "advertising fee" when I went to buy my first new car. THAT pisses me off....advertising is the cost of being a business. The fee was high too (like 200 bux), on TOP of the documentation fee.

 

I've sold cars on and off for 20+ years.. The biggest problem I have with the car bussines is that it's almost always an adversarial process from start to finish. Customers have no complusion to act like total a-holes. lie about anything, and treat sales people like crap. Sales people react accordingly.. It's a tough gig when pretty much everyone walking in thinks your a lying saleman from the start. And yes it is a bussiness.. car dealers are trying to make a profit.. I think that's the same for all business, except in the car business customers don't think dealers should make a profit.. I've had customers tell me that the profit of $600.00 on a $60,000 car is to much..same kind of folks that will drop $7K on a Viking stove and never question the 20% profit the store makes on that...

 

So what about internet prices for new cars? are you saying internet prices on new cars are the lowest price and no negotiations are possible? what about dealer holdbacks or trunk money? what about other manufactured to dealer incentives? what about fleet dealers? do they get paid according to the gross profit also? Or do they get paid based on the units they move? I'm pretty sure the advertised internet price is not the lowest price possible, as I've purchased a few cars for well below that. But then again, I never deal with floor sales person, but always with the fleet sales manager.

 

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. But there's a flipside to every coin. I don't think consumers lie about anything. They are simply being proactive and protecting themselves with as much information as possible against car dealers trying to make as much money from them as possible. As a business, they need to make as much money as possible, and as a consumer, they want to save as much as possible. Being informed so they can make a good deal for both isn't wrong. But dealers get all upset when a consumer walks in with more information they would like them to have. Then we become the a-hole.

 

This.

My brother in law recently bought a new Maxima. He knew he was interested in the car, test drove a bunch of other vehicles but kept coming back to the Max. I showed him Edmunds, KBB, cars direct, etc. He walked in very informed. Once he mentioned "cars direct" the salesman literally told him "I f-in hate cars direct". Why? Because he now knows the buyer (my BIL) isnt some idiot from off the street that doesnt know anything.

THAT'S what makes the process adversarial. There is no reason to hate informed people....yes, you wont make 100% of what you could from someone that just wants to buy a car today. Being adversarial makes it worse....if you give a little, Ill give a little, etc. My BIL did the same thing....dont act like a di** and I wont beat you down for every penny. He settled for a couple hundred over the cars direct price.

I have to say, after buying a few different cars, the process is quite different with Acura/Infiniti vs Honda/Nissan. No messing around, this is what it want to pay take it or leave it. They agree to it and its pretty much set in stone.

-Chris

 

WHAT?!!! Customers don't lie ?? are you nuts.. Here's two that happen all the time: my trade is mint.. trans obviouly shot ( fill in the balnks) or there's: Oh no it's never been in an accident .. Bad Car Fax.. Or: The other dealer will sell it for this much.. customer has never even been there..The list goes on and on customers for the most part have no complusion to lie.. I've shown customers the invoice I receive from the manufactures and have been told right to my face " oh you guys print those up yourselves) I'm not saying dealers can't pull some shady S**T but most sales people I've known just want to have a simple and stree free transaction.. no drama.. a reasonable profit.. a happy customer.