Buying A Car- 5 High Pressure Techniques Used By Car Salesman
72Buying Used Cars
Used car salesman have a long tradition of using high pressure tactics to wear potential car buyers down. Below is a list of techniques used by car salesman to pressure you into buying:
Lowballing
Car salesman will often quote a ridiculously low price and tell people they should shop around to see if you can find a price that will beat their quote. Buyers then will spend hours or days shopping around different dealerships, which of course they will not be able to match the price. Once they return to the original dealership, the car salesman will need to receive confirmation from the sales manager who will summarily shoot down the original quoted price. By this time, the buyer is so worn down from the process that they will often buy to avoid further haggling and shopping.
Making Friends
Car salesmen are experts at making friends and will do their best to identify with any potential buyer that happens to be on their car lot. Cultivating a quick friendship often makes it more difficult for the buyer to say no since most people don't want to let down their friend.
My Wife Drives This Model
How could a buyer reject a car that is good enough for the salesman's wife to drive. This tactic is designed to make the buyer feel guilty for not wanting a car that is owned by his wife. Even if the statement is true, the salesman probably got the car with a substantial discount, far below what the dealership would charge you for the car.
Sucking Back
This tactic offers the buyer less for their trade-in than what it is actually worth, then selling a newer model at a substantially lower price. Often making the buyer feel that they are receiving a great deal, this tactic does nothing buy conceal the profit within the trade-in vehicle.
Limited Time Offers
Probably the most common of car tactic, used in both ads and by the car salesmen, is used to create a since of urgency to make the deal right now. Forcing the buyer to make a deal on the spot.
These are just a few of the tricks and tactics that car salesman use to entice buyers into buying new or used cars. However, this does not mean the car buying experience needs to be an awful experience. On the contrary, if a buyer educates themselves before hand, it can actually be quite fun watching as salesman pull out all the stops to get you to buy.
The next time you are in the market for another automobile, remember these tactics and tell yourself it is a game. Make a list and keep a record of how often you see these tricks to make the whole experience entertaining. Keep score on which dealership scores the highest on manipulative moves and tell your friends. Hopefully word will spread and the dealership will become known for high pressure sales tactics and see less business and change their ways.
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Sadly, when you write about these things, you destroy the very esscence of the true professional. I have been selling cars and now as a General Manager for the last seventeen, can tell you the vast majority of car Salespeople are extremely professional and do have the best interest of the consumer in mind! After all, I thought America was a place for "Free enterprise" and if salespeople did not make Friends with consumers, how on earth would anybody buy anything? Face the facts, People buy because of a relationship to the individual they are doing business with first, then the product.
I am all for good positive feedback about poor experiences and believe me I have seen the very same with consumers who have a poor attitude. It does not mean that every consumer is this way, so please think about your comments on Salespeople and perhaps guide your self to do business with honest Salespeople who are not afraid to ask for a profit, which is what drives the very economy we call America!
I dont understand why it is such a crime to make a profit. These people have families like everyone else and the only way they make any income is to sell a car. So what if they make a 1000.00 dollar voucher. That may be the only voucher they see for two weeks. Please everyone quit beating up the salesman.
Thanks James I appreciate you understanding how it really is. You must be a salesman or was once a salesman. People never complain about the price of clothes, groceries, or gas. They just pay it. No negotiation.
Yes, salespeople do need to make a living. I've done sales most of my life. These tactics are cheap though. It's better to approach it from a consultative approach and build value in the product based on what the customer needs and is looking for. This is how a good salesperson who deserves the 1000.00 voucher does. If all they can do is tactics and quote prices they don't deserve then.
Some people have a hard time making decisions. Sometimes the sense of urgency works to the customers benefit. Once the car is purchased a lot of buyers anxiety is relieved. Leaving them to continue with their lives instead of spending all their free time being manipulated by salesmen. The only customer that matters to a salesman is a buyer. The rest are time killers and life drainers.
It's not my responsibility to make sure a salesperson can put their kid through college.
I think it is funny how people not in an industry become experts on it. To become an expert on any debate you have to be able to understand both sides of an arguement. Are there dealers that use less than moral standards to sell customers..... I am sure there are. The part I think is funny is no one has taught customers common courtesies. It has become okay for people to lie and manipulate the car industry into something that has way less profit than it deserves. Average retail sales in most industries have a 50-100% markup but do people complain when they spend $100 on a pair of jeans that cost $10 to make? No! But god forbid a dealer that spends thousands on a product ask for more than a few hundred dollars in profit. Then the customers wonder why the level of service drops to where it is when a dealer can't afford to employ people to "take care" of customers the way the customer demands.
All I have to say is you get what you pay for!!!!
The moral of this article is about TRUTH. No one will debate the principles of capitalism or its overall benefit to society. This article points out ways that consumers are taken advantage of. I've dealt with some real shady salesman and I've dealt with some real professionals. As a consumer, it's your responsibility to find out whose who.
The individual that wrote this, does not know how to spell or write sentences in a coherent manner.
His opinion should not be taken seriously
Excuse me, Cheery! Apparently this Hub hit home with you and you seem to be lashing out a bit. It appears to me you must be one of the car salesmen guilty of such tactics written about above. As far as spelling and sentence structure, there are no misspelled words and the sentence structure is both sound and coherent. If you have a differing opinion, you are entitled but making up falsehoods to discredit an author is both childish and amateurish!
Have you ever been a victim of high pressure sales tactics?
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chloesdad 3 years ago
I just wrote my first hub about the same topic. Hopefully our readers can save some money with our advice!