Truckit

After hearing my local dealer had 2- 2015 F150s in stock I went to have a look. I'm sitting in a black 2015 Lariat in the showroom talking to the salesman. We discuss different features and what is important to me in a truck and head to his office to build and price a new King Ranch. When he started asking me about options, I notice he is pricing a Lariat not a King Ranch. He explains to me that a King Ranch is simply an option that we add later. I tell him I want a V8 not an Ecoboost. He then proceeds to tell me he can get a new truck with a 6.2! Sounds wrong to me but lets do it! When we come up with a total truck price I'm thinking this is too cheap but whatever. I remind him again that I want a King Ranch. He shrugged it off and started asking me questions about my trade. Long before we get to this point I realized the salesman knew less about trucks than my kids do. "Did you buy the truck new?" "Yes ", I said. "Was it ever in an accident?" "No". "Then he asked me, "are the airbags operational?", to which I replied," I don't know because I've never tried them". He then heads over to the sales manager for my outright and trade prices. After a long wait he comes back all embarrassed for pricing me a 2014 not a 2015. After spending almost an hour and a hour I came home with a price on a 2015 Lariat but not the printout of the options I requested and not a King Ranch. He told me that they don't typically sell Platinum and King Ranch trucks so he only priced the Lariat. He then tells me if I insist on the King Ranch he can get whatever I want in a week from Ford. Needless to say he won't need to order me a truck.
I found out later that this smallish dealership has had 33 salespeople leave within 5 years!

jsnowball81

You should probably email the dealers ownership this exact story. That's horrible! I understand it's harder for smaller dealerships in podunk to compete with high volume dealers but customer service should be what keeps people coming back. Poor CS AND non competitive pricing is no bueno.

pfbz

A bad car salesman? Wow... what a shocker.

I'm usually surprised if a car salesperson even has a bit of a clue. Big dealerships with the 6 guys hanging out in front waiting for their 'up' and a sales manager breathing down their necks to get a deal done using any means are the worst.

hevnbnd

Yea i had a salesman tell me Ford used satellites to display the 360 cameras...

Kantuckid

iTrader: (1)

Read my most recent post r.e. pricing.
I'm definitely!!! not "superboy", just a guy looking for a deal.
Sales people vary from real sharp to short lived in the business. I never rely on them to know the product but when they do it's nice. I always am reliant on their knowing how to sell the vehicle, which is different , at least for me. A bit the same on these wheeled forums as most of us (FWIW, I did) never pulled wrenches for a living. This forum has some very helpful folks that have saved some time for me vs. google and know Fords pretty well.
The hardest part for me is the trip to a dealer for a test drive, knowing full well I'll not buy from them but need the time in the seat & walk around. They get "paid well"? when they "hold your DL" and "make you fetch it" from their sales mgr.-thats the guy in the gold chains/bracelets, suspenders and high dollar suit if you haven't noticed?
Good luck buying!
#2-they already know.
#3- The good salespeople agree with you too-it's sad at times how bad they can be.

GearheadGeek

God help the salescritter that takes my license and then tells me I have to get it back from his sales manager. That would a) ruin his day and b) make certain I'd never spend a dime with him.

Automotive sales people definitely vary, but I find that way too many of them are generic salespeople who happen to be selling cars right now, but may be selling insurance next quarter. This shows in cases like the OP's, and trucks really make it obvious with the degree of customization that's available.

Once upon a time in the 80s I was helping a friend find a replacement car after someone turned left in front of him and totaled his car. A salesman at the Bryan, TX Mopar dealer was pushing a 2-year-old LeBaron convertible (K-car) and I told my friend (who was lusting after the convertible top) that the K-car FWD platform wasn't a great choice. The salesman proceeded to tell us that the LeBaron was a unique platform in their line and was RWD. I was nice with the first response, and when he persisted I said "If you can crawl under there and show me a driveshaft and a rear differential, not only will he buy this used car but I'll buy a brand new one. He turned a funny color and we moved on to another dealership.

Soap

That does suck, but come on you should have known what was up from the start and walked out promptly versus getting strung along for over an hour. I hope you have better luck at another dealer. I would start with the internet sales manager before I would ever step foot in the dealership.

Curmudgeon

Excellent advice...add the dealer's Fleet Sales staff for no hassle, no games, no sales pressure & experienced, knowledgeable folks where invoice pricing is the norm. At the several local dealers I have frequented over decades of vehicle purchases, most of them work on salary thus no commission issues.

Manuellabour247

I had good luck with the last pruchase of my truck. Well it started out pissing me off with another salesman, but the one I ended up dealing with was actually knowledgeable. And he wasn't a pushy little ***** like the A-hole that tried to get me to buy from him. With the turnover rate for the salesmen/women, I think it's hard for them to know much about every vehicle on the lot. Not impossible, but harder than it used to be.

Truckit

Absolutely I knew what was going on. I've been in some kind of sales now for the last 37 years and don't miss much. I could have walked out but sometimes I just like to see what kind of people dealers hire to do their crap work and learn from them. In fact my mission was as much a test of the dealership management as it was to check out the new truck. I was warned about some of this dealer's tactics before hand. But this in no way justified the way I was treated. I don't believe the salesman meant any harm. He just didn't know what he was doing. I was actually asked awhile ago if I would like selling cars for them. I declined.