By Mark McDonald
One day I was
standing outside the showroom when a small, approximately 10-year-old
coupe came skidding around the corner at high speed and screeched to a
halt directly in front of me. The driver, who was about 40 years old,
long-haired, bearded, and wearing sunglasses, jumped out and did a
little Vanna White routine, gesturing to his car with both hands as if
it were a prize on “Wheel of Fortune,” and asked:
“Hey dude, how much can you give me for this?”
I’m thinking, “Did he just steal it?” But I said
“Um...what is it?” I honestly didn’t know. It kind of looked like a
Cavalier, but it could just as easily have been a Cobalt or a
Mitsubishi. The man told me what it was and repeated his question. “What
do you think I could get for it?”
I told him I didn’t know, but if he had the
time, I’d be happy to get an appraisal done for him. He looked at me
with a disappointed expression that said, “Really, dude? You’re going to
play that game with me?” But the truth was, I had no idea what his car
was worth. He hadn’t told me the model, the year, the mileage, what kind
of engine it had, the options, the condition, its history—nothing. Yet
he expected me to spit out a number. When I told him I wasn’t going to
hazard a guess until he gave my manager time to drive it and do a
professional appraisal, he gave me a disgusted look, jumped back in his
car, and sped off.
Folks, I’m sorry, but don’t ask me to put a
number on your trade after looking at it for a total of five seconds. I
may be in car sales, but that doesn’t mean I have an encyclopedic brain
full of accurate values for everything produced in the last 20 years.
There are zillions of cars out there, and a zillion different trim
levels, and a zillion different option combinations.
Plus, if I give you a number, it has to be a
number the dealer is prepared to stand behind. It won’t be a “suggested
value” like you get on a website. It will be a number that we’re
actually prepared to write you a check for. I’m talking cash money,
dude. That kind of number can’t be arrived at with a glance.
That is just one of the questions you should never ask a salesman while you’re standing in the parking lot.
“What kind of interest rate can I get on that?”
People ask as if it depends on the car, not the
buyer. “That depends on your credit,” I usually answer. “And your credit
is far too important for me to guess at. But if you’d like to fill out a
credit application, I can tell you exactly.” Of course, at the
beginning, no one wants to fill out a credit app because they’ve heard
it hurts their credit, and because they’re not ready to buy yet. So
rather than get a real answer, they’d prefer to ask a total stranger who
knows nothing about them—me—to use the WAG method and take a wild-ass
guess. Don’t ask your salesman what your rate is going to be until
you’ve settled on a particular car and you’ve filled out a credit
application. He can’t give you a meaningful answer until then.
“What will my payments be on this?"
Again, it depends on your rate, which depends on
your credit. And it depends on your final sale price, and the value of
your trade, and the pay-off on your trade, and the number of months
you’re willing to finance, and the money down—none of which have been
discussed yet. In short, there are too many unknown variables to answer
that so early. Later on I can tell you what your payments will be. But
not now. So don’t ask.
“What’s the best price you can do on this?”
This is the worst question of all. I’m not sure
why people ask this. They’re not ready to buy. They’re not even close to
buying. But they want to know your best price, as if that’s going to be
the trigger that causes them to buy. A variation on this is
“What’s the lowest you’ll go on this?”
In other words, how much money are you willing to lose? This invites a
smart aleck like me to fire back an equally silly question, like,
“What’s the most you’ll pay?” And where are we then? Nowhere.
Questions like this put your salesman in an
impossible situation. It’s a total lose-lose for me. Because no matter
what I say, it won’t be the right answer. And customers know that.
That’s why they ask questions like that.
Studies show that one of the biggest complaints
people have about buying cars is the inability to get straight answers
to simple questions. I agree that can be very frustrating. But here’s
the key: Customers must ask appropriate questions.
Any of these questions, if they’re asked too
early in the process, leave a salesman no choice but to sound evasive,
because he or she can’t answer them without more information. Much more
information than I can gather from just saying “Hello” and shaking your
hand. And if I do try to answer them without asking the proper
questions, chances are I’ll be wrong.
And what happens when a salesman turns out to be
wrong? Usually, it’s interpreted as deliberate deception. I lied to
you. I told you your payments would be “around $400 a month,” and they
turned out to be $678 a month. Of course, when I said that it was before
I knew about your $5000 negative equity, your foreclosure, and your
desire to finance for no more than 48 months. But you won’t remember any
of that. You’ll be thinking I knew from the get-go what it would be and
I misled you. See what I mean?
So if you want a direct, accurate, and detailed
answer to any question, allow your salesperson to take you inside, sit
down, and ask you a few questions. Otherwise, the answer you get is
going to be worthless.
