True dealer story

Wow sounds like you had a time with that dealership. I had quite the opposite experience. I selected the car from the dealer stock on-line. Already had a preliminary quote on my 2010 Honda Insight trade-in. Did the credit application on-line, even got an estimated payment that was within my budget. Again I did this all on-line. I decided to go and do some shopping, whilst I was out. I got a call the from the internet sales manager at Phil Bachman Toyota in Johnson City, TN. He said Mr. Herbertson, we have your Prius ready, just come on by and take a look and sign the paper work. I went to the dealership. Tested the car. Liked it. Then we haggled a bit before signing the paperwork. I ended up getting $1000 more for my trade than the preliminary trade quote that I got on-line. Like you, a test drive was required even though I didn't want one. I did tell the sales person that if he pushed any buttons or tried to show me something whilst I was driving that would kill the deal. He agreed and we had a wonderful test drive. When we got back then I allowed him to show me the bells and whistles.

 

seems like most people who go into auto sales are gearheads and not greenheads. could be the whole i.q. thang.

 

I used to sell cars and this all sounds familiar to me. I can see why the Sales Manager gave you to a sales person, that was okay since he/she doesn't have time for personal sales. There is usually an online sales person that will take care of this sort of transaction if a price has been agreed upon beforehand. That whole take your offer up the chain is bs, btw.

That is why I always get my new Toyotas at CarMax Laurel Toyota (I am not associated with them) since you get the online price, model and stock number and walk in and buy your car. They do like you to test drive just so you can be sure it is the car you want, but not required.

 

Funny...

But not rare. I spent much time also researching Prius and had almost an identical experience test driving.

Note to Toyota: If you are expanding your Prius Family...better training and knowledge of Hybrids for your salespeople I think is in order.

It was laughable some of the things Sales people told me Prius could do, was doing, or couldn't do....

It was like they were describing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while taking LSD....I found the whole experience entertaining BUT for the wrong reasons...

 

Dealers hire people that want to make money, not people who know about cars....

 

Bad dealerships probably have a really high turnover of salespeople.

 

Actually in my experience people who go into auto sales know nothing about cars at all.

For a lot of them its one step up from working at Best Buy, and they only work there a couple months before they figure out they can't make any money doing it and leave, or are fired. Dealerships generally offer zero training, so if the salespeople want to learn...they have to figure it out themselves.

Its a hard job, and there are easier things to suck at.

 

The last guy that tried to sell me a car (before the Prius) was recently downsized from 20 years in the insurance industry and basically new at selling cars. These were Cadillacs and he knew very little about them. It certainly reflected poorly and I walked away uninterested.

 

The short answer is that 97% of the US population have never owned a hybrid, and car salespeople have a pretty rapid turn-over. I do agree though a smart dealership would spend a couple of minutes training its salespeople to not appear morons.

 

My family has bought 3 Toyota's from them in the past 2 years and this is where I got my Prius. I love doing buisness with them. I love the fact that their dealer fees are just $99.

 

Toyota should make it mandatory that any salesperson selling the Prius in the dealership or in online forums has to drive one for at least 100000 miles.

 

I know your post was in jest...but salespeople don't work for Toyota...they work for the dealership which is an independently owned and operated business.

 

Bought my 2010 last week, long story - short version:
3 weeks ago test drove the 4 used Prii at my local dealer, could not make up my mind so they let me walk. Went back in to make a deal on the one certified they had, and finally got TFS to accept the deal. Then the stealership could not find the keys to the car. After an hour, they had to let me walk again, but promised to get keys overnighted to them and I could pick up the car the next day. The next day on the way driving to the lot, I heard that TFS was giving 0% financing on 2010's. When I went in, I told them I wanted to see what the numbers were on a 2010, and after comparing the used (total cost after interest) at $22K, I bought the 2010 marked down to $23500. I am wondering if "no comission salespeople" that they have are a good idea? I would have been really mad if I had signed the papers on that used car the day before.

 

That's why you should buy cars over the phone, by email and fax. The only reasons to go to a dealer are for a test drive and to take delivery.

 

I wasn't talking about your post, I was talking about the post directly above mine, posted by tpfun.

Whether they "represent" Toyota or not, they don't work for Toyota...and Toyota has no ability to demand that they be trained in any way at all.

 

Please help this dealer's next potential customer, by sending an email to the dealer owner and general manager. Tell them about your experience. There is some truth to the marketing theory that 1 bad experience causes 10 lost potential sales (or something like that).

 

We were lucky and found a good salesperson at a local dealer which has a good reputation. I had called looking for a Camry hybrid. He said I had reached the right guy because he was their hybrid expert. He told me there would be no chance of finding a Camry hybrid before C4C ended. He said he "might" have one Prius left if it wasn't sold the night before (C4C had decimated hybrid inventories). I explained that I hadn't been considering the Prius, he said he was on his 2nd one and it was a great car and that we should check it out. He took my number and said he'd call right back. He called a few minutes later and it was still there, a Barcelona Red IV with nav (as luck would have it). He made me give him a refundable credit card deposit to hold it. Met the wife there that afternoon so she could drive it. The salesman was a real nice guy and very knowledgeable. She drove it and liked it well enough so we closed the deal (took a while because of the C4C paperwork). They wouldn't discount it a penny because it was their last one (I believe that). But the C4C deal worked out really well for us, got $4500 for our Jeep which had a book value of about $1700.

We've been really lucky with our last three dealership experiences. Our Lexus RX400h and the Prius were bought locally (Ourisman Fairfax Toyota and Lindsay Lexus of Alexandria) and I bought my very slightly used BMW on Ebay from a Houston Lexus dealership and had it shipped to VA. I would buy from any of them again.