Went to dealership yesterday, the 31st and the place was mobbed! Was ready to negotiate a deal - had the hubby with me - and we wandered around for about 15 minutes. Guess lots of folks were there in hopes of getting a good year end deal. No one approached us and the sales manager was sitting at the courtesy desk tabulating numbers on his calculator - never looked up! Do the dealerships know that people who come in the last day of the year are ready to be a pain in the a**, so they don't go out of their way? I was surprised no one asked us if we needed help - at least the sales manager could let us know that someone would be with us in a moment, or an hour, or a day. Plus, they are closed today - are most dealerships?

Hope all is well with everyone and Happy New Year!

I've been reading the forum for several weeks and it is very informative. Just joined today.

 

Welcome, Happy New Years to you too, and dealers here in Canada (montreal) are closed today.

I too am victim of being ignored constantly when i go to the dealers,
The question is why didnt you just approach the sales manager and point out that no one is helping you?

 

I thought Acura Dealers were "no hassle". What ever the hell that means.

 

There were probably a lot of people who wanted to make sure they sealed the deal before the end of the year for IRS purposes...

 

The only no hassle I've ever experienced buying a car was at a Saturn dealership. No haggling over price there...everyone pays sticker price. Also, I pre-arranged financing through my bank (showed up with a bank draft in hand), so that even went smoothly. When I bought my TSX, I'd already negotiated the price through my bank so it was relatively easy, but I still had to argue with them about my trade in. They wanted to steal it from me for about 50% of blue book, so I told them to take a flying leap and sold it on my own. I hate when dealers low ball you on trade-ins.

Anyway, you'd think they'd bend over backwards trying to sell cars on the 31st. I guess not. I remember being about 24 going to buy a new mustang gt. I showed up in torn jeans and a t-shirt and they didn't want to give me the time of day. When I told them I was a 1st Lieutenant in the army, they changed their tune. Dealers are out for a buck. If they don't think you can buy, they won't help you. Appearance is everything. I'm sure its even more the case at an Acura dealership.

 

If you have the means I would look through a car buying service. AAA, Sam's Club, and other warehouse/wholesale places do them.

They won't budge on their price, but their price is lower than the dealers usually. Anything to avoid having some guy telling me how nice Acura is even though I swore I saw him doing the same thing at a BMW dealership down the road a month ago!

 

All car dealerships are closed in NJ on Sundays - it's illegal to be open.

You could try haggling through the internet. Sometimes you get lower prices, and you don't have to waste time going dealership to dealership. Just go online and get quotes from various ones in your area.

I've been ignored as well when I show up in person. Being a young single female doesn't make it easy to buy a car, so I know how you feel. I ended up getting my car through the internet and fax. Good luck to you!

 

its illegal for car stealerships to be open on sunday in NJ?????wow....its a good thing its not like that here in hawaii...that seems a little strange....

 

Odd you say that. I showed up in swim trunks and an old shirt at the nearby BMW dealership, just to show off the cars to my cousis from abroad that had never seen a BMW in real life; and a salesman was eager to send us on a test drive and sell me a car. He was very nice, but I wasn't in the market.

 

This is so true. My dad's friend went to an Acura dealership to buy an MDX but because he wasn't dressed well, they totally ignored him. When my dad and I went to buy my TSX, we both had our suit on and a sales man came and introduced himself as soon as we entered the show room. He kissed our asses even more when we told him we'll be paying in cash.

 

Yeah...makes it kinda hard to car shop and get service done when you only have one free day of the week to do that kind of stuff. I think it's lame.

 

Illegal here in Colorado as well. Dumb f&cking law!!

 

Want to thank those of you who responded. Have to say I did not look sloppy, nor did I have on an evening gown, but both my hubby and I looked presentable, whatever that is. One quick story - I have a friend in the jewelry business who tells me when she first started she would gravitate to the well-dressed customers because she thought they had the $$ to spend on jewelry. It took her awhile to discover that sometimes the people who came in and spent tons of dough were the people who were the most disheveled, or sloppily dressed. Reading the story about the person who went into the BMW dealership in swimtrunks makes me think the salesman there had figured out what my friend had.

Again, thanks

 

Around here, salespeople would gravitate to customers wearing google t-shirt

When my wife & I walked into an Acura dealer on last Wed, there were no available sales person to talk to. They were all busy, & an internet manager was not there.

 

also in PA. always wondered why.

and, i don't think it's illegal for dealerships to be open in NJ, i swear there's some with Sunday hours outside of bergen county. could be wrong though...

 

yeah, i had a rough experience at Princeton Acura.

It was a nice sunny afternoon, and me and my coworker were going from NY to Philly for business. Neither of us shaved that morning, as there was no reason to, we both wore windpants and t shirts. He was driving his MDX, and we pulled in passing by to check out the TSX blue color (GBM? i don't remember on the 2005). he wanted to look at MDXs too.

i don't pay cash for cars, i can invest my money better ways while a bank finances it for me at a lower rate

So i go inside, and talk to a guy, trying to get a price on a 2005, and info on a 2006. and he was all snobbish and holier than thou to both of us. My coworker was like, we're talking to you about buying two cars, are you going to help us or not?

The guy musta thought we were full of shit.

Thought wrong.

 

i think the dealerships with sunday hours musta been NY state. brooklyn was one if i recall correctly.

my mistake

 

When I went to look for my TSX I showed up with my brother and we were walking the lot.

We are both in our 20s and were just casual dressed. I was certainly in the market and was comparing Mercedes, Jag, BMW, Hummer and a few others....but I digress. We were looking at the TSX that was right in the front of the dealer. This real dudes looking Miami Vice 1980's guy walks up to us after about 15 minutes and trys to be our best friend. I ask him about the car and he calls over a younger 20 something kid to 'talk our language' I guess. Now, I already had been online, read about the car and had ordered the brochure on it. This young kid tells me all this bullshit about the car and I say...hey can I take it for a test drive??? He said, OHHHHHH no we can't let you do that...we don't let those go out they're LIMITED PRODUCTION. I was like what???

(Now a friend of mine's dad is a DR. and had just got an RL like 4 months prior. I ask who sold him his car and the Miami Vice guy comes back into the picture).

I said that I was friends with the guys son and all of a sudden they want to give me a soda and show me an RSX. Now, the RSX is just a cool car but not what I wanted to see. They didn't want me to take the TSX because he was all cleaned up in the front and it was the only one they had.


Long story short....I went an hour away got the TSX for a hell of a deal and drove through with my 30 day tag on to the original dealership. The Miami Vice guy was outside smoking with the 20 something kid and I just cruised past them both at like 2mph. They looked at me....I looked at them. I drove around the lot and than I left.


Everytime I go to a dealer I am ignored, maybe it's because I'm young looking or maybe it is because I just dress in a t-shirt and jeans but it happened to me last week when I was looking at the new Corvette for a friend of mine. I don't understand why salespeople do that shit.



Thanks for reading this Harry Potter size thread. I guess I go on too much!!!

 

All salesmen always tries to judge a book by its cover. Will helping that particular person produce a sale or will it waste their time?

It takes a good salesman to approach any possible customer. As a retail salesperson, I approached everyone I could on the sales floor. When I realized that it would not result into a sale at that time, I cut the interaction with a greeting, business card, and promise to help them if they had any other questions.

i'm not sure how car salesmen are, but from the stories i've heard, the good ones are the ones that follow through with every customer, not just the rich looking ones

 

Ironically, t-shirt & jeans geeky types are treated quite well just as the well-dressed lawyer types at local BMW & Benz dealers. I have never been dissed at BMW dealers when I was looking around during the summer in t-shirt & shorts.

This is afterall, 3-series & C-classes are just as common on the road as Accords & Camries.

And I did choose a new TSX over all the other cars.

 

I have been ignored a number of times when I have gone in to look at a car. I think being ignoredis a reflection of age and what you are wearing. In any event, I get really mad when I am not taken seriously and ignored when I walk into a dealership. Might also be loctaion as well in some cases. The dealers around where I live (where my parents are) dont seem to take me seriously/are unfriendly, but the dealers up where I used to go to university took me seriously and were very nice. Might have something to do with the fact that a lot of coming out of my university have serious $$$ potential, so they are taken more seriously. Could just be that that is how the dealers are (from what I have found anyway,...only personal experience) out there. I found, after talking to a number of dealers where I went to school, that a lot of ppl come out to the area to buy cars from the large city where my parents are. What ever the reason may be,........its BS. Everyone should be taken seriously.

I was talking to a prof from a different university last week (fellow car enthusiast) who was brushed off at the auto show one year by the Jag guys when he wanted some info about a car because he wanted to buy one. Once they found out he was Dr. soandso, they were his best friend etc. He called over the head guy and told him the other guy should be fired for being such an ass to him before he found out he was a doctor hahaha. He said the look on the guys face was priceless.

 

i would think in jersey the dealerships would have to try to "serve" everyone. you have a lot of people in jersey with money whose kids go out to the malls and buy shit. i've seen kids at dealerships too, maybe it won't be a sale that day, but mommy and daddy will be back to pay for the car.

the best salesman we encountered was from Motorworld Acura in Wilkes Barre PA. I actually felt bad for not buying it there. It's close to where we grew up, and they were really trying to earn our business. They reluctantly lowered the price to 28,700 to get us to come there over the NJ dealers. This is a place where the next closest dealership is 1.5 hours away, then the next, another 45 minutes.

 

I don't think its all part of Jersey, the countys with "Blue law".