TheMadPeacock On The Sofa

Over on his blog James Duncan Davidson tells the story of his recent car purchase experience Car Salesman Protocols and it got me thinking about my best car buying experience and what I can learn from that sales professional.

Slimy sales people who handle and manipulate will drive me away from purchasing a product even if I want it.
If the manager in your story does not drive the TSX out of preference then he is unethical and If I suspected for a moment that he did not I would have challenged him to show me his to see how it stands up to regular usage.

On the flip side of this I think a sales person who is prepared to talk the language of the customer is doing her job.

if I was looking at MDX, Bill could say “It’s such a good way to get the family around.”

Product knowledge is what I look for from a sales person. If they are going to earn commission from my purchase they had better come prepared to talk about the products with my needs in mind and they had better be more knowledgeable about their product than I am after half an hour researching on the web

The best car salesman I ever talked to worked at an Audi dealership in Newbury, England. He was an Audi fan, he knew when new models were coming out, he could answer any question I asked and he was very apparently a real car buff.

I purchased an A4 turbo diesel from him because he convinced me

1. that he knew what he was talking about
2. he understood my car needs and wanted to get me in the best car
3. he clearly loved his job and took pride in the product he was selling so would not want me to become an unhappy Audi owner.

That A4 turbo diesel was not the car I was looking for that day but I loved driving it for 3 years.

What was your best experience as a buyer and what made it so?