A Car Salesman

And So We Wait

When will it all end?

We have waited Weeks and now the end will be here soon.  We hope!

MSNBC

Fox

If we could just quit talking about it maybe we could all get back to work!!!

The Day has Come and Gone

It is Saturday once again.  I hate to think that the market is beginning to rebound, and be wrong, I hope it is turning.  The past couple of days I have talked to a lot more people that are serious about buying cars.  It may just be the luck of the draw, but I hope not.

 

I had a wonderful customer this morning that came in to buy a Focus.  She knew what she wanted and brought her Brother-in-law to make sure she did the right thing.  She lost her husband a few years ago and just totalled her old car.  But, what a pleasure it ws to meet her and talk to her, listen to her stories and end up selling her a car.

It is days like today that remind me why I like this job.

Are You Serious

  The Car Business is Slow, But it isn't THAT SLOW!

Yesterday, for the third time this week I had a customer offer to buy a truck on our lot if and only if we would take another $7,000 off the price.  Mind you at the moment we are selling our cars and trucks at employee prices and then the customers get the rebates.  So we are selling the trucks for less than we own the trucks for and then Ford cuts us back a check for selling the vehicle.  The money that Ford gives back to us is somewhere between $500 and $2500 depending on the vehicle.  So if we took $7000 it would COST US at least $5500 to do this.

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!

Itstarted on Monday when we tried to get a 2008 truck from another dealership.  We do not have any 2008 F-150's left on our lot, because we are sold out!  It ended up that we could not get the truck from the other dealership, because they sold it!  When we tried again to find another truck that met the customers needs, there was not one available, the Midwest was SOLD OUT!  The customer became irate because we couldn't find another truck for him.  He argued that we should sell him a new 2009 F-150 for the same price, the price difference was about $6,000.  My reply is listed above, and I asked him why he thought we would even consider it.  He said you need to make sales, your boss will do it.  I kindly (maybe not so kindly) informed him that we wouldn't do it, because obviously we were selling F-150's, we and the rest of the Midwest was sold out of the truck he wanted.  He left saying "I can't believe you won't do it!"

Tuesday, I had a customer come in and drive a brand new F-150, his mom works at the Ford plant in town, and has for 25 years.  He wanted to look at the new F-150, so I showed him some numbers after he drove the truck.  As a Ford employee's son he could buy the truck for almost $10,000 off.  He called back on Wednesday and said he would buy the truck if we would take another $6,245 off.  Where he came up with the number I have no clue.  But again I was forced to respond, "Are you serious?" 

A customer that I have been working with for almost 6 months, he has been looking for a very specific vehicle.  He wants an F-250 Harley Davidson, we have been workingwith him for so long, that the one we have on our lot we ordered for him if we couldn't find the one he wanted before it came in.  When it came in, he kept saying, I want to see what the rebates do next month.  So he can buy this specific truck at the employee price minus the rebates, it is certainly the best deal of the year.  Yesterday he calls me and tells me he will be up on Friday to buy the truck, if and only if we took an additional $7,000 off.  Are you serious?  I told him not to bother.  He said, "You are going to have that truck forever".  I reminded him that we only had 3 2008 Super Duty trucks left, but he still was shocked when I would not take another $7,000.

Why would we take a loss of Thousands of dollars to sell a car? I know sales are down, but losing money is not how you stay in business.  Ford is selling all of their cars and trucks at employee prices and that is less than we own them for.  Our income per car and truck has already been cut to the bone.

Times are tough, but this isn't a fire sale.

The Boys are Back in Town

The Boys From Detroit Come Out Firing!

 

This time they drove to Detroit in their Hybrid vehicles.  Only one of them driving an actual production model, Alan "the Man" Mulally drove an Escape Hybrid from Detroit.  The other two drove prototypes.  They bumped up the $25 Billion to $34 Billion, but they knew what they needed.  The other incredible thing about the plan is that $15 Billion is for lines of credit forthe future, $9 Bil for Ford and $6 Bil for GM.

GM is in dire need of cash, and Chrysler is close behind.  Ford does not need money at the moment, but wants to line up money in case it needs it in the future.

The plans that they presented to congress are detailed and seem to well thought out.

The Ford Way

The GM Plan

The Chrysler Plan

Dear Congress,

Give them the money and let us get back to work.

The Dealers are the Front Lines

Shut Up Already

There is so much animosity in the public and especially in the media about the Big 3 asking for money, it is amazing.  Certainly, by now you know where I stand on the subject, but I wish they would all just shut up.  I think the talk of the bailouts and the constant bad news about the car business has done more to hurt our business than the economy has. 

We are the salesmen and the dealers, and if you think the Big 3 are hurting you have no idea.  The dealers are on the front lines and our sales have been cut in half over the last 2 years.  I have been in the business for over 13 years and I have never seen a dealer just shut their doors and give up.  There have been 8 franchise dealers in my town just shudder the doors and gone home.  I have seen guys that have been selling cars for 15 years give up.  The whole situation is horrible, and it is not just about the Big 3, this is Toyota, Honda and Nissan dealers, as well.

I and those I work with, just want to be able to go back to work.  So let Congress give them their loans and let me go back to work.

Another Day

If only there were more customers!

One of my coworkers asked our GM if he could come in at noon everyday, because we didn't have any customers until then any way.  The GM told him that if he had to be here so did the salesman.  The salesman then informed the GM that he was going to go ahead and get his back operated on and he would see him in the Springtime.  One more casualty of the slow down in the car business.  We have lost well over half of the sales staff and still probably have 2 or 3 too many.

What a difference a couple of years makes.  This market is incredibly tough.  Two years ago if we sold one car on a given day, we would all be Mother F***** the next day by our GM.  He would walk around and tell us how worthless we all were and we should all go get jobs at Nebraska Furniture Mart.  Now, when we have a day like yesterday with only 12 customers all day and only 3 cars sold, the GM (a different one mind you) walks around and tries to pump us up.

It is hard walking into work and trying to pump yourself up for a slow day.  The good news is that when customers do come in for the most part they are serious buyers.  The bad news is that you still may not be able to get them financed, but we keep trying.

It is going to snow in a couple of hours so today should be really productive.  Time to do follow-up work.

Here We Go Again

To My Representatives,

I work for a car dealership in the midwest, and I have a few comments I would like to convey.

1. The car companies are asking for a loan, so quit calling it a bailout. They cannot get a loan in the conventional manner because congress and our government (that is you) failed to protect the integrity of the system.

2. The fact that the government would consider turning its back on the largest industry left in the states is amazing, and dumbfounding. The different congressional panels spent a week raking the CEO's of the Big 3 over the coals because they asked for a $25 Billion loan, sending them away empty handed. Then on Friday Citibank called and asked for another $20 Billion (you had already given them $25B) and on Monday they had a check. If Citibank closed tomorrow the US Banking industry would not collapse, it would hurt no doubt. If GM closes that will be the end of the US Automotive industry, and I work for a Ford dealer

3. Before one more member of congress stands up and says that the US auto makers need to start making better quality products they need to gain some knowledge. Ford, for the past 3 years, has been #1 or tied for best in the industry for quality. Ford makes the safest vehicles on the market, they have more cars with 5 star safety ratings than any other company. GM has the number one car in initial quality this year. GM has more cars that get over 30 MPG than any other company. You as a group are suppose to building up American pride not tearing it down.

4. Comparing American car companies to the foreign companies that operate in the US is not a fair comparison. First, these companies were allowed to come into the company to make cars and given subsidies to do so. They are allowed to operate with nonunion workers, which is fine, but it is not an even playing field. The government of Japan subsidizes all of the green technology developed by their car companies, the US companies must pay for their own. All of the Asian governments subsidize health and retirement plans for their workers, again US manufacturers must pay for this themselves. AND, the Japanese government does not let US car companies sell their cars in Japan. Is this a fair comparison?

5. CAFE Standards, these standards overwhelmingly affect US manufacturers more than foreign companies. The foreign companies do not sell the volume of trucks that the US manufacturers do, so you, our government, are putting us at a disadvantage.

6. The wholesale destruction of US manufacturing cannot continue. You must find a way to assist and incentivize BUY AMERICAN.

7. Last, try taking a little bit of the responsibility for the current state of affairs. The reason that congress has an 11% approval rating or whatever it is at the moment, is because they never stand up and say we messed up.