My first "dealer" experiance was at a Bayliner boat dealership.
I did what they called "pre sale inspection"
Thats where you repair the factory flaws before sale.
Basically "Dealer Prep"
On the service side we had nonstop pressure to "Up Service" a boat. In other words, find something wrong with it.
Easy to do on a Bayliner. They really are crap built boats.
My boss at the time was just an awesome person. He knew that this was ******** so he would drag out a service long enough to have us repair things like fuel leaks and the bilge blower wiring.
Shorts in the bilge.
Factory flaws that can kill people.
They fired him.
Just a bunch of plaid sportcoat ********** wearing boat shoes.
I didnt know much about the sales side.
Years later I took a job in sales at a Dodge dealership.
This was back in the 90s. Just as internet sails were just starting to happen and we had the "new" Dodge truck bodies and the intrepid and the caravan.
They sold like crazy and you could get a 10 grand gross profit off of a loaded truck or a grand caravan. At 20 percent commision, thats 2 in my pocket every time.
And I was pretty good at it. Because I really enjoy meeting new people and shooting the **** and finding out what goes on with them.
I am a bit on the socialable side.
All I had to do was ignore every moral and every belief that I ever had.
Heres the thing. Car salesman only hang out with other car salesmen.
And they only talk about sales.
And you, the customer are a roach or weak as circus lemonade or they blew your kneecaps off or tommorrows rollback or a cash cow or bum credit secondary finance or a hundred other little slang terms
Car salesmens wives only hang out with other car salesmens wives.
And this is because the rule, is to never ever talk out of school.
If someone overhears you talking **** about your customers at the bar or wherever?
That might impact future sales.
It is a closed world of scumbags who justify it all on theory that if they dont rip you off somebody else will.
And that is true.
The chain dealer I worked for spent millions on research.
They found that of the financially qualified people who walked onto a lot fully 92 percent of them would buy a car in the next 3 days.
This is why they dont leave you alone when you say you are just looking around.
********. Customers lie like dogs too.
We dont believe you.
And I may not be after the sale. I might be just after the test drive. Because if I get you to drive it, I get your drivers license.
And I go into the sales tower and log your name, adress, phone number etc..
Not just for marketing reasons.
I log that because if you leave and come back later and talk to a different salesman, I get half of his money just because I talked to you first and logged it in.
The "half deal"
On a 2 grand commision he can work all day and slam it shut and I get a thousand bucks just by not telling him that I have the half deal.
Because I talked to you first.
I was the king of the half deal.
Eventually, I couldnt sleep with it.
I realized that I was enjoying the scumbag part of it all.
Car sales was really, really,really fun.
I enjoyed it.
Ill not lie, it was a blast.
And sometimes, I actually miss it.
But I was still an Eagle Scout.
I became the very ********* that I despised.
And I will never buy another new car again.
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