I was a new car sales mgr for one of the largest Lincoln Mercury dealers in the country.
Palm Beach Lincoln Mercury, boy did we sell some Lincolns..
Any way..anything goes.
ESPECIALLY AT THE END OF THE YR.
Wanna know what happened to the truck you thought you were getting.
It was sold by an eager salesman who convinced his mgr it was his bonus car and there you go.
Lincoln Mercury had an Elite club for salesman that sold 200 plus new units a yr.
Bonus was $10,000 payable Jan 15th the following yr.
I have seen it come down to just a few cars in the end and salesman will do whatever they can to deliver cars because they are strictly commision.
IF YOU DON'T SPOT 'EM.....YOU DON'T GOT 'EM....
Is what I taught them. If you don't deliver this car now you never will. And you know what over 40% of buyers who sign today will get cold feet before delivery and change their mind......or the mgr from the other dealer they shopped (me) would call them and offer another $500 to sweeten the deal. by the time other salesman speaks to them they are already driving my car !
Sad story but car sales is a cut throat biz because of the pay structure.
Even as a mgr I had a nice 'guarantee' based upon a certain amount of units delivered.
Then the bottom of the American car industry feel out and PBLM went from 250 new units a month to barely 30 in less than 5 yrs.
They will be able to get you another truck just like the one you want , that is unless you had them locate a Pink truck with purple wheels on it or something.
You need to find out from the salesman you signed with how imp this deal is to him and his mgr. It may be to both their bonus unit and you should work them for some free window tint or lifetime oil changes for the inconvenience.
As far as the comment regarding whether or not you can sell a customers trade before they take delivery of said new vehicle. Whoever said it cannot be done is WRONG ! Credit approval doesn't matter.
You have expressed intent to do business and by signing you give dealer permission to dispose of your trade as they see fit. Read the fine print...nobody ever does !
You are dealing with three diff depts. new cars who is selling the new unit, Used cars who watch all trades like hawks to sell to their leads and wholesalers who haunt the lots looking for incoming cars as well. It is all about 'turnaround'. The quicker you can turnover or turnaround a car on your lot the better. Cars are like stocks the value goes up and down daily. Look at SUVs. A couple yrs ago you could get decent $ for one in trade now nothing more than a boat anchor they are. You dont want anything on your lot past 60 days.
Let's say customer comes in buys a new car and signs for it only that the one they want is an incoming new yr unit or current yr locate as stated. Ideally you want to deliver locates with 24 hrs and incoming units asap. Cuz people get calls and cold feet. Customer is 'DeHorsed" from his current trade and sent home in a demo ALL THE TIME.
Dehorse means simply to take him out of his saddle and put him in one of yours nomatter what.
This way NO MATTER WHAT customer has to return to your delaership. Although I did lose many deals and have had to pick up our demo from another more aggressive/likeable dealers lot.
Thing is while they are out in your demo their car is getting cleaned, prepped, booked and SOLD Instantly as soon as customer signs papers.
Read the back of the contract. Dealer no matter what takes possesion of your car upon ink drying.
I have sold trades in the past aand had customers back out of the deal. All I can say I hoped the salesman could put that fire out before it got to me but it never did, Somehow the customer always got my unlisted cell # and reamed me a goodin' !
What did we do ? Well some went to court and i do not know what happened as I was not sent or told but some we simpy had to right the customer a check for their car.
This is good if they were reasonable and bought elsewhere but God help you if they got shopped out and simply wanted out...........Yer skrewed dude....
People are not happy after gettin thrown around several dealerships whe they return to see you sold their trade.
You gotta hold their feet to the fire.
Many, many times they would call and say well my son got sick, I broke my foot, Ethel past away....Blah Blah Blah.......we changed our mind we want our car back...we're on our way with your car please have ours ready.....
Oh Chit.....panic !
When they get there the mgr (me) takes them into a room and 'sweetens' the deal after telling them they have no car to pick up and sits back out of arms length and crosses his fingers.
It can and will cement a deal and nobody is more wishy washy than tri-state retirees in SoFla.......
Boy I could tell you some stories...
Ones like salesman taking credit cards out of purses and swiping them for depos. When customer gets back they are bullied into signing. Not my practices but it happens.
The worst one was the kids of said retiree. The retiree being an ex navy man and still completely full of wit and vinegar negotiates for 5 hours sometimes and chisels us down to the bone....zero profit..
Then writes a check for $57,000 for the new Navigator they always wanted.
Next day here comes the Navi, the kids and the customer.
Now hes invalid and incoherent. We took advantage of him, how dare us.
he cant evenmake coffee anymore...
All BS. One of only two things.
He got a better deal elesewhere or the kids were pissed he spent 'their' inheritance.
Too much stress , too much shenanigans. Not how I was raised but dealerships are like that cuz they have to be to survive.
Heck the dealer that sold the car you were supposed to get prolly beat your dealer by that one unit for the yr and the mgr got a 25k bonus for doing it....seen it and made it....
In the 8yrs I was there. I started in sales and within 3yrs was on desk.
In my tenure as mgr we were ranked in the top ten dealers in the country out of over 400 for customer satisfaction as well as units sold.
We moved cars period at all cost. Put it over the curb.
I wanna see BRAKE LIGHTS AS MY CAR IS SOLD AND LEAVING THIS LOT DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME YOU LOWLY PEON SALESMAN YOU.......NOW GET OUT OF MY OFFICE WITH YOUR EXCUSES.
Good luck...at the stealership
AND KNOW YOU KNOW...............THE REST OF THE STORY.........GOOD DAY....