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Car Dealer Confessions is dedicated to the actual automotive stories and events of a former new & used car salesman – for the benefit of those looking to buy used cars anytime in the future. Hope it helps. Or at least gives you a couple of laughs at this insider’s view of car dealer secrets.

Everything is true and everything happened. And unfortunately, it’s still going on in car dealerships today.  (These stories aren’t even that old…recent stuff)

Besides the obvious entertainment value, we’re trying to shed some (more)  light on the methods car dealerships use on their customers. and lengths to which they will go, to sell you either a new or used car.

If you have similar experiences – send them to us…let us know the hell you went through what you experienced as well.

DAY #1 | The Training

My induction into the car business began with my training session at a domestic North Carolina car dealer.

As I sat waiting in the conference room for training to begin, I scanned the sales board. Common to most car dealerships, the sales board records each salesperson’s sales goal for the month, how many sales they had currently, the amount of gross profit they had generated and their previous month’s sales.

Looking at that board, it was clear that certain salespeople were consistently better than the rest.

The training manager instantly set the tone with his heavy handed introduction. He made our purpose crystal clear: To learn how to get the most money for our product.

Rule number 1: Gain control of the customer.

I must admit, this did not sit well with me right from the beginning. He didn’t mean control of the negotiation, he meant it literally: get control of the customer. He told us we needed to exert our dominance on the customer early and often; when it came time to negotiate the terms of the sale they would not be in a position of power and would succumb to our offer.

One of his suggested techniques: Tell the customer to get into the trunk of the car. Even better – get them to lie down in the trunk. You have them right where you want them if you can close the trunk on them.

How do you get a rational adult in the trunk of a car you ask? You will be surprised how easy this is to do…with the proper techniques.

The presentation of a used car is called a walk-around in the business. It’s called this because when done properly, the scripted presentation begins at the front of the car, while circling around the vehicle and pointing out the options. When you get to the rear of the vehicle, open the trunk and point out a couple of key features such as the roominess or the child safety trunk release.

At this point, the sales person casually mutter an innocuous statement, such as look how much room you have in there, you could ride in there. When the customer laughs, just continue, Go ahead, step in there, check it out! When they pause, you press. Come on, it’ll be fun, try it out. You have to be persistent; in my estimation more than half of the customers will climb on in.

Once training concluded, they actually put cash bonuses on our ability to get customers in the trunk. $50 for a customer to climb in and $100 if we could shut the trunk on them.

The first day on the floor, everyone waited for a ‘green pea’ (car vernacular for rookie) to get a customer. They wanted to see if we had the nerve, and skill, to accomplish this feat. The floor manager told us our potential was being judged by upper Management and the Used Car Manager even had an office pool going.

I thought to myself…I can’t do this, it will humiliate my customer. But the devil on my other shoulder began to speak about my career and that new car I;ve been wanting.

So, as I closed the trunk on my first customer, a high school guidance counselor, I looked up to the sales tower to see everyone laughing, I felt bad about being in the car business for the first time.

It would not be the last.

Part 2 | Rookie Car Salesman…On The Point

When my intensive car dealership training commenced (about 2 days), I was paired with a veteran used car sales person whom they introduced as my Mentor.

This gentleman enjoyed two hobbies: chewing tobacco and collecting the business cards of Sales People who either quit or were fired. His first action as my professional mentor: Showing me his Wall of Shame. Under his desk was a cork board, upon which he tacked the business cards of departed Sales People.

He went on to tell me most people don’t make it past the first month in this business. He also showed me the spot reserved for my business card.

Competition can be fierce in the automotive sales field. I didn’t know it then; this was the first overt attempt to get into my head by a veteran sales person. They like to keep the ranks thinned out so there were more sales for them. A young intelligent new sales person represented the biggest threat to their sales pipeline and comfortable work life.

Most of these demoralizing head games took place on the point. The point is outside of the dealership, closest to the entrance where customers pull in. If you have ever pulled into a dealership and had the feeling that you were raw steak being lowered into the lion cage, then you have visited the point.

For traditional Sales People, this represents their turf and the best chance they have to sell a vehicle. The more aggressive they are, the better their chances of landing a customer.

My first trip out to the point began harmlessly enough. Not too long after staking my claim near the front entrance, I was approached by one of the top Sales People. He was an ex-professional pool player and quite slick in a country type of way. He began the conversation normally enough, commenting on the weather and such.

Not long into it, he began his spiel about how terrible business was, and how he heard they would be letting several Sales People go at the end of the month. His technique became quite transparent as he continued talking; eventually he walked past me to grab the customer who just parked in the point..

I filed that little maneuver under the title Chat and Swoop, a technique he obviously perfected. I was starting to catch rather quickly.

Part 3 | Another Late Night at the Car Dealership

Saturdays are the big days at a new or used car dealership. This is the day which makes or breaks your entire week. It’s not uncommon for a car salesperson to sell three or four cars on a Saturday.

At this particular dealership, they had a lovely invention entitled Midnight Madness every Saturday. As you may have guessed, this means the car dealership is open until midnight on Saturday all throughout the summer months.

Midnight Madness rules were simple: Sell a car and you get to go home at your regularly scheduled time. This was either 6pm or 9pm. If you didn’t sell a car, you were subjected to not only working the midnight shift, but also the shame and ridicule of your peers.

And, if you have ever worked outside, on black-top, during the summer months in North Carolina you know that a 16 hour shift is no prize.

As you can imagine; fifty car sales people with type A personality aggressively pursuing a limited number of customers, in the hot summer sun, does not make for the best of customer experiences. Haven’t you ever noticed that you felt like prey when you pull into a car dealership?

So, with this enormous threat looming over our heads, we sit in the Saturday morning sales meeting. In this particular meeting they review the newspaper ad for this week. The sales manager went into specific detail about the vehicles advertised for the super low prices. He said they were ordered special for the advertisements (car dealership lingo for price leaders), and customers will not want them.

These vehicles are the ultimate base units available; without the options most of us would consider standard. One was a Ford Explorer without power windows, door locks, or air conditioning. The sales manager said these vehicles usually only sell to fleet companies, so whatever we do: “Don’t sell them because they are hard to get!”

I didn’t have the nerve to speak up in the sales meetings – later, I asked my manager: So what do we do if someone wants to buy the Ford Explorer in the newspaper? To which he responded: Switch them to something else. I inquired, Isn’t that bait and switch?

His profound retort: Yeah, but everyone does it. I asked myself again – What have I gotten myself into?