Do Lexus dealers want to sell cars?

[Flytvr]

I honestly don't mind the 'no discount' approach. This is exactly how I have run businesses in the past. However, I really don't get why a dealer wouldn't call someone if they had expressed interest in a given type of Lexus.

[Hadrian]

16 hours ago, Womble72 said:

My first Lexus was from Lexus Southend.

It's a shame that dealership was short lived.  Although they still have the service centre. We bought ours via the Toyota dealership.

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With discounts, are we talking about new or used cars ?

[Stuno1]

1 hour ago, Hadrian said:

It's a shame that dealership was short lived.  Although they still have the service centre. We bought ours via the Toyota dealership.

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With discounts, are we talking about new or used cars ?

Both new and used should be able to be discounted in my view. 

[Linas.P]

On 10/2/2018 at 9:30 PM, Flytvr said:

As an example, how keen are Lexus Gatwick to sell this RC-F? The pictures are abysmal. 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808209683411?make=LEXUS%26model=RC F%26utm_source=Email_a_Friend%26utm_medium=Email%26utm_campaign=Email_a_friend_car

Dealers just don't appear to give a monkey's!

There is something strange with Lexus Gatwick, they pictures are always pixelated and unbelievably low quality + it seems like quality is artificially reduced (i.e. not taken on Nokia phone from 2004, but reduced in size after). Maybe they have employed some weirdo intern for pictures?!

My Lexus dear is attacking me at least twice a week with offer to buy IS300h which apparently defines "sporty and dynamic driving"... but when it comes to prices it seems you only get good offer on GS. I have tried to negotiate the price with Lexus Sheffield and both times they dropped the price by over £3000 without much issue, both times somebody snapped the cars in few days so I could not get any further.

[hockeyedwards]

40 minutes ago, Warentea said:

I also had some pretty bad experiences with Lexus dealerships that are close to me. That's why I got all my Lexus cars from other states and shipped them to my house by auto transport companies. I don't know what it is with Lexus salesmen, but they're not that great at their jobs, hahaha. They're lucky some of us love the cars Lexus makes that we're willing to put up with all this. When my wife was lucking to buy her current GLA-Class, the salesmen from Mercedes were so lovely and even offered to look for the color my wife wanted her car to be. They got it shipped from California(we live in Texas) just for her.

I think it really is a shot in the dark, I have never had bad experience from my local dealer but when purchasing my partners car we travelled to a different one and the guy was beyond useless, luckily I had already done on the relevant checks on the car. We had horrible service from Merc, BMW and Audi near to us but had a super pleasant experience with a Merc and Audi dealer further away... 🤷‍♂️

[dutchie01]

Its not only Lexus, i think it is fair to say that sales in the automotive world are not that professional.. Sales has been my profession for the last 40 years ( not cars) and every 3 years i am looking for a new company car and every 4 for a private car for my wife. I can write 10 pages about what is wrong and what should be better. BM, Merc, Audi et all they are all thesame. Sorry Sir we are busy now redecorating the showroom can you come back another time? ( can you p*** off ). You have to decide latest tomorrow otherwise they will be sold out, yes this is the old pre face lift model but nothing has changed, no sorry no testdrive unless you buy the car i am sure you understand? and so on and so on. Every time i buy a car i tell them i drive it for 3 years but why has nobody ever phoned me 2 years in to see if they can sell a new car in 1 years time? It seems its all short term interest and they need to reach the targets end year. When the sale is done you are yesterdays paper and another thing but maybe as i am getting older. Why are all sales people under 30? A young fella putting pressure on me well its not going to work for sure. If you find a reliable knowledgable ( 6 cars in the showroom and dont know the weight difference between an IS and GS250 for instance)  relaxed salesman/woman that puts you first please remember them. Sometimes i think these all own village garages and realize their reputation is bringing in the money.

It is no coincidence that sales are moving more and more away from dealers and towards the internet.

[Phil xxkr]

8 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Its not only Lexus, i think it is fair to say that sales in the automotive world are not that professional.. Sales has been my profession for the last 40 years ( not cars) and every 3 years i am looking for a new company car and every 4 for a private car for my wife. I can write 10 pages about what is wrong and what should be better. BM, Merc, Audi et all they are all thesame. Sorry Sir we are busy now redecorating the showroom can you come back another time? ( can you p*** off ). You have to decide latest tomorrow otherwise they will be sold out, yes this is the old pre face lift model but nothing has changed, no sorry no testdrive unless you buy the car i am sure you understand? and so on and so on. Every time i buy a car i tell them i drive it for 3 years but why has nobody ever phoned me 2 years in to see if they can sell a new car in 1 years time? It seems its all short term interest and they need to reach the targets end year. When the sale is done you are yesterdays paper and another thing but maybe as i am getting older. Why are all sales people under 30? A young fella putting pressure on me well its not going to work for sure. If you find a reliable knowledgable ( 6 cars in the showroom and dont know the weight difference between an IS and GS250 for instance)  relaxed salesman/woman that puts you first please remember them. Sometimes i think these all own village garages and realize their reputation is bringing in the money.

It is no coincidence that sales are moving more and more away from dealers and towards the internet.

Very succinct expose Bernard, the misnomer is using the word "salesman",. They are no more than order takers and certainly not salespeople no wonder they are melting away like any other value less overhead. A true, professional salesperson would have spent hours upon hours learning every nook and cranny about his product and that of the competition, how else could he/she effectively advise the customer? It still mystifes me why any business would wish to add £50k+ to the overhead for no demonstrable return in the case of so called salesmen 🤔

[dutchie01]

1 hour ago, Phil xxkr said:

Very succinct expose Bernard, the misnomer is using the word "salesman",. They are no more than order takers and certainly not salespeople no wonder they are melting away like any other value less overhead. A true, professional salesperson would have spent hours upon hours learning every nook and cranny about his product and that of the competition, how else could he/she effectively advise the customer? It still mystifes me why any business would wish to add £50k+ to the overhead for no demonstrable return in the case of so called salesmen 🤔

Well said Phil. 2 examples first is a man in my village, very well off, buys a brandnew BMW every 2 years. Top end 7 series. He simply refuses to talk to anyone in the dealership except one person. " i dont like to talk and he knows exactly what i want". They sometimes meet at his home or in the village pub.

Second example. Too smart dressed salesmen ( window puppets?) wearing thesame expensive tailormade suits, talking thesame talk walking around in their massive flashy dealer palaces thinking they own the place. Radiate arrogance and make you think you are privilidged to enter the building. 

Who is the real professional?

[dublet]

Dealerships are a relic of the past. I purchased my RC through an online service. Car was delivered in a time slot to suit me, had a certain number of days to see whether I liked it (what dealers might call an extended test drive) and generally otherwise no pressure.

Nothing is more tedious than a sales person:

 

[dutchie01]

2 minutes ago, dublet said:

Dealerships are a relic of the past. I purchased my RC through an online service. Car was delivered in a time slot to suit me, had a certain number of days to see whether I liked it (what dealers might call an extended test drive) and generally otherwise no pressure.

Nothing is more tedious than a sales person:

 

What did you do with your previous car as this will be the main block for people not to buy a car on the internet?

[Phil xxkr]

12 minutes ago, dutchie01 said:

Well said Phil. 2 examples first is a man in my village, very well off, buys a brandnew BMW every 2 years. Top end 7 series. He simply refuses to talk to anyone in the dealership except one person. " i dont like to talk and he knows exactly what i want". They sometimes meet at his home or in the village pub.

Second example. Too smart dressed salesmen ( window puppets?) wearing thesame expensive tailormade suits, talking thesame talk walking around in their massive flashy dealer palaces thinking they own the place. Radiate arrogance and make you think you are privilidged to enter the building. 

Who is the real professional?

Perfect 👍see my response to Dublet 

[dublet]

1 minute ago, dutchie01 said:

What did you do with your previous car as this will be the main block for people not to buy a car on the internet?

In this particular case I sold it to Schofield, though most of these services will do part exchange.

[Phil xxkr]

4 minutes ago, dublet said:

Dealerships are a relic of the past. I purchased my RC through an online service. Car was delivered in a time slot to suit me, had a certain number of days to see whether I liked it (what dealers might call an extended test drive) and generally otherwise no pressure.

Nothing is more tedious than a sales person:

 

The tradegy Dublet is where there was once the "professional sales person that role has now slowly been split into two. Firstly, into the order taker who offers no real expertise, guidance or personal interaction, thus that role is being subsumed by technology. Secondly, here the word has changed from salesman to consultant. Now the advice you got for free previously from the professional salesman is now being charged for at a rate of up to £1200 a day /hour. So who's the real loser here I wonder? 

[dublet]

4 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

The tradegy Dublet is where there was once the "professional sales person that role has now slowly been split into two. Firstly, into the order taker who offers no real expertise, guidance or personal interaction, thus that role is being subsumed by technology. Secondly, here the word has changed from salesman to consultant. Now the advice you got for free previously from the professional salesman is now being charged for at a rate of up to £1200 a day /hour. So who's the real loser here I wonder? 

My paternal grandad was a professional salesman. One of his tall tales was that he once sold an electric meat slicer to a butcher. Remarkable as this butcher was in a town that wasn't hooked up to the national electrical grid yet.

[hockeyedwards]

I enjoy being asked what car I have and when responding with GS F, I'll either get 'do you mean f-sport' or 'they are cracking hybrids'... never wears thin and gives me a good chuckle.

The sales guy at my local dealership idolises the IS F and is genuinely a mega nice guy and we can chat about all topics without him hounding me on 'the sale' which makes me seek him out whenever we are looking to upgrade.

[LenT]

20 minutes ago, dublet said:

Nothing is more tedious than a sales person:

Except, possibly, a customer under the delusion that they are an expert?

[Spacewagon52]

Very interesting thread. It would be good if a CAR SALESPERSON posted what they think. Matt at High Peak Autos, has his take on "customers" - I do not agree with everything he says but it is the view of a car salesman.

 

 

 

[dublet]

2 hours ago, LenT said:

Except, possibly, a customer under the delusion that they are an expert?

I didn't realise this forum was frequented by the current Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office!

[X100]

My experience of Porsche dealers has been in keeping with those experiences shared here. However ...

My experience of Lexus Croydon couldn't be more different!

I have never had such a great buying experience as when I bought my RC F (and I have bought a few toys, including boats, over the years). Nothing was too much trouble, yet they were not over-the-top.  They even had my new car professionally detailed (at their expense), rather that simply valeted.

When the salesman wasn't there, his manager stepped in to answer emailed questions, always on the same day.  The Porsche dealer from whom I ordered a car either couldn't be bothered to answer questions, or came back days later.  His manager was just as bad.

Indeed, as a result of poor service from the Porsche dealer and - even more significantly - the EU's treatment of the UK over Brexit, I cancelled my order for a 911 and bought the RC F (and an MX-5 RF) instead!  Had the Porsche dealer been more like Lexus Croydon, it would have been much more difficult to "let them down".

I should mention that I have no connection with Lexus, other than as a very satisfied customer.