The Car Salesman

When I received word from the mechanic regarding how much it was going to cost to repair my car it became evident that my Accord and I are going to have to part ways. It has a bunch of age related illnesses that all need to be addressed and I don’t see the upside in doing them now, too much money for too little return.

In light of this I have begun the long and arduous process of buying a new vehicle. So yesterday on the way home I decided to stop off at a local Honda dealer to look around and try and get a better sense of what kind of vehicle we want to replace the old one.

I wasn’t there for more than 10 minutes when the first vulture swooped down on me. Ok, that is not fair, he was not a vulture, he was more like an oompa loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Ok, that is not fair either, he was not fat nor strangely colored, but he was about 5’4 and maybe a 110 pounds.

He had a white collar shirt on, gold chain necklace, slicked back hair and a handshake that would make a dead fish feel powerful. He asked me what I was looking for and I said “Alameda, I am looking for nuclear wessels.”

Consider that one of my many bad jokes (50 cents to anyone who can identify the reference) and let us move on.

The look of bewilderment on his face never quite disappeared. I am not sure if it was there prior to my poor attempt at humor, but it was glued on after.

He asked me again what I was looking for and I told him a Honda Odyssey. He smiled and said that it was a good choice and ran off a few features from memory. Here they are:

  1. It is a minivan.
  2. It is a really good minivan.
  3. I should buy this minivan.
  4. It is easy to pick up single mothers with a minivan. (Actually he didn’t say that right then, but he did include it within the conversation and it is just too rich not to report.

FWIW, I threw him again when I responded to his comment about single mothers by using the worn out expression of “Good, I am a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.”

Eventually he realized that we were standing in the middle of the lot and were surrounded by hundreds of cars, but not a single van. As a salesman I am very critical of other salespeople and not always the easiest guy to deal with, but I was so amused by his pitch and skill that instead of suggesting that we go look at the vehicle together I waited the 10 minutes it took for him to suggest that we go look at the Odyssey.

He took me to a corner of the lot where three of them were parked in a row and asked me if I could afford to buy the high end model we were standing in front of. I was impressed by his direct approach and told him that not only could I afford it, I was thinking of purchasing three of them because I need one, my wife needs one and we need a spare in case one of ours breaks down.

The greedy look in his eyes told me that he bought that line of hooey hook line and sinker and I began to consider other ways to help him waste my time.

In the interim he opened the door and I took a few minutes to explore the interior. I was impressed, if you have to drive a van this could be a good option and potentially the fulfillment of a fantasy from my youth. I always wanted a van.

Of course I should add that in those dreams it was more along the lines of an old VW Camper Van or one of the 1970’s vans you see in those Cheech and Chong movies. The big difference is that when you open the doors on my van you are not going to be greeted by a wall of bluish smoke.

I hadn’t been daydreaming for more than a moment when John the former oompa loompa midget dwarf salesman with the slicked back hair and incredible sales technique was suggesting that we skip a test drive and go inside to meet with his manager and discuss payment terms.

So I asked him if they had an abacus or a slide rule because I have trouble with my figures. Smart guy says yes and then five minutes later asks me “what is an abacus?”

I didn’t care that he didn’t know, but I was irritated that he just said yes because it indicated that he wasn’t listening to me and that is a cardinal sin. If you are a salesman you must always always always listen to your customer.

They will tell you what they want and what they need. Your job is to listen and respond by showing them how you can meet those needs. And now a recap of the last five minutes of my trip to the dealer.

“What can I do to sell you this car today?
“Probably nothing, I really am more interested in looking.”
“Does this mean that you were kidding about buying three cars?
“No.”
“Really? Why would you say that and then tell me that you are not going to buy a car.”
“Has it occurred to you that I told you twice that I was here to do research and not to buy.”
“Oh yeah, right. Ok, what else do you want to know?

I paused and kept back my smartass retort.

“Why should I pick this car over the Toyota Sienna?”
“Because everyone knows that Honda is better and that this car will drive better.”
“Sorry, that is not an answer, I need details, specifics. What can you do to provide that to me?”
“Why don’t we go talk to my manager?”
“Sorry, I don’t have time for that now.”
“Sir, please come with me. I can guarantee that I can sell you this for any monthly payment you can afford.”
“Ok, I want it for $125 a month.”
“That I cannot do.”
“You just told me that you can give it to me for any price.”
“I did, but I didn’t mean it like that.”

I finally looked at him and said goodbye. There is more that I could share, more inane comments and silly looks, but I think that I have rattled on long enough about this for now.

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16 Comments

  1. Jack's Shack July 10, 2005 at 5:25 pm

    FWIW, I used to see Mr. T during my lunch hour. I always wanted to tell him that “I pity the fool who wears a hat like that” but never did get around to it.

  2. PsychoToddler July 10, 2005 at 4:44 pm

    I was pushing for a minivan but Mrs. Balabusta is a big fan of the A-Team.

    “I ain’t gettin in no Honda”

    “Foooooool”

  3. Jack's Shack July 10, 2005 at 8:51 am

    IE,

    As a professional salesman I have empathy for salespeople, but I am also much tougher on the idiot and he was horrific.

    It was amazing how bad he was.

  4. Anne July 10, 2005 at 2:51 am

    We used a car-buying service and were spared the sales pitch. Phew. Then again, I’d have loved to see you slice and dice this guy verbally. Not that I get into that sort of thing normally, but something about car salesmen practically screams “abuse me!”

    The Odyssey’s a nice drive. Lots of bells and whistles too, but then that’s true of the Sienna, which comes with an 8th seat that actually fits a whole person and not just a midget’s left butt cheek.

  5. Jack's Shack July 8, 2005 at 11:46 pm

    PT,

    They make one that seats 8, but it would probably be pretty crowded for your family, or so I guess.

    The seat for the 8th person is really for someone who is relatively small.

  6. PsychoToddler July 8, 2005 at 11:28 pm

    You’re bringing back bitter memories from the purchase of our PT Mobile.

    The Honda Odyssey is the Blogger vehicle of choice. Inland Empress just bought one too.

  7. Jack's Shack July 8, 2005 at 8:13 pm

    Neil,

    There are some manufacturers who operate this way, but to a large extent things have not changed.

    I don’t think that there are all that many taking advantage of the net and the information it provides.

  8. Jack's Shack July 8, 2005 at 8:08 pm

    A) You’re still bitter that the Pistons crushed the Lakers last year.

    I was disappointed that we lost to a weaker team. Injuries and dissent killed us, we were our own worst enemy. The Pistons were a flash in the pan and proved it this year. They barely made it to the series and almost got swept. We won three championships in a row and were there 4 out of 5 years, that is pretty good.

    B) You’re really bitter that the pistons crushed the Lakers, disappointed the Wayne Gretzky coudln’t save hockey in LA, and keep wondering when they are going to play a professional football in LA.
    See my first reply about the Pistons. Hockey is not a real sport which is why the NHL could disappear for a year and no one noticed.

    It would be nice to have the Rams or the Raiders here, but that is ok. We get to see more football and have fewer disappointents to suffer through, like the Lions. 😉

    Of course, you might still be cherishing that world series from 1988. I know I am still living off the 84 team. You might remember that one, as its where Gibby won his first World Series and had a 3-run homer to put an exclamation point on the series.

    I was disappointed when the Dodgers lost to the A’s in ’74, unhappy when we lost to the Yanks in ’77 and ’78 but thrilled when we beat the Yanks in ’81. And as you mentioned, very happy about ’88 because both the Lakers and the Dodgers won the championship.

    By the way, I enjoy the blog and the Connection blog.

    Y’all can carry on your conversation now.

    Glad to hear you enjoy the others. Have a good Shabbos and don’t be afraid to stop by again. 🙂

  9. bornfool July 8, 2005 at 7:28 pm

    Hilarious. I always wanted to mess with a pushy, obnoxious car salesman.

  10. Neil July 8, 2005 at 7:00 pm

    You would think, in this day and age, when you can pretty much figure out a new and used car’s worth online, that the days of “selling” a car would be over. The car dealers should expect a certain profit, like Sears does with a toaster, and leave it like that. Doesn’t Saturn do something like that already?

  11. Air Time July 8, 2005 at 6:54 pm

    Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Jack for a second. He left some fighting words on Air Time, and I need to make sure he gets this.

    Jack, for a minute there I thought you were just a near sighted New Yorker who wasn’t aware of anything that went on outside the tristate area. But then I noticed you are from LA, which brings me to draw one of two conclusions.

    A) You’re still bitter that the Pistons crushed the Lakers last year.

    B) You’re really bitter that the pistons crushed the Lakers, disappointed the Wayne Gretzky coudln’t save hockey in LA, and keep wondering when they are going to play a professional football in LA.

    Of course, you might still be cherishing that world series from 1988. I know I am still living off the 84 team. You might remember that one, as its where Gibby won his first World Series and had a 3-run homer to put an exclamation point on the series.

    By the way, I enjoy the blog and the Connection blog.

    Y’all can carry on your conversation now.

  12. Jack's Shack July 8, 2005 at 5:23 pm

    Mirty,

    You are correct. As your prize Doctor Bean is going to ship you the bagel he owes me from last February.

    Lucy,

    I was kind to the poor guy, I really was.

  13. lucy van pelt July 8, 2005 at 5:17 pm

    Poor sucker. He probably still doesn’t understand what hit him.

  14. Mirty July 8, 2005 at 5:17 pm

    Star Trek IV – The Journey Home. Checkov’s in San Francisco looking for the “nuclear wessels” something to do with a whale.

  15. Jack's Shack July 8, 2005 at 4:45 pm

    Bill,

    I wish that I could say that I was exaggerating, but I cannot.

  16. Bill July 8, 2005 at 4:31 pm

    Absolutely amazing. Jack I think you found the quintessential used car salesman stereotype. Thanks for the laugh.

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