So did The Sales Jerk get any credit when we bought our truck?

Factual Questions
1

DeathLlama and I just traded in my happy little Honda for a Big Fat Fun Truck (it goes vroom, VROOM, VRRRROOOOOMM!). Our sales experience, initially, was NOT FUN.

Long story short, the salesman who had test driven the truck with us, etc., was an ass when it came to negotiating. I was armed to the teeth, with Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds, Toyota, and Consumer Reports printouts at the ready for negotiating both the trade-in price on my Honda and the selling price on the truck. At one point, he made an offer to us based (slightly) on the Edmunds price, but adding in some of the missed bells and whistles…and did the math wrong! (He “mistakingly” added $1000 to what was the actual math answer). He grew more frustrated as we remained firm with our limits and dodged some of the techniques we knew he was going to throw at us. At one point actually said “Well, come on, you’ve GOT to give me a fair price to work with here!” [BBQ Pit] No, we don’t. We don’t need to buy a truck, buttplug. If this vehicle is so in demand, then sell it to someone who will pay more. We’ll be fine with that. [/BBQ Pit]

At this point, the salesmanager takes over. We were ready to leave–and I told them I’d actually rather go buy a new truck, and spend more money, at another dealership than try to finagle a price on the used one there. Seriously, we were ready to go. But the salesmanager literally bent over backwards kissing our ass, working with us on the pricing, test driving, making nice, etc. He spent a lot of time smoothing our ruffled feathers…and in the end, we got the truck under Blue Book (and $2500 under the dealer’s price), and my car for full Blue Book trade-in value. Ooh, plus a 5-day, 4-night cruise to Mexico. :slight_smile:
**
So…since Sales Manager actually was the one responsible for making the sale, does he get full credit and commision for it?

Does Sales Man Jerk get anything out of this? (We’re hoping no.)**

What is the protocol of such things? If a sales man so pisses off the customers that they’re ready to leave, and a salesmanager has to come kiss up…where does the commission go?

2

You need to stop taking the car buying negotation process so personally. It’s like being mad at a wrestler or an actor for being the heavy. You got a good deal, but you were still good copped bad copped. Yes he got paid and you got your deal and the sales manager did what he was supposed to do with challenging customers like yourselves. All the spheres are in balance.

3

Actually, Ruffian, the salesman and the manager probably had a good giggle after the deal closed and you drove away.
But you were smart to get all that you could out of them.
Have fun with your new pickup. I love a new car. :slight_smile:
Peace,
mangeorge

4

I read at Consumer Reports online that in a study, a more assertive customer purchased an identical vehicle at the same dealership for $1500 less than a more passive customer.

Passive, I’m not, but being assertive can be tiring, too.

I know, I know…don’t take it personally. But the teacher in me was kicking in; I didn’t want to reward bad behavior. :wink:

So what does the sales manager get out of this?

5

The sales manager gets commission off everything that is sold in his department. He may have made the salesman “split” this sale with him, but he probably didn’t and the salesman probably got his full commission. If it makes you feel better, you probably minimized the commission by negotiating the price down as far below sticker as you did - you were probably a few hundred dollars above invoice, which means the sales guy probably only made $50 to $80 off the sale. When you figure that even the most successful car salesman isn’t likely to sell more than 15 cars each month, you can see how much that sucked for him.