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Forbes AutoLot - No Credit Card? Take A Hike, Loser |
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Written by D.L. McCracken
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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
Since when did 'cash' become a four-letter word? For that matter when did 'no credit card' become universally synonymous with 'dirtbag'? The obvious answer to both questions would be that credit is way more profitable for sellers, not to mention the gold mine of personal information retrieval that a financing purchase will render. Cash is anonymous and anonymity is bad for business. Sellers don't rake in one extra dime from cash purchases.
Enter car dealerships and their rules of engagement. Add this writer into the mix as someone who has made the decision to purchase a car. Include the fact that I wandered into Forbes AutoLot last Saturday with a cheque book in one pocket and a brand new pen in the other. Accompanying me was my significant other who's knowledge of the mysterious workings of a car far exceeds my own.
As we began a short trek through the small lot we were immediately approached by a salesman. We told him our basic requirements and he led us to a cute little number, a 2002 Hyundai Sonata. The only downside was the age of the car - 5 years old was a tad too old for our liking but we test drove it anyway. We took a look at the engine and discovered that the water pump would need replacement. The body was in good condition but with a few areas in need of a touch-up. The car's performance however was excellent so we returned to the dealership and decided to enter the negotiation stage just to see how eager they were to unload this particular car.
After telling the salesman our concerns regarding the car's age and a possible water pump problem, he asked the famous question - will you be financing? - to which we answered in the negative and informed him that we would be dealing in cash. The salesman didn't appear to be affected by the cash thing and suggested that we should get down to business. He grabbed his notepad and pen and looked at us expectantly.
At this juncture it's important to point out that while the three of us "negotiated", we were not alone. There was another man sitting in the room casually reading the newspaper. We had no idea who he was but assumed he was another salesman. He remained sitting for a short time and then disappeared to another room in the back. We thought nothing of it at the time.
Despite the fact that the cash thing was out in the open, our salesman seemed eager to sell us that car. We informed him that the price was too high for a 5 year-old vehicle. He hemmed and he hawed and sputtered a little while saying that it would be absolutely criminal to sell that car for any less than the sticker price but after determining that we were serious, he offered us a $500 decrease. We were after a thousand off and refused to budge. Just at the moment that I thought we would get up and leave, our salesman who must have read something in our body language suddenly asked us, "so if we take a thousand off, you will buy the car?" to which my companion countered with, " go pass it by your boss right now and if he agrees to a thousand dollar reduction, we will seriously consider it".
And this is where it gets interesting. Our salesman, in obvious emotional turmoil, admitted to us that the boss was at home and possibly still in bed (this was early afternoon) and he'd hate to disturb the man if we weren't serious. After indicating that we were indeed serious, our salesman asked for our credit card for some reason since he already knew this would be a cash transaction. My companion's exact words were, "we aren't using a credit card, we're paying cash". The words weren't even entirely out of his mouth when suddenly the man who had been reading the newspaper earlier came storming from the back room. When I say 'storming' that's exactly what he was doing. As he waved his arms in a confrontational manner, he declared that the negotiations were over. Not only would he not reduce the price by a thousand, he wasn't even prepared to take the $500 offer off the price. His unspoken words? 'Get the hell out, losers!'.
This was the boss. The man who was supposed to be home sleeping. He had retired to the back and remained there unseen, listening intently to our conversation and the moment that my companion said we were not using a credit card he practically flew into the front office. His demeanor as he waved his arms was disconcerting and slightly threatening. His obvious reason for practically kicking us out was the fact that we would not be financing in any way, shape, or form. And that was that.
Later, after discussing this man's bizarre behaviour, I admonished myself for not confronting him but the incident was so sudden and unexpected that I simply didn't consider it at the time. The fact of the matter is that this man, this sales manager treated us badly. If another potential customer had been in the room at the time, I and my companion would have been mortified. His outburst was demeaning and humiliating. No one deserves to be treated in such a way and especially by a person who makes his living on accommodating his customers as much as possible in order to get their business and retain them as loyal customers. Not to mention positive word-of-mouth advertising.
But just as this man is in the business of selling cars, I am in the business of writing opinion columns and because of the wonderful but mysterious world of internet spiders searching for keywords, my articles have the potential of garnering a rather extensive readership.
My reason for writing this article is merely to provide a heads-up to others who will at some point in their lives find it necessary to purchase a vehicle and with cash, not credit. Cash in some circles has become a four-letter word. Consumers need to be aware that apparently some car dealerships have that written into their mission statement.
My own shopping experience will no doubt end in a positive light. Our next stop that day was just down the road to O'Regan's Kia where we met a very nice salesman who knows what we want and is working for us to fulfill our wishes. He too knows this will be a cash transaction and when we inquired about future negotiations or lack thereof, he was delightfully amused and assured us that negotiating is "half the fun". I look forward to writing a future article extolling the virtues of O'Regan's Kia and in the process participating in my own positive word-of-mouth advertising. Email D.L. McCracken at
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