used car dealer talk

Shift518 Automotive
1

[quote=“love4boost”"]

Mike, if this aint about money and this is about your family and taking care of them yada yada… Why did you even consider a business of your own? lol… You make plenty of money working for the state and its consistant and long term with no guessing game and the biggest, no risk involved… I guess I dont understand?

And while I understand where Boost Creeps field of work quality is more important then quantity ext, car repair and car sales are a different ball game in my opinion… Customers in my current “field” want cheap cheap cheap… And how can you sell cheap cheap if your putting brand new parts apposed to quality used ones and not taking short cuts whenever you can…

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[quote=“KrazyKid”"]

Cheap cheap cheap… in the grand scheme of things that is catastrophic. Sure it works #'s wise to start off, and the next guy down the street but it can and will catch up to you. You hire a tech to fix your junk with junk. He is getting the same flat rate pay as the guy working on nice clean cars. Example: AC comp on a civic. Its bellow the alternator, which is below the PS pump. Hes is getting paid 1.2 hrs lets say to swap it. If the cheap car is botched, bolts are stripped, brackets are rusted its taking him longer to even get at the part he wants to replace. On the clean nice car, its off in a jiffy. You hand him a used part for $100 to put in it the crappy car. he puts it all back together, charges the AC. Done in 1.2 hrs on the button. You hand the guy the new ac comp for $200 for the nice car finishes the job in 1.0hrs. (keep in mind your paying him the same no matter what but now he has .2hrs more time he can work on another car for you :slight_smile: ) Crappy car, comp is a dud wont come on. Good car is on the lot for sale working fine. Now, you have to dick with a warranty claim with JBAP, wasting time while that nice car is being looked at by a customer where your attention should be. Or there isn’t a warranty on the used part. Now you either gamble on another $100 used one which puts you at the price of the new one to begin with, or your not making that mistake again and buy the new one putting you $100 over budget on the repair. And that part isn’t going to swap it self in there so your paying your tech again to do it… but wait your tech is working on another car for you… so this car sits and waits now.

Some say I think to far into things… but feel free to shoot holes in that example. :slight_smile:

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[quote=“BDSKJChris”"]

the only aspect you are missing in regards to hacking cars together that you plan to sell, is the negative impact on your dealership’s reputation…i worked for a guy for a while doing dmv paper work at his dealership and the place was a dump…building, location, and inventory all had great potential, but employing scumbags and morons combined with cutting corners on everything is currently sinking that business…im not going to say the name of the dealership but i would bet my left nut if i PM’d you the name you could pull their file and it’s gotta be filled with nothing but complaints/claims against them…i used his showroom to sell a 96 corvette with 13,000 miles on it in 2010…i payed 9 for it…it was worth 20,000 all i had to do was detail it, not a scratch on it, and it sat forever because nobody trusted the dealership, i sold it to prestige auto for 14,700 and he sold it for 22,000. so cutting corners in the automotive business only leads to failure IMO.

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[quote=“PJB”"]

People in Schenectady want cheap cars they can buy for $3k or less. Ive seen one dealer have nothing but cheap old high mileage cars and their inventory changes almost daily because they have what people want.

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[quote=“love4boost”"]

Customers in my current “field” want cheap cheap cheap… And how can you sell cheap cheap if your putting brand new parts apposed to quality used ones and not taking short cuts whenever you can…

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the “cheap cheap cheap” customers are the same ones who will report you to dmv in a heartbeat and then you’ve got big problems. doesn’t matter what nys mandatory warranty says, dmv complaints are a whole different ball game

2

Yea, I heard DMV is really cracking down on dealers. (Rightfully so).

3

yea they are and the new nysi computers have web cams on them

4

As per our deal and the current deal I have with my tech and 3 body guys, I dont pay hourly, I pay by the job or in myself and your deal by the profit after a vehicle is sold… Your trying to make your theory sound alot better then it is lol… That ac compressor was I think $200 new… Or $60 used with a warranty from jerry browns which has top notch used shit lol… If it dont work you get your money back… I dont know about you, but alot of cars need 3/4/5 different repairs made and with that price difference on 1 single part, you bet your god damn ass im going the used junkyard part route… Even shit that doesnt have a warranty, you still get it replaced AND 90% of the time shop time for installing/uninstalling so again, im about saving money and cranking profit, aaalll dayyyy.

#1, its not called “hacking” …“hacking” is a short cut, different from the right way to repair a vehicle… Adding a peice of metal to a $250 subframe instead of replacing it with a new one is “hacking”

#2 Im not about nor would I ever be about “hacking” …I choose to buy a $60 jerry brown bumper thats already black then buy a new one for $120, pay for paint and materials and have the labor involved when it can be used to do something else… I’d rather buy a used alternator for $40-60 with a warranty rather then a $200-250 one… I’d rather buy a junkyard transmission for $300 then to rebuild one at aamco for $1,500…

yup, I’ve only been a dealer for like 3 months, ive sold probably 36 cars lol…

You couldnt be further from correct… Customers that report you are the higher dollar cars that people have alot more to loose… My customer base which includes mostly cars under 5k include jigs, mexicans that cant talk english & white trash that dont know how to sign there name… DMV inspector even told me when he approved me for the license, there real lenient with dealers that sell low dollar cars bc they know its tough to please everyone… I mean really, what the fuck can you expect for $2-3k which is 90% of my cars… They all come inspected with a warranty, what else can you ask for?

5

You giving them a warranty is a bonus if the car has over 100k because its not required at that mileage, another reason a lot of small dealers sell cars with higher mileage- once they get it to pass inspection its not their problem anymore.

With ‘high end’ junkyards like JBAP the parts come off of running and driving cars that were wrecked, not something they picked up that’s been sitting in a field for 10 years because it was junk when it was parked.

Sure I wouldn’t trust an electrical part or major component to be any good from a shit hole like William’s junkyard that doesn’t buy wrecks at auctions but most of the big ones have good parts.

6

thats actually not entirely true… I thought it was a long time ago, but I was wrong… If someone can prove that something that went wrong was a pre exsisting issue when the vehicle was sold, you still have to replace it… Sucks, but true :confused: …Thats why I warranty 99% of my shit lol.

7

Capital cash for cars
“where jigs, Mexicans and white trash find cheap cars”
You just made me laugh my ass off, and mostly because its true

8

well you dont see business men/woman in suites buying $2,500 cars most of the time do you? lol

9

i now want to always wear a suit when i’m buying a beater.

10

lol, i’m the polar opposite. when i’m outside of work i’m usually wearing jeans with holes in them and a t-shirt, or a hoodie. I’m usually working in the garage at any given point in the day and then just go do whatever else I have to do in the same clothes, no fucks given.

11

You can borrow one of mine if you can fit into a 42R. :slight_smile:

12

would be too big, 40r. gotta step up my suit game, only have one, but have plenty of blazers/sport jackets.

13

dont get me wrong, i was not calling you a hack or trying to say anything negative about your business,i was just giving my insight from personal experience. the examples you gave are not hack work, i would say they are smart business decisions right now given the economy and the fact that you are a new dealer, but i would recommend that as your business grows and you start selling better cars worth more money to people who are looking for a good vehicle, to step up to remanned or new parts (junkyard body stuff is fine though as long as it’s in good condition), simply because if you build a reputation with your customers for going the extra mile to have better quality parts…your business will grow and be much more successful than if you were putting junkyard parts on cars you plan on selling for a 4,000 or 5,000 dollar markup…you obviously know your shit when it comes to making money, i’ve just been seeing the place i used to work for struggle for about 6 years now and the owner is doing shit just as cheap today as he did when he first started out, (it worked for him then but now that people expect more it’s not working out too well and he’s beeni dumping money into the business to keep it from failing completely)

14

dave is 100% right! why would you put brand new parts into a car thats 2-5k when your trying to make money, when used parts are just as good and come with a decent warranty if bought from a reputable salvage yard… i use eire volvo for all my used parts, even on my car, id rather buy used body parts that are already painted to match my color then cheap new aftermarket replacement metal made in china thats gonna rust and rot in a few years… even here at work i offer the use of used parts from eire volvo, they have a lifetime warranty on their parts (labor is not coverd) and its 100x cheaper for the customer and they are happy leaving with 1/4 of the bill. and new parts dont mean quality parts, id rather put used oem parts on a car then 99% of the aftermarket junk thats on the market right now haha… just because its new in box dosent mean its quality

15

The building I am buying which means I will be there for years to come is in a neighborhood of low income to average working class people… There will never be demand for 10k+ cars here… $2-5k cars are what sells, and what sells QUICK…

To add, others may think differently, but the car sale business in my opinion is nothing like any other where reputation prevails… Its really not… Real estate you need to have a good name, pawnshop most of the time need to have a good name, restaraunts need to have a good name… How I myself and how I’ve seen others find a car is either an internet search, or a drive by seeing a PARTICULAR car they want to purchase… Maybe you guys have, but I have never nor have I seen someone see an AWESOME laguna seca blue m3 that is at the top of there list to buy, cash and hand and say… “ahhhhh, cant buy it because so and so dealer is selling it, nevermind”

thats just my $0.02

16

I will say though when you get to huge NEW car dealers my theory/opinion changes, because theres other NEW car dealers that are selling the same exact NEW cars, but when doing a drive by and seeing a $2,500 civic, I dont think who your buying from weighs very heavily on the buy or do not buy scale.

17

there are a couple dealers that i will tell people not to go to because of their reputation (whether it be from my experience or others), and even if they had a car i wanted i wouldn’t give them a dime of my money. but i think as far as cars go most people don’t have that attitude. but i’m also going into a career where without a reputation you are fucked, so i might have a different outlook when it comes to that.

18

this. find a car you like on the net and then see it’s at a dealer you’ve heard is bad news you just stay away

19

not a typical response from most people is all im saying, we can play devils advocate all day here, but the majority of people would just buy

20

move to its own topic. :number1