Stupid Things Dealers and their Sales People have said about the Wrangler

[BlackRook]

If the dealership is making $500 selling you a $50000 Jeep is that so terrible? Buy 50k with of stuff at Walmart and see how much they’re making off of you! It’s a business, profit is the whole point, fight for a good deal but don’t get bloodthirsty for $500.

It's a fair point; Wal-Mart's net margins are about 3.2% (varies a bit year to year), which is about $1600 in profit from $50k in sales. The problem with the comparison, however, is that it's apples to oranges, which is kind of the point of the thread. Wal-Mart adds value: they keep goods readily available, direct you to what you need, and are reliable for cheap products. Moreover, if I don't want to buy from Wal-Mart, I've got alternatives like Amazon, or any of the thousands of other websites. However such online alternatives are illegal for cars in many states (like mine). Further, what value do dealerships add? There's a case to be made for stocking cars, but not everyone wants an in-stock vehicle. And they push certain vehicles, often pushing people into cars they don't really want. Finally, and most significantly in this thread, most don't know enough about their own products to even provide the slightest assistance to customers (hat tip to you, though, Jonathan--no sarcasm, you personally are one of the few redeeming things about dealerships).

Concur, none of this is the salesman's fault, and quibbling about 1% of the purchase price is silly. But why should we not ask the salesman to earn that 1% through adding value to the process? There's plenty of posts on this forum in other threads about great, helpful salespeople. The jerks in this thread have earned nothing (@dudemind's Phillip is a perfect example).

Car buying doesn't need to be as terrible as it has become...

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[Jonathan.Jeep.Sales]

It's a fair point...

You know, I see your point, and I agree with you. Please don’t take my posts as an excuse for the car dealer industry. It’s broken on so many levels and it doesn’t have to be. If the dealers could all turn to a customer service based model, instead of the nonsense that is the status quo today, everyone’s experiance could be better. Take the commission out of sales. Take the negotiation out of the buying process. Every vehicle costs what it costs, and the dealers job is to make sure your experience is the best one possible, before, during, and after the sale. Dealers would succeed by treating people right instead of knocking people over the head on a Chrysler 200.

Personally I’m done with the car industry. I’m finishing out this month at my dealership and I’m out of the car business. As much as I love jeeps, I’m done with the month to month bs, and the stress. The car industry has insane hours, sporadic pay, and very little in Terms of advancement, thus, one of the highest turn over rates of any business.

 

[Capt-Zoom]

Today a jeep guy from district in colorado told me that half welded brackets, slag on welds, and porous welds are normal and completely safe.

 

[WranglerAz]

Before the JL was even a dream we could think about I was told that "you can only get a 'nav' package if you buy an aftermarket radio. Jeep never has and never will put navigation into their Wranglers." I walked over the JKUR right next to her and pointed to it and asked "Is this a Jeep Wrangler?" she said yes, so I asked "and what kind of radio system is that?" she said "It is After Market and we installed it last week." So I asked her, do you like lying to your customers so that they never come back or are you just stupid. She said "I'm not stupid and I'm not lying. I installed that radio myself."

Wow, talking about taking a double dip into the stupid-pool, and coming out worse off.

 

[Spank]

I have never heard a single uttering out of a Jeep dealership salesman that wasn't stupid. I haven't encountered one that appeared to engage even the slightest effort in familiarizing themselves with their product. As an enthusiast, I don't expect them to know every single detail of the vehicle, but to be completely bereft of even the most basic and common information is a detriment that apparently doesn't matter during the hiring process.

And it goes beyond the dealership and up the ladder to the corporation, which is what irritates me about the concept of this "JeepCares" presence on a lot of these forums. They don't really care about you so much as they care about maintaining the appearance that they do. The fact that a customer has to get on the Internet and communicate with what is essentially a PR puppet shows a lack of integrity and leadership that starts at the dealership level.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't exclusively a Jeep thing. Nonetheless, if our Jeep dealerships required sales staff to actually know things about the products they sell, service staff that were competent enough to use ingenuity when needed instead of strictly relying on hand-holding, and management that can take pride in such a product and stand behind it when things go wrong, there wouldn't be a need for "JeepCares" at all.

 

[RussJeep1]

Two gripes: one at the dealers described above who make these so called "30% of Invoice but 25% of invoice in doc fees" (i.e. about 5% off invoice) claims. Charge reasonable amounts for doc fees and simply be more forthcoming with how much off invoice you really are taking.

Second: The parts people at my nearby dealership barely know the JL exists, although this I can accept. What bugs me is that during the course of a recent conversation the parts guy and I had, the exchange went something like this:

1) The parts guy makes some outlandish and factually untrue statement about JL parts that exist but don't, or don't exist but actually do, or that some part won't be available until "the JM is released."

2) I then say something similar to "I'm sorry sir but according to numerous people with the JL, or FCA, or some other factual reference, that's not the information I'm getting."

3) And then the parts guy replies, "that's what I meant."

….how do you say something similar to, 'the JL doesn't come with a spare tire,' and when corrected say, "that's what I meant" with a straight face???

===

Let me counterbalance this though. My purchase at Koons was, for all the right reasons, nothing like this. They were clear, honest, upfront, and reliable on purchase, and I highly recommend them, and would shop there again.

 

[Jergs]

I was recently told that a regional salesman had said the 2-Doors werent in production. Once I directed the dealership to this forum and the pics of people taking delivery. A friend of mine had told me he had seen a 2-door in white plains (NYC area) the dealer told me he must've been mistaken, that there arent any 2-doors within a 400 mile radius of the dealership (Northern NJ), then proceeded to show them a pic of someones JL sport 2-door with an NJ registration and plate. Now they say they are unwilling to adjust the pricing since they quoted me 4-6 weeks from ordering to delivery (I was very very skeptical at the time). Ive currently been waiting 3 and a half months.

 

[old8tora]

Let me counterbalance this though. My purchase at Koons was, for all the right reasons, nothing like this. They were clear, honest, upfront, and reliable on purchase, and I highly recommend them, and would shop there again.

^ This ! ^

 

[old8tora]

Personally I’m done with the car industry. I’m finishing out this month at my dealership and I’m out of the car business. As much as I love jeeps, I’m done with the month to month bs, and the stress. The car industry has insane hours, sporadic pay, and very little in Terms of advancement, thus, one of the highest turn over rates of any business.

How about some quality beach time , sailing time , and party time ? That's the way to be !

 

[Jonathan.Jeep.Sales]

How about some quality beach time , sailing time , and party time ? That's the way to be !

Haha that sounds good, but I havnt had a Saturday off in 3 years and more than 2 days off in a row since 2013!

 

[to fast to bumpy]

When I asked about leather options Stitched or Perforated, his answer "one has stitching the other is perforated," umm ok thanks. Guess maybe I asked the stupid question

 

[XJ-99]

When I asked about leather options Stitched or Perforated, his answer "one has stitching the other is perforated," umm ok thanks. Guess maybe I asked the stupid question

^^^
Sometimes you just have to shake your head and walk away.

 

[old8tora]

Haha that sounds good, but I havnt had a Saturday off in 3 years and more than 2 days off in a row since 2013!

So , what are you doing now ?

 

[rb4423]

First, the salesman tried to show me a Sport and I told him I wasn't interested in that model because of the open diffs. Do you know what the 1000 yard stare means??? After I got him back to the car lot, I told him why I was only interested in a Rubicon. He then showed me the really technical Rubicon items like the red tow hooks. After all this professional knowledge, I made a deposit on a Rubicon anyway and have been waiting (since 7-31-18). I looked on the dealer web site yesterday at new Jeeps on the lot for sale and saw a listing for a Rubicon that was coming soon. Looked closer and guess what!!! It had the same VIN as the Rubicon I ordered. So far, I've sent 3 e-mails to the dealership and no answer. How many dealerships sell the same vehicle twice???

 

[ToolMan514]

First, the salesman tried to show me a Sport and I told him I wasn't interested in that model because of the open diffs. Do you know what the 1000 yard stare means??? After I got him back to the car lot, I told him why I was only interested in a Rubicon. He then showed me the really technical Rubicon items like the red tow hooks. After all this professional knowledge, I made a deposit on a Rubicon anyway and have been waiting (since 7-31-18). I looked on the dealer web site yesterday at new Jeeps on the lot for sale and saw a listing for a Rubicon that was coming soon. Looked closer and guess what!!! It had the same VIN as the Rubicon I ordered. So far, I've sent 3 e-mails to the dealership and no answer. How many dealerships sell the same vehicle twice???

All vehicles, pre-sold or not will appear on the dealer's site when in transit. Just make sure to stay on top of them for your vehicle. If it was custom-ordered, your name should appear on the physical Window Sticker too.

Oh, and your salesman is an idiot.

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