"-And the dipstick is so conveniently located that even the Little Lady can find it."
Jun 30 '00
Are car dealership sales staff trained to ignore and disregard women?
I'm 25 and have bought three cars. Each time, I had to take a male figure with me in order to be taken seriously. Either I was unable to attract the attention of a salesperson OR the salesperson - heck, I'll use the non-politically correct word "salesman" because it is always the men on staff that ignore me - as I was saying: or the salesman tries to tell me all sorts of useless things like, "The driver's side visor has a makeup mirror."
First Car
In 1993, I needed a car to get back and forth to college. My parents were planning on buying it for me to use, but they wanted me to find the car first. In the price range I was given, I decided on a Geo Metro - gas efficient, lots of space for college stuff, inexpensive to get fixed. Now, I realize that there's not a lot of incentive for the sales staff to help a person looking at a small car like a Metro, since there's almost no mark-up on the car. However, you would think that they would have at least seen me as an easy sale. Instead, I was ignored at 2 dealerships and the salesman at the third tried to sell me a used Mustang convertible because it's "a more attractive car." I asked him where he thought a college student would find the money to take care of a Mustang. He shrugged and said, "I'm sure your boyfriend will love it."
The fourth dealership is where I bought my car. They had what I wanted and the salesman actually took me seriously. After I bought the car, however, I found out that he wasn't a full-time salesman: he was working there to pay his way through graduate school. Apparently he got my sale because none of the veteran sales staff wanted to be bothered.
It sad really, all those salesmen who ignored me or treated me badly missed out on an easy sale -- a sure sale for their quota.I know that a Metro isn't a high-price vehicle, but I wasn't asking for anything special: just a salesperson who would left me look at the car and test drive it.
Second Car
The next time I bought a car, it was a replacement for my husband's old beater. We weren't looking for anything extravagant, just something in the class of a Prism or Neon. My husband had never bought a car before and (being wary from my previous experience) I suggested that we visit the dealerships while they were closed. After all, we wanted to look without being pressured or conned. We visited several places and finally found the car he wanted. Of course, we still wanted to test drive it and check out the inside and whatnot. So, we visited the dealer. I was ignored the entire time we were on the lot. Even when I wandered away from my husband and the salesman for a good 20 minutes, none of the other "hungry" sales associates asked me if I needed any help.
We went for a test drive and after that the salesman decided to point out all the car's features. My husband is not a Car Guy (not until recently anyway) and the salesman was pointing out all sorts of things under the hood to which he was dutifully nodding. To me, the salesman explained, "The driver's side visor has a makeup mirror. -Perfect for touching up on the way to work!" At one point the salesman made the comment, "-And the dipstick is so conveniently located that even the Little Lady can find it." It took everything for me not to respond, "I know exactly where the dipstick is!" Instead I just rolled my eyes and told him that I already knew how to check a car's oil level.
We ended up buying the car, but no thanks to the salesman. Since we were relying on my credit to buy the car, I was tempted to go some place else. But, this was the car my husband wanted so we swallowed our bile and went through with the paperwork.
I'm not frilly, vacant-looking woman. I don't wear a lot of make-up and I don't go blank when people use big words. Why the salesman felt it was necessary to talk down to me, I don't know. And for the record: I never put on make-up in the car if I'm driving. It's dangerous!
Third Car
The last time I bought a car was this past February. I needed a replacement for my 7-year old Metro and I really wanted a VW Beetle TDI. I knew all the features and details I wanted because I had been looking for a while and playing around on the VW website. I also knew the financial specs on the car, thanks to the Kelly's Blue Book site. (That site is invaluable! http://www.kbb.com/) I figured: I'm ready to buy, this should be a snap. All I had to do was find a dealership who could order me the exact car I wanted. Easy-peasy, right? Well, sort of.
Since there's a VW dealership 5 minutes from where I work, I went to peruse the cars a couple of days during my lunch hour. Neither time I visited did a salesperson ask to help me. In fact, I couldn't even get one to help me by asking! I encountered a group of 3 salesmen and asked for some assistance and was told to wait. I waited for about 10 minutes and when none of them broke pow-wow to help me, I left. I later went back with my husband and we were both ignored the entire 45 minutes we were there. (So, we put the time to go use and wrote down all the information on all of the TDI Beetles for use to use in comparison shopping.)
Not to be daunted, my husband checked out the VW dealership near his work. He talked with a salesman, told him that I was looking to buy a Beetle, and found out that they had a car exactly like what I wanted en route to the dealership. Armed with this good news, I went the next day to discuss details, do a test drive, etc. The salesman my husband had spoken to was around, but low-and-behold he was "too busy" to help me. He kept asking me to wait just a few more minutes." Finally, he asked the junior saleswoman to help me. She was nice and very helpful, but not authorized to do much more than walk me around the lot to look at vehicles and verify the availability of the car I wanted. When my husband and I returned to pay a holding fee on the car I wanted, we didn't bother with the salesman, only the saleswoman. Periodically, the salesman would walk over (always to busy to discuss the details, mind you) and would ask my husband how things were proceeding. To which my husband responded each time, "You'll have to ask my wife - it's her car."
Final Thoughts
I don't know if there is something I could have done in these cases to make myself more noticeable to the sales staff. I've visited dealerships in sun, snow and rain - weather didn't seem to be a deciding factor. I've worn work clothes, dress clothes, casual clothes - appearance didn't seem to matter. (Maybe it would help if I were a leggy, size 4, 6ft blonde with large breasts?) All I know if that more often than not I was ignored or not taken seriously.
The odd thing is that I've always thought that car salespeople were ravenous to make sales. I know their commission and bonuses count on it; so, why are they so unwilling to help? At first I thought that maybe it had to do with the price-range of the cars I bought. But, I would venture to say that most dealerships sell a heck of a lot more Metro-Neon-Beetle range cars than MR2-Corvette-Lotus range cars. Add the fact that the dealerships and salespeople usually get bonuses for selling a car regardless of the price, and it just doesn't make much sense for them to ignore half of the population.
I hope someone out there can enlighten me. My next car buying experience won't be for another few years, but I want to know how to better gain the attention and respect of car salesmen. Having to rely on my father or husband in order to get to the buying table is ridiculous.
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Epinions.com ID:
box543
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Location: Frisco, TX
Reviews written: 70
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