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What I Learned About Young People While Trying to Buy a Car
Townhall.com ^ | October 23, 2018 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 10/23/2018 4:25:54 AM PDT by Kaslin

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To: woodbutcher1963

The Hyundai was subsidized by the Korean government which isn’t fair to the US worker. We need a tariff and we need it now.


101 posted on 10/23/2018 6:48:10 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: Steely Tom

I’ve found that millennial are a mixed bag. Some slackers but others who will work as hard as anyone you’ve met. Just like every generation before, not everyone will be cut from the same cloth. Your son sounds like a motivated, conscientious hard worker.


102 posted on 10/23/2018 6:56:30 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: Flick Lives

Memes.


103 posted on 10/23/2018 6:58:05 AM PDT by George Rand (-- I can't befriend liberals because I won't befriend ignorance --)
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To: fredhead
How can someone have passion...for a car that looks like every other car on the road, is a technology laden piece of “something” that can’t even be worked on?
This.

There was a time when people were passionate about railroads - because they were new, and had distance-shrinking speed and power.

In fact, as a side note, I enjoyed reading an old socialist tract because it argued so assiduously that a worker’s council could help make the right decision on whether/when to transition from the production of steam locomotives to diesels! It was written just as the airlines were about to eliminate the market for long-distance rail passenger service . . .
When you and I were young, Maggie, automobiles were still the big thing. Detroit was at its zenith - but the reality was that if you were just starting out, it was time to go into software/digital electronics. Not cars - or airplanes, either.

Another funny side note to the issue of knowledgeability of auto salesmen:

I was buying a minivan and the salesman was pretty good - but when he got to the point in his pitch where he explained the controls for the A/C it was plain that he was in over his head. As a mechanical engineer, I waved him off and explained A/C operation to him.

When you turn on the A/C, the fan has to be on or the evaporator will frost up. He knew that much, I think. But I explained that the A/C compressor automatically works as hard as it needs to to chill the evaporator to a set temperature which is colder than you actually want the air in your environment to be. If it were designed to chill the evaporator only down to the temperature you want to live in, the relative humidity would skyrocket, probably to 100%.

But to understand A/C operation, the first rule is that the A/C works as hard as you tell it to according to how high you select the speed of the fan. Because air moved thru the evaporator warms the evaporator - and the compressor automatically works to keep that temperature down. The higher the fan speed, the harder the compressor will work.

When you first start up the A/C, the car will ordinarily be hot, and you will be fine with the cold blast of 100% humidity air that the A/C puts out. But if the cabin of the car gets comfortably cool, there can be a reason to actually add heat to the air coming out of the evaporator to reduce the humidity in the car (of course that heat comes from the engine coolant, so it doesn’t cost anything).


104 posted on 10/23/2018 7:03:25 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: fredhead
Who can have passion for a car that is no longer fun?

Exactly. In the next few years cars will drive themselves. The very best thing about a car is driving it.... and they're going to take that away too.

105 posted on 10/23/2018 7:12:22 AM PDT by kjam22
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To: fruser1
There are many that seek short term goals and go ape over voting Repub at all cost. I prefer the long game because, as you can see, it’s been working for the commies.

I think that is what happened to the GOP in California. Conservatives were so disgusted with the RINOs that they refused to support them against their Democrat opponents, reasoning that voters would eventually get so disgusted with the Democrats’ performance in office that they would throw them out and elect real conservatives. Better not to endorse a RINO, they said, but let the Democrats punish the voters with their policies and wait for the voters to get fed up and demand real change.

Unfortunately, after giving up every single statewide office, they are still waiting...

106 posted on 10/23/2018 7:14:57 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Aquamarine
Sounds like Home Depot.

You know the first 5 seconds after you ask a Home Depot employee if they know where to find a product whether they will be helpful or not.

The blank stare and wandering around the store is a dead give-away. I can do that on my own. I don't need a salesperson for that.

Anyway, have you noticed that Home Depot prices doubled after they wiped out half of the hardware stores?

107 posted on 10/23/2018 7:33:21 AM PDT by Fido969 (In!)
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To: oh8eleven
No kidding! When America was still America and a car was CAR! High school class of '57 here and in that era cars were every guy's focus....and the girls too! It was a very special era and to this day I can still identify those cars by make and year almost perfectly and always enjoy seeing them on the road or show rooms. Love the Mecum Auctions. Today's cars are so generic and I think that is reflective of how the spirit has been sucked out of Americans by government. CAFE standards big negative.


108 posted on 10/23/2018 7:33:47 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneot)
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To: Kaslin

But in every instance this past week, I felt I knew more about the car, from doing some research on the internet, than the salesperson did.

____________________________

In 2010, I walked into a Toyota dealership and told the young salesman I was interested in a Venza. He said; “What’s that?” I turned around and walked out. Believe you me, his boss came running after me to assist me.

Granted most people in 2010 might not know that Toyota had a model since 2009 called the Venza, but a salesman?


109 posted on 10/23/2018 7:48:17 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Kaslin
I see the point hes trying to make but think its a poor point and that he entirely misinterpreted value of the interaction.

Ambition? Other than the son of a car dealer likely to inherit the business, what kind of sorry excuse for a kid would dream of being the best car salesman in the world? No one.

This is about a work ethic and the loss in our society in teaching the next generation what that means. Ive had all kinds of jobs that had nothing to do with one another from forest fire fighter to cable man and chef to IT consultant and a whole bunch of things in between. In each I strove to be the best I could be because that is the contract one makes with an employer when taking a job, that you will actually DO the job not just collect a paycheck. Its about personal honor and the value of my word as much as anything else.

The young man really has no interest in extreme personal wealth or minor notoriety for being the best salesman, Im not motivated by such things either but, if he had taken the job then he should be putting the effort in to do it correctly which in this case means in part learning all there is to know about the product line.

On your death bed having worked one more hour of overtime or selling one more car wont matter, knowing you have lived a life of pride in what you do and maintaining personal honor will.

110 posted on 10/23/2018 8:12:59 AM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Granted most people in 2010 might not know that Toyota had a model since 2009 called the Venza, but a salesman

I'd never heard of a Venza either....but...

I'd blame the manager, not the salesman. As a manager, it's my responsibility to ensure that my employees have the knowledge to answer most of the basic questions that they'll receive in the course of the day. "Show me a base model of Toyota" certainly falls into this category, while, "Does the interior come in all leather, in this specific shade of fuchsia?" would warrant a "IDK, gimme a minute to look that one up....".

That his person wasn't aware of a basic model of car shows that the manager wasn't doing his job. Or that his employee wasn't worth a hoot and still put out on the salesfloor, which is just as bad.

111 posted on 10/23/2018 8:18:06 AM PDT by wbill
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To: Kaslin
The author has a few good points about knowledgeable staff, but there's something to be said for salesmen who don't want to engage you in small talk about your life history and ambitions just to upsell you things. Like that Truecoat. You'll have oxidation problems if you don't get it.


112 posted on 10/23/2018 8:24:41 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: bert

I just now watched that very same commercial!


113 posted on 10/23/2018 8:30:45 AM PDT by Thunder 6
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To: Kaslin

i vote for what I want, not what I think others want.


114 posted on 10/23/2018 8:33:00 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: wbill

I’ve never sold cars, but I’ve been in the industry.

A good manager could care less if his sales staff knew what a Venza was or not. Could care less if they knew the product or not.

All that management cares about is if the sales staff can follow hard core sales techniques. To the letter. Without deviation. Follow the script.


115 posted on 10/23/2018 8:36:26 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Mr. Jeeves

And then there’s Trump.

I didn’t vote for Romney. As atrocious as o was, he had enough of a resistant congress in the last 6 to give some restraint.

Had Romney been in place with a cooperative congress I believe things would’ve been worse by the time we got to 2016.

Trump is only here now due to the preceding O.


116 posted on 10/23/2018 8:38:01 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: Bonemaker

” Used to be that cars were distinct from each other, had “prsonalities”, and were evocative of pleasant/nostalgic thoughts.”

Really?

I always considered a
car as just a means of transportation-——something to get me from point A to point B.

.


117 posted on 10/23/2018 8:40:38 AM PDT by Mears
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To: Mears

When I sold cars I realized how much the EGO of the buyer mattered.

If someone said they only wanted a practical car, you worked on that image. Of course, if they were buying a new car, you knew they weren’t that practical.

For most others, you used the looking-glass-self: Imagine how you would look in this car. Your friends will love it. Datsun used to sell their cars as “The Ego Trip.”


118 posted on 10/23/2018 8:44:52 AM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberalism: Intolerance masquerading as tolerance)
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To: fruser1

*shrug* that is your choice


119 posted on 10/23/2018 9:02:02 AM PDT by Kaslin (And that is not)
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To: Kaslin

I sold cars in the nineties. We had regular training and competitions in walk-around presentations of the various vehicles features and benefits. It was a very competitive environment and we spent our own money on additional sales training. Most of us worked at least sixty hours a week at the dealership, often more; much more. But we were on straight commission.

No sell=no eat. That may be the difference

Then the trend towards salaried sales staff began; no more competition; no more incentive. I moved into management before we got there. I retired twelve years ago. Haven’t been in a dealership since d;^)


120 posted on 10/23/2018 9:05:00 AM PDT by Chuckster (There is no government solution to government corruption.)
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