Death of the car salesman?

(aka: How the internet could reveolutionise buying a car)

Car salesmen

Of all the types of salesmen in the world, the car salesman is probably the most universally reviled.

In an industry of high-priced consumer goods with a relatively low product turnover, commission-based aggressive marketing has become a norm.

Whatever the car salesman is telling you is pivoted around himself making a large-commision sale. Whatever he isn’t telling you is about the flaws in the car, the additional financing charges, and the fact that the price on the car isn’t usually a fixed price but an optimistic first point to haggle from.

Now, the problem here is that most people have no idea how to haggle, let alone have the sales or specific car sales experience to know where the realistic boundaries of compromise are, and how to push them.

Heck, most people know little about cars as it is - and I’m certainly one of them. I know how to make it go from A to B, and that it needs regular servicing, MOT, and insurance.

But although I’ve been known to check the tyre pressure, I haven’t checked the oil in years. I open the bonnet of the car, and I see an intricate lump of metal I know nothing about, and don’t pretend to know anything about.

I have never had a car poster on my wall, or even bought a pack of car Top Trumps to drool at the Porsches. I watched Top Gear a couple of times, simply for Jeremy Clarkson’s blissfully acidic humour.

I’m only vaguely familiar with the various brand names - Nissan, Ford, Vauxhall, Adi, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota, Renault…etc etc. And mostly this is entirely due to TV advertising.

And at the moment I’m looking for a new or nearly-new used car.

In knowing pretty much nothing about cars, or direct sales, I should be a car salesman’s dream.

As a consumer I feel intimidated, and want to feel empowered.

And it looks as if the internet is going to be the ally that I need.

Researching for a car

The first big problem I have to approach is that I don’t even know what type of car I actually want.

So the first thing I need to look at is deciding what my main priorities are. And that’s simple.

I have three kids, all in kiddie chairs, and in a normal saloon, that can lead to some real crush on the backseats - especially when one adult arse is squeezed between two child booster seats. I need to consider cars with three separate backseats and fit a bum on each.

I would also ideally like to be able to have a little extra room for when I have guests staying over - relatives and friends. That would require 7 seats.

That means the class of car I’m looking for is pretty clear - an MPV of some kind.

Now, there are two basic types of MPV: saloons with a pair of extra seats that can be set up in the boot, or full 7-seater mini-van style people carriers.

As I won’t need a 7-seater most of the time, and don’t intend to pay a lot extra for the privilege of parking problems, that means I’m looking at a mini-MPV.

Now that I’ve narrowed my choice to a particular class, I need to distinguish the cars in that class that may be most suitable to me.

I’m looking to carry children a lot, that means that safety is going to be my next big parameter. So for that I turn to the Euroncap car safety test, check the mini-MPV class, and see that among the three safest cars so far tested in that class are the Renault Scenic, Toyota Corolla Verso, and the Seat Altea.

Now that’s narrowed, I need to find out which I prefer.

So far this is all pretty traditional. I go to a dealership, check out the preferred cars available, test them out, and then decide which of the cars I’d like to make a final offer on - an offer no doubt based on a somewhat inflated price.

The internet is changing that.

Buying a car online

You can now buy a car online.

Not just any car, either. The car of your choice.

You see, when a manufacturer releases a model of car, they release a number of variations with it - it can be anything from a couple to nearly a dozen different individual variations of a particular model.

Variations can be simple things such as choosing between a diesel or petrol engine, different sizes of engines, and different levels of optional extras pitched at different market stratas - from basic to luxury features.

The short of it means that even large dealerships are unlikely to have on display the full range of options for the model you may be looking at. The options are narrowed according to what the dealer thinks they can pitch best. And that limits your choices as a consumer.

Take the Renault Megane Scenic, for example: it isn’t a single model of car, but four different basic specifications - authentique, expression, dymanique, and prestige - which are then subdivided into different fuel type and engine sizes for each, with a range of optional extras which can range from different interiors to additional safety features. There is very little likelihood of any dealer being able display all of the different types of Renault Megane Scenics available to buy.

Normally this would leave you with limited choice in the showroom, in addition to having to submit yourself to the mercy of a salesman, pitching different options at you, and trying to encourage as high as a price and commission as you can be pushed to.

This is no longer necessary.

There’s a new breed of website out there that can not only cater for most makes of cars, but also offer a number of options with them. This allows you to make your own consumer decisions in your own time, at your own pace, with no additional pressure at all.

For example, Norwich Union Cars.com, and Car Pages both offer the ability to check for your preferred vehicle, select the different available options - and then order online.

And what’s more, these sites are also likely to undercut the official manufacturer prices.

For example, for a Toyota Corolla Verso Spirit, with a 2 litre diesel engine, the official Toyota pricing supplied from the officail Toyota dealship is £19,795 on the road. From Norwichunioncars.com, the same make of car costs £18,426. That’s quite a saving. And you get to choose the exact type of car with the exact options that you want.

Without having to learn about cars, or direct sales, or suffer some strong direct marketing from a salesman, you can pick the exact model you want and at a price less than advertised.

What’s more, different websites pitch different prices for the standard model and options, with Norwichunioncars.com offering a higher basic model price, but cheaper options, while Carpages.co.uk offers a lower basic price, but higher priced options.

As a consumer, it’s empowering - there is choice without the pressure, and the discounted price without feeling embarrassed for trying haggle without knowing how to.

It forces the pressure on the salesman, too. As a consumer empowered with consumer choice, you can now put it clearly to a showroom car salesman that they have a rival quote to beat, or else lose a sale and the commission that comes with it.

And that means that the positions have now reversed, with the consumer allowed to take the more aggressive position.

The car salesman is probably the most universally reviled type of salesman, because he exists in an industry of high-priced consumer goods with a relatively low product turnover.

And now, as a consumer, you can turn this entirely to your advantage, thanks to the internet.

Is the internet the death of the car salesman? Perhaps it is, as we traditionally know him.