CSB3: Forum Bros Polush Knobs With Wild Gen Z Contraption

[Nineeightyone]

I got a customer driving me fucking crazy. We brought his boat in months ago to consign it for him. We checked it out and decided we didn't want to put our name on this and sell it for him. His backyard repairs need to be completely redone to bring it up to something presentable. The hurricane messed it up and he repaired it as cheap as possible. It's been on our lot for a while now because he hasn't been able to take it back. Now he's in a position where he can, but he wants a few things repaired before we take it to him.

Except he doesn't want to pay for shit and bitches about the prices every time he talks to me. I'm not in service. I don't set the prices, I just ask for a price. I hate being middle man in this shit and going back and forth between him and service to try and get this shit figured out. He needs to be talking directly with service. I'm spending too much time on this shit that isn't part of my job.

He's got a few things not working on it, and I asked service to take a look at 1 thing, the thing that seemed to be most important. I gave him the quote to fix it today and his very first response is, wow that seems steep. Pretty typical response from this guy. I'm so fucking fed up with him complaining about prices. He's always been this way. I don't think service even charged him for the diagnostic. It's like why would I keep asking service to look at things when you don't want to pay for anything and bitch about the prices I give you? I'm at a standstill. This guy needs to just take his boat back and pay for what he owes us.

The dude is wealthy too...I mean nice 2 story house on the water, drives a maserati, and is a doctor. He's so cheap that he bought this boat with a partner. A friend went 50/50 on it with him when he bought it new and they split the costs. I'm so close to telling him I can't do anything more for him and he needs to pay his bill and get this thing off our lot.

It sounds like he may not have the money he wants to look like he has, to me. Or at least, not be willing to part with any of it. I'd tell him to kick rocks, but that's just me. You're in the business of making money, if his goals aren't in line with yours then it doesn't sound like you're gonna be able to work together.

 

[sterkrazzy]

It sounds like he may not have the money he wants to look like he has, to me. Or at least, not be willing to part with any of it. I'd tell him to kick rocks, but that's just me. You're in the business of making money, if his goals aren't in line with yours then it doesn't sound like you're gonna be able to work together.

He has money. He really is just a cheap fuck. Maybe it's greed that makes him look cheap. I'm done trying to do anything as a favor for him. It's just become too much.

 

[Nineeightyone]

He has money. He really is just a cheap fuck. Maybe it's greed that makes him look cheap. I'm done trying to do anything as a favor for him. It's just become too much.

Here's the thing with money though. If you have a ton of money but don't spend it, what's it worth? Money is only useful in the sense that it's buying power. If you aren't harnessing that buying power to improve your life, then it's not worth anything. I wouldn't waste my time with someone who's gonna make my life more difficult than it needs to be.

Besides, where's his cool-ass RS3?

 

[vu.]

He has money. He really is just a cheap fuck. Maybe it's greed that makes him look cheap. I'm done trying to do anything as a favor for him. It's just become too much.

Exactly why sometimes customer service gets on my nerves. I have lost count of how many Hyundai customers being this way and expecting prices on repairs or service to be down for them because they are cheap or feel entitled because they have bought 2-3 Hyundai's with us in their lifetime.

We as a dealership appreciate their business but in reality we don't owe you dick.

Either let us help you or take it somewhere else. Ykwim?

 

[Acadia18]

No-mow-May is a thing i might try it this year.

Yeah right, you couldn't make it 1 day with Dandelions

I fucking wish. Probablem is my dumbass dog eats the grass like a fucking goat once it gets too long. The just throws it up 30 minutes later.

 

[sterkrazzy]

It's really biting him in the ass right now too. He tried to cheap out on repairs, but his backyard repairs still cost him $20k to get it done. Now it looks like crap and it's worth about half of what it should be worth.

I can't even get him to replace his batteries. I told him at the very least I'd replace those. He doesn't want to. He's going to have to. I was just on the boat and the electronics are barely working. The batteries are so dead you can't even raise and lower the engine. I'm not going to let them try and deliver this boat back to him just to find out it won't start when we get to the boat ramp.

 

[mwoodski]

Exactly why sometimes customer service gets on my nerves. I have lost count of how many Hyundai customers being this way and expecting prices on repairs or service to be down for them because they are cheap or feel entitled because they have bought 2-3 Hyundai's with us in their lifetime.

We as a dealership appreciate their business but in reality we don't owe you dick.

Either let us help you or take it somewhere else. Ykwim?

We got this a lot at Subaru, the whole "I've bought six cars from y'all!" thing.

Like, congrats? You just did what you're supposed to from a dealer? You don't get discounts at the grocery store just because you've bought shit from them a few times??

 

[sterkrazzy]

Exactly why sometimes customer service gets on my nerves. I have lost count of how many Hyundai customers being this way and expecting prices on repairs or service to be down for them because they are cheap or feel entitled because they have bought 2-3 Hyundai's with us in their lifetime.

We as a dealership appreciate their business but in reality we don't owe you dick.

Either let us help you or take it somewhere else. Ykwim?

Yea...we got a line of boats that need to get in the shop that are owned by people willing to pay the prices they're supposed to be paying. Our shop rate is still one of the lowest around town too. We haven't raised it since before covid.

Maybe we spoil people too much when they're buying new, but when you're purchasing the boat we can sell it with a discount and still make $20-30k+ off you. When there's that much profit it's a little easier to toss in some free shit as they ask for it. I give myself that extra little bit of room when I'm selling though. I'll do 10-12% off msrp when I could be doing 15% off. Then the inevitable happens and they ask if I can do any better. They don't know I purposefully left myself some room to add in some free shit, so after that it's like let me think about that and then get back to you. Then I come back with "I can toss in a free GPS for you and save you a couple more grand." I could have given them a bigger discount while making them pay for their own gps. It'd come out at the same price, but it's a lot more attractive to have something "free" thrown in.

I really hate the games you have to play. I'd much rather just give somebody the best discount right away, but I've learned that's not always the right move.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Yea...we got a line of boats that need to get in the shop that are owned by people willing to pay the prices they're supposed to be paying. Our shop rate is still one of the lowest around town too. We haven't raised it since before covid.

Maybe we spoil people too much when they're buying new, but when you're purchasing the boat we can sell it with a discount and still make $20-30k+ off you. When there's that much profit it's a little easier to toss in some free shit as they ask for it. I give myself that extra little bit of room when I'm selling though. I'll do 10-12% off msrp when I could be doing 15% off. Then the inevitable happens and they ask if I can do any better. They don't know I purposefully left myself some room to add in some free shit, so after that it's like let me think about that and then get back to you. Then I come back with "I can toss in a free GPS for you and save you a couple more grand." I could have given them a bigger discount while making them pay for their own gps. It'd come out at the same price, but it's a lot more attractive to have something "free" thrown in.

I really hate the games you have to play. I'd much rather just give somebody the best discount right away, but I've learned that's not always the right move.

Got any advice for someone who's not bought a car from a dealer in quite a while? In a couple months I've got my eye on a CX-30, I've got a color and trim in mind so it's largely about how close to cost I can get. I've got some accessories in mind as well, but have no idea how to make things go smoothly. I'm gonna see if I can find dealer cost info so I know what $0 profit looks like, but I'm not a monster and I understand everyone's gotta eat.

I know they say to ignore the monthly payments though and look at the overall cost, so I'm hoping to get the dealer to give me a total number first, and then we can work financing from there.

 

[clownish]

whyy don't we get the cool avants in the states!!

If we had gotten the avant rs3 or rs4 in the US i'd have sold all the dub things immediately. We didn't. I didnt.

 

[sterkrazzy]

Got any advice for someone who's not bought a car from a dealer in quite a while? In a couple months I've got my eye on a CX-30, I've got a color and trim in mind so it's largely about how close to cost I can get. I've got some accessories in mind as well, but have no idea how to make things go smoothly. I'm gonna see if I can find dealer cost info so I know what $0 profit looks like, but I'm not a monster and I understand everyone's gotta eat.

I know they say to ignore the monthly payments though and look at the overall cost, so I'm hoping to get the dealer to give me a total number first, and then we can work financing from there.

I'm bad at negotiating. Actually the best negotiating I've done on a car was on my RS3. It's the only car I bought where I could get them to come down in price. On the other hand...it was over msrp, I paid every dealer fee they threw at me and I didn't question any of it, and then I didn't even ask about my finance rate until I was in NJ signing the paperwork.

For how we do things we can only discount stuff on an order. When people start adding a bunch of things to an existing boat on the lot there isn't really anything I can do to help. I can discount the boat like I normally do, but anything you're having added on afterwards will have to be added at retail pricing with labor added. If you can wait for an order then I can discount anything we tell the factory to install.

I've never seen behind the scenes stuff like this at a car dealership, so I don't know how comparable selling a boat is to a car. For the marine industry there's usually about a 35% markup from cost to get to retail. Before covid we were doing 20% off msrp on most deals, but once covid wiped out our inventory and we saw what kind of deals other dealerships were doing we lowered the discount to 10% off. Now we're in a position where we have inventory again, so most deals are seeing about 15% off, with some inventory getting 20% off because of excess inventory.

seedealercost.com is a thing and it's actually incredibly accurate the couple times I've checked it out. I don't know who these people are that are leaking dealer cost info, but it's insane to me that that info is out there. Luckily in the 10 years or so I've been here it's only been brought up once or twice, and it's been a long time since anyone has. I don't know if there's an equivalent site for automobiles. While we don't want people to know our cost, I don't think we're going to move the price much just because you know. Usually something only gets a bigger discount because we have too many of them or it's been sitting for too long with not enough action. Repeat buyers tend to get the best deals too.

 

[Strange Mud]

No-mow-May is a thing i might try it this year.

worth repeating.

them first couple of cuts per year are not easy on the body. I have a bit of property and with a 48" walk-behind it takes me around 3 hrs moving at a decent pace. 4 hrs if I do trimming of stuff that only gets cut 1x month.

 

[Nineeightyone]

worth repeating.

them first couple of cuts per year are not easy on the body. I have a bit of property and with a 48" walk-behind it takes me around 3 hrs moving at a decent pace. 4 hrs if I do trimming of stuff that only gets cut 1x month.

The things I'd do for a 48" walk-behind. We've got a smaller property so a 21" push mower isn't an awful affair, but it's still like 45 minutes of bullshit. I'd like to go electric but that gets me down to like a 16" blade and that's just smaller than I want to go, and anything larger I'd have to get a different battery platform.

If it wouldn't look out of place I'd have a beach lawn, just smooth pebbles. Or maybe just pour concrete over everything, paint it green, and park cars on it.

 

[JC_451]

Lawns are one of our most pointless obsessions as a society.

Almost all landscaping I find appealing is more garden/trees/shrubs than it is lawn.

 

[clownish]

I've been overseeding with clover lawn - eventually it will take over and I'll mow once a month if that.