From Maryland

[Crabcake Johnny]

Briefly about me:

I joined the Marines right out high school and chose infantry. I ended up getting selected for presidental guard duty while in boot camp and ended up stationed at Camp David where I guarded President Reagan.

After the Corps I lived in Vegas for four years and was security shift supervisor at the Riviera Casio where we tossed out drunks and vagrants all night. Got into sales after moving back to MD while at Towson State and knew I loved the field.

Name it and I sold it - cars, home improvements, gas & electric deregulation, etc...Blew out of the car biz after getting recruited by UGA representing Mega Life and Health. Won the Quick Start contest nationally but after 8 months started posting on message boards and Stibroker yanked me out of Mega kicking and screaming. Best move I made.

Became an independent health agent in June of '04 and haven't looked back. Place most of my biz with Assurant with some going to Aetna and Golden Rule. I'm now one of Assurants top 50 GAs in the country.

I offer anyone good advice on how to get off the ground selling health insurance so feel free to contact me by email and I'll be happy to help.

 

[Sam]

Were you selling new or used cars?
This is an awesome, and extremely long article about selling cars. It was very eye opening for me. http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I sold Pontiac/GMC new and used and then moved to sell Beemers - new and used. All the money is in used cars. No money in selling new.

 

[Sam]

When you want to buy a car, knowing what you know, what do you buy? New or used? Internet, paper, or lot?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I sold Pontiac/GMC new and used and then moved to sell Beemers - new and used. All the money is in used cars. No money in selling new.

As an aside, here's some advice if you're buying a car:

1) Never say you have a trade until you've already negotiated the price of the car you want to buy. Good salesmen will "package" the deal with convoluted figures that include the car and your trade.

2) Never tell a salesman you need to be at a certain payment. Instead, negotiate the price of the car. If you shop based on payment you're gonna lose.

3) The salesman will start at sticker and work down. Don't let them do that. Start at invoice and work up.

4) The more rare the car the less will be discouted. We sold Beemers at full sticker - no room for negotiation since they sold the day after they hit the lot.

5) Get a Kelly Blue Book report on the "trade in value" for your trade - not the retail value or private sale value. Be realitic about the value. What you think it's worth it's not worth. You wanna sell it in the paper? Do you really want 20 people coming over your house on Sunday test driving it? Take the $2,000 hit and trade it at the dealership. You can sell it privately but heaven forbid it breaks down. Now you have some lunatic calling you night and day wanting their money back. This is especially true if you have an older car.

6) You will NEVER see your best deal until you stand up, shake hands and say you need a night to think about it. When they get out walking out the door, sit you back down, that's your best price. Until you leave you don't have the best price.

7) A lot of the dealership's money is made in financing and holding points. If you're getting offered 6.5% they probably got you 4.5%. Negotiate the interest rate.

8) Be nice. No car salesman wants to deal with an ***. It's one thing to want the best deal - it's another to treat the saleman with disrespect. If you buy a car at invoice the salesman is making between $50 to $100 for a "short deal." Remember that as you drag him around the lot for 4 hours test driving 5 cars.

The number 1 dirty trick dealships play? Over-appraising your trade if they know you're not buying and you just want the best price so you can run around town and shop it. We know those people since they come in with quotes from two other dealships.

It works like this: "If we did business today we'd give you $12,000 for your trade." You say "Wow! The best offer we got was $8,000!" Then you leave. You shop it and no one matches the $12,000 offer. You come back two days later and the mangers says "What I told you was if we did business that day I'd give you $12,000 - but you left and didn't come back. You car's worth $8,000." They do that to screw with price shoppers.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

When you want to buy a car, knowing what you know, what do you buy? New or used? Internet, paper, or lot?

The best deal in the car business is buying same model year used. So you'd be looking for a used 2006 with low mileage. It's still under warranty and the price will be insane.

 

[natem2112]

Briefly about me:

I joined the Marines right out high school and chose infantry. I ended up getting selected for presidental guard duty while in boot camp and ended up stationed at Camp David where I guarded President Reagan.

I have quite a few friends who are now doing that right now, seeing as how I'm headed to the sandbox next fall, maybe I should have gone the guard duty route first=).

On a side note, Bimmers are wonderful cars, I'll never buy anything else.

PS: You know anyone with a 2001 M5 with the Imola Red scheme and the first year V-8?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

"On a side note, Bimmers are wonderful cars, I'll never buy anything else."

No offense...but I used to drive BMWs in the 70s and 80s. I knew they were horrible cars in the snow...even the 325ix (I think that's what it was), but I put up with it.

When the kids arrived, I traded mine in and have never owned another. I'm sure they're better in the snow these days, but I probably have owned my last one.

 

[NHB_MMA]

We sold Beemers at full sticker - no room for negotiation since they sold the day after they hit the lot.

If you weren't coming down any, there had to be some money in that new car sale.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Great money selling Beemers. Then the owner handed the dealship over to his son who immediately cut commissions. We sucked it up then he cut commissions on all factory orders in an attempt to push us to sell off the lot. Most of what we sold were factory orders - hardly any inventory on the lot. I walked with about half the sales staff.