[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by lawgolfer

After finishing law school and waiting 6 months for the results of the Bar exam, I worked for a small dealership. The sales manager was a 25 year veteran of the industry and had cut his teeth at Mission Chevrolet in Daly City (San Francisco). He would regale me with his stories of sales tactics. One of the best was to get the keys to the buyer's car for, ostensibly, taking a test drive to determine its value as a trade-in. He couldn't have cared less about the car's condition and would have a man drive it around to the back, park it, and leave it. He'd then have the driver throw the keys on the roof and blame him for taking off for lunch with them in his pocket when the customer tried to leave.

The door from the outside of the building to the several small sales rooms had a one-way lock. You could walk in, but could not walk out. The small sales rooms were equipped with a microphone. If there were two people, husband and wife or parent and child, he would leave to "take the offer" to his manager, go to another room and listen to the buyers talk about the car and what they could spend, either in total or by the month. He'd then return with a figure that was a small amount less than what he had heard, either in total or for the monthly payment. That slightly smaller amount almost always worked to close the sale. If necessary, he'd add 3, 6, or 12 months to the number of payments to get the monthly amount reduced.

For young men, he said that dropping a hint or two about gaining status among his friends and how he might "get lucky" with the girls were the two best sales pitches. Selling "undercoating" was one of the biggest money makers. He could get $150-250 for having tar sprayed on the underside of the car, for which he paid $25 to a small shop in the Fillmore district. Installing after-market radios, only AM in the early days, later AM/FM and later still 8 tracks, was a big money maker as were after-market floor mats.

Later versions of the "undercoating" scam were the "paint sealant" and then "ceramic" polish. Currently, it is "Nano" sealant or "graphite" sealant.

In my career, I represented many auto dealers at the behest of their insurer. Those are stories which will curl your hair.

Tales from the 60's & 70's, are always topical in The Villages.