How Knowledgeable Do You Expect A Car Salesperson To Be?

Here’s a glaringly obvious statement: People aren’t getting cut out of the new car buying process anytime soon. Regardless of whether you buy from a manufacturer that does direct sales in a state that allows them or buy from a franchise dealership, you’ll probably encounter at least one salesperson, and the experience they provide can be a make-or-break for what you buy. Today on Autopian Asks, we want to know what sort of knowledge you expect to be met with when buying a new car.

If I walked into a showroom to buy a new car, I’d expect a salesperson to have decent product knowledge including which trim level offers which features and which color combinations are permitted, but that’s all stuff that’s easy to glean from an automaker’s website. I reckon it’s more critical that salespeople are knowledgable about the business and ordering side of things. Current subvented rates, special programs, lead times, if a dealer trade is possible, what options are on constraint (meaning not easily available on configured orders), OEM extended warranty options, that sort of stuff.

Let’s use Volvo as an example. Outside of current finance and lease rates, Volvo has special programs for employees of some partner companies, first responders, teachers, members of the military, members of the American Bar Association, American Medical Association, and American Dental Association, as well as people who’ve participated or volunteered in select Volvo-sponsored New York Road Runners events. Assuming a customer’s a New York-based doctor who’s run in a Volvo-sponsored event, there could be serious cash on the hood of a new Volvo that a salesperson not knowledgable about these programs might not know about.

Another example is Porsche’s one-year extended service contract that it sells on top of the existing certified pre-owned warranty. With the same coverage as the two-year unlimited-mileage CPO warranty, it can be a prudent move for someone looking to put serious mileage on a gently used Porsche, but benefits and costs must be properly explained, along with the inspection process to determine eligibility.

Put simply, in the information age, customers know more than ever before about the vehicles they’re buying, but they’re less likely to know about the intricacies of a deal. So that’s what I want to see, though my bar’s not particularly high these days. What about technical things about a car, an understanding of the car in a greater context of the industry, historical context? What level of knowledge do you expect to be met with when you walk into a showroom?

Top graphic credit: Deposit Photos, Entertainment Earth

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