mazda vin decoder

What are car dealership employees’ best stories of crazy customers/things found in cars?

I was the new car sales manager for a Mazda store in the Houston area for around 3 years. I remember one deal very vividly. There was a family of 4. Mom, dad, and 2 daughters. This was a 2-car deal. Parents were planning on buying Mazda3s for their kids as they were gonna be headed off to college soon. There was one trade-in involved. A Hyundai Genesis coupe. I think it was like a 2010 or 2011 model. As a manager, I appraise this Hyundai. I look at it, I put my hands on it, I take it for a spin, and I plug it into my appraisal system. Now it’s time for me to take over the deal from the salesman and present some numbers in regards to the sales price on the Mazda3s and appraisal amount for the Hyundai. I come out to the showroom floor to where all 4 members of the family are waiting on me. After shaking hands and exchanging greetings with everyone, I present all the numbers. Now, this happened around 5 years ago so I don’t remember the exact figures. I’m gonna do some estimating and some rounding here but it’s still gonna give you the complete picture. I appraised the Hyundai for $17,000. The dad looks at me and says “$17,000? That’s it?” me: “Yes sir. Based on the condition, the age, and the mileage. It’s a $17,000 car sir” him: “No, no way. This number should be around $5K higher at around $22,000.” (his body language and tonality has changed significantly. It was obvious that he was offended) me: “$22,000? We are a ways off. How did you get to that number?” him: “Well, it’s clean, no scratches or anything. We took care of it. But mainly because it’s the Premium package with all the options. I mean it’s loaded up.” me: “Okay sir. I understand. $5K is a big variance here so let me make sure that my system is registering the trim level and options correctly. Give me just a few minutes.” I turn back to head to my office. Now, I wasn’t holding on the trade here. I want to clarify that. To people reading this that have not worked in the car biz, “holding” on a trade means that you are sandbagging. For example, my system tells me your car is worth $10,000 but I tell you that your car is worth $8,000. I am “holding” $2,000 in this example. If you agree and sign off, then I just made $2,000 gross on this deal. I was not holding on the Genesis trade-in because I wanted the 2-car deal. I knew we could make gross on the back-end once they got to F&I. In my office, I’m reviewing the appraisal system with my General Sales Manager, Ahmad, to see if I read it wrong or to see if there’s a mistake somewhere. Ahmad asks me “What trim level is it?” I tell him, “The dad says it’s loaded up with all the options and it’s the Premium Package.” We reviewed it all. There was no mistake. The number was $17,000. We were giving him all the money. Now I could have over-allowed here. I could have over-allowed and offered him $18K and loose $1,000 in gross on the deal but then we still would have been $4K apart. It wasn’t worth over-allowing here. So I come back out to the showroom. It starts to get heated. This is how it goes: me: “Well I reviewed everything. I got another set of eyes on it and reviewed the number with my GSM. We’re giving you all the money at $17,000.” him: (His face is turning red. Body language has changed once again. It’s obvious, he wants to punch me in the face. The look on the faces of mom and the daughters turn to disappointment. I know I’m gonna loose the deal. Here we go!) “You’ve got to be kidding me!” (in a raised voice) me: “I wish I was sir. But I cannot loose $5K on a deal just to sell you 2 cars. That doesn’t make business sense to me.” him: (He’s going for the theater effect now as he knows he has an audience in the showroom that can hear him by raising his voice.) “I cannot believe you’re only offering me $17,000. You guys are robbing us. I know y’all have to make money but this is absurd! This is embarrassing! You think I’m stupid?! I read all these positive reviews online about y’all and this is how you treat me and my family?! We’re about to go to Hyundai where they’ll treat us with respect and give me the $22,000 that we’re looking for. “ me: “I wish I could give you $22,000 sir.” An appraisal is like an opinion. I gave you my best educated number.” him: “Well then you, sir, need to get an education!!!” me: “Well then we just have to agree to disagree.” I turn around and walk away. He leads his family and storms out the dealership. He made his scene that he wanted to make in front of everyone. I walk into my office. My co-managers are laughing at me. Because that’s what car guys do. This is where it gets really interesting. You thought I already told you the best part? Continue reading. One of my sales guys, Zito, walks into my office just behind me. To clarify, Zito was not the salesman working the deal with me. He asked why we lost that deal. I told him we were too far apart on the trade. He says, “Man that sucks. That was a nice Genesis. That had the Track pack and everything.” me: “Huh? What’d you say?” Zito: “It was a nice car” me: “No, the last part you said. Something about track pack.” Zito: “Yeah, that Genesis had the Track package.” me: “How do you know that?” Ahmad: “Yeah, how do you know that?” Zito: “Well 1.) I know my cars and 2.) I used to sell them when I worked at Hyundai. The Track pack adds the spoiler, bigger wheels, Brembo brakes, and sport suspension. me: “The dad told me this was the Premium package; not the Track pack.” Zito: “People don’t know man. People think that the Premium pack is the top-of-the-line just because of the name “premium”. They don’t realize that the Track pack is the highest trim level on this car. I go back into my appraisal system. I deselect Premium pack and select Track pack. Boom. $22,000. Ahmad asked me for the VIN number. I asked why he was needing that. He says he has an old friend that works for Hyundai and he wants him to run the VIN through a VIN decoder. Apparently, this would spit out all the options. Kind of like what you’d see on a window sticker. We didn’t have a VIN decoder to work with at our store. Ahmad talks to his guy. Yep. It checks out. Track pack indeed. Around 30 minutes had gone by since the customers left. I asked him “Now what? They were headed to Hyundai down the street.” This dealership was around 5 miles from our store. Ahmad says “He doesn’t like you so let me call him and see what I can do.” He calls the dad’s cell number and the wife picks up, not him. He tells her that we did some digging and discovered that the car is the Track pack, not the Premium pack, and that this adds value to the car. He says we’re now at $21,000 on the trade, and with the tax savings on the new Mazda purchase, we are right around the $22K number that y’all want. He invites them back in to move forward with the deal. She says that they are at Hyundai but that the news was good to hear and that she will let her husband know everything. One hour goes by. Nothing. Two hours go by. Nothing. Around 3 hours later, the Hyundai Genesis pulls up into our parking lot. They get out of the car but I notice somebody is missing. Yep. Daddy didn’t show. He simply couldn’t put his pride to the side nor could he man up and show his face. The wife comes inside with her 2 daughters. She says that they had already purchased one car from the Hyundai store but they would still like to move forward with buying one Mazda3 and trading in the Hyundai. We wrapped it up and got the sale. Even held $1,000 on the trade by giving $21,000 when the system showed us $22,000. Only way it would have gotten better would be if the dad had shown up. I would have loved to have asked him “Who needs the education now?” In the words of Vin Diesel, “You never had me - you never had your car.”