Age Discrimination & BMW Dealerships WOB

["David Lacroque - ColorImage" <ddl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have to add a little note here concerning age discrimination. While there
may be some dealers that do discriminate based on age. I think that there
are things you can do to hedge things in your favor. 
Last year I was working for Kodak sales and decided to look at BMW's for
the first time. At 24 I did expect some problems but tried a different
approach and was pleasantly surprised. I picked a weekday after 5 for my
first encounter. I went into the dealership driving a company car a 95
Taurus wagon (talk about every 20 somethings dream ride) wearing a good
suit and carrying a note pad. I looked at a few e36's jotting down years
and prices, within 10 minutes I was approached by a senior sales rep
(50's?) He asked questions concerning my employment etc. It's called
probing, every salesman should do it to gather information while not
sounding condescending. He answered all my questions concerning a few of
the cars and after about 30min of talking asked me if I would like to go
out for a spin. I said that I was short on time and I would come back, but
he insisted! WOW! 
I attribute alot of this to my preparation and laying the ground work. I
knew a bit about the cars, I was dressed well, had a good attitude, and
came at a time that was not overly busy. From the salesperson point of view
he knew, that I could afford the car, had a desire, and had not seemed
overly eager to test pilot. He saw a potential sale! Others have called
ahead and set up appointments, this is another great way to have a
salesperson to treat you like a potential client.  
BMW's are not affordable for most 20 - 25 year olds and the dealership
knows this. You must work to show them that you can afford the car and are
not just killing time on a Saturday joy riding. It is right that they age
discriminate? Damn right other wise any Yahoo with a  1 day old drivers
licence would be lined up to take a ride in a new M3 they have no intent of
acquiring. If you want that M3 and you approach it the way a large purchase
should be, I am sure a salesman will be more than happy to help

Dave Larocque
87 325e 

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End of bmw-digest V9 #314
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