16 Years Ago

What happened 16 years ago today?

A. I watched The Kentucky Derby
B. I was working on a Saturday
C. I started selling Jeeps
D. All the above

ALL THE ABOVE

May 5, 1990 was my first day selling Jeeps in St. Louis at Reuther Jeep-Eagle. I remember the day as if it were yesterday as the Reuther family hired 5 outside the family salesmen for the first time ever. Everything stopped when the Kentucky Derby started in the afternoon. I went from delivering pizzas to selling Jeeps. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since I left the Reuther family and moved to Texas where getting into sales proved unsuccessful. What a blessing.

We are getting close to the end of our lease on our current Jeep Liberty lease and I wonder why buying a car has to be so unpleasant. I sold for one family for 6 years and now a salesman rarely stays at one dealer for 6 months. Why can't buying a car be like buying a pair of pants where the price is the same at each like store? The sales on Saturday at most stores are for everybody.

In auto sales you only qualify for the advertised price if you:

A. Have A+ credit
B. Don't have a trade in
C. Give up the Specially Advertised Interest Rate
D. Are a current "Loyal" customer
E. Lease the new vehicle
F. Finance with the dealer
G. Are currently in the military

You see a $13,990 price and $275 payment, but for YOU it is $16,500 and a $350 payment. It's not necessarily the salesmen as it is the manufacturer. Salesmen are just the puppets at the dealership. No wonder Honda and Toyota are doing great......they make great product and DON'T JACK WITH REBATES and teaser leads. Sure you pay a little more, but their cars are worth more years down the line. Paying $1000 more up front for their product can yield you double that in the end.