Image credit : Orion Pictures/MGM
One of my favorite past time was going around car dealerships and test drive the cars that I find interesting. Nothing exotic or luxurious, just the bread-and-butter automobiles that the average Joes like me would buy.
If you have read my car-related posts you'd see that I am a little bit more into cars than the regular consumer who walks into a showroom. But what I found out throughout the years are the amount of BS car salespeople would spout out without batting an eye - Some of them are either ignorant, some try to spin the facts and some outright lie to their customers.
If you didn't keep tabs on the automotive industry, they can be very convincing. But since most of the time I actually knew better, let me share some of the crap that they tried to shove into my face. All the stories below are 100% true.
disclaimer: What these salespeople said does not represent the stance of their respective employers. My understanding is that these are merely their personal opinion, and not necessarily a result of their training. There are some good and knowledgeable salespeople out there too, you just need to find them.
1. "Our warranty is shorter because we have confidence in our product"
Image credit : carsguide.com.au
This was circa 2011 when I was comparing the Toyota Prius C and the Honda Jazz Hybrid. At that time, Toyota offered only 3 years warranty on their product whereas Honda offered 5 years. When I asked the Toyota sales representative why is that, his spun a logic that because their product is so reliable they do not need such a long warranty.
2. "Turn off ESC when driving on the highway"
Quick primer : ESC or Electronic Stability Control is a modern active safety system that helps prevent a car from skidding out of control. In most cars there is a button to turn it off, for situations such your car being stuck on muddy surfaces. Otherwise, the system is switched on by default, and should ALWAYS be kept on unless you know what you are doing.
Image credit : Paultan.org
When collecting a brand new Honda City from the dealership, my sister asked the salesman what that button is for, to which he replied that ESC is for driving in the city, and that button allows us to turn off ESC on the highway so we can get better fuel economy. This is wrong on so many levels I will need another post to explain why....but suffice to say, he was speaking out of his ass.
3. "The car is too small to fit 6 airbags"
Image credit : Mazda
This was when the Skyactiv Mazda 2 was newly launched. The Mazda2 is a subcompact car and is considered to be "small" by many, and this was the excuse given by the salesman when I queried him why the car, which at that time only came in a single spec in Malaysia, only had 2 airbags.
In Japan, the Mazda 2 comes with 6 airbags as standard. Bear in mind by this point some other subcompacts sold in Malaysia such as the Honda Jazz, Kia Rio, Peugeot 208 and Ford Fiesta....their top variants also already came with 6 or more airbags, despite being cheaper than the Mazda. Today, when the Proton Iriz and Perodua Myvi are already offering 6 airbags, Mazda 2 soldiers on with only 2.
4. "Our roadside assist is very good"
Image credit : says.com
Volkswagen (VW) has a reputation in Malaysia - their otherwise immense TSI engines and DSG transmissions, are prone to break down without any warning and strand the owners by the road. Although VW has issued several service bulletins to address the issues, I remained unconvinced so I ask the salesperson : Are these issue solved?
Instead of offering an assuring "yes", or at least a half-truth of the reality, or spin some BS....he actually told me not to worry because their roadside breakdown assist program is very good.
5. "If you got into an accident, you'd probably want to sell your car already."
Like many non-Japanese and non-locals, Peugeot falls into the cold brand category in Malaysia. Cold, not cool, because they are considered left-field choices for most Malaysians and are largely unpopular. The side effect of this is, these brands tend to struggle with stockpiling spareparts.
Image credit : carsguide.com.au
After test driving the Peugeot 208, I asked the sale person if spare parts availability is going to be an issue, to which he replied, rather irrelevantly, that the car comes with 5 years warranty so I don't have to worry about buying spare parts. Knowing he didn't understand my question, I approach it in another way and ask, if I got into an accident, would it take long to find spare parts to repair my car? I could almost hear his brain creaking as he tried to squeeze an answer out his mouth, lo and behold - he insinuates that most people who got into an accident will want to sell their car anyway.
Hello boss, first of all I still need to repair the bloody car before I can even sell it. Secondly not all accidents are serious, I'm not going to sell my car because of a bent fender....DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE CARS ARE?? Alas I did not say that.....I just smiled and nodded, turned away and rolled my eyes.
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There are a lot more stories like these, but I think this few examples pretty much shows what I am on about. My advice to any potential car buyers....do your own research, and I mean REAL research - known issues, maintenance cost, insurance cost, fuel economy etc. before putting down your hard-earned cash. Never rely on a salesperson to educate you.