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Mystery shopper at work
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Salesmen beware! As part of Commercial Motor's pledge to provide the best advice for road transport operators, we will be sending our team of researchers undercover for a regular spot of mystery shopping. We will be covering anyhing from phones to 44-tonners, but you won't know
where we'll strike next... Our campaign starts in the highly competitive world of 7.5-tonners. Our researcher, based near Brands Hatch, was investigating the purchase of a 7.5-tonne chassis-cab suitable for a 20ft box-bodied racing car transporter/workshop for the racing team with which he is involved. He wanted at least 150hp, and preferably 180hp and a sixspeed transmission.
With no previous knowledge of the dealer ships involved, our researcher started with the good old Yellow Pages, then moving on to the Internet. With the nearest dealers identified, the next stage was to make initial sales enquiries by telephone. All dealers were approached using a standard method and were asked the same questions, with responses noted and judged according to the same criteria.This account is based on telephone calls and visits made during the period 11-24 August 2003. Daewoo
"Sorry mate, he's gone home for the day," was the less than encouraging first response from Daewoo's dealer in Detling,Kent.Fair enough, it was nearly 5.15pm; even truck salesmen have homes to go to.At the second attempt the next day, the salesman was out, though we obtained his mobile number and at the third attempt we got through.
According to our salesman. Daewoo doesn't do a 180hp/six-speed at 7.5 tonnes, only the 150hp/five-speed. It may have been useful to have been advised that the bigger dtiveline was available at 9 tonnes, though this wasn't part of our questioning. We were fairly quickly quoted £18,900, with very little room for negotiation as he informed us Daewoo's policy is to sell at list price, although the Daewoo price is such that even with discounting the others struggle to get close.
He suggested we might like to look at a 7.5-tonne artic which we could run on a car licence — not true! There was no demonstrator immediately available, as it had just been sold.
Having received the quote and some further literature within a couple of days of our first conversation, the salesman called us back early the next week to see if we were any nearera decision. He also pointed out that he had been able to offer us a little further discount on the posted quote from the original he gave us over the telephone, as he felt there could be promotional benefits to Daewoo in supplying the truck to our 'racing team'.
Daf Following the lead from the Yellow Pages, we initially made contact with the Strood Daf dealership. As Strood is only a service operation, the chap we spoke to gave us the correct number and a contact name and asked that,if we had no luck, we should call him back and he would get the correct person to call us.
With this help, we were soon talking to the Ashford branch. Having heard our requirements, he wasn't keen to discuss pricing until he had sent us a written quote.A demonstrator was available if we wanted to try it.
A written quote for £25,120 prepared by the salesman turned up quickly, followed by a phone call where he soon made it clear that further negotiation to bring it "in line with everyone else" was possible. New An excellent telephone receptionist at the Maidstone Iveco dealer knew all the questions to ask before putting us through to the salesman responsible. He listened to our requirements.then made some pertinent suggestions.
After further discussion be quoted us £21,200 and indicated there was some small room for further negotiation. He promised to call us when the demonstrator was back from the coachbuilders to arrange a test drive, but we're still waiting. It may be that he had rumbled us, but there was also no offer to post brochures or any additional literature.
MAN Still in Maidstone, another efficient receptionist at the dealer gave us the mobile number of the sales guy who covered our area.When we rang him, he apologised for being on two other phones and asked if he could call us back "in a few minutes".
As good as his word, he was back to us within ten. He listened to our needs and then went on to briefly outline various service and maintenance options, as well as pointing out that we may like to look at some leasing options. Asked us for ten minutes to get a ballpark price, and called back in five.
The quote was £21,650 to include a one-year repair and maintenance contract and a twoyear warranty, both extendable. He didn't have a 180hp demonstrator immediately available, but was quite willing to get one if necessary. He did have a 140hp five-speeder available.
Mercedes-Benz
The Mercedes' dealer is also blessed with an efficient and polite receptionist who put us through to the salesman; he quickly went through the basics of our request then cut straight to the chase and asked how much we wanted to pay! We said about £22,000, to which he replied that we must have done our homework and quoted £21,996 as a starting point.
He briefly ran through the availability of leasing and maintenance packages,but told us that because of our location, a quote and brochures would be sent to us from a salesman at a different branch. If we would like to call at the branch anytime, a demonstrator would be provided with pleasure. A slight misunderstanding meant our quote was delayed by the salesman taking a couple of days off, but when chased, the quote was delivered by hand within hours.
Renault
As usual with all our enquiries, the receptionist at Renault's dealership asked us what area we were in, then gave us the mobile number of the salesman for our area. When we called he "was on the motorway", but took our number and would call us back "as soon as he could stop-. It must have been a long journey; about five hours later he called back.
However, he listened to what we wanted and promised to deliver a quote the next day. He rang first thing the next morning to check a detail and said he would be along with the quote that afternoon.
He delivered the £19,995 quote around lunchtime, saying if we needed a test drive or any other informationjust call.
Volvo
The Volvo's dealer asked a couple of questions then put us through to another receptionist in new truck sales who told us they no longer made the 1-17 and rather abruptly (we possibly caught her on a bad day) told us that what we wanted was an F1L6 which they also no longer made! We asked to speak to a salesman, only to be told there were none available but she would get someone to call us back.We appeared to have got off on the wrong footing and we are still waiting for someone to call back.
Undeterred, we rang back the next day. The sales receptionist remembered us but got the name wrong, and then remembered someone was going to ring us back; we did then speak to a salesman who listened to our request and confirmed that we did indeed want an FL6. He promised to get a spec and quote off to us today. When pressed, he gave us a "ball-park quote" of £29,000 pointing out that while Volvo was not the cheapest brand on the market, it was undoubtedly the best.
CONCLUSION
It seems there are two distinct approaches to selling this category of truck.The first is the dealer who has premises but has mobile salesmen covering smaller areas within the dealer's patch.This includes Renault, Daewoo and MAN, although the latter's new sales team is now directly employed by the importer.The rest work on a more traditional showroombased system.
It also appears that, apart from Daewoo with whom you know where you stand im mediately, all have a retail price some £6-8,000 above the first quoted price. Most were keen for us to state a realistic price we wanted to pay and they would then try to meet it. \ Our stock answer was £22,000, and no one said they couldn't get there (apart from Volvo, who wouldn't discuss discounts at this stage).
The good news is that none of the dealers involved were truly bad.
The least impressive was Volvo, although its performance possibly reflected the tact that 7.5-tonners are not a high priority for the Swedes at the moment.
Making the decision based on this initial experience, we would now have narrowed the original seven down to five, in no particular order, Renault, MAN, Mercedes-Benz and Daf, and after its slightly shaky start, Daewoo.
To shorten the list further, MAN and Mercedes just have a nose in front, thanks mostly to the enthusiasm of their salesmen.
Among other things. they were the only two who, unprompted, mentioned anything about R&M contracts, etc.However,for a no-bull, low-cost approach it would be impossible to ignore Daewoo.