My brother has been living in hell lately. At least some of the time. His old Chevy S-10 pickup is on its last legs, and he has to get some new wheels soon. His finances might allow him to get a new pickup or SUV (he’s not a Honda Civic or Ford Focus kind of guy, given that he is a drummer in a local band and has to lug drum kits around); so, he’s been doing his homework on-line, and is now ready to enter the dealers showroom. <\/p>\n
Actually, he already had his first encounter, with a Nissan dealership here in northern NJ. His experience was not good. He got all of the usual dealer tactics and was pressured to buy something different from what he wanted (more expensive, of course). He had the good sense to walk out, but not before experiencing a lot of macho angst and being made to wait and then having the \u201cwizard of oz\u201d (i.e. the manager or someone pretending to be the manager) come over and try to smooth the situation out. He definitely needed a glass of wine \u2013 or three \u2013 after that encounter. But he’s gearing up for his next battle in the upcoming week.<\/p>\n
He and I have been talking about this, wondering what percentage of car salesmen are decent people who work to balance the interests of both the customer and the dealership, who try to be helpful to the potential buyer (and not set out to confuse and wear you down, so that in your exhaustion and despair you finally give in and buy the bigger model with all the do-dittys that you really don’t need). We concluded that there are a few, but it couldn’t be more than 1 in 4. During our conversations I asked him \u201cdid you ever wonder why all car sales people are men? Did you ever see or hear of a female car salesperson?\u201d He hadn’t, and neither had I. <\/p>\n
Hmmm. Interesting. Is that just a Jersey thing, or is that a national trend? With all the demands from feminists regarding job equality and all the push for women to assert themselves in the workplace, why aren’t women tearing down the barriers around those floor desks in the big glass-windowed showrooms? Are the dealers successfully keeping women from making it in the car sales world, or are women just not that interested in the profession overall? According to a car dealers web site<\/a>, only about 7% of car sellers are women (and that must be even lower here in northern NJ). The site goes on to recommend that dealers should try to have at least some female sales people, as to expand their ability to serve those potential customers who get turned off by the usual male high-pressure approaches to car buying. <\/p>\n