Why do dealerships have a live chat?

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Herr Kutz

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,545
242
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They refuse to answer a question that I cannot answer from looking at their website.

I ask if they have such and such a car on the lot and is it ready to test drive since there are no actual pictures of it up on their website.

Without fail, every dealer's live chat personnel (regardless of brand) insists instead on asking for my name, phone number, what features I want in a car, what color I want, when I can come in, etc. They *never* answer my original question. So I leave a message before I close the chat to have someone email a picture of the vehicle so I can verify it is on the lot before I go in. After a few minutes I always receive an email to the effect of "When can you come in?" with no regard to answering the question I asked.

Why is this practice so prevalent?
 
monkeydelmagico

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
3,961
145
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So they can spam the living piss out of every form of contact you are stupid enough to give them.
 
dave_the_nerd

dave_the_nerd

Lifer
Feb 25, 2011
16,991
1,620
126
Because the person you're chatting with is a subcontractor in a call center, not actually an employee of the dealership. They get your contact info so the salespeeps can spam you with calls later.

Hell. I get sales calls after getting my car serviced at a dealership.

I'm always like, "Why are you calling me? First of all, I like my car, or I wouldn't pay to get it fixed. Secondly, you make more money on out-of-warranty repair work on this old bag-of-bad-design-decisions than you would from me buying a new one. Finally, you're not kidding anybody with that line about people looking for trade-ins on older models in good condition. Nobody wants one of these."
 
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Herr Kutz

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,545
242
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dave_the_nerd said:
Because the person you're chatting with is a subcontractor in a call center, not actually an employee of the dealership. They get your contact info so the salespeeps can spam you with calls later.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't give my number.
 
H

Herr Kutz

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
2,545
242
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Meghan54 said:
I do, but unfortunately, I am old so I tend to transpose numbers sometimes, like with my phone number. I seem to mess that one up quite a bit. ;)
Click to expand...

LOL. Whenever I do a Truecar request to gauge pricing for a vehicle I put in a fake number. I ultimately end up receiving several emails from salesman saying they tried to call me.
 
jdoggg12

jdoggg12

Platinum Member
Aug 20, 2005
2,685
11
81
This is why I have a "spam" email address. I use it when some BS website require an email to provide me with the content I want. I made the mistake of using my real email on a few inquiries via CarGurus and, holy hell, did I get spammed with a ton of dealership.

Even more irritating, some keep messaging me to ask if I'd like to reconsider my stance on a vehicle I'd inquired about but that they wouldn't budge on. My only catharsis is to let them know that I get a nicer truck with fewer miles for a lower price from a dealership that was willing to negotiate. /rant

As for chat, yea, mostly it's farmed out to India. The few that do have something in house will usually do the same thing - they just wanted to assert pressure on you till you cave in. Don't let the process be on their terms, avoid giving them the tools to reach you off guard.
 
jlee

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
jdoggg12 said:
This is why I have a "spam" email address. I use it when some BS website require an email to provide me with the content I want. I made the mistake of using my real email on a few inquiries via CarGurus and, holy hell, did I get spammed with a ton of dealership.

Even more irritating, some keep messaging me to ask if I'd like to reconsider my stance on a vehicle I'd inquired about but that they wouldn't budge on. My only catharsis is to let them know that I get a nicer truck with fewer miles for a lower price from a dealership that was willing to negotiate. /rant

As for chat, yea, mostly it's farmed out to India. The few that do have something in house will usually do the same thing - they just wanted to assert pressure on you till you cave in. Don't let the process be on their terms, avoid giving them the tools to reach you off guard.
Click to expand...

https://leemail.me/ ftw.
 
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eng2d2

Golden Member
Nov 7, 2013
1,007
38
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jdoggg12 said:
This is why I have a "spam" email address. I use it when some BS website require an email to provide me with the content I want. I made the mistake of using my real email on a few inquiries via CarGurus and, holy hell, did I get spammed with a ton of dealership.

Even more irritating, some keep messaging me to ask if I'd like to reconsider my stance on a vehicle I'd inquired about but that they wouldn't budge on. My only catharsis is to let them know that I get a nicer truck with fewer miles for a lower price from a dealership that was willing to negotiate. /rant

As for chat, yea, mostly it's farmed out to India. The few that do have something in house will usually do the same thing - they just wanted to assert pressure on you till you cave in. Don't let the process be on their terms, avoid giving them the tools to reach you off guard.
Click to expand...

How sure are you its outsourced? I am in the market for a new car and used their live chat. They do ask stupid personal question. I dont give them anything. I give them an email that I have specific for this and google phone.
 
tracerbullet

tracerbullet

Golden Member
Feb 22, 2001
1,661
19
81
As has already been said yep the chat is contracted. You can ask them a question, have them avoid it, ask them why they don't know, and if you get the right person have them admit what's up. "I'm not actually in MN, I'm in AZ" kind of things.
 
Scarpozzi

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,391
1,780
126
Why? Because 90% of people buy cars as an impulse purchase and the salespeople are trained to know this. Basically, they know that you can walk and go to a dealership 20-30 minutes away and get the same car....OR even change your mind and buy a totally different brand/model of car. They want to know who you are so they can keep you talking to them and convince you to make a decision with them. The live chat chick at the last dealership I did business with was an idiot. She Emailed me 2-3 days after I bought the vehicle and she was even the one who sold us a few accessories and greeted us by name in the dealership. (and no, they weren't automated Emails) She wasn't very professional...

Personally, I always call them and tell them right off the bat that I'm not going to make a decision that day unless the price is right. I get them to confirm inventory and quote me a price with tax, title, tags, etc...so I don't have any hidden fees...then I all 2-3 other lots and see what I can get as a low price. I played this game with my 4Runner and it had me driving 185 miles away, but I saved $2-3k and got extras (3rd row, running boards, and luggage rack bars). I paid $400 more for our minivan, but didn't have to drive hours away to get it because I found the color/trim we wanted 24 miles from home. (not at our most local dealer)
 
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