since the rx-8 is geared more towards the more 'mature' population, just curious to find out what the average age is here that are considering getting the RX-8. on my celica board, i would have to say 21 would have been the avg, i'm assuming it's a bit more here

i'm 23...

 

31

 

26...probably at least 27 by the time I get one though.

 

Since I am planning on 2004 39 quickly approaching 40, ouch......

Mid life crisis? Maybe :D

 

34, 35 by the time I get an 8.

 

34 and probably 36, by the time I get the 8...

 

20

 

35

 

i don't really count 'cause i won't be buying ANY car for years, but i'm 19... :D

 

I think age isn't really a factor, since it is whether or not you will have the cash to buy the car that will matter the most. I believe a 18 year old getting almost $1000/month working part-time in an IT/networking department can afford the RX-8 just as much as a 35 year old with a wife, 2 kids, parents and a mortage loan to support.

This comes to another issue. Since I'm Asian, and most Asians in their 20's looks very young, whenever me and some friends goto a dealership, the salemen will nearly always ignore us; they think we're some sort of 16 year olds that when to their dealership to horse around with their cars. This happened so many times that it is not funny anymore. One of my friend had to go to 3 dealerships before someone attended him. He brought a $40,000 car from the 1st saleman who talked to him.

 

I'm asian and haven't had problems through my 20's and early 30's (when I say problems I'm referring to the problem of being taken seriously, problems of ignorant salespeople is a different story...).

I think your problem is how you go shopping. Why do you go car shopping with "some friends"? If I was a salesperson I would think you're horsing around too.

After all, are you shopping for yourself or are you buying the car to impress your friends and ensure you have their approval?? Go chart your own course, you'll get more respect.

I don't seek peer support for any choice I make. If your friends are there you can't say you're not somehow being influenced by them.... however if you don't know anything about cars and need their advice that is a different story...

Buy the car you want, you don't have to justify it to anyone... unless you're married...:D

 

So if my parents goes out to buy cars with their friends, the dealers should think that they're horsing around too? I really don't see how 2-3-4 ppl going together to look at a car automatically makes us less seriously about buying a car and I don't see how if you're "confident" about buying a car, that you should go alone and if you go in a group that you are not "confident" of what you're buying or that you're ensuring your friend's "approval"?

A golden rule in saelsmenship is that if the buyer is with a large group of people, break them up. This is why normally you will only see 2 chairs in "the box" where they close up the deal.

This is because:
1)when a whole group of people is thinking about the options that you're telling them to add, the group's decisions tends to be better than the individual decision.
2)the chances of 2 friends buying the same car in the same time is not high. Break them up while they're in the showroom floor so the other potential buyers (his/her friends) can look at the other cars.

This is basically how a typical dealership works. Salesmen goes to work in shifts and are paid by commissions. There can be up to 30 salemen working at a large dealership. Each salesman is assigned into teams or 5-6 people working in the same shift. Everyday the salesmen will wait at the entrance for "ups". "ups" is the rights for the next potential customer coming into the lot. Salesman often say "who's up next?" among their group. When a dealer couldn't close a sale, he will pass the customer to his team mates. If that other salesman managed to close in on a deal, both salesman will earn a commission (50/50). Once the sale is at its final stages, the salesman will bring the customer into "the box" to talk about the options. This is where they earn their money.

The saleman will have a piece of paper called the 4-square. The 4-square is a piece of paper with 4 squares, one square is to put down the customer's address and contact number. The other is the type of car that he/she planning to buy and the lot # for that car in their inventory. The 3rd one is to put down the dealership price of the car; write this one in BIG letters, you want the final sale price to go as close to this or even pass this number. The 4th one is to write down the trade in value of the customer's car, downpayments and how much the customer wants to pay for the car. During the course of bargaining, the 4-sqaure will have writings all over it.

Now the secret is to make money off the trade in and the options. Say I'm a salesman and Joe Smith have a Dodge Caravan to trade in for a RX-8. His van's trade-in value is $6000. I would call up the "tower"; which is a building or room with the GM and the head of sales and ask; "hey, what is the trade in value for a dodge caravan?" then I will write down numbers on the 4 square and purposely let the customer see it or even say it out loud. "Ok, its 3500, 2000 and 2400, ok... ehh, I have a customer here called joe who is trading in a car, can you give him a better deal for his trade in? Its is Dodge Caravan...~long wait~... okok... alright, thanks a lot!!!! thank you! thank you; bibi". Now I will turn to the customer and say, "great news!!! I got in a great deal for you, $4800 to trade in your van." After hearing the ridiculous low trade in value of the vehicles, the customer will usually take $4800 thinking that its a good deal. Note that some dealerships are more honest and wouldn't do this trade-in trick.

Here is the bargaining part which is just as important. Say the RX-8's price tag at the dealer is $37,500. Joe can only pay $35,000. The trick is to add $5000 to anything that Joe say and then put in options for it.

You, as a salesman want at least people as you can in the box with you; that means you want the old dad inside the box with you while his law student daughter is outside playing with the car that they're buying and his accountant brother busy in the lot playing with the new Jeep and talking to another salesmen. You're not gonna gain much from the deal with 6 brains and mouths working against you on the bargaining table.

 

oh, your parents is a different story... If I were a salesperson I would give them attention...

Hey man, don't get upset at me because you are not getting attention at a dealership.

If you have taken Psychology you would understand what is going on. It's really simple it's called Pavlov's dog.

If 2-4 young asians kept going to dealerships and closing deals, the next time 2-4 young asians walked into a dealership the salesperson would start to salivate. It all boils down to pattern recognition.

I'm not saying you or your friends in particular are wasting the dealers times.

But just think about it, obviously many other young asians in groups of 2-4 have wasted the dealers time before you walked into the showroom, thus you are not taken seriously...

 

34

 

25.

 

29 in May

 

damn, this makes me feel so young :D

 

Shaddup! :D You won't feel so good when the insurance company bends you over with a $4000/year quote.. :p

 

18 here, still hunting for my 1st car

 

39 and definetly going through midlife crisis. I was originally looking at the Cobra03 but I thought I might try something imported. I've never owned an imported car before and I'm currently driving a 01 GrandPrix, so I'm hoping that I won't be dissapointed.

 

ahhh, c'mon, it's a 4 door, 4 seater car :D

 

34 here ...I'll be 35 before I take delivery of my RX-8 this summer....

 

Turned 26 a month ago, been without a car for about 2 years. I used to own a 91 Accord. It sure will be nice to drive my own car again, even if it is just a luxury for me since the TTC is the best way for me to get to work.

 

48 here...

Welcome to the forum Danomite!

 

Thanks for the warm welcome ZoomZoom!

48 eh? Well, you're never too old to have fun! Age aside, I have to say you have good taste in cars and colours. I would've loved to have gotten the yellow, but I wanted the 2-tone leather interior, so I opted for the Red.