Worst Sales Pitch You've Come Across?

[TerryB]

Maxwell advertised that way as did Ford, “have you driven a Ford lately?” was their slogan touting the new and improved Ford autos.

[JFranklin]

A much more subtle approach.

[Rusty_OToole]

"the good Maxwell" was supposedly a much improved Maxwell, after Walter Chrysler took over running the company. Shortly afterwards they dropped the Maxwell and Chalmers names and called all their cars Chryslers. I have long wondered how much Maxwell was in the 4 cylinder Chrysler, and later Plymouth.

[padgett]

Maxwell - Good to the last drop. 1915

[huptoy]

In 1967 I was 25, newly married had started my first job out of school.  I was interested in my first new car, a Valiant or Buick Skylark.  The Buick salesman was bad mouthing the Valiant slant six because the pistons would wear on the down side causing the cyl to become an oval. Said I should buy a Buick.  Selected a Mustang V8 auto Coupe, small trunk but a fun car to drive.

[Grimy]

Is it just me?  New car advertising:  About 1995 Nissan seemed to be first to have TV ads in which their cars were driven VERY aggressively.  Very soon, low end buyers/leasers were doing the "monkey see, monkey do" driving tricks with Nissans.  Later, even Mercedes was sliding sedans around town squares, Cadillacs were racing down Chinese mountains, and Lincoln Navigators were doing real stupid tricks in the snow.  Marketing to the azzh0les among us?  If so, that marketing scheme was an unqualified success.

[padgett]

Have we switched to best advertising ? Studebaker had a bunch on spirited driving in the early 60s and Bonneville in the 50's.

[Grimy]

15 minutes ago, padgett said:

Have we switched to best advertising ?

It's tangential or at least some overlap; "worst sales pitch" being driving like fools. 

 

I always thought you, padgett, were the King of Tangents by speaking about post-1990 cars in threads on pre-WW2 cars...  🙂

[padgett]

Its often history repeating itself. Wasn't around pre-WWII.

[John348]

What about "Have you driven a Ford lately?" 

 

Are they admitting that the ones prior were crappy? 

[Bryan G]

4 hours ago, John348 said:

What about "Have you driven a Ford lately?" 

 

Are they admitting that the ones prior were crappy? 

No doubt, if the last Ford you drove was a Fairmont, you probably owed it to yourself to drive a Taurus. Not sure if a Tempo was much of an improvement over a Pinto...why can't FoMoCo come up with a good motor mount for a 4 cylinder? The Transit Connect I drove for work sure didn't have it. Reminded me of every 5 year old Tempo, Escort & Focus I ever drove.

[JBP]

Under the “Life Imitates Art” category, this ad was posted this past Friday. 
 

I sent a message to the guy, asking for some more photos and some basic info, but nothing back as yet. I’m only putting an offer in on the car if the guy in the photo comes along with it, as a resource (I’m presuming by the authoritative way he has grasped that door handle, he’s clearly the restorer). 
 

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/edmonton/1933-buick-mclaughlin/1539525079?undefined

 

 

[Skylark4367]

This happened at least 10 or 12 years ago.  I answered a local for sale ad for a 1961 Impala Sport Sedan.  When I arrived at the seller's home, I saw a nice Impala Sport Sedan in the garage.  He came outside to greet me and I asked about the car in the garage.  He said, "That's my good '61.  The one for sale is in a garage a couple miles from here."  My expectations were greatly lowered as soon as he said that.  Regardless, I followed him to the other garage to see the advertised car.  On the short drive over, I wondered how bad the car could be.  When he opened the garage and pulled the car out, it was obvious why he referred to the first Impala as his "good '61".  Since I spent the time and gas to see the car, I took a few minutes to look it over. I probably wouldn't have bought the car anyway, it needed more work than I wanted to get involved with, but he killed the sale when he mentioned his "good '61."  

[4Hud]

One of my personal favourites is the old "I don't need to sell, just testing the waters". Translation- I'm mostly wasting everyone's time unless you me offer stupid money for it.

[28 Chrysler]

I looked at a Bronco with a FOR SALE sign with a phone number and price written on it.

I called the number and he said he lived a couple of houses away from the empty corner lot and would come right over.

A 1/4 hour later he shows up, we talk and I found out about the bad power steering box.

I asked if he would knock of $500 off his asking price and he said "that price was to get your attention"

I said nothing just walked away.

[padgett]

BTW this is the time of year many Florida homes put up a "For Sale" particularly looking for those who like the cypress trees or want a three car boathouse.

[John_Mereness]

My brother-in-law checked out a dealership car for the weekend - this morning he saw the price had been lowered via advertisement and he said he would take it - the dealer said he could only offer it at the price it was on Friday when he took the car home for weekend.  When I heard this today, I was like "it does not work that way" - I called dealership owner and seems I bought a bad practice to his attention (he had no clue they were doing things like that).  I was probably too nice in not raising a much more formal 'stink" with such as The Ohio Attorney General via dealership breaking the law here doing such. 

[Flivverking]

Classic for cars....

"and no visable body rot"

 

For areoplanes.

" you can hardly see where the old wing ends and the new wing begins"

[Bryan G]

On 12/7/2020 at 11:34 PM, John_Mereness said:

My brother-in-law checked out a dealership car for the weekend - this morning he saw the price had been lowered via advertisement and he said he would take it - the dealer said he could only offer it at the price it was on Friday when he took the car home for weekend.  When I heard this today, I was like "it does not work that way" - I called dealership owner and seems I bought a bad practice to his attention (he had no clue they were doing things like that).  I was probably too nice in not raising a much more formal 'stink" with such as The Ohio Attorney General via dealership breaking the law here doing such. 

The only time I really shopped for a new vehicle for myself was back in '97, I knew exactly what I wanted: a new Cheyenne, V6, AT, AC, CC, cassette stereo, crank windows. Longbed, regular cab, green. Not asking much, huh? I'd been everywhere and nobody had one, then found out a place an hour away had two. A friend of mine worked at another branch of the same dealer group; he gave me a salesman's name, telling me he'd fix me up. I drive down one Saturday, really like the truck but his best price is $500 too high. Told him I'd think about it. Get home, read the paper, the exact truck I'd test drove that morning-yep, there it is, same stock number-is in the paper for all to see at $500 less than that great deal he offered me. I called him and he generously agreed to give me the advertised deal. I bought a Dodge.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Bryan G
spelling (see edit history)

[Fossil]

After seeing an ad in the paper we drove a 100 miles to buy a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville.  When they asked if the car I was driving  was the trade in I said "this is cash with no trade" and they said they couldn't sell me the car for that price. I told them that bait and switch was illegal and I'd turn them in if they didn't sell me the car for the advertised price. You'd have thought we had turned a skunk loose in that showroom.  Man were they upset. We did finally go home with the car but sure didn't make any friends down there and I never saw that ad in the paper again.  

[padgett]

Reminds me of the time a dealer advertised a car for 2000 bananas....

[Terry Bond]

My gag reflex comes into play when someone responds to my offer "I can get more for it on ebay." 

Terry

[West Peterson]

A friend in the business used this one. I will not use his name, to protect the guilty:

 

The seats were reupholstered before the current owner's acquisition, while the paint was resprayed and the engine was rebuilt in his ownership, some years ago. Other than these very sympathetic improvements, the car remains a well-preserved, largely original example.

[Rusty_OToole]

I've used this line for laughs when showing a car. "If the deal seems too good to be true say the word and I'll louse it up a little". So far this has never worked. No one laughs either but I think it's funny.

Another line I think is funny, if someone asks the price I tell them then add "If you offer me less I'll probably take it". This one seems to baffle people too.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[George Smolinski]

Not really a sales pitch, but it irks me to no end that prices aren't posted in an ad. It seems more prevalent with dealers than private parties. What do they think? "If I just can get them to call for a price, I'll have them hooked." 

[JFranklin]

1 hour ago, George Smolinski said:

Not really a sales pitch, but it irks me to no end that prices aren't posted in an ad. It seems more prevalent with dealers than private parties. What do they think? "If I just can get them to call for a price, I'll have them hooked." 

Some people just get lonely.

[Rusty_OToole]

1 hour ago, George Smolinski said:

Not really a sales pitch, but it irks me to no end that prices aren't posted in an ad. It seems more prevalent with dealers than private parties. What do they think? "If I just can get them to call for a price, I'll have them hooked." 

"Call for price" I skip over such ads, never even consider them. To me they say "my price is so crazy high if I publish it no one will call, but maybe if I can get a sucker to call and ask I can talk them into it".

Edited December 11, 2020 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[ia-k]

New car story- in 1999 my fiancé, soon to be wife, was looking to upgrade from her 1985 Chevy Cavalier. As more of a MOPAR guy we stopped at the local Dodge-Toyota-Mazda dealer and I was looking at the Dodge Intrepid as she wanted a 4 door, yet "sporty" car. As we were looking at the Intrepids, I especially at the R/T the salesman came out and promptly started bad-mouthing the Dodges and said we would be way better off with a Toyota or Mazda and suggested we look at them. I said we were interested in the Dodges and why was he bad-mouthing the Dodges if he was trying to sell new cars. He said he "just doesn't like Dodges". I told him out of the 7 cars I owned 6 were Chrysler products including a 1998 Neon R/T that I had bought at this dealership less than a year ago.  I said we were going to leave and look at other dealerships that wanted to sell us a new car no matter what the brand. She ended up getting a Pontiac Grand Prix GT.

 

Old car story- 1976 Dodge Dart. Guy selling it was pointing out everything wrong even though it looked like a solid car for the price. Trying to figure out why, if he was trying to sell, he was so negative about the car's condition. He finally mentioned that his wife was making him sell the car and if it wasn't sold by the end of the month she would make him take it out to her dad's and store it there. Got the hint and didn't buy it. 

Edited December 11, 2020 by ia-k (see edit history)

[padgett]

Sometimes a crazy price is not to sell the car. Have also seen absurdly low appraisals for the same reason.