FAQ Friday: How Do I Tell if I'm Being Sold More than I Need?
When buying tires, the salesman may try to upsell you on a brake job or front-end alignment.
"Upselling" involves persuading a customer to buy more product or service than they originally intended. From the innocous "Would you like fries with that?" to "Buy one, get one free," upselling is a standard part of sales training because it brings in extra profit. Many salespeople are even paid commensurate with their ability to upsell successfully. Car buyers and owners need to be particularly wary, because upselling exists at every point in the game: car dealerships, tire stores, repair shops and even car washes.
Our new article, Avoid the Upsell, illustrates the psychology and sales language involved in turning a smaller sale into a larger one. It tells you what tricks to watch for and how to respond to the salesperson. Knowing these tricks can even protect you from outright fraud, which we discovered when a quick oil change shop offered to "fix" things on our car that weren't broken.
I admit to being a willing sucker for the occasional upsell, such as adding an item to my online shopping cart if it puts me over the "free shipping" threshold. What was the last thing you were tempted to buy (or actually bought) due to an upsell, and how did you handle it?
- Posted by
- Joanne Helperin October 16, 2009, 11:00 AM
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- Car Advice Articles, Car Buying, FAQ Friday
I bought an extended warranty on a few-year-old used vehicle. But my wife and I meticulously went over the various packages they were offering and decided which one would be best. I think the F&I guy was getting impatient with us, especially considering the late hour, but in the end it has already turned out to be worth the money. So an upsell in this case isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a calculated risk.
One thing I've seen dealerships do is to mark on the receipt "customer declines 30,000 mile service" if the customer does not accept the dealer recommended items. Even if everything has been taken care of according to the manufacturer specifications. This, I think, is to scare people into thinking that their warranty may be voided, which it is not.
There are companies that specialize in automotive upselling. One I'm thinking of will come in and redesigns your service department, including a bunch of computer equipment, just for that purpose. The customer gets a nice colorful (both verbally and print) personalized presentation. It takes into account your vehicle, service history, sales history, other vehicles you own, etc. They overload the customer with personalized data.
I'm cool with honest recommendations, but this kind of stuff is just too much.
OK, now on the other side of the argument. I read the article's upsell examples.
Upsell #2: If the light wasn't burned out, I agree about the fraud. What I don't understand is your argument concerning the price. They may have charged you $6 more than buying it a parts store, but they provide the convince of installing it for you right now. Easily worth $6 to most people.
Upsell #3: Basically the same. $17 for a filter and installation isn't exactly highway robbery. I just did this myself. The oil change place wanted $20. I stopped by Autozone on the way home and did it myself for $13. I saved $7. For plenty of people $7 for automotive service is well worth it.
Years ago I had a summer job working at a chain muffler shop. Part of our job was to look items in need of repair.
Trust me, we didn't need to make up fake repairs. Almost every car that came in had problems you could see at a glance. Bald tires, leaking shocks, bad brakes, bad ball joints, burned out lights, etc.
If they say something is wrong with your car, check it out first but don't automatically dismiss it as an upsale. Far too many people on the road pay no attention to the condition of their car.
If the oil change guy didn't tell you, who would?
I usually say thanks, I don't need any of that stuff and if they come back with more I simply ask them if they are on commission. That tends to short circuit their upsell presentation.