01/14/2023
The small blue hatchback slowly squeaks to a halt, the metal pads screeching in agony as their decaying bodies are pushed to their mortal limits.
Discontent and seeking guidance, a gentleman and his partner emerge from their vehicle with the slightest bit of excitement in their face.
"Hello, I'm Best Rate Nate" I exclaim, "What brings you two in today?"
The gentleman responds with a smile on his face, recognizing the playfulness of my nickname as his lady is standing next to him smiling as well, "I bought this vehicle recently and I am just upset at the condition that it is in and may want to trade it in but we are just looking right now and are not sure what we want" putting up a verbal barrier, hoping to set the precedence that they are not going to be swindled.
"Sorry to hear that you're upset at the condition that your vehicle is in, but I can definitely help you look around and see if we find something that you like, let's check out what vehicles I have on my online catalog inside and save us miles of walking my lot endlessly" I said to them and gestured for them to follow along and began walking towards my store's building.
They followed me towards the glass-laden building. Inside the glossy finish of the tiles and the height of the ceiling are reminiscent of a ballroom, imprinted with a multiple open offices floor plan, leaving about a dozen open cubicles, some occupied with customers and salespeople sitting and asking what seems to be important and engaging questions, others furnished with empty chairs and a desk.
"We can sit here" I say, pulling two chairs out and grabbing my own computer chair and sliding it into a seatable position.
"I'm going to bring you two some water" I tell them with a smile as I turn away from the desk where they were sitting now and walk towards the small, dorm-sized mini refridgerator padded with about 50 disposable water bottles". I grab two water bottles and walk back to Jack and his partner.
I hand them their water bottles, sit down, and say, "Allright, so are you two looking to trade in your Toyota Matrix that you drove in with or are you only looking to acquire a vehicle today". Seeming more relaxed after being invited in to my store and treated with hospitality, they confess that they had been to 3 other dealerships and they failed to help him trade his Matrix in and buy a new car.
"The other dealerships that I went to today told me that I owe more than my car is worth and they could not fit a new car into the monthly budget that I have" he confided in me. "Furthermore, my Toyota Matrix needs about $3,729 in repairs that I need to install myself to get it to run well again, I just want to be honest with you so I don't waste your or my time anymore. This process has just really stressful and so far nobody has been able to help me".
I reply, "I could understand why you say it's stressful and that nobody has been able to help you, but I'm glad you made it to my store because I've seen this specific situation many times, and have been able to help hundreds of clients just like you. Now, tell me, you said you need to repair the vehicle yourself, are you a mechanic?"
He replies, "I perform most of the mechanical upkeep myself, trying to save money in the process, but I also work a full-time job and the amount of repairs that this vehicle needs is just not feasible for somebody like me to try to maintain because it is costing too much money and keeping me away from my family on my time off of work and lowering the amount of quality time that I spend with my family"
Knowing all too well the negative effects of long work hours on family life, I confidently reply" No worries, I know what it is like to work long hours and not be able to keep up with trivial chores like upkeep on your car, amongst other things. It sounds like you would benefit from having your newer vehicle include a warranty that would guarantee the maintenance of your car and prevent you from spending your well-deserved time repairing your vehicle instead of spending it with your family. Am I hearing you correctly?"
Something clicks in Jack's mind, as his pupils dilate, he lets out a smile, and says, "That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for" finally ready to accept my help fully, he continues, "I've actually owned Camrys in the past and repaired them as well and I know that they are ultra-reliable vehicles and will give me enough space to ride around comfortably in"
With an professional demeanor I let him know, "I appreciate your honesty. I know this process can be difficult depending on how well the professional you're working with can help you. Actually I have a few camrys on the lot with a full warranty, do you mind if we go check them out?"
He emphatically agrees.
After walking out of my store to my paved car lot, furnished with about two dozen vehicles of different sizes, shapes and colors, we arrive to a brand new Toyota Camry. I grab the vehicle keys from the security box that is hanging out of the vehicles rear driver-side window and hand over the keys to John, letting him know that I can sit in the back seat so his partner could sit in the passenger seat. After taking a test drive, they talk between themselves for about a minute on my lot, circling the Camry that they just test drove, and unanimously decide that it was perfect for them. They told me, "we want to look at a breakdown of the price if we trade in our Toyota Matrix, can we see what that would look like?"
"Absolutely, I replied, follow me", gesturing like I did earlier when I invited them into my store for the first time after arriving on my lot.
After we walk into my store and sit down at the same desk that we were sitting in before, Jack tells me, "I've got to be honest with you Nate, the last three dealerships I went to told me that I owed more money than my car is worth, making me roll over negative equity onto my new car and making it unaffordable, that is the main reason that I have not bought a car yet this weekend"
"No worries", I replied, "we need more vehicles for our store because of the car inventory shortage that is plaguing the world and we will give you as much money as we can for your trade-in, minimizing or eliminating the amount of negative equity that will be rolled over into your new vehicle purchase"
"Give me a minute, I'm going to go grab the pricing breakdown for you and explain it to you in the easiest manner possible".
I walk towards my manager's desk and grab him a paper filled with numbers but easy to understand, and walk back to the desk to find Jack at his partner sitting with the tiniest expression of apprehension on their faces.
"All right, at this point in time my customers are usually pretty anxious, because they don't know what to expect, but I promise you, I've successfully helped hundreds of clients just like you navigate this part of their car-buying journey and 9 times out of 10, they end up being friends with me, see?" I pull out my Facebook profile Nathan Bronaut and show them the dozens of smiling faces on the selfies that I've taken with my past clients".
I then showed him a breakdown of his purchase alongside his trade-in, and he notices that with qualifying for the budget program that we have in place at my store, he ended up being $32 under the monthly budget that he had in mind for his new car purchase, and actually had $1,326 of positive equity that we used like a down payment towards his new Camry purchase.
Jack and his partner were elated and within an hour he was taking a selfie picture with me (his partner wanted to keep an online privacy so she didn't join our picture), before driving off in their new Camry, leaving behind the bad memories of their Toyota Matrix and the various problems that it was giving them. No screeching brakes any longer, only a happy couple..
I'd love to help you if you are in a similar situation as Jack and his partner.
Comment down below and I'll shoot you over a message so I can try to help you out as well.
Thanks for reading. 😁
