18 - Wednesday, August 27, 1986 - North Shore News Auto creer 9 NEW ERA OF SALES NORTH SHORE car dealerships want to permanently lay to rest the dated image of used car salesmen as white-shoed to someone who comes up to me and shady. With close to 20 new and used outlets on the North Shore selling everything from Audis to Suzukis, local car sales are big business. “And as big as it is,"’ Glen Mc- Quirter says, ‘‘I don’t think there is a North Shore business as clean as ours.”” Dick trwin Chevrolet Oldsmobile’s manager of used car sales says competition in the business dictates integrity of the respective North Shore dealerships. “It's like anything else. If you want to stay in business you have to keep things clean.’’ He added that Dick Irwin, which has been on the North Shore since 1969, is reliant on repeat business. Salesmen at the company, he says, are far distant from stereotypical GLEN McQuirter, manager used car sales with Dick Irwin “...no North Shore business as clean as ours...."" By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter public images of loud-suited and loud-voiced pushy car salesmen, “These guys are in it for a ca- reer,’” McQuirter says. As do all other North Shore car dealerships, West Vancouver's Royal Pontiac Lid. inspects all the used cars that it receives in trades and any that it sells. Those that are deemed to be substandard are sold to automobile auctioneers, says Roval's sales manager Graham Matthews. DISTORTED PERCEPTIONS He says high-pressure and other tactics practised by a fast-talking minority in the car business in the past have left a lot of people with distorted perceptions of today’s used car salesman. ‘In this age of consumerism that old image is just not accurate. Sure, there are good and bad dealers, but, speaking for Royal, ours is just not a high-pressure business. We are not allowed to tell lies."” Matthews says Royal’s used car trade accounts for approximately 25 per cent of the company’s sales. Average profit from a used car, he says, is about $600. “But on some we might make $100,’’ he adds, ‘'and on some we lose money. It's a business like any other."’ Royal has been at its Marine Drive and Taylor Way location since 1971. e to trade in Says Matthews: “f tuke offence and says something [ke, ‘What can | sell you today tien?’ [t's not the way we do business.” Though dealerships do not give guarantees with used cars, extend- ed warranties can be purchased. CAR WARRANTIES Pacific Honda's sales manager George Ghattas says that cost of a used car warranty is dependent on the mileage of a specific used car. An average two-year used car war- ranty at his company goes for about $300. ROYAL Pontiac’s sales manager Graham Matthews ‘‘...in this age of consumerism that image is just not accurate...."" He, too, takes issue with what he says is the dog-eared public im- age of people who sell cars. At Pacific Honda, there are seven car salespeople, all of whom, he says, represent the new breed of profes- sionals who have taken up the art of selling cars as a career. He says professionalism in the car trade is like any other: it shows in the dress, the manner and the overall product knowledge of a dealership's sales staff. After 14 years in the competitive North Shore new and used car business, Pacific Honda does about 35 per cent of that business in used car sales, Ghattas says. In addition io variety of model carried, dealerships provide the buyer with some sense of perma- nence and responsibility for the car that they purchase. ‘We are going to be here,"" says McQuirter. “We don't just sell a person a car and say goodbye.”” MeQuirter advises buying used cars from a franchise dealership because most come to the company as trade-ins, rather than being picked up in automobile auctions. CUSTOMERS SERVICED He adds that a dealership is usually in the buyer's ‘town backyard. And gives you a place to have that car serviced.” Tatlow Motors sales manager Dave Burrell points out that it is false economy to buy a car private- ly, “tbecause everybody who is sell- ing @ car privately is doing so because they think they can get more money for it if they sell it privately.” Burrell says that purchasing a car with a trade-in also reduces sales tax paid because a buyer only pays tax on the difference between the purchase price and the price paid for the car he trades in. In addition, all vehicles sold Our $99. over invoice sale on new 1986 HYUNDAI’s is on! We need to make room for all the new trade-ins so we're blowing away the current prices on all our quality used cars with some red hot deals. Drop in to- day and light the fuse on the car of your choice. 80 FORD MUSTANG 81 TOYOTA CELICA L/B Sa PRE $3495, stron’? “Ps wotone $7495 79 TOYOTA CORONA 76 VW CAMPER VA sure P= $5995 Since 8] HONDA ACCORD 4 dr sedan, 40,000 orig. mi., SALE PRICE 74 AMC JAVELIN Sporty & cheap SALE PRICE 80 MAZDA 626 1 owner, auto SALE PRICE 74 DATSUN 710 SW. Good cheap reliable trans. SALE PRICE : 82 RENAULT LE CAR Great buy, 36,000 orig. ki., SALE PRICE 81 MAZDA GiC Sliver, 5 spd, clean as a whistle $' SALE PRICE 77 FIAT X19 Glos black, mint shape” SALE PRICE i 85 PONY GLA.T Great buy SALE PRICE We're the ‘‘bottom-line’’ dealer that’s always a ‘‘tat-lower’” than the rest from Tatlow Motors’ lot are guar- anteed clear title. Burrell says lien See Honest Page 21 NEWS photo Mike Wakefield DAVE BUCK Ford president Marlene Buck stands in front of what her company has sold successfully since 1963. Buck says her company has grown and prospered because of its honesty and integrity. Mon.-Thurs, 9-9 pm Fri. Sat. 9-5 pm Sun. 11-4 pm 1695 MARINE DRIVE, N. VAN.