Define "Tyre kicker" or "dreamer"

302 XC · 03-04-2012, 10:39 AM

Tyre kicker or dreamer
If im in the market for a ute ,lets say, and ive 5 to look at
Am i a tyre kicker if i check 5 out, drive the 5 ,goin into details with the sellers and only buying 1 ???
Would the 4 other hopefull sellers refer to me as that ???

The 2nd hand car market is huge to say the least, but who seriously spots "The one" and does the deal on the day ???

When i bought my patrol i looked over a dozen , and id like to say the sellers were dreamers
Maybe the terms should be changed ???
Maybe lookers should be tyre kickers and sellers should be refered as dreamers ???
Why are buyers branded both ???

Powdered Toast Man · 03-04-2012, 10:49 AM

A tyre kicker IMO is somebody who isn't seriously looking to buy, but more dreaming or wasting time. I frequently go tyre kicking at car yards but if I'm approached by a sales guy I make it clear thats all I'm doing.

If you are really going to buy a ute you can look as as many as you like before making the decision on which one to actually purchase. Thats buyers choice.

wulos · 03-04-2012, 10:50 AM

I can see this thread heading the same way as the "No offers" discussion.
Let's hope I am proved wrong..

In truth it is prudent for a buyer to sample a wide variety of vehicles prior to making a purchase. More the fool is he that parts with his coin without first establishing the value of his intended purchase.
The line between cautious buyer, & tyre kicking time waster depends upon what side of the transaction you are on, & is I suspect quite similar to the ongoing Blue v Red battle...

Yellow_Festiva · 03-04-2012, 10:57 AM

Tyre kicker is a person who has no intent on buying anything.

Vary rarely do you buy the first car you look at. If you are in the market for a car and inspect several and end up buying one you are not a tyre kicker.

irish2 · 03-04-2012, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Tyre kicker is a person who has no intent on buying anything.

Vary rarely do you buy the first car you look at. If you are in the market for a car and inspect several and end up buying one you are not a tyre kicker.

I have bought 4 cars in my life and all 4 of them were the first thing I looked at. I did my research before hand and have come away happy every time.

Yellow_Festiva · 03-04-2012, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irish2

I have bought 4 cars in my life and all 4 of them were the first thing I looked at. I did my research before hand and have come away happy every time.

Well that's great to hear

You are certainly not a tyre kicker then

Geez Louise · 03-04-2012, 11:58 AM

To me the definition of a "Tyre Kicker" is someone who has no interest in buying.

When checking out a used car, I always make it known that I am looking at other cars and am wanting to buy.

It really is the people that come along with no intension of buying or perhaps are not sure that the model of car is even what they are wanting as it is their 2nd or 3rd choice but not really what they are after.

People often will look at cars outside their price point too, just to take it for a ride to say they "test" drove one of those once.

Cheers
Col

ROBBO1981 · 03-04-2012, 12:02 PM

tyre kicker = someone with cash but wont part with it

dreamer = someone without cash, and just wants to go for a drive.

i agree with the dreamer instant with sellers, high priced ****. buying second hand buying others problems. buy new getting genuine factory problems.

LTDHO · 03-04-2012, 12:44 PM

Nothing wrong with researching if you are in the market to buy.

Tire kickers waste sellers time as they have no interest in buying.

JimStone · 03-04-2012, 06:16 PM

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11361430

flappist · 03-04-2012, 06:42 PM

I constantly test drive cars of all types whether I immediately want to buy one or not.

But then again I have bought new FPV, Ford, Holden, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and second hand Ford, Holden, Nissan, Toyota, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Datsun & Kia.

Quite a number of these, my first F6 included were just driven "tyre kicking" when I had no intention of buying........until I drove it.

Two examples of getting it wrong:

1) Feb 2003 just after the motor show in Bris I went to Bryan Byrt Ford to test drive the just released BA XR8 after an invite from a salesman at the show. As I looked rather dishevelled due to big night after the show I was refused.
A few days later I went to Madills in Noosa to test drive a demo GTS Coupe, again refused as I had parked a 1984 laser out the front (my drunk car).
One week later I ordered a BA GT-P with every option except sunroof ($84k) and took delivery of #66.

2) April 2008 I went to 5 different Nissan dealers to test drive a 350Z. None were interested except a guy from Kingaroy who did not actually have one but organised for me to test drive the "state demo". I bought a Track Coupe from him ($70k)

One example of getting it right:

I went into what is now Fraser Coast Motor Centre FPV to look at a new vehicle to replace my GT-P which had been sold privately. The sales guy said "Have you driven the new F6?" to which I replied "no, not interested in something slower than the GT-P".
I thought about it overnight and decided that a "tyre kick" would not hurt.
Next day I wandered back and asked for a drive with no interest in buying it whatsoever........I bought it two hours later.

Be careful who you think are tyre kickers and time wasters, you may get it VERY wrong.

nstg8a · 03-04-2012, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

I constantly test drive cars of all types whether I immediately want to buy one or not.

But then again I have bought new FPV, Ford, Holden, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and second hand Ford, Holden, Nissan, Toyota, Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Datsun & Kia.

Quite a number of these, my first F6 included were just driven "tyre kicking" when I had no intention of buying........until I drove it.

Two examples of getting it wrong:

1) Feb 2003 just after the motor show in Bris I went to Bryan Byrt Ford to test drive the just released BA XR8 after an invite from a salesman at the show. As I looked rather dishevelled due to big night after the show I was refused.
A few days later I went to Madills in Noosa to test drive a demo GTS Coupe, again refused as I had parked a 1984 laser out the front (my drunk car).
One week later I ordered a BA GT-P with every option except sunroof ($84k) and took delivery of #66.

2) April 2008 I went to 5 different Nissan dealers to test drive a 350Z. None were interested except a guy from Kingaroy who did not actually have one but organised for me to test drive the "state demo". I bought a Track Coupe from him ($70k)

One example of getting it right:

I went into what is now Fraser Coast Motor Centre FPV to look at a new vehicle to replace my GT-P which had been sold privately. The sales guy said "Have you driven the new F6?" to which I replied "no, not interested in something slower than the GT-P".
I thought about it overnight and decided that a "tyre kick" would not hurt.
Next day I wandered back and asked for a drive with no interest in buying it whatsoever........I bought it two hours later.

Be careful who you think are tyre kickers and time wasters, you may get it VERY wrong.

your making a lot of sense to me lately...

when i bought my fg i reckon i test drove at least a dozen cars. one, the kia optima, i had zero intention of buying, but in the end my final three was the kia, a ve ss, and my fg.

davenl5l · 03-04-2012, 08:16 PM

tyre kickers = 45% of people looking on ebay dreamers = 45% of people selling on ebay sufferers = the othe 10% who have to cope with it all

Danny · 03-04-2012, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

Be careful who you think are tyre kickers and time wasters, you may get it VERY wrong.

I make a point of buying my cars wearing my Yakka Shorts, and a trade top of some sort with my work boots.

Whoever knocks me back gets a visit in whatever car I end up with. Never had a Problem with the FPV, the XR6T or both Renault's, although I was with the old man when he bought (Brand Spanker on showroom floor at the time) BMW X5 3.0sd Sports Exec. $140k or so, me and dad both in work clothes, and not an issue until I went to ask the btch at the reception desk something, and she lifted a tandoori tanned finger to her collagen blown 50 year old prozzy lips to say shhh, and answered the phone before even acknowledging me (clearly assuming I was there to "dream" - WRONG). So I got her fired (at least I hope I did

).

The other one was the mincing little wnker down at Lance Dixon Fiat/Alfa in Doncaster. I was 20 at the time looking to replace my Fiesta with an Alfa 147, VW Polo GTI, Fiat Punto Diesel Sport, or RS Clio 182 Cup. Had no problem anywhere until I rocked up at this knobs dealership.

Wanted to try out the 147 or the Diesel Punto Sport, and he goes "yeah no, iIwant to see a signed blank cheque before I let you in this car..... From then on I hated Alfa and Fiat. August "Gus" Favrin I think his name was, Avoid, the guy is an elitist ******. Anyway, I went back 2 days later in my Shiny brand new Clio Sport 182, to let him know he had lost a very much potential sale.

Such a fine line between the wanna be's the would be if they could be's and just the scumbags with money who make a point of dressing up like a bearded squattter to buy a $50-100k car because it's p!ss funny to see the reactions

Windsor342ci · 03-04-2012, 10:59 PM

Wasnt it 50 Cent or the Game who sung that song, "Window Shopper?"

onfire · 04-04-2012, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

A tyre kicker IMO is somebody who isn't seriously looking to buy, but more dreaming or wasting time. I frequently go tyre kicking at car yards but if I'm approached by a sales guy I make it clear thats all I'm doing.

Pretty much spot on, really.. any further discussion is useless.

El Caco · 04-04-2012, 07:32 PM

I went with cash to buy a Plymouth Duster years ago, the sales man told me I have to wait until the following week to test drive it depite me telling him that I drove 5 hours to buy it and I have cash. Since I had nothing better to do I decided to go tyre kicking but there was nothing I was interested in at all. I found a V8 Torana Hatch with flares and SS sticker, I wasn't even interested in taking it for a test drive but the sales man insisted it was quick and I didn't believe him.

Later that afternoon I drove my genuine SS back to the other car yard to let him know I wouldn't be coming back for that test drive as I had bought something else.

MITCHAY · 04-04-2012, 08:58 PM

Lol I think the seller gets the terms wrong themselves a lot of the time.

Just because someone rocks up and doesn't want to give you what you want doesn't make them a tyre kicker or dreamer.

Really how can you have any idea of what their financial and therefore buying position is.

Stagg · 04-04-2012, 09:13 PM

To me as a salesman a tyre kicker is someone who either wants to buy or only hears what they want me to hear. An example was a conversation I had with a walk in customer the other day:

Customer
"Whats the price of a solar system?

Me
"How big? we have five different brands of panels and 3 different brands of inverter. How big is your power bill?"

Customer
"I just wnat a price before I waste any time with this conversation, ok?"

Me
"I can easily throw a price at you, but it probably wouldn't be the actual price"

Customer
"Throw a price at me"

Me
"I can't without knowing your needs, what's your power bill?"

Customer
Hangs up

i.e. tyre kicker is someone who wastes time and ignores everything they don't want to hear, in this example only wanted a price, but didn't want to talk about the price of the system he needed, which made it impossible for me to give him a price anyway and just wasted time. Of course you get the people looking for multiple quotes and systems, and fair enough if they go elsewhere, just gotta do your job and sell better than the other guys. When someone isn't going to do any business with you unless your the cheapest or give them a price quicker than the other guys, it only really gets annoying when they persist on just a price when they refuse to be sold to!

trippytaka · 04-04-2012, 09:21 PM

Tyre kicker is someone who comes along to see the car with no intention or means of buying the car. Basically just time wasters. As an owner you accept you'll get a few lookers before selling. Unfortunately though there are some that will never buy the car.

Billy Piston · 05-04-2012, 03:33 PM

Definition of dreamer:

I recently sold a roadbike and a 70 yo bloke:

1/ inspected the bike over a number of weekends
2/ test rode it
3/ showed me pictures of his glory days on bikes
4/ gave me a measly $50 when I said I needed money to hold it
5/ was concerned engine number didn't match rego papers although VIN did
6/ made me change it by getting a new blue slip before he would buy
7/ screwed me down on price
8/ decided he was too old to ride bikes
9/ pulled out

flappist · 05-04-2012, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stagg1991

Customer
"Whats the price of a solar system?

Who are you......Slartibartfast??????

Chopped · 05-04-2012, 04:23 PM

One day I would really like turn up to a car for sale and actually just walk around, kick all of the tyres, shake my head and say "nup", then walk off..........

To really mess with the sellers head, I could wear a cape with giant "T K" letters on it...

IceValk85 · 05-04-2012, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stagg1991

To me as a salesman a tyre kicker is someone who either wants to buy or only hears what they want me to hear. An example was a conversation I had with a walk in customer the other day:

Customer
"Whats the price of a solar system?

Me
"How big? we have five different brands of panels and 3 different brands of inverter. How big is your power bill?"

Customer
"I just wnat a price before I waste any time with this conversation, ok?"

Me
"I can easily throw a price at you, but it probably wouldn't be the actual price"

Customer
"Throw a price at me"

Me
"I can't without knowing your needs, what's your power bill?"

Customer
Hangs up

i.e. tyre kicker is someone who wastes time and ignores everything they don't want to hear, in this example only wanted a price, but didn't want to talk about the price of the system he needed, which made it impossible for me to give him a price anyway and just wasted time. Of course you get the people looking for multiple quotes and systems, and fair enough if they go elsewhere, just gotta do your job and sell better than the other guys. When someone isn't going to do any business with you unless your the cheapest or give them a price quicker than the other guys, it only really gets annoying when they persist on just a price when they refuse to be sold to!

i thought i was the only one!

Customer on phone: how much is a laptop?

Me: do you have a preference to brand? have you had one before? what are you using it for?

customer: i just want to know how much a laptop is!

me: errrr..... hows 1999$ sound. (HP 17" monster laptop)

customer: that sounds fine, ill take one. heres my credit card details. ill be in to the store in 1 hour to collect it.

me: done.

lol found out later it was for email and internet use, so a 599$ asus would have done the job. too stupid to care lol.

Ice

wicko · 05-04-2012, 07:15 PM

Tyre kicker is the person that wants to touch, it feel, talk about it, but won't (can't) buy it (call them a 'gunna' or pracastinator - they'll still be talking about buying it in 5 yrs time). Sometimes you miss the signs but not bothering to turn up at alloted time to view the car is a good sign.

Its a 2 way street.

Know someone that turned up at the local Holden Dealer to buy a car (had the coin & was dressed in work gear). All the salesman are standing around doing nothing (ignoring him as he sits in the car, lifts the bonnet etc). He goes to a salesman and wants to talk about doing a deal - is told they are too busy & he'd have to make an appointment for Saturday. Guy leaves and walks into Ford dealer and did the deal on his new Ford on the spot.

I went to buy a car for the eldest son - want to look at buying a car and talk price. They won't talk to me until I put $1000 on my credit card as a deposit, then I can talk to the guy who'll talk price. Told them I'm not putting down any deposit until I know what they will let it go for (it was son's first car in the less then $5K bin). In reality I just wanted a couple of hundred off the price. Guy was an idiot & I walked (he thought he was smug & I was an idiot)

Crazy Dazz · 05-04-2012, 10:06 PM

Meh, there are ********* everywhere in life. If you don’t want to deal with them as a buyer, take your business elsewhere.
If you don’t want to deal with them as a seller, then take your car to a wholesaler.

2011G6E · 05-04-2012, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Tyre kicker is a person who has no intent on buying anything.

Vary rarely do you buy the first car you look at. If you are in the market for a car and inspect several and end up buying one you are not a tyre kicker.

No doubt to the first few owners you are a no good low down Tyre kicker. Some people seem to be of the mistaken belief that when they put down "first to see will buy", that it actually has some link with reality and that only one person will turn up to view their baby and that person will immediately buy it...idiots...

brett7777 · 05-04-2012, 10:23 PM

For me, a tyre kicker is anyone who:
~ takes an hour of your time looking at the vehicle & then offers you way lower $ than what you would possibly take, after you've already said in your ad that the price is firm, or that you don't want low offers (I put that kind of thing in all my ads).
I've sold a lot of vehicles, & I've found you do have to weed some enquirers out, otherwise dreamers etc take up too much time.
One I just had: person who said they would buy a bike off me, took 2 and a half weeks to organize finance, then went to insure it & couldn't because they didnt have a full licence, so the finance co wouldnt pay out.