lawgrrl
I'm a guy and I get the same question; What color? What payment? & What are you trading in? before they'll even show me a truck. I can list a specific set of options I want, and they'll still show me trucks that don't even come close to what I just told them. Its a tactic to get you emotionally attatched to the truck so you'll be hooked into an impulsive buy. It works on guys and gals.

 

I sold cars for GM for nearly three years. That is why I drive FORD. Anyway most all dealers pay on gross profit. Not on the size of the sale. 25% for 1-5 vehicles delivered and maybe 30% on 6-15 and so on. Car salesmen struggle hard to make a living. As far as what color I would say they were complimenting you as a woman who knows what she wants. If a woman comes in a dealer wanting a truck I would probably ask two or four wheel drive Engine size etc. But anyway

 

I am suprised nobody has answered this yet.....

They ask what color to quickly see how commited or serious you are and it gets things off positively..."yes maam, we have lots of white ones in stock". If you have thought about the purchase a while you will have at least narrowed down what color you want. Sure, there are exceptions but try answering that you have no idea what color you want and watch how fast they get into the "do you plan to purchase within a year" mode.

 

The color of my s'crew was the last thing my salesman asked. We went through the order sheet and filled in the options first. This time around, I didn't know what color I wanted until the morning of the day that I ordered the truck. He knew I was buying with the "X" plan and there wasn't a trade-in. Easiest purchase I've ever made on a new vehicle. Asking color first may be sexist, but it might be that salesmans opening pitch to everybody.

 

well, when my rents went to buy a new truck, they were trading in their 97 Chevy extended cab 3/4 ton diesel 2wd. they went in looking at a 99 F250 crew 4wd diesel, but my mom didnt like it because it was too loud (dual 20" glasspacks, and no cats) well her eyes were going over the lot and she fell in love with the excursions... they had a black 2wd and a brown 4wd, both V10s... well she liked the black one and i was groaning because i am the one that washes the beasts... and we live in south texas... and they decide that i need to wash the truck outside in the middle of the afternoon (can anyone say triple digit heat with over 70% humidity???) well its a pain in the *** to wash, but it makes up for it under the hood. i saw the kenne bell excursion and we hoked it up exactly the same way (bout 8k in mods before wheels, but i love the look on the 5.0s and my friends cobra when i pull quarter times of 15.5@81.6... and the 0-60 is 1.5 seconds off the cobra... 6.8 sec) well its equipped with a 2200 "blowzilla" charger, Optimizer reprogramer, 3 inch exhaust, blisten shocks, 22" hot rods (boyd coddington) and a few other secret mods... but thats off topic, the sales man knew we had the trade in and my mom asked about the excursion and the guy did ask color first... the chevy was white so the guy was wondering... well we got that beast really cheap (like 33k) its a XLT with cloth seats and not much extras (thats what aftermarket is for) and the V10 thats pretty m,uch all we wanted, was the V10 and the truck came with the caps and **** (he swapped em off another truck to lower the price a lil, and raise the price of the other truck... but we drove it off the lot that day and it has never given us any problems (window switch went out twice, and thats pretty much it) the truck runs like a dream and i finished up the system last week, so its just a pimp ride... well thats it fer me

 

There's nothing I hate worse than a salesman sizing you up when you walk in, then trying to sell what they THINK you can afford. I was 29, and looking for a new car for my wife. We were looking in the $40k+ range, but not many dealers would give me much respect. Needless to say, they didn't get my CASH!

I had the same thing happen when buying a house. We were looking at some models, interested in one of the builder's largest floorplans, but the salelady kept steering us to the smaller plans. Again, they didn't get our money.

If I'm buying a suit, they can try and guess my size, but that's the only time assumptions work. I guess the problem is most car salesmen sell suits one week, and cars the next.

 

Years ago, I worked at a large dealership in Phoenix. We were trained to just ask women what color they wanted, because anything beyond that "was over their head." I was quite offended by that being a car enthusiatist myself, but found it to be true of most women (and a lot of men), especially with leases
because they don't get attached to their cars, its just a thing to drive.
I would always talk to people to find out what type of purchaser they were (against the rules). We were supposed to follow a script and treat everyone like an idiot. Anyway, I quit that job.
I personally had no trouble buying my Screw because I bought in a small town, where they didn't use scripts. I took them my internet printout of what I wanted to order, and color was the last thing on the list. (I bought mine when they were very scarce).