No Down Payment

Your customer came into the dealership looking to purchase their next new vehicle. They have selected the vehicle they would like to purchase and agreed to a payment option. Unfortunately, they do not have their down payment on hand to complete the purchase. You have discussed with the customer their plan to obtain the down payment and return to the dealership.

Your initial goal in this process is to contact the customer and thank them for taking the time to visit our dealership. Next we confirm the customer is in the process of gathering their money for the down payment. The objective here is to keep the customer engaged and continue to communicate the timeline around securing the down payment and finishing the deal.

Thoughts:

The customer’s down payment is out of your control.

You cannot go to the bank for them, or write a check in their name. However, you can maintain regular communication with the customer and offer alternative options. These would include making the purchase with no money down or informing the customer that they can put up to 5k on a credit card, and pay the credit card off when they come up with the down payment funds.

Generally, what would hold back this deal is that the customer can not get an approval without money down, or more is required than what they were originally expecting. Make sure we’re keeping this in mind when communicating with your customer. You do not want to come off like a debt collector but we do want to maintain urgency. Understanding this nuance starts with building a relationship with the customer and communicating with them according to this relationship.

The customer should not leave without appropriate follow up and a timeline discussed during the showroom visit. So a follow up call should sound like this:

Word Tracks:

"Hey Jake, its Brian from Toyota, thanks for coming by. Are we still on track for you to come back next Thursday and finish the deal?”

“Hey bud, it’s Brian from Toyota, the Camry is still here. Are we thinking this Friday or next?”