I guess I'm now in lust when it comes to car shops. I had an overnight trip into NC yesterday and today...2 Toyota shops, 2 BMW shops, and 2 Porsche shops.

And a new home shop was thrown in just to make things interesting.

Got asked to do four more shops... $$$ this month is looking so good. I am actually considering buying a car now HA!

Got an email for a shop 80 miles return drive for $17.

I don't think so.

I did a lot of dealerships in the past for a low fee like that, but not anymore. I ended up making a couple of bucks.

Live and learn, eh?

Yep Canuck, we need to make money. I took two $30 shops on the route that I would have skipped if they were the only reason for the trip. I didn't have to go out of my way, and I had the time, so it became a no brainer to pick them up.

Canuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Got an email for a shop 80 miles return drive for
> $17.
>
> I don't think so.
>
> I did a lot of dealerships in the past for a low
> fee like that, but not anymore. I ended up making
> a couple of bucks.
>
> Live and learn, eh?

I nearly spit out my tea.. that's crazy talk

I know. I was crazy when I was 'new'

Now, I'm wiser and a lot of that's because of THIS forum.

I don't mind doing a few of the Acura SUV shops. The company pays a decent price with a bonus if all the guidelines are followed. I find it makes it so much easier if I do some research on the vehicle beforehand. This is so I can talk with the sales rep about the vehicle and give some semblance that I am familiar with the vehicle. It also helps me tell if the sales rep is giving me proper info on the vehicle or just skimming through the sales pitch. I also research at least 3 other SUV's in the same class as the Acura SUV I am shopping. I do this so I can tell the sales rep that I would be checking out the competition. The sales rep always ask me what I would be looking at so it is always best to have the names ready of comparable competition. I believe it's always best to be well prepared for all shops.

I did my first dealership shop today. I got to test drive a Nissan Leaf. Holy Smokes!! That shop was awesome. It was easy to let my salesman do the talking because it actually was quite interesting. On the test drive, he told me to hit the highway and just keep driving until I felt I had a good comfortable feel for the car. I went 15 miles one way, 15 miles back.

Got the business card, filled out my report - now I'm just waiting out the follow up time period.

That car was rad. I did tell my husband that he will be buying me one someday. He told me I better make sure I do plenty of shops!

Mysteryjcl, just make sure you know ahead of time who is going to be paying the $4-6,000 to replace the batteries in about 5 years.

LisaSTL Wrote:
>
> None require that you show no interest in any
> feature or what the associate is saying. PHD
> doesn't seem to understand that you are just to
> let the associate lead. I always show interest in
> what they are demonstrating and my new car shops
> are almost exclusively video so if I was the one
> performing incorrectly, I would know about it.

Intellishops require that you get a business card and that you let the salesperson lead. When the salesperson offers a feature you can not prompt the sales person to elaborate such as "how does that work?" "can you tell me more about that?"

If the salesperson asks a leading question like, "the vehicle has a camera in the rear to help you park. are you interested in a feature like that." You can not say "yes" because it will prompt the salesperson to say more. The Salesperson must give you all the information on that feature or any feature without probing or prompting to see if you are interested or have a pulse.You are in LISTEN mode ONLY.

I have purchased many vehicles brand new, never used. I have never used the scenario the client requires the evaluator to use. When a feature is mentioned and I am interested I ask . If something is not mentioned I ask "what about this feature or that service?" The report wants me to advise if the salesperson mentioned after hour pick up, Dropping off early, having a courtesy car, where is the men's room. and so many other questions but I can not ask I can only report "yes or no" did the salesperson mention the feature or service.

If the client wanted to test the salespersons ability to sell a vehicle the buyer should be allowed to ask questions and respond to the salespersons probing questions to see how much the salesperson knows. That is not allowed. It annoys the salespeople, I am usually taken out of the showroom. The salesperson shows me the vehicle and asks. "What would you like to know about this vehicle? My question is, "What can you tell me about it?", continuing my position of not prompting the salesperson.

At that point after ignoring all of the probing to find if I have any interest in having a "give and take converstion" the salesperson gives me the "bums rush" and gets back in rotation. The guidelines again say I can not prompt the salesperson I must just listen to hear what information the salesperson will give me.

Intellihops usually last less than 10 minutes or less if I do not have a business card when I sit down unless the salesperson is desperate to make a sale. I may get a test drive but usually the salesperson figures out quickly I am the mystery shopper because I listen only.

dixiewhiskey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cettie Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They tried to recruit me for those at $20
>
>
> niteowl Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I saw some for $17 today.
>
>
> What do you have to do exactly? Multiple visits?
> Not too much detail or anything but I'm wondering
> why the pay is so low. I've done shops for $65,
> $85 and $125 which involved two visits, getting
> quotes, etc,. Maybe about 1.5-2 hrs of time for
> both visits and travel.

All of the auto shops in my area pay $17 - $20. I saw $10 bonuses being offered during the last 30 days. I am in Arkansas and have never seen the higher fees mentioned above. The fees have been at this level for over one year and I just quit taking them. Everyone of them is a financial loser for me.

I have gotten emails begging me and I told them when it is profitable, I will be happy to take the assignments. Until then, I can't afford them. And that's the truth. Every hour I spend on one of those shops could be invested in finding a profitable assignment.

I would not do any auto shop for $20 bucks.. not with the amount of things you have to remember to look out for and time it takes for the trip/narrative and scanning. I don't blame you for not taking them on!!

shopperbob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cab,
>
> Others have shared excellent advice; I'm unable to
> add, but will point out a few of the above
> comments:
>
> Nan--DON'T take them unless you are ready to spend
> too much time and unless it's a HIGH paying job.
>
> BOB'S reply--I agree. It's ALL about money. A shop
> you hate will become one of love at quintuple the
> fee.
>
> Jenn--I do the Intelli-Shop dealerships when I'm
> low on cash or have some extra time. I really,
> really, really hate them though. Their level of
> narrative and details doesn't match other shops
> paying twice as much.
> BOB'S reply--I agree. Unless you're financially
> desperate, avoid Intelli-Shop's auto assignments.

I agree. I did one car dealer shop for Intellishop in my neighborhood and I won't be doing any more car shops for them. There are other MSCs offering 2-3 times the pay with no test drive requirements, AND they don't take months to pay you like Intellishop does. If I take a low paying car dealer shop for Intellishop, that dealer is no longer available to me to be shopped if another MSC that pays better has a shop there, so why blow future chances to shop a dealer for more money with another MSC? I have seen some dealers' shops come up from different MSCs.

I laugh when Intellishop sends the "begging/urgent" emails offering $22-$23 for a car shop claiming the pay is "well above their normal rate", like they're doing you a big favor to give you $5 extra than their crappy $17-$19 rates. They must know their offers are lower than the other MSCs. They must just hope you'll be ignorant of this fact or desperate enough to do the shop for them. Their proofers are often ridiculous as well. I still work with them but I am very particular about the shops I will accept from them at this point.

I will only do their car shops for a minimum of $35.00. I just wait until the are desperate and then ask for the larger pay. Most of the time I get it.

James Bond 007.5 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I love the Monterey shops, have 2 scheduled for
> next week. Gotta admit that I'm looking even more
> forward to the Measure Consumer Perspective test
> drives. Especially looking forward to the test
> drives.


The only shop offers I get from Measure is for "Easy Cell Phone Shops"....maybe they've change because I haven't done them in a while because what they pay is not worth the time spent there. And the report! VERY long & detailed about practically every phone in the store! Have they changed?

PHD, the associate is figuring out you are a mystery shopper because you are doing the shop wrong. How many car dealers have you shopped and how many have been rejected? You may want to ask the company to clarify the guidelines rather than telling shoppers who have successfully completed the shops they are doing something wrong. My score was a 10 on my last written dealership shop for Intellishop and all of the videos for them are 10s as well.

Measure has [at least one] video car shop for a very nice imported brand.

James Bond 007.5 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Measure has video car shop for a very nice
> imported brand.


.... And soon will have a few more projects.

I love the MCP project. 75-90 minutes, beautiful vehicles, and über-attentive salespeople.

Hint: one of the best ways to show interest on a video car shop is not NOT verbalized your interest, but to use body language instead.

When I want to move a video car shop along without prompting or leading the salesperson, I do the following:

1. Make frequent eye contact and smile often,
2. Nod my head slightly in appreciation,
3. Touch the car - windshield wipers, the headlights, fenders - while smiling and nodding.

Sounds goofy, but within 4-5 minutes of seeing these non-verbal cues, the salesperson will begin to close on me.

It's important to give non-verbal cues, because they don't show up on the audio portion of the shop, but are important to assist with your timing and execution of the shop.

These non-verbal cues also help with new home sales and retail environments. Conversely, you can also frown, bite your lip, nibble a fingernail while stating an objection to the car, new home or apartment.

If the salesperson doesn't pick up on the cues, I ask, "Do I have everything I need?" and if they say, "Yes," then I'm out of there.

Can someone please tell me where you sign up for Automotive Insights. I can not find a link on their web page.

Advertising for "Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed" at the NCMA:

[twitter.com]

I love car shops and wish there were some more available.. just got paid $670 today for not even 7 hours of work. I think it's really easy once you get the knack of it. The shops really have more to offer too besides money too.. I had no idea how to go about buying a car myself (generally people take advantage of my kind nature) and with this type of shop, I earned a lot of self-confidence. :-)

Almost everything depends on which type of car shop you're doing. Are you shopping the service, or negotiating a price?

My inner hard-ass comes out during price negotiations

"Of course I'll drive the car once I see a price that I like."
"You're not selling me the car, you're selling me a price."
"I've already wasted so much time testing cars, let's cut to the chase here."
"You're going to have to do better than that."

Now, when I'm simply doing a sales process shop, I keep it simple and play dumb.

"What's this do?"
"Can you print that out for me? My memory is shot!"
"I'm not sure this is the one yet: what else can you tell me about it?"


Just remember that you are NOT buying the car. You are acting, and once you have your info, the play is over - time to go home.

When faced with a sales manager at the end of the interaction (which happens often) - stand up to greet them and do NOT sit back down.

Lead the conversation! They come over and say something like "Hi, I'm so-n-so, thanks for coming in today." You say (standing up still) something like "Yeah, thanks so much, I really appreciate your time in helping me come closer to making a decision today. I'll definitely be getting back to you soon. You guys are great and what a nice building/location you have here. I can't wait to bring my husband/wife/mother back... (just keep talking)" and as you extend your hand for the shake you tell them both goodbye and thanks over and over as you make your way out the door.

You are looking at one hour at the dealership with a required test drive and 45 minutes without. I've had the time at the dealership as low as 30 minutes, but that's only because the sales rep. closed the conversation. The real time is in the data input. With Intellishop, you are looking at 90 minutes of repetetive questions with another 15 minutes of follow-up questions to the editor that you have already answered. Perhaps this has changed. I gave up a few years ago. I would be happy if this has changed.

The PhD shops want detailed narrative and at $17 they are not worth the amount of reporting time (to my mind anyway). The Monterrey and Automotive Insights pay better and the reports are easier. I love test driving the cars. Was up to 85 on the exit ramp the other day and it felt like I was doing 25...

The video shops do pay more and some companies will help with the travel expenses too. I just order my PV-500 today. It should be here by the end of next week. Can't wait as I had a rented one fail on me when I was 150 miles from home. I'd rather have my own and know it will stay in one piece...

To get out of the showroom I just tell them that I want to look at another make before I make up my mind. I then tell them on the follow up that I went with the other brand. They have occasionally asked why and I told them I liked the color better. When you are talking about $50,000 and up cars, it is not like you are going to buy them by the pair.

Find the one's you like that pay enough and then have fun. BTW if you wreck-it is on your own insurance usually. I have had to show my insurance card before the test drive in some cases.