I am doing a shop for an MSC and you need a luxury car, late model. My car was in the shop. I was asked if I had another luxury late model car I could bring.

There was a post a while ago asking owners of Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, or Ferrari to contact the MSC for a project. Who owns a Bentley and is mystery shopping?!?

Probably HB..

I used to live in a really upscale area where the type of cars listed were common place- like you could be on a road and see 2 or 3 of them in one line of cars. On the main street in the downtown area Rolls were common place actually. I drive a Mercedes which in the area was a commonplace car- I was able to pull off a Bentley shop using my Mercedes. Actually I bought my MB as a result of doing an MB shop and liking the car. Car is now 10 years old and I do not bother with luxury car shops anymore as I moved to an area where such cars are rarely seen!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2023 07:52PM by SueW70.

I live in a region in New England where it seems that everyone drives a pick-up truck. I was really surprised when I stopped at a tiny lunch spot just before closing and noticed a Maserati parked outside. The owner of the lunch spot was the only person there besides me, and it was the only other car in the lot, so it had to have been hers. I see lots of classic and antique cars around here in the spring and summer, but no luxury cars like that!

I think i have a nice car, but not at the RR level. I just have the Performance model Y Tesla. Waiting for that cybertruck!!!

That's one of the reasons, I don't bother with the crap Kia shops. I don't care what they pay. I guess I could take one of my other cars, but really? I don't care about Kia and would never buy one, so even for $100, it's not worth my time or effort.

@Morledzep wrote:

Probably HB..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2023 06:26AM by hbbigdaddy.

Why does the car you own have anything to do with doing a Kia shop if you are a mystery shopper? A hundred is at the higher end of pay typically.

Hb, I really dislike Kia vehicles. A few years ago, I tried to do a Kia shop, but I found I couldn't convince myself or the salesman that I wanted one, not even temporarily.. lol. So I never tried to do another.

@Niner wrote:

Why does the car you own have anything to do with doing a Kia shop if you are a mystery shopper? A hundred is at the higher end of pay typically.

It doesn't. I believe there are high end car shops that I haven't seen in a while.

They require you to be able to arrive at the dealership in an appropriate upscale vehicle.

Replying to Niner...I think him driving up to a Kia dealership in a Tesla would be out of character and look odd to the dealership. They do check out what you drive up in. Why would he be looking for a crappy Kia when he has a Tesla.

I agree with him. I could not feign my approval for the car and won't do one.

@Niner

Yes, $100 is nice. But I'm not a shopper doing this for a living. I would rather do a lower paying shop I enjoy than to do something where I'm not interested and only benefitting from the payment and nothing else.

Before I bought my OLED big screen, I did the stupid best buy shop because I felt like I wanted to get the information to make an informed choice on what to buy. I was going to go ask about TVs and felt like getting the $15 payment was an added bonus. So I did the shop 1x. Then i bought the TV at Costco :-). Now I won't do another one of those dumb best buy shops.

Huh?

@Morledzep wrote:

Probably HB..

Not you Honny..

@wrosie wrote:

@Niner wrote:

Why does the car you own have anything to do with doing a Kia shop if you are a mystery shopper? A hundred is at the higher end of pay typically.

It doesn't. I believe there are high end car shops that I haven't seen in a while.

They require you to be able to arrive at the dealership in an appropriate upscale vehicle.

I have completed loads of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. They did not require any specific car. I have completed another round of shops for a high end brand where they specifically wanted me to go in a fancy car. That was the first time. I showed up in one, but I need to be paid a lot more to show up in a "fancy" car vs a Toyota. That's the kind of car I don't want to put extra miles on for a mystery shop.

On a related note, I have a watch shop at a place that sells things like Rolex, and on the survey, it asks for the make, year, and model of my car?!? I'm going to walk there. It's like 0.25 miles from my house. Then it asked what watch I wear, expecting it to be a 10k watch. I wear a Fitbit. It also asks about education level and household income.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2023 01:33AM by Niner.

@MsJudi wrote:

Replying to Niner...I think him driving up to a Kia dealership in a Tesla would be out of character and look odd to the dealership. They do check out what you drive up in. Why would he be looking for a crappy Kia when he has a Tesla.

I agree with him. I could not feign my approval for the car and won't do one.

I did a number of Kia shops showing up in his same Tesla

The Telluride was like 55k. That's Tesla money.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2023 01:34AM by Niner.

My brother drives a Maserati. He picked up #2 and I to check out and purchase a car. He parked it on a side street out of sight and had us walk in.. Asked him why and he said they check out the car you drive up in. We were at a Honda dealership. P.S. #2 bought a beautiful Honda Accord and loves it. P.S.S. Not impressed with Maserati nor do I want one.

@MsJudi wrote:

Replying to Niner...I think him driving up to a Kia dealership in a Tesla would be out of character and look odd to the dealership. They do check out what you drive up in. Why would he be looking for a crappy Kia when he has a Tesla.

I agree with him. I could not feign my approval for the car and won't do one.

@Niner wrote:

On a related note, I have a watch shop at a place that sells things like Rolex, and on the survey, it asks for the make, year, and model of my car?!? I'm going to walk there. It's like 0.25 miles from my house. Then it asked what watch I wear, expecting it to be a 10k watch. I wear a Fitbit. It also asks about education level and household income.

I can understand why a client would want someone to look the part, but in some ways that's a really stupid requirement. Years ago, I did a shop for Piaget watches at their boutique on Fifth Avenue in NYC. I used to love doing high-end jewelry shops, but the Piaget store sticks out in my memory because I felt like such an imposter. Even in my nicest clothes, I knew I would never pass as someone who could afford one. But I always remember what a very wealthy friend of mine told me once, and that was that she expected the same kind of service whether she went into a store wearing her best, or wearing jeans and boots with horseshit on them, lol (she had horses). So, I'd think of the "millionaire next door" that no one knows has money and I'd go do these shops. And of course, even if they knew I was never going to buy or suspected I was a shopper, I was never made to feel out of place and always got paid for the shops.

Years later, I managed a fairly high-end housewares store, and we had all kinds of customers at every income level. But you simply could not predict who could afford what, at least not based on their clothing, jewelry, grooming, or the car they drove up in. Sometimes the most polished, or famous, customers were the most frugal; then in walks someone who looks like they can barely make ends meet and they would order 20 place settings of expensive gold-rimmed dinnerware with all the serving pieces, or several Baccarat crystal decanters, and have it all sent to their house in the Hamptons. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2023 07:31AM by shopnyc.