Company cars experts

Carefull, you're starting to sound like one of those people who think
vehicles should only have enough power to do 70mph.

More power definitely makes life easier when driving around places like
mid-Wales. It can make the difference between zipping along a country
road at 70+, & crawling along at 40 (or a lot less on the steep bits)
behind a row of trucks/caravans. If Steve spends a lot of time driving
between sites in mid-Wales, I can fully understand his point.

--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Lozzo () gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying :

Umm, call me picky, but don't Polos, Golfs and Passats all have the same
badge?

 

And floorpan, don't forget the floorpan, ffs.

 

(SteveH) wrote in :

If the dealership is independently owned then they might not like dealing
with Leaseplan. I doubt they are very quick at settling their bills.

As a retail customer I am usually prepared to pay a couple of hundred quid
more for a car from a trusted dealer compared to say jamjar.com - I'd be a
bit pissed off if I didn't get priority over some shiny suited rep turning
up in his car sourced from 200 miles away.

BTW I've always found SHG at Whitchurch to be very good. Not sure if they
are close/within your patch. Not used them for a while as I no longer live
close by so can't say what the loan fleet consists of.
http://www.southhereford-volkswagen.co.uk/

 

Certainly an incentive to do the job right.

 

Fascinating way to value worth and if you really think people evaluate
you based on the car you collect them in then IMO you've got a lot to
learn or else you work with some of the shallowest people I could
imagine meeting.

Here in boring LU land all the directors from the MD down are expected
to use the same old non differentiated tube trains that our customers
use. I suspect (but don't know) the MD would be displeased if people
used any form of private transport to travel about on company business.
He certainly uses the tube to go everywhere. One of the first things TfL
did when they took us over was scrap all company cars.

 

That's just how it is, though. It's considered to be part of your salary
package - hence the differing 'grades' of cars in the same way you get
differing salary gradings.

As for picking up people for store visits - it really is about the image
- you give an instant positive impression if your car meets or exceeds
the expectations of your role. The bloke who turns up to put out a
promotional ticket on the coke display drives a Golf or Focus, so a
regional director wouldn't expect an area manager to collect him in a
Golf - if you did, you'd have to battle against his first impression
that you're nothing more than a rep.

I don't really think it shows much faith in the product if a LU employee
chose to travel by car rather than tube in and around London....

 

Mark Olson coughed up:

I have to agree.
I've had some very nice company cars in my time (incl fully loaded
Volvo V70, Jag S Type, Passat Highline).

In my current job the car package becomes negotiable some time over the
next few months. Up until then I'll continue to use the
shiteoldHyundai we got for basically nothing for my daughter (who had
her first driving lesson this week).

I have to admit that it is a very crude device, has precious little
poke, handles like a pig on qualudes and has provoked howls of derision
from people who generally associate me with having a decent car.

I also have to admit that I have grown quite fond of it, and really
could not give a flying **** about cars, status and all the bollocks
that go with climbing the slippery pole, so I will prolly take the car
allowance and keep the Hyundai (it rocks. It also rattles rolls,
whines and has no aircon, but wgaf). Shite old cars rock mightily, I
would rather invest my hard earned into buying toys for the bike.

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

It has to be asked. What impression would people form if one turned up
in an Alfa?

 

Heh.

'**** me, he's lucky he made it'

 

says...

The Alfa wouldn't make it there.

 

Bear coughed up:

Waves

I can remember back in the mid 90's feigning a bad back in order to get
an RT spec phase 1 Laguna with sport pack, when the model on the list
was the RN. The reason I gave was the seats being "more supportive".

The fact that it also came with metallic paint and a spoiler were
besides the point, particularly as my earstwhile colleagues had lower
spec models with solid colour paintwork, no spoiler and no body
coloured mirrors.

How I miss the corporate world.

FUCKING NOT.

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

I turned up at a site meeting during a Public Planning Inquiry in the
75 V6 Cloverleaf once and clocked a distinct raising of the eyebrow
from the Planning Inspector. That must have been what he was thinking.
Oh our side won BTW.

 

Lozzo coughed up:

When I was a rep I always went for the smaller model, up-specced car.
When my colleagues had 1.6 Sierra LX's I had a 1.8 Renault 19 RTi in
pearl black.

I'm not really doing myself any favours here, am I

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Nah, that was a jealous look with a hint of commendation on your
incredibly tasteful and stylish mode of transport.

 

Dan L says...

Haha. I remember jokingly telling my old boss that I was having a
Cavalier SRi or I'd leave and go to work for his sister at the Norwich
branch. He ordered an Astra GLS for me, so I went to Norwich[1] and got
my SRi. My replacement was over the moon with his Astra.

I'm in two minds as to whether to get another sales job or try something
different. Time and job availability will tell.

[1] I was going to move to Norwich anyway cos the ex-wife had just got a
place there to study midwifery.

 

No it's not. Perhaps it's a better shape or something, but it's around
40 litres smaller - that's without taking into account the split-fold
seats in the Passat.

 

vulgarandmischevious coughed up:

I have to admit that I think Mr Blaney has hit the nail on the head
here.

I really could not GAF what car people drive when they visit me on
business, and driving a POS myself has no so far had any noticeable bad
effects on my own sales performance.

It's all a load of crap. A car's just a fucking car.

<FX resumes looking at Mercedes brochure>


--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Lozzo coughed up:

Sweet baby Jesus, having played the game for years I was unfortunate
enough to get promoted, which meant I had a team of reps reporting to
me.

As their line manager, you can guess what the favourite collective
gripe was....... Bloody fucking arseholeing cars.

Sales management is where it's at. Particularly if you sales team
consists of 1 other person.

Norwich. All I remember was walking into The Plasterers Arms......



--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Dan L says...

What we have to remember is this is Steve's first company car, it's all
really exciting now he's hit the heady heights of being recognised as a
major force in the country's economy.