Complaint Review: AutoMax Sales Training Bob Stevens Priority Toyota

Make sure to 'Google' this- TOYOTA ADDS 650000 CARS TO AIRBAG RECALL, and read the related articles that just became available on the web.

WELCOME TO TOYOTA- ONE BIG DEFECT THAT IS BEING EXPOSED ALL OVER THE WORLDWIDE WEB

You can 'Google' this- CAR SALES: TRICKS OF THE TRADE- DATELINE NBC CONSUMER ALERT, and watch the Dateline undercover investigation on the web. Have a nice day.

I would like to make a response to Re-Read rebuttal from the man from scottsdale. They told us 99 up front, and explained to us that was to alleviate costs incurred by the dealer, so that you can't just leave, and it was an investment, and explained how much a dealership has to spend for start up costs and so on. 

    The flaw in that logic is: 

A.) Out of the 25 students, why would the dealership hire a trainer, that charges by head rather than a flat rate. The material being taught is the same, whether there are 50 people there, or 5. So thus, you would believe that the interview process would be longer than 15 minutes, to weed out unqualified candidates.

     As some people described 499 dollars for a training session, per 20 students, thats quite a lot of money for a dealership to pay, where they are going to only hire 3-5 of graduated candidates. So the other 20 heads x 500 dollars, thats just a lot of lost money. seems fishy, and risky on their behalf. Lets say they hire all 25, thats unethical business practice to have them front 500 dollars before even seeing a contract. If you have to dangle a 500 dollar reimbursement incentive before your employee to stick it out, well understandably its a hard industry to break into, but it sounds like your particular branch in that industry is desperate to maintain employees. I don't know another job like that. 

B.) Why wouldn't the dealership interview the candidates directly. I think on a slow day, they could put an experienced sales member off the floor for a scheduled 30 min. appointment. I feel the dealership would be more attuned to what type of person they are looking for, as opposed to a recruiting agency. 

C.) Automax trains you a generic method of sales, which is fine, but they wouldn't understand what different approaches that dealership might take to making a sale. Every place is different. If the "dealership" felt you were qualified enough for a crash course in the auto industry, then your training should be on paper, with a signed contract, rather than pay money upfront for training. The guy from scottsdale (who probably works for automax) said the dealership occurs costs, and this is an incentive to keep you to stay with the company to get your 500 bucks back. fishy. So if you stay with the company, for the 3 months to get your money back, and you completely suck at auto sales, don't even sell 1 car in those 3 months, they still paid for the drug tests, screening, and recruiting, and didn't get anything out of it, those costs were still incurred.  

      If the dealership just trained you, and you didn't succeed, and were compensated solely in commission anyway, if you quit, they didn't lose anything by having you follow around an experienced salesperson. 

D.) My friends father just retired from the auto industry. He has worked at 6 different dealerships, over the span of 30 years. He told me he never heard of anyone having to pay money upfront for training, in either of his 6 dealerships. He mentioned that its more likely no money, or the other way around, where the dealership will pay you, if they feel your qualified, and a worthy investment. Hence not a 15 min. interview, but maybe 3-4 separate 30 min interviews. 

E.) The people that are defending Automax, or the dealerships they work out of can answer one question for me. Why is neither Automax training LLC, or the dealerships in which they run out of, Better Business Bureau Accredited organizations? If you have complaints, and are trying to defend yourself as a legitimate business, why don't you get BBB certified? 

F.) As for the whole costs incurred by the dealer for advertising, etc. It's not much, might even be free to post a job listing on career builder. and i'm pretty sure its free to post a job listing on craigslist as well. A news paper add run once a month, isn't a huge deal of costs incurred. And besides, thats apart of business, you understand that you have to run ads. Make your interview, and selection process very strict, so you don't hire an employee who will up and quit on you the next week.

I mean I could go on forever. I am very skeptical, and before we began "our training", there was no mention of a cost. That should be mandatory to tell someone before they show up. When asked directly, that shouldn't be something thats avoided. 

MY instructor, was a bit odd, but I dipped out before the end, using my sixth sense. He said how he was married, and had 2 kids, and pays for expensive colleges, and lives in a very nice home etc. Yet he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. 

    We had some students who had children in our class. When they asked to see a picture of his children, or wife, he didn't have one. Seems fishy if your always traveling on the road, yet don't have a picture of your KIDS, and don't wear a wedding ring. WHAT?!?!?!? My mom has a picture of me in her wallet, and we live in the SAME HOUSE. 

on the web, correct?

The dealer(s) are actually the ones paying the recruiting company "AutoMax".  How they do this is they have the employee front the money and then give it back to them in 90 days.  See, if the dealer paid the recruiter upfront then there would be no reason for the employee to "stick it out" through the first couple of weeks when it is the toughest.  I was hired this way with having a monetary investment in my future success.  I called it "tough love".  Dangling that $500 dollar carrot in front of my nose for the first couple of months to keep me from wanting to quit.  This is not a get rich quick job and my first 3 weeks in the biz I hadn't sold a car and wanted to quit but stuck it out to get my $500 back and the rest was history.  I've made over a million dollars selling cars and I never would have of if it wasn't done this way (which has been going on in the car biz for over 40 years).  If the dealer pays upfront and someone quits in the first week or two, then what did the dealer get out of it?  If someone pays the $500, stays 90 days and then gets it back, then what are they out?  Nothing!  You are not paying to get a job and you are not paying for training.  The dealer is, just 90 days later back to you.  What you are doing is showing your loyalty to the business that you are fronting the dealers money for the recruiting, advertising, interviewing, training, and placement.  If you would of paid your $500 and stuck it out you would have found out that even if the "host" dealer didn't hire you that the recruiter/trainer would have gotten you a job at a different dealer with all of the same stipulations.  Why should a dealer take the risk that you might "flake out" on them after they paid thousands of dollars for the newspaper ads, online ads, recruiters expenses, etc. to have you quit on them because you aren't selling 10 cars your first week in the biz and then they have to rerun all of the ads all over again to do it again?!  They would rather have these job fairs once a year instead of every couple of weeks because they are very expensive and they want the "committed" person working for them.  If they are going to pay for your drivers license test, drug test, background check, sales license, uniforms, etc. then they want you to stay because it really isn't fair for them to give you a chance when you have no experience.  So many people say that they are a "man of their word" only to quit, the way to prove it is that money talks.  Put yourself in the dealers shoes and realize why this is the only effective way to insure that they retain their employees, basically an "insurance retainer" that you will still be working there, plus what if another dealer see's the ad and sends their sales staff there for free training?  Since the bottom line is that you get all of your  back as long as you don't "flake out" on them, then essentially it is COSTING YOU NOTHING!!  NOT A CENT!!  Shame that you didn't see it through to the end and got a job at one of the dealerships and made the money that I and my co-workers have made in a great industry and easy job.

Please read this Ripoff Report and go to the FORD page of this site and read the recent Ripoff Report about a training scam that was just posted.

A few months down the road from the original report, but much the same experience.  Can it be called an outright scam?  I guess not, but it's definitely slimy.  I, too, responded to a CareerBuilder post promising paid training the right way, went back and forth with "Jane" to schedule an interview appointment and met within a few minutes of my scheduled time with Bob Stevens on a Monday.  Although I had expected to meet with a manager from Priority, he was up front that he was an independent contractor.  OK, I can understand that for training purposes they farm it out and he can do initial screening.  After some short pleasant conversation without any discussion of my experience or goals, etc., he advised that further screening would be done on Wednesday to ensure we (and he was upfront that it would be a group meeting initially) understood the business, what was required, etc. etc.  Then he would meet with us 1 on 1 to give us a candid appraisal of our potential fit.  Priority is in the midst of expansion (very true) and the GSMs of their 2 Richmond dealerships would also meet with those who had the potential.  I was out of there in 15 minutes with no mention of further meetings or "training" beyond Wednesday, and an assurance we would be done absolutely no later than 3:30.  "I've been doing this so long, it's down to a science."  Indeed it is.

On Wednesday we met and, as promised, he went over much of what the business is about.  Then eased into training and role play.  Interspersed were casual comments regarding the fact that the dealer paid him $697 for each person trained.  Finally we broke for lunch and as we returned we did meet with him 1 on 1.  He gave me favorable comments (expect he did so with the others as well), and asked if I might have a preference between the Toyota or the Nissan dealership.  He'd be happy to recommend me for my choice!

We reconvened and proceeded with some more training and role play.  Very casually, in the middle of writing something on the white board, he said, "and tomorrow we'll cover yada yada".  My ears perked up at this, the first time anything about further meeting was addressed, and it was evident several other people were caught off guard as well as shifting in seats and looks around occurred.  He did this a couple more times, and as we proceeded toward 4:15 he advised that we would be meeting with him 1 on 1 again.  About an hour later we adjourned to meet 1 on 1.  At this point,  he stated that both GSMs were "intrigued" with me and he was sure I could have Nissan if that's what I wanted.  Say what?  They've been nowhere around!  He then said that the policy was for the hiree to cover 50% of the cost of the training and that it would be reimbursed after 90 days on the job.  Was I OK with that?  Well, I guess I could understand that, they want to ensure I stick it out.  He then simply said we'd continue at 10AM the next morning.  I explained I had a conflict with the next day (I did, but not a serious one that couldn't be moved) and he said it had to be.  I could be up to an hour late, but otherwise, I'm screwed for the opportunity.  "Call me tonight at 8 to let me know."  I left at 5:30 and drove home miserable in that I'd been pressured into continuing training that the recruiting ad had said would be paid but now I'm going to pay.  I called him at 8ish and said I'd be in the next day.  I slept fitfully, got showered and dressed the next morning and as I picked up my keys, feeling miserable, said screw it, called him and told him I wouldn't be in.  He just said OK and hung up.

A few days later I decided to google him and came upon this trail.  I feel better.  I didn't see it through, but I can see where it was headed.  I guess it's not a complete scam, the training was legit, I've been through similar.  But the methods and techniques to get you to training and to pay were as slimy as the worst car salesman I've ever dealt with.  And I know there are reputable salespeople out there.  I've dealt with both.  And when I've had the bad ones I felt a need to wash.  That's how I felt with Bob Stevens.  Not so much for what he taught, but for how the process was handled.  Nothing up front and subtle pressure to ante-up as you get deeper and deeper into commitment and promises.  Hopefully other potentials will find this and at least know going in what to expect.

And, interestingly enough, the Saturday following the training, the GSM of the Nissan dealership posted on Craigslist that he was looking for salespeople, experience in Nissan preferred.  Wonder if anybody from my class continued on and got picked up?

go to (((Redacted)))and click on the 'Dateline NBC Investigation' and watch it. Then understand that MOST of the Car business in the USA is conducted just like that! You can 'Google' this- BALTIMORE SETTLEMENT CALIFORNIA TOYOTA, and read the 'class action lawsuit' that was filed against Toyota Corporation. Toyota was sued for charging African Americans & Hispanics higher interest rates on their car loans due to their RACE, & their inability to fully comprehend the English language. 'Baltimore' is the last name of the main plaintiffs in that case. Mr. & Mrs. Baltimore are an African American couple.

This "applicant" might have been a nervous nellie and should of seen it through all the way to the end to know the "full" story.  The dealer(s) are actually the ones paying the recruiting company "AutoMax".  How they do this is they have the employee front the money and then give it back to them in 90 days.  See, if the dealer paid the recruiter upfront then there would be no reason for the employee to "stick it out" through the first couple of weeks when it is the toughest.  I was hired this way with having a monetary investment in my future success.  I called it "tough love".  Dangling that $500 dollar carrot in front of my nose for the first couple of months to keep me from wanting to quit.  This is not a get rich quick job and my first 3 weeks in the biz I hadn't sold a car and wanted to quit but stuck it out to get my $500 back and the rest was history.  I've made over a million dollars selling cars and I never would have of if it wasn't done this way (which has been going on in the car biz for over 40 years).  If the dealer pays upfront and someone quits in the first week or two, then what did the dealer get out of it?  If someone pays the $500, stays 90 days and then gets it back, then what are they out?  Nothing!  You are not paying to get a job and you are not paying for training.  The dealer is, just 90 days later back to you.  What you are doing is showing your loyalty to the business that you are fronting the dealers money for the recruiting, advertising, interviewing, training, and placement.  If you would of paid your $500 and stuck it out you would have found out that even if the "host" dealer didn't hire you that the recruiter/trainer would have gotten you a job at a different dealer with all of the same stipulations.  Why should a dealer take the risk that you might "flake out" on them after they paid thousands of dollars for the newspaper ads, online ads, recruiters expenses, etc. to have you quit on them because you aren't selling 10 cars your first week in the biz and then they have to rerun all of the ads all over again to do it again?!  They would rather have these job fairs once a year instead of every couple of weeks because they are very expensive and they want the "committed" person working for them.  If they are going to pay for your drivers license test, drug test, background check, sales license, uniforms, etc. then they want you to stay because it really isn't fair for them to give you a chance when you have no experience.  So many people say that they are a "man of their word" only to quit, the way to prove it is that money talks.  Put yourself in the dealers shoes and realize why this is the only effective way to insure that they retain their employees, basically an "insurance retainer" that you will still be working there, plus what if another dealer see's the ad and sends their sales staff there for free training?  Since the bottom line is that you get all of your money back as long as you don't "flake out" on them, then essentially it is COSTING YOU NOTHING!!  NOT A CENT!!  Shame that you didn't see it through to the end and got a job at one of the dealerships and made the money that I and my co-workers have made in a great industry and easy job.  FD

the FORD page of this site & read the Rip Off Report now!

HERE AT RIP OFF REPORT IN AUGUST OF 2007. I think it was on August 9th 2007, if I'm not mistaken.