Here are some common terms used in dealerships. Some of them may be offensive and please remember these are terms used by a dealer not us or indorsed by us.

BACK END: Term used for profit made off of financing, warranties, gap insurance, and other after car purchases.

BEATER: Old or torn up trade-in.

BE BACK: Prospective buyer who has been in the dealership once or several times. Did not buy at that time and has returned for additional information.

BIRD DOG: One who refers prospective customers to a particular dealership or salesman for a given fee or compensation.

BLOWN OUT: to perform an action to cause the customer to leave.

BONE: A customer given to a salesperson by a manager or a owner.

BUMP: To bump someone means to increase the sales price of the car, interest rate, monthly payments, etc.

BUREAU: A customer's credit report.

BUY RATE: This is the interest rate that banks or financing institutions will charge the dealer on a contract. The dealer can add a point or two of interest to this and make a profit.

CLOSER: This is the person brought in to shut you down. When the salesperson can't get anywhere they bring in the closer to get the deal done.

CROKE & CHOKE: A term referring to credit life and disability insurance.

DE-HORSE: This is when you take a customer out of his trade-in and let him temporarily drive a borrowed car from the dealership until his purchase is completed.

DESKMAN or DESK: A man who both figures and determines what kind of deal the dealership will make to a customer.

DIP: This is where the customer needs additional or all of his cash down and gets the money from another financing source.

DOWN: Short form for down payment.

EYE BALLER: Is a flashy looking, bright colored, usually a sporty type automobile.

FLAKE: This is a customer who changes back and forth between buying and not buying. They are flaking back and forth.

FLIP: This is where one salesman hands you off to another.

FULL BORE: To sell a car for the full sticker price with no discount.

GREEN PEA: This is a new salesman in the business.

GRINDER: This is a buyer who, no matter what the salesman offers, wants more, he grinds the best deal out of them.

HIGH BALL: A figure given to a prospective customer which is an inflated value of his trade-in in order to get the customer to return to the dealership to purchase his new car.

HOME RUN: When maximum profit has been made on a deal or when the finance manager has sold the customer all the insurance and warranties he has available.

LAID AWAY: A customer who has paid the maximum price for as many items (like accessories, rust proofing, extended warranty, financing and credit insurance) as can possibly be sold on an automobile.

LAY DOWN: This is a customer who says yes to everything. They "lay down" and get run right over.

LOW BALL: This is a sales figure or tentative price given to a customer who has acknowledged the fact that he is not going to purchase an automobile at this time and wants to shop this figure against other dealerships. This is normally an unrealistically low figure and one that the automobile can not actually be purchased for.

NEGATIVE EQUITY: Negative equity means that your trade-in vehicle has a fair market value that is less than what you owe on it. This could be because you have not owned it very long and you still owe a very high payoff on it. It could also be because the last dealership you traded a car in, and who sold you this one, started you on this “negative equity” cycle. Click here for more information about Negative Equity Car Dealer Scams.

NICKEL: Refers to $500.00 for either trade value, purchase price, cash down, etc.

PACK: There are two interpretations of this. First, it is used in figuring a salesman's commission, depending on the individual dealer they will deduct anywhere from $75.00 to $250.00 from the gross profit of the deal and pay the salesman his commission figured on this difference. Second would be when the salesman or sales business manager would quote a monthly payment to a customer and increase the actual amount by 5 or 10 dollars to leave room for Credit Life, Accident and Health Insurance.

PENCIL: This has two applications. First, a sales manager will pencil a salesman's deal by crossing out the customer's offer and penciling in the figure that he wants to get for that car. The second application is used when a salesman or sales manager changes the selling price or trade-in allowance and covers it up with an increase in the customer's monthly payment because of the additional cost he expects to pay for Credit Life, Accident and Health Insurance.

RATE SHEET : The Dealer Reserve Schedule used by F & I salesperson to determine the amount of the kickback they will get from the bank or other lender who is going to finance the sale, in exchange for bumping the interest rate up above the minimum rate that the lender actually wants to get on the loan.

RESERVE: Sometimes thought of as a "kickback" the bank gives the dealer for setting up the loan. The income a dealership realized on a contract in excess of the finance source's discount rate. For example: If the bank is going to charge $600.00 in finance charges on a given contract and the total finance charge to the customer on this contract is $1,000.00, the dealership will realize $400 in "reserve money" but the customer thinks the interest is all being charged by the bank.

RESIDUAL: This is the termination value of an automobile that is being leased. The number on the lease contract may be real or simply made up.

RUST AND DUST: Refers to paint protection and undercoating.

ROLL BACK: To work a deal backwards. Instead of working with the purchase price and trying to determine a monthly payment, you would start with a known monthly payment and try to determine a selling price. It also means to "roll back" the odometer on a car to make it worth more money - highly illegal.

SHADOW: What a green pea does to lean how senior salespeople sell, i.e., they follow them around and observe.

SLED: Reference quite often given to a customer's old trade-in which is usually "beat up" and worth little or nothing.

SPOT DELIVERY: When a car is delivered and the financing is no 100% complete on it yet.

STRAW PURCHASE: This is when a third party buys an automobile and finances it in his name for some else (who will be the actual driver) because of that other person's age, bad credit, or lack of credit, etc.

STROKER: An individual who gives the impression that he wants to buy a car, but really is not or can not buy.

STRONG: This word can mean three things. One application would refer to a sales individual, be it salesman, sales manager, or Finance Manager, in reflecting his ability to do his required job (i.e., aggressive). Two would be a good deal where the dealership mad a nice profit. Three would be a individual with good credit and can buy.

SWITCH: To change a customer from buying one car to another for several reasons: availability, possible profit, etc.

THIRD BASEMAN: An individual who accompanies a prospective buyer because the buyer feels he is better versed in haggling over the price of the car and/or knows more about the car mechanically, thereby decreasing the chances of getting stuck with a "lemon".

TIRE KICKER: This is normally an individual who doesn't want to buy a car, but just wants to look. He walks in, touches the merchandise and doesn't want to talk to anyone.

T.O. (TURNOVER): The procedure used in selling where the salesman or liner turns a prospective buyer over to another salesman or sales manager to close the sale.

T.O. MAN: This is the individual to whom a salesman will turn a customer over.

SLUG: A term referring to a person with rally bad credit.


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