honestly, i would probably be at infiniti, lexus or acura...higher quality vehicles! and for less than the germans. nothing against the german cars - they make some fast, luxurious, amazing vehicles - but i wouldn't want to deal with the repair bill should one come my way ;-)
Me too, even though Acura and Lexus might be better quality they don't have the status of Merc or BMW. I think BMW and Merc have the status and the passion built in, whereas Acura and Lexus have that understated luxury.
... **they don't have the status of Merc or BMW** ...
That's really a state of mind, not a reality .....
Cars are like golf, some swear by the Nike Ignite driver because Tiger woods uses one, some scream and shout because the Taylor Made Quad is used on tour more than the rest, and some will think the Cobra 460 is the Fat Daddy ... it comes down to one thing: "what works for you" ... you can use any golf club and any vehicle you like, but if the seats aren't right, it doesn't fit your comfort zone and you don't like how it handles, then you just wasted alot of money ~~ just like golf clubs .....
as they do right now, I would give one a chance to get my "excessive disposable income." Course, I'm looking about 5-10 years down the road when I expect to become filthy rich. But wait.....if I hit that point, we might be looking Lambos, Ferraris (hope I spelled that one right) and Bentleys!! Moderately rich, I'll shop Cadillac BMW and Mercedes!!
thene...If i've got $40 to $60K to spend on a vehicle (and I'm talking cash at deal time), I ain't gonna worry about a repair bill!! Let's face it, with mechanic rates as they are and parts, you can get a huge repair bill on cavalier!!
well, i'd much rather take that money that i can afford to "spend" on repairs and use it for something along the lines of, oh...lets say 60" plasma tv's, cruises to the bahamas, a beach house on the french rivera...that kind of stuff ;-)
I like Aruba, the ladies are much prettier there than on the riveria! And it never rains in Aruba - yeah right, last 3 trips were partial or total washouts!
my dealer sent me an OTD quote thru email, when i was ready to buy he says it wasnt OTD, it was before fees, etc.. I have the email where it states OTD price. question is whether that quote can be enforced by me? isnt this bait and switch and therefore illegal? thanks, scott
taking the time to hire an attorney is a waste of time - in my opinion. if they don't want to honor it - take your business elsewhere. bring the quote with you and use it to see if another dealer will match it. tell them you'll buy that day if they do. what kind of quote was it? ($200 below invoice...etc). they may have lowballed you to get you into the store too...typical sales tactic.
i send real prices to people - and encourage them to print them out and bring them in. once they come in, there is no haggling on my part regarding the price (of course if they have a lower number that we can work towards to make a deal, of course we will always work together to see what we can do)
like i said, they don't want to honor the quote, walk away. see if anyone else will match it. dont stress over trying to bring the legal system into the whole mess
Scottay, you might find car buying less frustrating is you don't believe anything a car salesman tells you. If a dealer gives you an OTD quote, it may not mean anything at all.
By the same token, when a car salesman tells you they will not accept your offer, there is no reason to believe them. More than once, we have had our offers refused only to have them accepted one we walked out and started to drive away.
If you think they might accept your OTD offer, see if the dealer will accept it. If not, then leave. That way, you will have absolute proof that your offer was too low, and you will need to cough up some more dough if you want to buy that snazzy Kia.
because I was taking a trip through nostalgiaville for awhile with no DSL, 28.8 dial-up only. Evidence of has been removed, no convictions are pending.
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A (non) dealer tricked me into moving house, and DSL was slow to get installed.
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is that no one listens (or reads, I guess) what you want. I e-mailed several mazda dealers when I was looking for my rx8 and I was very specific about what I wanted -I gave 2 color options, 6 spd ABSOLUTELY DO NOT TRY TO SELL ME AN AUTO, the least options I would take.....I got at least 3 reponses with vehicles that didn't meet either of my color options and one guy sent me 3 quotes on his base model silver (wanted yellow or red) auto transmission that didn't even have 18" wheels. He finally sent a nasty e-mail telling me I was wasting HIS time because I wouldn't answer his e-mails. I still hurt over that one!!
Sometimes I think they tell the customer what they want to hear. They believe that once they get them on the lot, they can surely sell them something!!
it seems as though the internet has gone a few ways - those who are more traditional tell you to come by and they'll work a deal for you (knowing if they give you a number, you'll shop it) and there are others who will give you what they feel is a very aggressive (if not their best number) and hope and pray that you'll come in on that. i feel as though if someone is shopping on the internet, its because they DONT want to come in to negotiate, they want prices, and not "oh, come on down!" i feel as though i get one shot to impress, and hopefully i do! if i dont, i just move on - however those out there who do shop internet, please please please, if you aren't going to buy from me, please tell me so - it makes things much easier for me too! i usually congratulate people on their purchase, whether its from our dealer or not. no need to burn bridges, right?
those who have been in the business a long time will confirm that a big percentage of folks spend months reseraching the widgetmobile only to walk onto the dealers lot and drive away in something else an hour later....I suspect the dealer was simply telling you what they had in stock or incoming and he had no interest in locating you a car.
Not all dealers do things this way. We don't but I understand why others do....As we have seen on here, most internet request are bogus so alot of dealers just don't bother to weed thru 50 phony leads to land on one or two legit ones.
I just don't have the patience to sort through those 50 flakey internet requests and I don't need a pen pal. I'm a dinosaur, no doubt so if you want to talk to me, pick up the (gasp) phone. I'm friendly and I won't waste your time.
I won't give you a quote to go shop either..nope! I'll ask you to compile everything you have and come and see me. I'll help you pick out a car and I'll insist you drive it to make sure it's the right car for you.
I'll treat you like family and there won't be any tricks.
And I'll beat the quotes other dealers were foolish enough to give you.
And, yes, I know I'll lose some of you along the way.
i agree - there are plenty of bogus leads- "im looking to buy a ford mustang GT convertible 5 speed, in red - how many do you have on the lot and can i get it for invoice - by the way, i am 16 years old and hoping to convince my dad this is the safest and most economical car for me" kinda stuff. there are also those who are bored at work - "im interested in a Maxima" - no equipment list, no contact info, nothing. its tough as a dealer to figure out who to take seriously and who not to. and sometimes, people ask for a car that just doesnt exist - "i want a leather murano without a sunroof!".
and audia8q has it right - a lot of dealers will offer you what they have in stock because it may be tough to locate what you are looking for, or not cost effective.
sure it's frustrating, but i do internet for both ford and nissan, and its much easier to work with locates for nissans that fords. plus, we can't give as aggressive of pricing on the fords, because with those swaps, we don't get the holdback - so anything we can make on the car has to be over invoice. everyone does swaps differently, which may affect what kind of pricing/discount you may get!
lots of things go into it - hopefully i've given you a little insight (as has audia8q)
several times about a car that I wouldn't have gone and bought for $10K under invoice. I made that very clear and then he's mad at me because I'm wasting his time. After the first e-mail I made it very clear to him that I would not buy an auto. He wasted his own time.
BTW, I love the RX8!! Got a great deal, my payment went down from the Eclipse Spyder, so did my insurance, and it's a fun as a barrel of monkeys without the mess!!
i love it (sarcasm) when a customer comes to look at a 350z, then when i follow up with him, he bought a chevy suburban instead. i mean sheesh! i could have shown you a different vehicle if thats what you were looking for!
lhess,
that guy sounds obnoxious - not saying there arent any of THOSE around ;-) but sometimes there are other circumstances (which dont apply to the schmoe you had)
the emailing customer who doesn't want to drive 50 miles to 4 dealerships to deal with agressive salespeople, and the salesperson who doesn't want to wade through 50 worthless emails. Both have a case to make.
I figure whchever auto manufacturer, dealership or i-salesperson figures out how to productively and successfully use the Internet will make money like Gates. It's a big part of the future of auto sales - just that nobody's figured out how to do it yet.
I like to email to get the best deal. It takes too much time to visit each dealer in person, they each want to do a test drive, then play the game of going back and forth. My last deal, I emailed a few dealers that I would pay invoice +TDA+$200 -$1250 rebate, for the Tundra. I got an email or call from all of them. One said the above with $500 over, one said invoice+TDA+$1250 - $1250, which would be "like paying invoice" and the other said come in and talk to us.
I told the $1250 over that I already had an offer better than theirs and they said, that was the best that they could do because it is a hot selling truck. I ended up going to the $500 over and it still took >2hours to get the deal done. But if I had gone in there *dry* to each dealer, it would have been 5 plus hours to do some test driving, play the back and forth game, etc. Basically 1/2 day at each dealer. Too much time.....
Don't forget about the service you get from the dealerships, that counts too. I would never buy anything from a place that gave me crappy service just because their price is cheaper than another place that gave me excellent service. Unfortunately some customers will spend an hour or two with me test driving and figuring out which vehicle is right for them, only to shop me later. Then it turns out another dealer's price was $100 cheaper than mine (so they bought there) but the customer is asking me why the other dealership is screwing them around in terms of promising a car they don't have, or why they're giving them bad service or why they're not delivering on their promises (bait & switch).
The other dilemma is customers emailing for quotes about a car, BEFORE even trying it out. If you're shopping for a car, I don't think the best price will matter if thaty car is uncomfortable or too small, too noisy, too cramped etc...
Try it first at least to see if it fits you. It's a $20000plus shoe that you're going to wear for four years, try it on before you shop the price.
... **Try it first at least to see if it fits you. It's a $20000plus shoe that you're going to wear for four years, try it on before you shop the price** ...
i wish more people would see the value in buying a car that has a good price AND good service! many just think that they'll buy at the cheapest place, and service somewhere else. service managers usually worry about their own customers first regarding service appointments, and if you have a plate frame from another dealer, you wait until there is a spot thats open. any dealer can beat a price by $100, but will you get the service and professionalism from them if they are handing the car away to you? probably not.
You can wish that all you want but for some people it's all about paying the bottom dollar. It's not the dollars and cents as much as the fear they have that just maybe, someone else paid less than they did.
......... And these are the same folks that pay $390,000 for a house that the next guy pays $349,000 for ..... so much for that "shopping" thing ..l.o.l......
What if somebody send you email with the price in it (kind of bobst method) You just have to reply yes or no (assuming this OTD price for a vehicle you have in stock or can locate). What will you do?
Thene said: i wish more people would see the value in buying a car that has a good price AND good service! many just think that they'll buy at the cheapest place, and service somewhere else. service managers usually worry about their own customers first regarding service appointments, and if you have a plate frame from another dealer, you wait until there is a spot thats open. any dealer can beat a price by $100, but will you get the service and professionalism from them if they are handing the car away to you? probably not.
believe it or not, you get what you pay for!
and Isellhondas said: You can wish that all you want but for some people it's all about paying the bottom dollar. It's not the dollars and cents as much as the fear they have that just maybe, someone else paid less than they did.
I'll never understand this.
While I agree with what you are saying, there are way too many variables that play into why someone buys from the closest dealer vs. someone else.
Maybe I went to the closest dealer, and I had a deal, and then the finance department started to add on every mop and glow package. Maybe I went to the closest dealer and I simply did not like the salesperson. Maybe I went to the closest dealer and they did not have the car in the color/package/model/transmission I wanted. Maybe I bought from another dealer because it was more convenient to my office, but then my office moved/I quit/got fired. Maybe I bought somewhere else and moved into town.
In any of these cases, now that I am at your dealership for whatever reason, I am now your customer!
I guess what I am trying to say is that from a consumers point of view, it is frustrating/unfair to be labeled (many times unfairly) as a bottom price only shopper and then potentially have consequences (i.e. service not taking care of me in a timely fashion) simply because I did not buy the car there. Too many assumptions come into play to make this decision.
prior to my last 2 cars, I had always bought gm, mostly pontiacs (I call those the "Dark Years"). Anyway, there's a GM dealer right here in Summersville, know all the sales people, know the owner, know the manager, know the service people (small town dynamics).... You'd think you could really get a good deal and good service. WRONG. I ended up paying way too much for the last car i bought there, a 2001 grand am. Honestly, I started trying to trade that rattling piece of junk 3 months in and it took me another 18 months to get rightside up on it - I HATED IT!!
Consistently, bad deals and bad service there. I think all the techs are trained to put customers off until their warranties expire (and how long does that take since GM has the shortest warranty on the market right now?). I really like some of those folks, but it'll be a cold day before I buy there again. I'm hoping I remember the "dark years" when this new solstice tempts me beyond reasonable thinking!!
They're "abusing" my boyfriend (what is the proper term for old people who date or shack up? When I say significant other everyone assumes you're gay?) who has a duramax from there. They can't ever get parts (excuse of the day, Mr. Goodwrench, NATIONAL BACKORDER) and they can't ever duplicate the problem. He got his oil changed yesterday and had them look at a leak - "could not duplicate the problem" right on the receipt. For a leak? He took the service guy out in the parking lot and showed him the leak, so they ordered a part. We'll hear about a national backorder today no doubt!!
I figure whchever auto manufacturer, dealership or i-salesperson figures out how to productively and successfully use the Internet will make money like Gates. It's a big part of the future of auto sales - just that nobody's figured out how to do it yet.
Yeah, there are three big barriers to internet car shopping as far as I can see:
1. Evaluating your trade-in. 2. How much you owe on your trade-in. 3. How you're going to finance the new purchase.
Naturally, if you have no trade-in and are loaded with cash, you could easily make a deal over the internet. For the remaining 99%, we have a problem Houston.
Oh, I don't see any way we will ever buy a car without personal contact with a dealer - I didn't really mean that. It's more of a wide-open observation. Somebody will figure out a way to make it work really well, and they will do very well.
The only part of the problems you listed above that requires personal contact is the first, and that can be done in your driveway. Let your imagination run a bit with that alternative...
Of course home auto sales would work, but would immediately run afoul of the brick & mortar dealerships who would be needed to provide the service, and who would resent the intrusion of the home dealers, and would throw obstacles in the way of warranty work.
Imagine this way in the future: What if new cars became commodities - they really are anyway, what if they were treated like they were? What if the B&M dealer franchises didn't sell new cars, but were manufacturer authorized repair facilities that also sold used cars? Most stores lose money on new cars anyway, just cut the loss and operate a business on just the segments that make money - used and service. New cars could be shopped, test driven, sold and delivered at your home, at your convenience, by a company that did not need the overhead of a fancy retail floor and sales lot, and operated mostly by phone and email.
Of couorse, getting from here to there would be a mess, rife with legal franchise problems, resentment by the B&M stores, etc. And many folks would not want to do business at their homes, so other delivery points would be needed. But some flavor of it could work.
...how many times would the home sales company have to show up at a home where the person had absolutely no ability to buy the car before they started losing money? Trips to you home take time, and time is money. Ever wonder why doctors stopped going to homes?
You're right that someone that could "crack the code" would make big money, but it's so difficult that I think it's going to have to wait until there's a major sea change in the industry. Cars might go the way of the dodo before that happens...
Nothing wrong with any of that. I know our service department treats everyone the same. We value all of our service customers and it makes no difference where they bought their car.
Still, I will go to bat for one of my customers when they ask me to. When their car is out of warranty and they think it should be fixed for free anyway, I'll plead their case.
Now, a lot of small town stores are different, I know this. They will give priority service to the people who bought from them and maybe put the others on the back burner especially if it's warranty work. no store or technician likes warranty work but it's a part of the job.
I once heard the owner/service manager/salesman of a small town Buick store tell a demanding customer.." Mega Buick was good enough to cut my throat for a couple of hundred dollars when you decided to drive there...they ought to be good enough to do your %#@& warranty work!"
" It's not convenient for me to drive 30 miles to take it there!"
" Well, it couldn't be TOO inconvenient...you went there to buy it!"
The car manufactures managed to quell most of this through the TCS surveys the customers get but I'm sure this still happens on a bit more subtle basis.
i know, wishful thinking - its like wishing for world peace - i just cant understand how some people make it a tough process...
ddelise,
i see what you mean regarding other circumstances, and i can certainly understand and respect that. That's why i said, if you do find a place that gives you a fair deal and is good and respectful to you, why take their number and shop it in hopes of saving $100? sure, mr. mega nissan dealer down the road can undercut us for a hundred or two, but do you really want to have to deal with them if you have an issue on your car? probably not....
these are the people im talking about - and on the internet its even tougher, i hand out prices because thats what internet folks are looking for (correct me if im wrong consumers!) but some will take my number for the sole purpose of bringing it to their local dealer to have them beat. there's no way of preventing people from doing that, but if someone is polite enough to give you a prompt response and an aggressive price, at least give them the courtesy of the first shot at your buisness. if you go in and they turn 180 degrees, walk out. but its tough sometimes to be so nice to people only to lose them because of the stereotype that i'm lowballing (which im not) or that i'll bait and switch...
and thats not the consumers fault at all, its just tough to take sometimes...
sorry for the vent, there are some good people out here selling cars (and you can find many of us here on edmunds, i personally like to see what consumers are looking for/thinking etc) but we get so battered and bruised by the bad...
Comments
things can change - who knows who'll be paying how much and for what in 10 years...
thene
-thene
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
That's really a state of mind, not a reality .....
Cars are like golf, some swear by the Nike Ignite driver because Tiger woods uses one, some scream and shout because the Taylor Made Quad is used on tour more than the rest, and some will think the Cobra 460 is the Fat Daddy ... it comes down to one thing: "what works for you" ... you can use any golf club and any vehicle you like, but if the seats aren't right, it doesn't fit your comfort zone and you don't like how it handles, then you just wasted alot of money ~~ just like golf clubs .....
Terry
There are lots of better timepieces, but nothing jangles quite like a Rolex gold.
thene...If i've got $40 to $60K to spend on a vehicle (and I'm talking cash at deal time), I ain't gonna worry about a repair bill!! Let's face it, with mechanic rates as they are and parts, you can get a huge repair bill on cavalier!!
-thene
i've been to aruba - went last year for our honeymoon! had a wonderful time - perfect weather every day! :-)
-thene
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-thene
Terry
i send real prices to people - and encourage them to print them out and bring them in. once they come in, there is no haggling on my part regarding the price (of course if they have a lower number that we can work towards to make a deal, of course we will always work together to see what we can do)
like i said, they don't want to honor the quote, walk away. see if anyone else will match it. dont stress over trying to bring the legal system into the whole mess
good luck!
-thene :-)
By the same token, when a car salesman tells you they will not accept your offer, there is no reason to believe them. More than once, we have had our offers refused only to have them accepted one we walked out and started to drive away.
If you think they might accept your OTD offer, see if the dealer will accept it. If not, then leave. That way, you will have absolute proof that your offer was too low, and you will need to cough up some more dough if you want to buy that snazzy Kia.
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Sometimes I think they tell the customer what they want to hear. They believe that once they get them on the lot, they can surely sell them something!!
how do you like the rx8 btw?
-thene
Not all dealers do things this way. We don't but I understand why others do....As we have seen on here, most internet request are bogus so alot of dealers just don't bother to weed thru 50 phony leads to land on one or two legit ones.
I won't give you a quote to go shop either..nope! I'll ask you to compile everything you have and come and see me. I'll help you pick out a car and I'll insist you drive it to make sure it's the right car for you.
I'll treat you like family and there won't be any tricks.
And I'll beat the quotes other dealers were foolish enough to give you.
And, yes, I know I'll lose some of you along the way.
and audia8q has it right - a lot of dealers will offer you what they have in stock because it may be tough to locate what you are looking for, or not cost effective.
sure it's frustrating, but i do internet for both ford and nissan, and its much easier to work with locates for nissans that fords. plus, we can't give as aggressive of pricing on the fords, because with those swaps, we don't get the holdback - so anything we can make on the car has to be over invoice. everyone does swaps differently, which may affect what kind of pricing/discount you may get!
lots of things go into it - hopefully i've given you a little insight (as has audia8q)
happy motoring!
-thene
BTW, I love the RX8!! Got a great deal, my payment went down from the Eclipse Spyder, so did my insurance, and it's a fun as a barrel of monkeys without the mess!!
Terry
lhess,
that guy sounds obnoxious - not saying there arent any of THOSE around ;-) but sometimes there are other circumstances (which dont apply to the schmoe you had)
glad you love your rx8!
-thene
thene, you have my respect. I don't have the patience to do what you do!
I figure whchever auto manufacturer, dealership or i-salesperson figures out how to productively and successfully use the Internet will make money like Gates. It's a big part of the future of auto sales - just that nobody's figured out how to do it yet.
My last deal, I emailed a few dealers that I would pay invoice +TDA+$200 -$1250 rebate, for the Tundra. I got an email or call from all of them. One said the above with $500 over, one said invoice+TDA+$1250 - $1250, which would be "like paying invoice" and the other said come in and talk to us.
I told the $1250 over that I already had an offer better than theirs and they said, that was the best that they could do because it is a hot selling truck. I ended up going to the $500 over and it still took >2hours to get the deal done. But if I had gone in there *dry* to each dealer, it would have been 5 plus hours to do some test driving, play the back and forth game, etc. Basically 1/2 day at each dealer. Too much time.....
The other dilemma is customers emailing for quotes about a car, BEFORE even trying it out. If you're shopping for a car, I don't think the best price will matter if thaty car is uncomfortable or too small, too noisy, too cramped etc...
Try it first at least to see if it fits you. It's a $20000plus shoe that you're going to wear for four years, try it on before you shop the price.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Now here's a person with some insight .........
Terry.
believe it or not, you get what you pay for!
-thene
I'll never understand this.
Terry.
What will you do?
i wish more people would see the value in buying a car that has a good price AND good service! many just think that they'll buy at the cheapest place, and service somewhere else. service managers usually worry about their own customers first regarding service appointments, and if you have a plate frame from another dealer, you wait until there is a spot thats open. any dealer can beat a price by $100, but will you get the service and professionalism from them if they are handing the car away to you? probably not.
believe it or not, you get what you pay for!
and Isellhondas said:
You can wish that all you want but for some people it's all about paying the bottom dollar. It's not the dollars and cents as much as the fear they have that just maybe, someone else paid less than they did.
I'll never understand this.
While I agree with what you are saying, there are way too many variables that play into why someone buys from the closest dealer vs. someone else.
Maybe I went to the closest dealer, and I had a deal, and then the finance department started to add on every mop and glow package.
Maybe I went to the closest dealer and I simply did not like the salesperson.
Maybe I went to the closest dealer and they did not have the car in the color/package/model/transmission I wanted.
Maybe I bought from another dealer because it was more convenient to my office, but then my office moved/I quit/got fired.
Maybe I bought somewhere else and moved into town.
In any of these cases, now that I am at your dealership for whatever reason, I am now your customer!
I guess what I am trying to say is that from a consumers point of view, it is frustrating/unfair to be labeled (many times unfairly) as a bottom price only shopper and then potentially have consequences (i.e. service not taking care of me in a timely fashion) simply because I did not buy the car there. Too many assumptions come into play to make this decision.
Damon
Consistently, bad deals and bad service there. I think all the techs are trained to put customers off until their warranties expire (and how long does that take since GM has the shortest warranty on the market right now?). I really like some of those folks, but it'll be a cold day before I buy there again. I'm hoping I remember the "dark years" when this new solstice tempts me beyond reasonable thinking!!
They're "abusing" my boyfriend (what is the proper term for old people who date or shack up? When I say significant other everyone assumes you're gay?) who has a duramax from there. They can't ever get parts (excuse of the day, Mr. Goodwrench, NATIONAL BACKORDER) and they can't ever duplicate the problem. He got his oil changed yesterday and had them look at a leak - "could not duplicate the problem" right on the receipt. For a leak? He took the service guy out in the parking lot and showed him the leak, so they ordered a part. We'll hear about a national backorder today no doubt!!
Yeah, there are three big barriers to internet car shopping as far as I can see:
1. Evaluating your trade-in.
2. How much you owe on your trade-in.
3. How you're going to finance the new purchase.
Naturally, if you have no trade-in and are loaded with cash, you could easily make a deal over the internet. For the remaining 99%, we have a problem Houston.
" I want to buy a red CRV EX automatic, and I'm willing to pay XXXX plus tax and license...will you sell me one for that?"
No problem. I either can or I can't and I'll tell them that.
The only part of the problems you listed above that requires personal contact is the first, and that can be done in your driveway. Let your imagination run a bit with that alternative...
Of course home auto sales would work, but would immediately run afoul of the brick & mortar dealerships who would be needed to provide the service, and who would resent the intrusion of the home dealers, and would throw obstacles in the way of warranty work.
Imagine this way in the future: What if new cars became commodities - they really are anyway, what if they were treated like they were? What if the B&M dealer franchises didn't sell new cars, but were manufacturer authorized repair facilities that also sold used cars? Most stores lose money on new cars anyway, just cut the loss and operate a business on just the segments that make money - used and service. New cars could be shopped, test driven, sold and delivered at your home, at your convenience, by a company that did not need the overhead of a fancy retail floor and sales lot, and operated mostly by phone and email.
Of couorse, getting from here to there would be a mess, rife with legal franchise problems, resentment by the B&M stores, etc. And many folks would not want to do business at their homes, so other delivery points would be needed. But some flavor of it could work.
You're right that someone that could "crack the code" would make big money, but it's so difficult that I think it's going to have to wait until there's a major sea change in the industry. Cars might go the way of the dodo before that happens...
Still, I will go to bat for one of my customers when they ask me to. When their car is out of warranty and they think it should be fixed for free anyway, I'll plead their case.
Now, a lot of small town stores are different, I know this. They will give priority service to the people who bought from them and maybe put the others on the back burner especially if it's warranty work. no store or technician likes warranty work but it's a part of the job.
I once heard the owner/service manager/salesman of a small town Buick store tell a demanding customer.." Mega Buick was good enough to cut my throat for a couple of hundred dollars when you decided to drive there...they ought to be good enough to do your %#@& warranty work!"
" It's not convenient for me to drive 30 miles to take it there!"
" Well, it couldn't be TOO inconvenient...you went there to buy it!"
The car manufactures managed to quell most of this through the TCS surveys the customers get but I'm sure this still happens on a bit more subtle basis.
i know, wishful thinking - its like wishing for world peace - i just cant understand how some people make it a tough process...
ddelise,
i see what you mean regarding other circumstances, and i can certainly understand and respect that. That's why i said, if you do find a place that gives you a fair deal and is good and respectful to you, why take their number and shop it in hopes of saving $100? sure, mr. mega nissan dealer down the road can undercut us for a hundred or two, but do you really want to have to deal with them if you have an issue on your car? probably not....
these are the people im talking about - and on the internet its even tougher, i hand out prices because thats what internet folks are looking for (correct me if im wrong consumers!) but some will take my number for the sole purpose of bringing it to their local dealer to have them beat. there's no way of preventing people from doing that, but if someone is polite enough to give you a prompt response and an aggressive price, at least give them the courtesy of the first shot at your buisness. if you go in and they turn 180 degrees, walk out. but its tough sometimes to be so nice to people only to lose them because of the stereotype that i'm lowballing (which im not) or that i'll bait and switch...
and thats not the consumers fault at all, its just tough to take sometimes...
sorry for the vent, there are some good people out here selling cars (and you can find many of us here on edmunds, i personally like to see what consumers are looking for/thinking etc) but we get so battered and bruised by the bad...
just my .02
-thene
What are the warranties from other companies. Honda is 3 years isn't it???
What are warranty periods from some other companies???
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,