Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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After college, I wanted to live with my parents and buy a BMW to commute back and forth to work in. They convinced me to move into Manhattan & they would supplement part of my rent.
My 1st job was working in the marketing department for a company that sold airport advertising. My boss didn't like me. Busted my hump for 9 months & she fired me the day I got home from vacation. I called the office a week later to speak with some colleagues & asked "so what flunky did they hire to do my job?" The person I spoke with said "Flunky? How about Flunkies? There are 4 people here doing the job you did."
Then worked for a direct mail advertising agency in the production department. One of their big clients was Mercedes-Benz & I decided I wanted to get into copywriting. I befriended one of the creative directors (b/c he was into cars as much as I was) & just as I started to get a porfolio together, the market tanked & I got caught in a net of massive layoffs.
Then I landed a job working for a Direct Mail company that did all those really annoying credit card solicitations for CITIBANK. After about 2 & a half years I decided working for someone else isn't worth it, so I asked my Dad if he would hire me. 8 years later & I'm still selling plumbing supplies in The Bronx for my family's 110 year old business.
Just to stay on topic, I almost went to work for a car dealership in 2002. I interviewed for a position at BMW of Manhattan (owned by BMWNA). The 7 series was being launched with i-Drive and they wanted to hire somebody to become an idrive expert to "go over" how it works and be available to customers to ask questions. They ended up not having the position at all, but I didn't get hired. They asked me where I saw myself in 3 years. I told them I saw myself as a VP of marketing for BMW of North America :shades:
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2025 Camry SE AWD
PS: I'm also ok at drawing and when time permits like to draw cars:
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
Hey verdugo-
I don't see where to email you through the carspace, but if you go to my carspace page, its the second link listed under favorite links. Its been a lot of fun to get this project underway. Of course, after I started about a year ago, my wife found out that her work was sending us from Seattle to SF which made life even more complicated, but that's another story. Did I mention we also got married last summer too? 2009 was crazy...
Great to learn more about you all; thanks for playing.
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
When my son was born, I decided it was time to get out of the car business & I found a job as a Production Manager in a healthcare standardization company. So far, I've been here 2 years, but I still miss the car business & may one day go back. The good news is that the company I work for pays for college, so after being out of school for more than 10 years, I've returned. The bad news is that I can only take one class at a time - so it's going to take another 7 years for me to get my Bachelors degree.
Nice to actually run into another IBMer on Edmunds. I love perusing the forums here and posting when I can. The Frontlines forum is by far my favorite, and I think it'd be neat for someone to pull together all of the best sales stories and post them in one place (maybe when I have some free time).
Well, I'll go ahead and add to the roll call. I'm 43 year old, Ohio native and from Cincinnati (like GG...and I think GG and I have had the Cincinnati conversation already...he's got me thinking of Skyline Chili). I grew up in Clifton not too far from UC where GG's son goes to college.
I'm married with two boys (currently in third grade and kindergarten). I work for IBM as a project manager and instructional designer, which means I build training for IBM and its clients and manage projects that build training. My degrees are in English lit, but I was able to parlay that into communications and from there got into training and thence into project management.
Like michaell, I work from home as well, but most of my team and my manager are Atlanta-based, so I do see my colleagues frequently at lunch and such, but I work with a global team as well (calls with Australia, England, and India are not unusual).
We currently have three cars: My 2004 Ford Expedition, my wife's 2009 VW CC, and our old back up 1999 VW Passat. The 99 Passat has almost 150,000 miles, and I am hoping to keep it to 200,000. We'll see!
You and I have spoken about home theater installs. I'm an enthusiast. The ones I've helped my friends install, and my own installation, I'd put up to any pro install, and the equipment I use. I've yet to hear any "pro's" install sound or look better, and sometimes people pay 4X-5X what I have invested.
bronson...I do remember our "Skyline" conversation.
imid....I knew you were relatively close to me. Just couldn't remember if it was N. KY or OH. I need to get back to Miami sometime this Spring/Fall, as I missed Homecoming this year.
I am 62, 3 children, 7 grandchildren. Started out teaching, but eventually worked for a major U.S. book publisher.....for 16 years (I live in Canada). Worked for a book distributor for 3 years and a remainder book company for 1 year.
Got fired from each job! (Actually downsized but fired sounds better).
No one would hire me so started our own business at age 46. It took off and we supply over 1000 stores with low priced paperback books, from coast to coast. The business does well, and I make a lot more than I ever did working for a company, but I am thankful for the knowledge I picked up.
I drive a 2008 bmw228i 3 series Cabriolet and my wife has a 2008 335xi sedan.
We both have 6 speed manuals...it's the only way to live...gives me some exercise.
Can't wait until Richard and Jmonroe check in
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
Age: 41 minus pi
Occupation: International espionage/ninja
Location: If I told you, I'd have to kill you
Married: To my job
Kids: None that I know of
Cars: DB7 and Sunbeam Tiger
:P
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
OK, at age 61, I'm one of the oldest.
Seems like I always used to be the youngest in my group of peers but not anymore and that's scary.
Grew up (?) in So. Calif - San Pedro. AA degree. Was going to be a HS English teacher but a practice assignment in Compton made me switch gears. Was working part time for the largest Sears store on the West Coast. In one week at age 21, I got married, went full time at Sears and somehow avoided the draft(and Vietnam) by squeaking into the Army Reserve where I spent six years. Still married to the same wonderful gal. One son age 31. One grandson, 17 weeks!
At age 24, I was the youngest Division Manager at our Sears store managing a VERY buys Auto Center. Left at age 27 to go into business for myself in the mobile tool business. Went up the ranks and at age 37 was the youngest Regional Manager. The company went through hell and many changes which I survived until they hired the Company President from hell.
He had nothing but contempt for anyone with a lot of years and made our lives miserable. Then one day, I was told I would have to move to Chicage and take a different position. I thought being on top with the top Region in the company made me invincible but I was wrong.
At age 47, I was jobless in Seattle. A competitior in the tool business wanted me for a position but I would have to wait six months for the job to open up.
One day I wandered into our local Honda Dealer with my resume in hand. They weren't impressed and felt I wouldn't listen to them. " You are too smart" they told me but in the end, they hired me.
Six months later, I turned down the job with the other tool company. I was making more than I did before. No more meetings, travel, hotel rooms, budgets, 30 million dollar P& L and 200 distributors to listen to complain.
I got lucky. I went to work at a good store with good owners and managers. A lot of other stores don't operate like we do.
Yes, we do. :shades:
Which division do you work for? I'm in SWG.
To expand on my C.V., I graduated from DeVry University in Phoenix with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems in October 1985 and returned to my hometown to work for a small software company. They had a contract with the city so I did some work for the FD and PD there for a bit, then started to work from the office and did a combination of consulting, tech support and training.
Things started to wane in '93 - both personally and professionally - so decided to look for other employment options. A company that we'd been working with in Denver had an opening for a trainer, so I applied and got the job.
I traveled the US extensively from '89 to about 2003 (I averaged about 40K flight miles per year during that time) as an instructor and have had the opportunity to meet fezo in person in NJ.
Through the wonderful world of mergers and acquisitions, the company I went to work for in '93 was ultimately acquired by IBM in the summer of 2001, and I've done training, tech support and, most recently, business operations for them in that time.
I, too, crave Skyline Chili from time to time ... in fact, a Gold Star was open briefly here in Denver, so I could satisfy my desire if I so chose.
Currently living in Castle Rock, which is about halfway between Denver and Co. Springs, with my current wife and 21 year old stepdaughter. My stepson is 23, married and living in Utah, while my son from my first marriage is now 20 and lives with his mother in CA, not far from my folks, whom he sees on a regular basis.
You can put their chili on hotdogs (the proverbial "chilidog"). Or, over spaghetti (with or without cheese, onions and/or beans). These are known as "2 ways, 3 ways, 4 ways or 5 ways" respectively. I think I read that they will be featured on some "Food Channel Show" sometime in the near future.
This was about 10 years ago, but the team I was managing at the successful start-up had a particularly good quarter (among many good quarters). Since they were spread all over the country, I though it would be kind of cool to send each of them (about 20 total) a little Skyline Chili "care package" as a gesture showing how much I appreciated their efforts. Packed in dry ice, and a styrofoam cooler, I overnighted all of them 12 cheese conies, and 6 "3 ways" to their homes. Some loved it. Some, I'm sure said they loved it and proceeded to dump all of it in the disposal.
At one point in my career, I was flying over 100K miles/year, that included quarterly trips to Europe and South America. Delta Airlines knows me as a "Million Miler". Doesn't net me much, except they let me go in the "short lines" when checking in at the airport. And, they let me drink their free booze in their "Crown Room" lounges (away from the unclean, huddled masses in the terminal :P ).
Anyway, I'm way off topic.
OK, I'll play.
59. Planning on holding that age for a few years but at the moment it's accurate. Next January it won't be.
Like isell I started out on the path to teach English and got a Compton-like assignment as a student teacher which ended any desire to be in the schools. Ended up going to grad school and ended up a reference librarian which while not a great paying profession (not awful - about on par with what I'd have done teaching) is always interesting. Essentially I get paid to be a relatively smart guy whose brain people can pick for free.
I also sometimes write songs and have a CD I put out years ago.
Married 25 years this June with four girls 21, 17, and a pair of 8s. Yeah. 59 with 8 year olds. The little ones are exactly the same age but not technically twins in that one is a bio and the other is adopted from China. Makes for an interesting life.
While in my local dealer for service, got the idea it would be fun selling cars. Ended up selling hi-line cars for 10 years before my second retirement. Really enjoyed the dealership and particularly the clients. I have always been an auto enthusiast since childhood. I have also been fortunate enough to visit several auto manufacturing plants in europe, the far east, as well as here in the US.
Having bought my first of probably 40-50 cars some 50 years ago, I have seen many changes in the way folks buy cars. Between that and selling many hundreds, I can kind of see both sides of the fence.
I enjoy reading the Edmunds forums, and am sure that many here have been helped in their quest for new wheels over the years. I also spend time on many other car forums where the focus is more on the cars, as opposed to the "deal". This forum is unique in that respect, and certainly fun to keep up with.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Yes, that was Castle Rock, OR ... in the movie "Stand by Me", which was loosely based on the book "The Body" by Stephen King.
Two things about Castle Rock you may or may not have known:
1) Was home to a PGA golf tournament for many years
2) Is the hometown of actress Amy Adams
GG - in my visits to the Queen City, I learned all about the Skyline vs. Gold Star debate. As a non-native, I felt that they tasted the same to me, but I'm sure I'd get much grief from locals on that matter.
Make mine a 3-way (spaghetti, chili, cheese) with some oyster crackers and a Coke. Was tough to teach classes in the afternoons following that meal.
And a philly cheesteak from Geno's in Philly. And the lobster ravioli from Legal Seafood in Boston. And an In-n-Out double double in Southern California.
Sometimes I miss the travel. But, mostly, I don't. Was much easier before 9/11 .. not as many restrictions on frequent flier mile usage and security screenings. Wife accompanied me on trips to Honolulu, Anchorage, Las Vegas, Boston and LA.
Running through O'Hare trying not to miss my connection, sleeping on a conveyor belt at Stapleton when a snowstorm hit.
Sitting next to people with B.O. for three hours. Screaming kids on long flights.
Flying to Fairbanks one week and Oahu the next weel with over a 100 degree temperature difference etc etc....
I did belong to the Crown Room, United's Red Carpet Club and Alaska's Board Room. This really helped and because I flew so much most of my flights were first class upgrades.
Not anymore! I'm back in steerage now when I fly!
I hated O'Hare with a passion.
I celebrated when DIA opened and Stapleton shut down .. I was actually away when it happened, so I flew out of Stapleton and flew back into DIA.
I didn't fly enough to ever get beyond Premier status with United, so upgrades to business / first class were few and far between.
I flew to LA back in January to visit family and was reminded why I enjoy working from home. Nice to fly instead of making a 17 hour, 1000 mile drive (one way), but am so glad not to have to do it twice a month.
Oh, and the two airports I hate are Dulles and Heathrow...
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
LR....what did you do for Xerox in Indy? I was at Xerox from 1980 until 1990...almost exactly 10 years (shy a month). For awhile, and after I asked for a transfer out of PARC, I did some training for them in their Leesburg, VA facility. I liked living out there. I was in Georgetown every weekend.
True, but picking on the most British airports is too easy...I mean, look at Manchester. Or even worse, Newcastle. Last time I flew there, the customers waiting for their bags (for a good 45 minutes) got into a yelling match with the baggage handlers below the carousel; couldn't see them, but I heard words exchanged (sort of...mind the accent) that would make a sailor blush.
Heathrow...now here's one of the busiest airports, if not now, the busiest airport in the world. Its falling apart. Plastic hoses all over the terminals to reroute the HVAC system that is not working right, the completely non-sensical signs, the layout, customs. Argh. It takes a plane nearly a half hour just to taxi to its gate...
To see an airport done well, check out Zurich. Or Seoul.
To keep this car-related - this article about the 1-series gave me a good chuckle...
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0 / 03 Montero Ltd
I remember checking into the St. Regis Hotel in NYC. A great first class hotel. I was at the front desk and there was a stairway nearby, when all of a sudden two men came tumbling down the stairway and landed right at my feet. One guy was a security guard and he had the other guy's tie wrapped around his neck. The other guy was saying something like "hey, bro, give another bro a break here...but the guard just told him to shut up. Turns out he had caught the guy trying to break into a hotel room.
On another occasion in Chicago I was holding a seminar at the Drake Hotel. On Friday afternoon one of the hotel staff people called me aside and wanted to make sure that I was checking out later in the day because the room I was staying in had been booked to Ronald Reagan, who was running for President then. I left Reagan a note of encouragement in the room. Never knew if he got it or not.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Has anyone ever stayed in a room where some prankster set the alarm clock to go off full blast at 3:00 A.M? Happened to me twice in my traveling career.
Or has anyone ever had the fire alarm system go off in the middle of the night and had the Fire Dept make announcements through the room speaker?
Another attention getter!
Spent a week in Chicago training the Housing Authority ... the week of the Democratic Nat'l Convention.
And, taught the nice folks at the City of Daytona Beach .. the week before the Daytona 500. Stayed at an awful hotel and paid through the nose for the privilege.
That's a little detail that's nice to have housekeeping check when they clean the rooms - turn OFF any alarm previously set.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Understand, this was in the '80s. Today, just about everyone has a printer connected to their computer (ink jet or laser) that can do the same thing easily. I then was given the task of going to the different sales offices to do tech training on how it worked. From there, one of the offices (Cincy) needed someone to do not only tech training, but also sales support, until the sales guy who was selling it was let go (for not even coming close to his sales targets). They asked me to take over his role in sales. I never even sold a glass of lemonade at that point. I was a "techie".
But, I gave it a shot as it was a chance to get back home to OH. At the time, Kenner was HQd in Cincy. They went nuts over it (how the former sales guy didn't recognize the market need is beyond me). Others soon followed, P&G, Rubbermaid, Jergens, and on and on.
They then asked me if I would do strictly sales training on it. It was supposed to be a promotion (but I made less money). Took that position. That's how I ended up in Leesburg.
I think when Xerox went through their massive downsizing in the '90s, they sold off PARC, and I think the Leesburg training facility, too. But, I'm not certain of that.
A brief bio: Born in Indianapolis, I traveled far and wide across the state line to the Chicago suburbs where I currently reside. 43, married, no kids. Started my professional life doing IT operations & software testing back when IT was called DP. I managed PCs, LANs, and AS/400s (with a nod to the ex-IBMers in the discussion) through the 90s, focusing more on the midrange (AS/400) than anything else. In the early 00s I did more & more into IT Security and have done that full time for a number of years (I retain architecture control over our midrange systems but don't do anything day-to-day). I'm a CISSP, which means something if you do IT security but I'm sure means nothing if you don't.
I've been on call via pagers & later cell phones continuously since May '88. Which means I have to be good at my job or I get called when I don't want to be disturbed. My career history includes 7 employers if I'm counting them all, with my current also being the longest duration at 11+ years. They've ranged from manufacturers to pseudo-utilities to service providers of various sorts. I guarantee you've head of at least one or two of them; several are multi-national corporations.
First car was a 72 Impala with rusted out floor boards & a thirsty V8. Two months later I moved on and my dad sold me his Renault Alliance for $15. For a basic car for a young guy it wasn't too bad and got 40MPG for the couple of years I had it (dad was a lightfoot and got 50). I learned how to do basic maintenance on it. With about 140K on it I moved on to a stripped Sentra wagon with a 5 speed. Later, I picked up a Mercury Topaz stick which was a nice, comfortable car but about as reliable as the government is debt-free. As I'm mentioned it even had an unintended acceleration problem.
In '93, with less than 100K on the odo (it was the only car I've ever gotten rid of with less than 100K miles), I moved from the Topaz to a Mazda MX-3 GS coupe. That was a fun car and the first car I ever bought brand new. Not really much power even with the 1.8L V6 but it was very light and got 30MPG & the engine was insanely smooth, so much so that more than once when others would get behind the wheel they'd try to start it when it was already running. Gave it to my sister in '99 when I bought a Galant LS V6. And as I related three months ago I recently sold the Galant & bought a '10 Outlander GT.
Between my auto ownership experiences I was happily married, happily divorced, and am again happily married. I try to keep my wife happy as there's too much life insurance on my head.
Temps were in the 90s. Got pictures of a couple of us living it up poolside (food and drinks were flowing) after the tour and awaiting flights out. On the same roll of film (it was the 80s) a week later got pictures of wifey and I doing vehicle snow removal as the biggest snowfall in years blanketed the VB area. Swim trunks to snow shovels.
2013 Mustang GT, 2001 GMC Yukon Denali
Last spring, they had a group that traveled during spring break performing at various locations.
They put on a performance in our town, which we really enjoyed, and we hosted a couple of the kids overnight.
We set them up in the basement, which is a walkout. It has a futon, a couple of couches, stuffed chairs, a home theater, air hockey, wet bar, and full bath.
They were very easy to get along with and left us a very nice thank you note.
I'm sure they were told to do that, but it didn't seem like it was written because they 'had to'.
i think there are a lot of great kids out there.They will do well and buy a lot of new cars in the future. When they actually get a job.
so what do you think, health care looking up more than car sales in the future?
In the North End they were good; the folks in Southie, well, yeah, you're right.
As for Skyline vs. Goldstar, I've always been a Skyline guy. Growing up in Clifton, "our" Skyline was the one at Ludlow and Clifton. It's been there FORever and is the oldest Skyline operating continuously in the same spot. However, if there is no Skyline available, I'll take Goldstar. Two years ago, I took my wife and kids back to Cincy, and my mother came along. On the drive back, we stayed overnight in Lexington. But Lexington had THE last Goldstar we'd see going south, so my mom and I ate dinner there. My wife and kids could care less as they had enough chili after the first day in Cincy. Last trip to Cincy, I ate Skyline every day so I could build up my reserves. We can get it canned and frozen in ATL at Kroger, but it's just not the same :-( .
To bring this all back to cars, on the road trip from ATL to Cincy, we took our 2004 Expedition, and she performed quite well. Me, my wife, two kids, and my mother and ALL of our luggage for a one week trip along with a huge cooler fit in the SUV, and NOTHING went on top of the car or behind it. Our kids love the DVD player, and there's almost never a peep out of them on the long rides, though I do think they are missing a ton of Americana. Think about games like Punch Buggy, looking for "See Rock City" signs, and Roadway trucks! My kids will have none of that.(Remind me of National Lampoon's Vacation (and no, I've never seen the world's second largest ball of twine. Anyway, Expy averaged 19 - 20 MPG the entire trip.
on road trips, we always play the license plate game.
about 10 years ago, i bought a portable dvd player to use on our road trips.
there has always been a 2 movie limit, no matter what the trip, so my kids learned to bring books and other things to keep them busy.
now we have gotten to the point where they drive, i am the one watching the movie!
not sure how many long road trips my explorer has left in it, would like to buy a last of breed model. will probably hang on to it for a while.
the middle is pretty interesting, not what i expected, and it must have been tough.
we all have to be grateful where we are now, although sometimes you have to look back to appreciate it.
as far as vehicles go, i always started out on 4, but ended up with 3 one time and on 2 another.
I'll be 62 in June & have tended toward jobs involving travel most of my life. I'm a mechanical engineer by training and a traveler by nature.
Worked at the Four Corners Power Plant out of college (ASU) in '71, then did a sales job in western Canada (Danish sound & vibration measuring equipment) for four years -- got to drive my MGB, then my 240-Z, all over the four western provinces, plus air travel to TO, Montreal & Denmark. This was when I drove 1000 miles (from Saskatoon to N. Van) in 17 hours, along with dozens of middle-of-the-night drives back and forth among Edmonton, Calgary & Vancouver, with occasional visits to Regina or Winnipeg.
When I moved to B.C. I got into sailing, which eventually led to a trip to Wrangell, AK, to and from Victoria (where I kept my boat), via Pt. Hardy, Prince Rupert, Ketchikan & the Queen Charlottes. Hit Olympia, WA, the San Juans, the Gulf Islands & much in between over the four years I diddled with boats -- good times, really good times.
Followed the sales job with a couple of years working for an acoustical consulting firm in the Vancouver area, followed by teaching at BCIT in Burnaby (the teaching job was why I had the time in the summer to sail to Alaska). Working the union job at BCIT convinced me that I had to either quit or get used to the idea I'd be sucking at the Civil Serpant [non-permissible content removed] for the rest of my life. I quit.
That led to the 2.3 years of independent trucking, during which I leased myself & my Kenworth tractor to Boat Transit Inc in Costa Mesa (CA) -- hauled mostly overdimensional boats all over the U.S. & drove ~205K miles & hit 47 of the 48 contiguous states.
Divorce led to moving to the Phoenix area, where I went back to work for the aerospace firm I worked for while I was in school -- AiResearch/Garrett/Allied-Signal/Honeywell over the years. Was able to log 100K+ miles on rental cars, plus 22 trips to Taiwan (I was a United guy then), hundreds to other places & several over the past 10 years to Germany & England -- loved the weekend drives to Switzerland & the Lake District.
This has become my go-to board on Edmunds, where I've been posting for over a decade. Nice to hear what everyone else has been up to.
LOL I asked myself the same thing.
Leesburg was built, oh probably right after you left Xerox. They quit doing conferences or training at the Watergate. Huge facility.....like a college campus, restaurant, bar, nightclub, pianos in the common areas....first class in a beautiful setting. Didn't live there long....just short of two years. Enjoyed it, though.
I left Xerox right when things started going sideways for them. They couldn't see the forest for the trees, giving away what essentially spawned Apple OS and MS Windows. They were so focused on copiers (and at the time, typewriters), they couldn't see the bigger market coming down the pike in the '80s (PCs and personal printers). Of course, IBM made the same mistake back then.
No matter, Xerox was a spring board for bigger and better things for me. I was a "senior" person in the field with 10 years with the company. And, starting there in my early 20s, was one of the youngest guys with that kind of success and tenure.
Anyway, interesting to see everyone's background.
Back to cars, I mentioned a couple of months ago, I have a good friend who ordered a SHO. It's a very nice car. I thought it was a bit pricey (his MSRP was in excess of $46K). He told me last night that he noticed that Ford has put $1,000 rebate on them, now.
I think Ford got a little sticker happy with the SHO. We'll see as the 2010 MY winds down to an end whether they offer more rebates on them, or at least for the SHO.
Car companies should do what clothing and electronic stores do. If they offer it for sale in the next 30 or 60 days you should be able to take advantage of that.
I'd always buy clothes at a particular store, and I told them I always buy stuff here, then it goes on sale the next week. They told me of this policy....why not for cars.
2017 MB E400 , 2015 MB GLK350, 2014 MB C250
I think they're one of the largest Chryco dealers in the state, if that means anything.
IN short, I'm all for it. Would it ever happen? Probably not in my lifetime.
I remember when all of the internet car buying sites came on line. People were predicting the end of traditional dealerships since everyone was going to buy in a virtual world (same thing said about consumables like groceries, too). Some, like carsdirect have stuck around. But, the rest all fell by the wayside.