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better to buy where you intend to get it serviced?
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zues- I guess mine and other buyers mind set is more on routine maint service than warranty work. I, as a buyer, am hoping my brand new car does not need any waranty work. I am sure you have seen otherwise in your experience.
In addition, my dealer has been generally rude and unhelpful. Im not going to go through the details here, but I had an expectation, perhaps incorrect, that a "premium" dealer should provide "premium" service. Frankly my old Honda dealer Curry Honda in Yorktown Heights NY was fantastic and worlds above these guys.
Even Infiniti consumer affairs took over a month to respond to my inquiry. "Sorry for the inconvenience" was all that I got.
As far as premium dealers go, just ask my friend about his 99 lexus rx300 that had the oil sludge problem that toyota fought admitting to. They're car dealers. Yeah they have a more expensive product, but I have heard of just as bad or worse experiences from premium dealers as the regular ones.
Thats funny we have a Curry Honda in my area too.
You are correct regarding the variations in dealer quality regardless of price point. Many Infiniti dealers appear to go the extra mile for their customers, based on what I have read. Mine unfortunatly has an attitude.
audia8q,
>How much of a savings are we talking about???
About $2000 (plus the interest financed over 4 years)
>What is the service reputation of the dealer you intend to service your new car?
Dunno... I don't even know anyone that owns a Subaru.
>What kind of grief do you have to go through to save some $$$ at the other dealers to buy the car??
Nothing so far. I spent a few minutes via email to one of the dealers in Austin and that's it. I haven't been in the actual store so I don't know if there are any specific hoops I would have to jump through.
>How long do you plan on keeping your car?
I've had my Miata for about 9 years so I would anticipate having the WRX for longer if it holds up (which I expect it will). The only reason I'm getting a new vehicle is the Miata is no longer practical with 2 kids.
Thanks for all the input guys!
(I hope your kids knwo how lucky they are to do the WRX carpool thing!)
I wouldn't have even considered purchasing
there especially based on the way I was ignored for 30 minutes as I was searching the lot and office for a salesman. Perhaps it's because I'm female. In any case, they also sell VW, Audi, Lexus, BMW and have a reputation of being uppity not negotiating on sales prices.
On the other hand, my boss purchased her Jetta there and has had MAJOR electrical problems with her to the point that it's undrivable. She has run into nothing but dead ends in getting them to help. (The car IS out of the warranty by time, but barely out of warranty by mileage.)
Once you go down to the two dealerships we really don't know if they are working for your business or not.
Rich
give me 5 free oil changes and I'll come up $100 on the car's price...
finance your maintenance...what a deal!!!
In fact, the best deal I got their was the first car I bought, a 2001 CR-V in 2000. Paid $100 over invoice for it.
For the Matrix I just bought, I went about 3 hours out of town to get it b/c I was in town (KC) anyway, and the local dealer did not have any of the XRS models in stock. So I bought it at the out of town dealership instead of going home and paying the local dealer $100-$200 to send some guy to go get it from the out of town store.
If I have a warranty claim, will I take it to the local store? You bet. If they give me any guff about it, then i'll go somewhere else and never return to the local dealer...ever. I realize that it is the local dealer's right to refuse me warranty service, but they shouldn't expect it to engender any good will for the future if they do.
That eliminates a lot of the "you didn't buy it here" nonsense that I have encountered over the years.
It says right on the history where you bought it - I don't allow dealer tags or emblems either, though - they didn't give it to me for free, so I'm not advertising for them.
I have yet for the "you didn't buy it here so screw you" phenomenon to happen to me.
I also have yet for the "you've bought so many cars and spent thousands of dollars at our store so here's a freebie we don't give to just anybody" phenomenon to occur either.
I know that many of the pros that post here say that they do these things for their customers but they also appear to have a higher level of professionalism than any of the dealers that I've encountered around here.
About the only benefit I've seen from my repeat business is a bit more of a "here's the keys,: attitude come test drive time than I get at some of the other stores. That and the sevice techs know my by my first name...not necessarily a good thing.
Car washes, etc - that is more along the lines of some of the luxury brands ...
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzenvv0t/myexperiencewithtricountytoyota/
Also the sales force turns over so rapidly your salesman will be selling copiers by the time you bring the car back for service anyway.
Then again I have been here 14 years and have plans no of entering into the lucrative world of Copy machine Sales.
So depending on if you have a professional sales person or not would really be the deciding factor in this convo.
In those days, anyway, they hated warranty work in the first place since it didn't pay nearly as well as customer pay.
I heard the crusty owner of a small Buick Dealer tell a demanding customer once...
" If that Mega Store was good enough to cut my throat for a hundred dollars, they ought to be good enough to do your %$#@ warranty work and you ought to be able to find your way back there!"
I'm sure things are better these days.
I've had no problems getting warranty work done at the local Honda dealer but then I hardly ever have any and the reason I didn't buy at that dealership is that I bought an Ody when they were hard to find and tehy didn't have any.
Usually, when a customer sheepishly says 'I didn't buy it from you guys, but...', I grin and say I'll forgive them 'this time'
Of course the customer could add--"...but if you do a good job for me on this warranty work I might buy from you next time". Then if they give you a bunch of baloney they've lost a potential sale.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible