Quote:
Originally Posted by mines13
I intended no "love it or leave it" rhetoric. I was making an extreme point about the "cut the dealerships out" model; the commentary was on how absurd it is to make such blanket statements about all dealerships in the US. Here in America, and several European nations I might add including (sighted) the specific western European nations of Germany, UK, etc. many dealerships are franchised. To claim that the franchised dealership model is "messed up" is pretty absurd in it's own right. To compare your singular experience with EVERY dealership in the US is just well, nuts. I have had great experiences in US dealerships and poor experiences in others. I am free to take my money and spend it where I wish and am in no way obligated to one dealership if I do not like how I am treated, or how they run their operation. If you want to comment on a specific dealership you have had experience with, fair enough. but one or some is not all.
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Mines, I've probably owned more cars in my life than you've ever driven. Only a tiny, tiny portion of those cars were bought from individuals, so yes... I have a ton of experience being on the purchasing side of a sales desk. Have all car dealers I've ever worked with been assholes? Nope. There was one... ONE... that didn't make me feel utterly dirty by doing business with him and his dealership. (Mind you I'm not saying that it was a great and happy buying experience, but that it was simply on par with a purchase somewhere like Macy's or Subway). As for the others? Off the top of my head I can easily think of 10 dealerships...
ten... I had to do business with, on the other hand, that left me with a feeling like I'd had to entertain an admitted pedophile at family dinner. Those are just the really bad experiences that stand out in my mind. And don't give me that "just go to another dealer" crap; when you live in the midwest, and there's only four Subaru dealers within a four hour drive of you, and three of them are owned by the same people... shopping around isn't an option. (Not that it would matter much; I love Subaru's dearly, but have yet to walk out of one of their dealerships without wanting to punch somebody in the face).
You're not seeing the forest for the trees: I don't begrudge salesmen a profit, it's HOW they make their profit that pisses me off. Misleading individuals about availability of cars. Playing the whole "well I can get that info for you, just let me get your number and email address first..." bullshit game. The aforementioned $300 wax jobs and $500 applications of Armor-all. This is all bullshit profiteering off of uninformed people, usually under high-pressure sales tactics. And what if you are informed? Do you know how many dealerships I've had to get positively ugly with the sales staff to the point of walking out mid-purchase because they won't take "No" for an answer on a lot of that crap? More than 50% of the dealerships I've purchased at. More than half. And you wonder why we hate on the dealership model? Most salesmen don't know the correct horsepower rating of the cars they sell, but treat you like an idiot for not falling for their stupid markup crap. Again, I'm speaking from a helluva lot more purchasing experience than most of the people on here.
As for dealers on this forum taking it personally, how can I put this... Speaking as a purchaser, we don't hate you, per se... we hate your job. It's like the guy who ran Saddam's rape-rooms. I'm sure he was a nice guy: called his mom on weekends, had a family, maybe even scrap-booked. Doesn't excuse the fact that his job was running freakin' rape-rooms!!! Same situation with you guys: I don't care how honest you think you are in your business dealings, you're still nothing more than a middle-man put there as a result of some stupidly misguided Federal trade laws. I
want to be able to walk into a car showroom, get honest answers as to what it will take to get exactly what I'm looking for, give them money, receive car. That's IT!!! Scion's getting close to that with their Pure Pricing scheme, but even some dealers (there's that word again) are managing to mess that up.
So like Ash was asking: what has the dealership model done that's GOOD for the consumer?