Surprise! Everyone acts like going to a car dealer is approximately akin to being flayed alive like Marysas. A new survey of recent car buyers shows that this isn’t the case, with a lot of that positive growth coming from people buying used cars. People enjoy dealers! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!
In what will be less of a surprise, Maserati is going to delay yet more models as the company considers what it means to be a Maserati in the future. It was going to be an all-EV brand, and that’s probably still going to happen, but not without troubles. GM’s had issues with its EV production and that now extends to a recall for its Brightdrop delivery vans that you’ll have to see to believe.
And, finally, we now know what happened to Stellantis North American COO Mark Stewart. It’s good news!
People Like Buying Cars From Dealerships
If you’ve read this site for a while it’s probably obvious that our partner in this venture is the Galpin family of car dealerships based out of Southern California and run by our co-founder Beau. This is a great fit because we can do things like Trade-in-Tuesday and have access to an incredible amount of resources we otherwise wouldn’t have. That seems like an important disclosure for this morning’s Dump because the news about dealerships is quite positive.
Cox Automotive is out with its annual “2023 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study” and it includes a lot of the good intel you’d maybe expect for the present moment. For one, with prices so high, a record 68% of consumers were willing to consider new or used vehicles. Another big development that makes sense is that car buyers want an omnichannel buying approach with some mix of online and in-person shopping:
When it comes to car buying in America, the desired state is omnichannel, not entirely digital. According to the latest survey, only 7% of car buyers in 2023 completed 100% of the steps online, while 43% completed steps in a mix of online and in-person (at the dealership), and 50% completed all the steps in person. Used-vehicle buyers were more likely to cite in-person as the solution.
When asked about the desired state and how they’d likely complete their next purchase, 71% of consumers suggested that it would be an omnichannel approach, which seamlessly combines both online and in-person activity. Twenty-one percent of buyers suggested their ideal vehicle purchase process would be entirely online, while only 8% said they would do it entirely in person.
Given that both VinFast and Fisker have recently switched to an omnichannel approach this tracks. Even Lucid, which is purely online like Tesla, has undertaken roadshows and other events to get people in cars.
Ok, so all of this makes sense, but here’s the stat that will surprise y’all: 79% of new car buyers were happy with their new car buying experience. This is back to pre-pandemic highs, and a reflection that an improving car market makes everyone happier. Even more surprising is that a lot of this growth is led by used car buyers, who jumped from 70% to 73%. I’m assuming a lot of these people bought cars at a CarMax or Carvana and not a local buy-here/pay-here lot.
What’s the reasoning behind this improvement in consumer sentiment?
[I]mproved inventory levels, the return of discounting, and a further proliferation of an omnichannel approach to vehicle buying – seamlessly combining online and at-dealership activities – are delivering higher levels of satisfaction and reducing the time required to purchase a vehicle.
Dealers have managed to take about 80 minutes out of the car-buying process because, even though people are more satisfied with the dealers, the best satisfaction comes from getting the whole thing over as fast as possible.
Oh, Maserati
In theory, Maserati is going to be coming out with a new Quattroporte Folgore soon. The massive EV flagship sedan is going to be every bit a Maserati and every bit a big, fancy electric sedan.
Let’s check in on how that’s going, via Automotive News Europe:
The Stellantis premium brand has halted development of its Quattroporte Folgore battery-powered large sedan. Maserati did so because of “the need to take zero risks on the performance level of the new car,” a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe.
I think it’s important to make sure that anything Maserati does in the EV realm doesn’t blow up in its face given that, you know, Maserati can’t particularly afford a big hit to its already weak brand.
This is pretty much par for the course for Maserati. Remember the Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore that was supposed to be on sale last year? It’s apparently being delivered about now, to someone, somewhere, maybe.
Brightdrops Are Being Recalled For Fiery… Oil Leaks
GM will recall about 66 of its 2022 vintage of Brightdrop Zevo600 electric delivery vans over a risk of fires after two of the vans caught on fire. We drove one and really liked it, so this is a little bit of a bummer.
Let’s check in with NHTSA to see what the probable cause of this issue is:
The root cause of this condition is still under investigation, but GM’s initial
investigation indicates that these vehicles may contain a manufacturing defect
that, in heavy-duty cycle use conditions, can allow the drive pinion to cut its
way through the outboard side of the drive-unit case. If this occurs, it can
result in an oil leak that in heavy-duty cycle use conditions can lead to an
under-hood fire.
Having your electric van catch on fire because of an oil leak is a little funny, and demonstrates that, while people like to pretend like electric vehicles contain no fluid or complexity, the reality is that modern EVs still utilize a lot of parts!
What I’m Listening To While Writing This
Is “Black on Both Sides” my all-time favorite hip-hop album? Perhaps. Certainly, “Ms. Fat Booty” is my low-key favorite karaoke jam.
The Big Question
What was your last dealership experience? Were you satisfied?
My last dealership experiences were:
1) Receiving an insultingly lowball offer on my car when I took it in for a recall service.
2) As part of a different recall at the same dealership was told some parts should be replaced. A second opinion at an independent specialty shop claimed they were fine.
Bought an Odyssey last fall, and that dealer was pretty painless. They provided their best OTD price over the web (a few grand off MSRP), we came in for a test drive, placed a deposit, and came back a few days later to pick it up. There was a bit of back and forth over add-ons (they wouldn’t budge on items that were already on the car, but I did get them to stop installing anything else they had slated for it) and they did try the usual upsells (VIN etch, extended warranty, etc.). To me it wasn’t too much pressure, but my wife who’s not as familiar with all this told me she likely would’ve just agreed to all that and spent thousands on stuff we don’t need.
Grading on a curve it was fine, but you really need to know in general how the process works going in and be willing to say no. Having the price agreed to up front did short circuit a lot of the games they can play.
Satisfied, ok I’d agree with that. Highly Satisfied is a stretch. But my last experience (3 months ago) was pretty good.
I did get the new version of “how can I get you to take this home today”. Once I threw him the side-eye and made it clear that we don’t like being rushed he backed off. Didn’t stop him from texting us literally the next morning though. ironically, the few things he could have helped us with (details on the cars options and capabilities) he didn’t know.
But the rest of the dealership experience was good. I especially appreciated it when the finance guy said “we do have a lifetime lube/oil/tire rotation package… don’t know why you’d want that but we do offer it.” because it is basically a tire rotation package when its an EV.
Yeah, being “satisfied” with a car dealer is a fairly low bar to clear.
Didn’t get screwed over = satisfied = acceptable.
As we say in our performance reviews: “Meets All Expectations”
I also have to wonder how this survey was conducted. Were people asked about only the dealer they bought from? I wonder how those numbers might change if they included the entire process of searching for a car and attempts at making a deal at multiple dealerships, including the ones they ran screaming from.
Haven’t bought since the pandemic, but pre-weird times my dealer experience was mixed.
Seemed the older I got the better the experience. I haven’t been cornered in a salesman’s cube since I was younger or had a dealership lose my keys (3 hours to 2 days), so that is an improvement. Not sure if that is due to better dealers or something else.
Wanting to test drive a car is still a mixed bag of dealers wanting nothing to do with you when you say you are just looking at this point and the salesman reluctantly helping you, probably because they are bored.
The best experience seems to be when you do everything remotely and only show up to do the final paperwork. Thing is this only really works well for new vehicles and after having to put up with getting someone to let you test drive a similar model.
A while ago, when looking at leasing a new car we went to a dealer of a competitive brand because on the phone they offered a good deal – but when we got there the deal was not to be had, and the salesman asked to have the lease-turn-in car (competitive brand) appraised by his guys, at that point what the hell this should only take ten minutes, although highly unlikely this car was worth more than the residual. An hour and a half later we go to get the keys after watching the salesman shoot the shit with his coworkers in his office and then they fought me for the keys and had the manager yelling at us at the top of his lungs. We finally get the car back and then the next day, when we are doing a deal at another dealer, find that for some reason they had taken the registration and not put it back in the glovebox, so I call and ask for the salesman, get transferred to the manager who yells into the phone “I don’t have your fucking registration,” I called again the next day and left a voicemail with the salesperson who meekly responded that they did indeed have my registration and he would leave it with his receptionist to pickup.
In a strange coincidence I had two ways to get to the dealer’s owner (big dealership with many stores), but my research determined that his daughter ran this store, that the problems with the manager were well known, and it was unlikely anything I did would have improved anything so I let it drop. The yelling in the store was bad enough that if a policeperson was there they could have arrested the manager for assault. (we remained levelheaded, it was one-way yelling).
RE: dealership experience – we were choosing between two comparable models last year and dealer #1 gave us 3 or 4 itemized cost sheets and told us to get back to them when we decided while dealer #2 wouldn’t give us a cost sheet until we’d committed to a specific car.
We told them to fuckoff and went back to #1. So, sure I was satisfied with the experience with the dealer we purchased from but that’s covering up a lot of unpleasantness.
Having that itemized price up front saves so much BS. I’ll never buy from a dealer that won’t provide that up front.
My last dealership experience was apparently at the only decent Hyundai dealer on planet earth. They were genuinely great. They worked with me to track down an N, they let me put a refundable deposit on it, it wound up showing up two weeks early so I made up a bullshit excuse to leave work and go put it through its paces.
They had numbers ready. I didn’t like them, so I left and said I’d be in touch. It was at the very beginning of June so the specials were transitioning over. As I expected (it was the same the previous month), a 2.75% interest/$500 off MSRP coupon came up on their site. I sent it to my sales rep and said I’d take the car if given that special. He said sure, I drove out that weekend to sign everything, and I was in and out in an hour.
That is ABSOLUTELY NOT the norm for Hyundai/Kia dealerships. The horrible reputation they have is well deserved. I dealt with SO MUCH BULLSHIT trying to get an N. The first place wanted $3,000 over MSRP for an Elantra N that was listed at sticker online (thankfully this is about to be illegal). They basically had a post it note next to the Monroney that said “+$3,000”.
I called them on it, told them that it was listed for MSRP online, and that I’d literally buy it that day at MSRP. The sales manager came out and lectured me for a while about how “mArKuPs ArE nOrMaL” and assorted other crapola. I took his card, said “you know you have a buyer at MSRP, I’ll follow up later” and proceeded to walk out.
He then became seriously aggressive and started screaming at me. He told me I knew nothing about cars and that they didn’t give a shit that they had a buyer at MSRP because “someone will pay the markup” and I’ll be sorry. I was pretty offended but I wasn’t going to get down into the mud with him. I sent an email later reminding them I’d buy it and got no response.
Some clout chaser decked out in trendy clothes was out taking selfies by it when I left. It sold later that day with the markup, and whoever bought it got rid of it after less than a year and likely lost money because I came across it listed in the low 30s at a different dealership a few months later.
I then found another EN at another dealership and they wanted $2,000 over sticker, but assured me it wasn’t a markup and that it was for THAT CLEAR COAT! Some shit called a Silajet coating which I’d never heard of. I looked up how much it would cost (it was like $200 or something), sent them that info, asked them to produce a receipt that the work was actually done, and that I’d pay the actual price that it cost them over MSRP.
Naturally they went radio silent. These cretins do not like being called on their bullshit. Anyway, fuck dealerships…slash how gullible is the average buyer? Are there literally people that walk in, hear “paying over MSRP is normal and everyone does it!” and say “well if that’s the case I’ll pay more” to themselves?
…don’t answer that.
There is a local Honda dealer that proudly stated that they sell only at MSRP + add-ons + TTT because Honda vehicles are just that good. I wouldn’t be able to get a better Honda deal in the city. Technically true since they were the ONLY Honda dealer in the city. I tried to deal with them, but in the end I had to tell them it was a no-go since I don’t pay MSRP+ because I can and did find the exact same vehicle at two other dealers within 150 miles for OTD of MSRP alone.
They were very geographically market focused since there wasn’t another Honda dealer within at least 60 miles. Heck, I’ve even flown to get a car in the past because it was still a better deal than I could get locally.
Oh I believe it. My next car purchase in the distant future is going to be something truly special. Things will change a lot between now and then but if I had to put a shortlist together today it would include a new BMW M2, a used Lexus RCF, a certified 911, and some other stuff.
I wouldn’t hesitate to travel hundreds of miles for a good deal on any of them. I live in DC and in my area literally everything is more expensive, especially luxury cars. There are way better deals to be had if I’m willing to travel.
Maybe Kia/Hyundai dealers are getting better?? My local police blotters has been having fewer trips to the Kia dealer (for shady dealer tactics) than in previous years, although I did see one for the Hyundai dealer a month or two ago (which previously hadn’t had any)- maybe the staff jumped from the Kia to the Hyundai dealer?
Clear Coat? Gotta get that TruCoat!
Yeah, screw the bad dealers
My KIA dealership, despite the sterotypes, has been awesome, too. I like their service department as well and have all of my car service done by them. They don’t try to upsell stuff, are competitive on pricing, always have the vehicle ready at the time promised, and clean it for me inside and out as a courtesy, to boot. I’ve purchased 5 vehicles from them over the last 15 years. There truly are some good Hyundai and Kia dealerships out there. Not all of them are pond scum.
The problem is this data means nothing when there is little to no alternative to buying cars.
The satisfaction is that THIS dealer you worked with wasn’t as big a pain as a previous experience at another. 79% of people didn’t want to go to an alternative dealer is the real meaning of the stat. Not that the experience was actually good.
I guess I was unsatisfied. So, been trying to by the new Z. I live in rural New England, so figured the amount of people wanting the new Z around here is probably just me. And there’s only one Nissan dealership. Match made in heaven. I make my way downtown, and hit the dealership. I get some dude who’s been there a week, and I’m like “one Z please”. And he was like “sure”. So, dude goes to talk to another dude, and word gets around. Next thing you know, I’m talking to the grizzled old vet of this Nissan Dealer. And this dealer had a Z, we’re sitting like six yards from it.
So, I ask if I can buy the car. And he was like “no”. I’m shocked Pikachu face. There is widow slip, and no sign of the car being sold. So I asked why. Dude proceeds to do a whole song and dance about how special the car is. Then he’s like, maybe we can make an exception for you. In a painfully obvious display of salesman theater. Guy leaves, probably talks some trash to his co-workers. Comes back, hits me with a 12k ADM. And I was like “no”. He goes shocked Pikachu face. I tell him MSRP works for me. Doesn’t work for him. Tell him “alright, I’m going to head out”. I’m headed out, this grown man is following me telling me 72k or whatever for a Z isn’t a bad deal and you won’t find another one. I’m pointing out our surroundings, asking which one of our neighbors is about to trade in their Subaru Forester to reclaim their dreams of Golden Age Nissan.
Anyways, this scenario played out at two more dealerships. One said they would sell the car the car at MRSP and I took the train down to Boston twice and everything, real ordeal. Almost bought one at Maine’s only Carmax. Odd place for a Z to land a few months after release, but it was closest to MSRP. but the vibes were off and they got weird about the not using them for financing thing.
I’m guessing those 79% weren’t trying to buy the new Z.
“Golden Age Nissan”…that made it for me. Perfectly played, esp for a guy like that.
You have a skill that so many people don’t have. Walking away even when you went the distance, figuratively and literally speaking.
Being willing to walk out, and away is what works for me. It’s a bit of extra effort but worth it. Life is too short to play their games. I tell each dealer rep that within 30 seconds of meeting them. They still want to play games though. Screw them.
I have not yet seen a new Z in the wild. I think I might know why now.
It was odd, it’s not even the most expensive Nissan! I have thought about going back and asking to buy a GT-R just to see what would happen.
I posted a similar comment a few weeks ago. I think I’ve seen one. And I live in a major metro area. Plenty of people with money here to buy a toy.
Checked the Nissan dealers in the area and they still have some up on pedestals with markups.
Think they really overplayed their hand with these when they were new and hot, and people moved on.
Wow, this was great just for the story!
My brother in Christ…how could you be interested in a Z when its closest competitor is powered by God’s own engine, our lord and savior the B58? Blessed be the B58. May we all ride into Valhalla powered by six glorious cylinders in a row while achieving excellent fuel economy and listening to the angels sing through the exhaust.
B58 is love. B58 is life. No ancient Nissan V6 can hold a candle to the most glorious of German engineering.
As confusing as my name is, I’m mainly a Nissan guy. My business primarily works on Infinii (since no one else will) now. Tbh, VR30 is a pretty good reliable motor. Also the Z is a better looking car in person. Shame you don’t see them literally ever.
Oh they look great. I saw one in the wild recently.
I think overall the experience has improved, at least for a good deal of the dealerships. There’s more information out there, and the average buyer is at least a little more prepared than in the past. Many dealers have adjusted to the new reality.
Also, boomers are now basically out of the car sales game, which helps A LOT. I’ve had a few Harry Wormwoods try to sell me cars that made me never want to step into a dealer ever again. The recent millennial sales people we’ve bought cars from seem to understand that I’m not interested in playing a game of chicken when out shopping for a car. They’re chilled out and seem to understand their role in the process. If there’s something that people my age fucking HATE, it’s having to deal with confrontational, hard sale pricks. I think more of the current crop of salespeople feel the same way.
So after a lot of bad experiences, my recent ones have honestly been pretty solid. We’ll likely be repeat customers to those places, and we refer people to the salespeople who treat us well. To the places that perpetuate the old sleezebag culture model (I still know a few), get bent.
Kia dealership good experience in 2014. It was clearly a bait and switch advertisement, but that’s what I wanted. I was in and out in a couple hours. Finance guy was a pressure salesman, but final took my no as a no.
Used car dealership, semi good. Buying a car for my son. we took the test drive. I checked it over in a parking lot. took it for a longer freeway test drive. Offer a cash price. Sales guy called the owner and the deal was done in about 30 minutes. I said semi good above, because I didn’t know this owner had a habit of sitting on titles because he sat on his tax pay outs on his side. DMV finally pressured the owner to fax the documents over to them after my second temp plate. Guy folded up the dealership 6 months later.
I’ll be honest, I bought a ram 2500 back in July. I had no problem getting a test drive. Then I asked for a written OTD quote and it was supplied instantly. No BS fees, no upsell, no add-ons. I told them I had to think about it and talk with my wife. They said OK, and I left. Called that night, and put a deposit on via phone. Went in 2 days later with a check from my credit union and left for exactly the price they quoted. The finance department did offer some warranty and other add ons, but didn’t push when I declined.
Best purchasing experience I’ve had.
We were similarly happy with the Honda dealer back in 2019 for my wife’s pilot.
My experience with the “talk to my wife” take is that the turds then usually want to start some shit about who has the balls in the family.
That ALWAYS is my signal to say Fuck off, and go somewhere else.
My last used car purchase was at a dealer and it was a pretty good experience. He was a one-man operation working out of some sort of communal location shared amongst other dealers.
It was obvious he knew cars when first meeting him, the website advertised being open to PPIs (even provided a link to a mobile PPI if desired), and was particular about the cars he bought at auction to resell. On the outside they all looked to be in very good condition.
I didn’t want to pay cash outright for the car, so I paid 50% and the dealer had a relationship with a local lender who could easily finance the rest. Turns out very few banks were willing to finance a vehicle from 2006 when I tried calling around for competitive rates, but the rate I from the dealer’s lender was pretty good. It wasn’t one of those buy here/pay here situations with crazy interest rates.
So I’d have actually filled out a positive survey if I was provided it.
My recent dealer experiences is thus, sales side was easy and straight forward, finance was good, presented their usual package spiel but had no problem when we turned them down. The problem lies in the service department. God are they clueless, unhelpful, and have no sense of time.
Matt, thank you for posting this about dealership experiences. Also thank you to all the commenters reporting positive experiences.
I work at a dealership. I started here in sales and am now in the collision center. I’ve also worked as a service tech and service advisor at other dealerships.
I agree that the vehicle buying experience can be a mixed bag. I’ve also had poor experiences buying cars. It depends heavily on the individuals you interact with as well as the particular location. I feel the industry as a whole has been forced to change as buyers are generally much better prepared than they used to be and I feel the vehicles themselves are generally much better than days of old. Of course you’ll rate an experience as “poor” if you feel you were pressured into buying a shitbox and hate the car days after you purchased it.
Being a car salesman is a balance between giving the customer exactly what they want versus giving them what they can afford and what car works best for them. Believe it or not, a salesman may be acting in (what he feels) is your best interest when steering you towards a certain vehicle, trim, or options. The key is communication, the salesperson should communicate why they are pointing you in one direction or another.
Granted, salespeople need to get paid. They’re human too. This can lead to conflicts of interest where the need to best help the customer is at odds with goals of the dealership to push a certain car or the quest for the most profit.
When I was selling, I wasn’t the top salesperson or the most profitable. I was consistently middle of the pack in sales and had high customer satisfaction scores and many repeat customers. I was good with that. I genuinely wanted to help people get the best vehicle for them.
It really helps both sides when the customer is well informed, at least it helps salespeople who aren’t sleazebags. A shady salesperson wants you to be clueless so they can more easily manipulate you. A good intentioned salesperson welcomes customer input and views the process as a collaborative to achieve a positive outcome for both parties. The customer also needs to realize that a car dealership and salespeople cannot survive without profit. Therefore, it is unrealistic to think that you can go into a showroom like a bull without regard for the humans your are interacting with and will have a great experience. You may get a good deal, but no one will be happy at the end.
Much of it comes down to the same basic principles as many things in life:
Prepare as best you can.
Have an open mind.
Be humble and kind.
Treat fellow humans with respect.
Be realistic about your expectations (and finances).
Thanks for reading my ramble.
When I bought my namesake vehicle, the salesperson was great — knew the product and options and found what we wanted. A+ for that guy. Then we had the mandatory talk with the {very bad word} finance guy who wouldn’t stop pushing the TrueCoat™ serial number stickers the dealership stuck on the van, saying buying this “insurance” would result in 100% replacement of the vehicle should it be stolen. The finance guy took no for an answer the third time on the TrueCoat™. There were several other TrueCoat-like add-ons finance guy pushed, too. D- for the finance guy, who really wasn’t there to help us complete the sales paperwork, but finance the dealership owner’s new boat.
How to rank our experience? A+ for the salesperson who walked us through the option sheet and found our van? Or D- for the TrueCoat™ pusher? Or an average of the two?
The key (as alluded to by others here) is to set clear expectations with the sales person at the introduction. The buyer has the final say, wields all the power in the transaction, and is in charge of directing the process. Whether it’s for a car or any other negotiable good/service, the buyer must lead. If you do that, then everything is gravy.
Conversely, The people who have trouble at a dealership are, more often than not, the reason for the poor experience. One must always know their personal “why’s” that are the reason for the purchase and stick firm to what answers them. If you don’t do that, it’s all on you.
Folgore?
Fulgur.
Simca Fulgur.
The time is right.
“The massive EV flagship sedan is going to be every bit a Maserati “
So, overpriced, overly-complex, filled with re-branded Ferrari parts and very expensive to maintain. Oh, and very unreliable. Sign me up for that!
While I have had good dealership experiences, it comes from being properly prepared, and having all research done before even setting foot in store. When I have tried to help friends shop for a vehicle, where they just want to go test drive a few cars, it’s a nightmare.
The fact that people are satisfied tells me they are expecting to pay high prices, so the dealer is happy to sell them vehicles at high prices. It’s when you are working toward the very best price, that squeezes the salesman’s commission and the dealers’ profits, that things get contentious. People these days would rather just spend that 2-5k extra to avoid that. Its almost like they are making $2k per hour to compensate for the extra paid instead of doing the extra leg work.
Dealer surveys should be taken with a grain of salt. They usually pressure you to give all tens on the survey as they get hit hard if you don’t. They’ll jump through hoops sometimes if they think you might not.
Thank you! I was shocked by the high numbers and then I remember the last time I had my car serviced at a dealership. The guy literally told me he could be fired if I didn’t rate him all 10s.
Most people don’t want the salesperson they’re dealing with, regardless of if he was mediocre at his job, to have his compensation destroyed by a mediocre review.
It’s been made clear by every sales person I’ve had that perfect reviews are basically a requirement, so that’s what we’ve given, because we’re not trying to be dicks, lol.
I hate that so much. A scored survey is statistically useless if 10 = “Good” and 1-9 = “Unacceptable”.
I don’t know why dealers waste everyone’s time if that is how they are going to interpret the surveys. What they should do instead is just make all the questions binary: “Were you satisfied with [X]? YES/NO”.
My dealership experiences over the decades have bounced between “I hope that place burns to the ground” to “I think the sales guy and I should hang out sometime”. My last two experiences, which admittedly were not very recent, were both mostly positive. I’ve had both better and worse experiences in private-party purchases, so I sort of chalk it up to “You win some, you lose some”.
Even when a dealership experience has been smooth, I still feel like I’ve been ripped off and just haven’t realized it yet. This is probably due to social conditioning or a lack of a full understanding of the dealer side of the process. But then I walk into a place and get cornered by a high-pressure salesperson who doesn’t know the vehicle and that feeling gets reinforced.
I think it depends more of the sales person than the actual dealership. When I got the Blazer, my sales guy was awesome, everything was fast and crystal clear, followed up questions by emails, etc. When I went back to see what are my options for my next lease, the guy retired. First time I went, this new guy was pressuring me to get a truck in a color or spec I didn’t wanted. Second time I went and said I didn’t had a sales person, they assigned a different one, asked for a different vehicle and they just didn’t seem to engage to answer questions like if I was not a serious buyer.
I decided to do a lease buyout directly from my credit union and sent the documentation to GM Financial.
Last 2 dealership experiences, yeah pretty good. With the last one being the trip to get the Beige Unicorn where the dealer owners picked me up from the airport (Wilmington, NC) and drove me to the business near Camp Lejeune. They didn’t try to bullshit me, no extra crap, just in, out, done. The one before that was buying the Camaro, once again, worked out great.
Now the first Camaro dealership experience (Jeff Wyler Chevy in Eastgate) was the time they tried to hold me hostage when I didn’t even want to buy the car, strictly just looking. That was terrible, very very slimy and gross and I felt violated.
Wyler is the WORST!!! Bought our ’17 Leaf from them and a year later discovered that it had used rims on the front and the tires wear badly but no amount of alignment can seem to fix it. I suspect it got curbed while still at the dealership. Years later we went back as a “cover all our bases” exercise and the salesmen cornered us, told me I didn’t know anything about EVs (pulled up in a Bolt and led with “We bought our Leaf here”) then told me I couldn’t possibly have gotten the deal on that original Leaf that I said I did.
Never again will I set foot in a Wyler joint where “Cars, like eggs, are cheaper in the country.”
I have often been a lonely voice in this comment section when I say my dealership experiences have mostly been positive.
I communicate ahead of time vis phone and/or email so I don’t need to haggle much, if at all, once arriving. I make it very clear that they need me more than I need them, so if there are antics, I have no problem leaving.
The appeal of dealers is that if one treats me poorly, there’s another one just down the road or the next state over who will sell me exactly what I want without a fuss. I’m patient and determined and have a low tolerance for BS.
Ditto, I think the salespeople recognize a prepared buyer and drop the pressure. These days you can do the entire transaction through email and sign the papers at delivery, after all a new car is a commodity like any other mass produced product.
My last dealership experience was just fine, and my family’s recent experiences have been so good they’ve gone back to buy from that dealer again. It the numbers are that high for positive experiences, it kinda winds up sounding like one of those issues that gets amplified online in this weird journalist echo-chamber where “of course that’s the right opinion, everyone thinks that!” Turns out to not quite be the case in the actual broader market.
I thought of your comment when reading this line:
BHPH lots are fine if you go in with a clear head. In that respect they aren’t different from any other dealership. Despite their poor reputation among people with the “right opinion”. Personally, I’d never buy from a CarMax or Carvana.
I like the BHPH places because they fill a niche for the low end, are usually just a family guy trying to feed the kids, and are really straightforward because they don’t have quotas or sales managers breathing down their necks. As long as you understand that you are buying an auction car with no known provenance you are probably going to be fine-ish.
Yeah I think you’re right about that. There’s a number of used car dealers around here that almost certainly play to that segment of the market that doesn’t have the resources to go to a brand new dealer. The stuff looks in decent shape and cared for, rather than just random beaters from FB Marketplace. At the end of the day you still have to run a business, and if your reputation is garbage, then you won’t get very far. Buying a beater with no provenance cheap on FB marketplace the seller doesn’t really have that to worry about so there is less of that accountability.
I mean hell, we bought a few cars from a local used dealer who picked up stuff at auctions.