[therhino]

I'll share my input in hopes that it helps dealers & buyers have better transactions.

I JUST PURCHASED FROM A DEALER WHO:
1. Gave me a great price right up front Beat everyone else's price with first quote. Working with the dealership's internet manager is the way to go baby! Brought the email in and that is what I paid!
2. Knew what they had in stock, knew products well
3. EVERYONE at dealership was pleasant/professional. Important: they spoke well of each other-not in competition against each other. Team atmosphere.
4. No surprises anywhere. Finance didn't push options. Finance dept. came up with a better interest rate than I could from my bank.
5. Salesperson did a thorough walk-through of all van's features after sale
6. Great follow-up: They drove 30 miles with a loaner to pick up our van for the fuel pump recall.

I WALKED AWAY FROM/NEVER AGAIN TO RETURN:
1. Basically, the instant I detected any form of a lie, I walk away. . . even if I am told they made a "mistake". Can't believe people make so many "mistakes" with $25,000 products!
2. Any form of "bait & switch". Ex: One price verbally, a diff price on paper.
3. When manager & salesman argue over price - as if both don't know what they let these thing sell for every day. How simply stupid!
4. Anytime I feel someone is trying to manipulate me or "handle" me. Includes lying to me about my credit score to up my financing - until I showed them the print-out from Equifax!
5. The icing on the cake is when you walk away after being so mistreated and they try to make you feel bad for wasting "their" time! The nerve!

CONCLUSION: My wife and I both have very public careers and have been telling many people about how well we were treated and how good a deal we received. This has got to be worth thousands worth of advertisement to the dealership. Word of mouth sells a lot of cars, so DEALERS, treat customers right!

 

[therhino]

I think they should make forum threads like these required reading for all car salespeople!

sahm - I feel for you. . . Most salesMEN treat women as if they know nothing about mechanics. My wife is a teacher, and although she is not into the mechanical stuff, she doesn't like to be talked down to or "handled".

Actually, we test drove a van where one of her former students was our salesman. . . It was funny how nervous he got around her! The sad thing was that he knew very little about the van [didn't know where the spare tire was, didn't know if it came with headphones, etc!] When we left, I asked her how he did in school, and she said that he had poor grades & rarely studied. . . Hmmm. . . Guess his habits haven't changed.

The dealership we purchased from [see earlier post] employed very professional curteous people. Our internet sales manager was a lady and she was actually the one who demonstrated the van features to us before we left. My wife was very impressed with her demonstration. When we told her we owned an Accord, she quickly skipped common features like the mirror controls, turn signal, lights, etc. She was concious of our time [it was getting late] and dedicated her efforts to the stuff people have more trouble managing [like the remote, rear doors, DVD, etc.] She even gave my wife some hints on stowing the back seat using less effort.