rjr49

4 dealerships only one dead battery. None of the salespeople knew much about Vettes. The last one was a young lady. Obviously new on the job. I appreciated her honesty. She was told that there wasn't much point to learning about Vettes because ALL the customers would know more than any sales people.

Maybe we are being to hard on them because that's undeniably true.

My puzzle was why none of them took any contact information. When I walked out they had no way to contact. That has happened at practically every dealership I have been to for the last 20 years.

JLMounce

It's sometimes hard to keep the batteries living on these cars when they're not being used. A dead battery is pretty common place, so I don't really fault a dealership for that. You can't always have a battery tender hooked up to a car, especially if it's in a showroom where having things setup nicely is more of a concern.

I've never had too much trouble buying cars. I generally upgrade or trade around every year and a hlaf to two years. The best defense against stupidity and the dealer charade is to be offensive in how you manage a deal. You know going in that a dealership is not going to sell you a car for below what they paid for it. At the same time you don't want to pay too much yourself.

Once you realize both of those items, it's easy to come to an agreeable term that benefits you and the business you are working with. It's also smart to go in with all your research done and knowing exactly what you can and can not afford. If you're taking out a loan, making sure your credit rating is where it should be and having pre-calculated what kind of outlay you can reasonably expect and afford to pay really cuts down on the amount of time you'll spend there.

I see a lot of people walk in to dealerships not knowing a clue about what they're doing. That makes it harder for the business to do their job, but certainly easier for them to exploit somebody at the same time.

I'm certainly not defending actual shady dealerships, there's many of those out there. But having some common sense and doing your diligence is highly beneficial to both your time and your checkbook.

Big Dan 427

And maybe walking in with a good attitude is helpful, leave the condescending, sarcastic self at home!!

Jim2003

I deal only with Bob Hook Chev here in Louisville. My salesman Tommy Lovelace is the top salesman in this zone area. He knows cars inside and out, including vettes. I bought my 97 Z-28 from him, then my 03 vette, and then my 13, plus numberous other family member cars.

They deal with you in a very above manner. The service dept was always great with my 03, if it was there over night it was always parked inside. My 13 has only been there for an alignment, but they still keep vettes inside at night. So if you live close to Louisville, KY come see Tommy Lovelace and tell him Jim sent you, he will take care of you.


On the other had Bachman Chev is a terrible dealer. The vetoes batteries are dead. The salesmen only worry about what color you want. They know nothing about cars. People in Louisville always have stories about this dealer and how they deal with you.

Ketchum

Part of managing a dealership is keeping battery's charged. It is a everyday on ongoing check and charge.

ADIBELC6

wow what stupidity over a dead battery. the biggest concern is how they didnt know how to open the car with dead battery. Oh and by the way during prep the battery is tested with the gr8 battery tester and charger and it prints a recheck date,but with say 300 cars in inventory and limited lot people also doing deliveries its hard sometimes to keep up.

laconiajack

I learned long ago the least knowledgeable people in the world regarding automobiles are the people selling them in automotive dealerships; well, that would be next to the people who come into the the dealerships to buy them. In Japan they have showrooms staffed by knowledgeable people who can answer the most detailed and in-depth questions about their cars, who then send "sales people" to your home if your interested in buying one of their cars. Any consumer who doesn't do "due diligence" before entering a dealership deserves what he/she gets, usually an inappropriate car for the buyer's needs. In the case of buying my first Corvette I spent months on the Corvette Forum, plus other similar web-sites, read every test report, article and book ever published on or about them, plus GMs own websites and releases (filled with inaccurate and misleading information), before ever approaching a dealership. When I did finally approach a dealership it was one staffed by fairly knowledgeable people who specialized solely in Corvettes, and who had a whole floor devoted to them. If you're surprised your tires only lasted 12,000 miles and their are no all-weather replacements to extend their safe use beyond dry summer days, then you didn't do due diligence, plain and simple. Buyer beware.

USA1 427

Nothing ticks me off more than salesmen who don't know what they're talking about or cars for sale with dead batteries.
When I bought my 13, I was torn between it and a Calloway that I wanted to test drive, but the battery was dead. Made my decision easy.
So sales guys.........keep those batteries charged if you're looking to make a sale.

rjr49

Given the electronics in these cars and the number of cars on the lot. (a local dealer had 50 Vettes on his lot last spring!) It can't be a surprise that batteries go dead. The surprise to me is that they are not ready to deal with it. The one dealer I went to with a dead battery had a battery cart. It was dead too. "Come on man"

No test ride that day. Left a card but they never called back. Could they have made the sale. Maybe, maybe not, but without a call back they never put themselves in a position to find out

FortMorganAl

OK, you walk into the dealership to order a car knowing exactly what options you want. You tell them here is what you want. It will be museum delivery so they will only have to do some paperwork. Here is what another has already offered in writing. Can you match it. After the saleman "makes an appointment" with his boss and you sit down in the corner office, they then want to start the negotiations $2,500 higher. After you point out again it is just paper and another dealer has already offered the same car at the first price, they lower their offer to $2,000 more. Now what do you say?

And this was the BEST of 6 local dealers I tried. Guess who I bought from and why I will never waste my time again with local dealers except as a "Lookie-Lou".

JLMounce

My question is why you were at that dealer in the first place? If you already got a good written offer from another dealer, why didn't you just accept that? That's the type of time wasting I'm talking about.

Remember, time is money. If you got a solid offer in the first place, why spend another 4-5 trips to other dealers trying to get them to match it? Sure, there's a possibility that you might save 500-1000, but if you're in an income tax bracket that allows you to purchase a corvette brand new and you spent an additional several days on that endeavor, you probably just ate up all that savings in your wasted time.

rjr49

If you can say that saving $1000.00 isn't a big deal you are way out of the league of a vast majority of Corvette owners. Personally I would give the local guy the last shot BECAUSE he is local. I know some of the guys that work there, convenience, and to establish a rapport

Having said that I bought mine 1500 miles away! But, only because I couldn't find a 2 - 3 YO vert, Npp, F55, NM6 in a subdued color any closer.

JLMounce

I wasn't saying that saving $1000.00 wasn't a big deal. I said that you may have spent that $1000.00 in wasted time.

People forget that dealerships are a business. They have to make money to stay in operation so they can sell you a car. They can't sell cars at a loss and do that. So, if you're talking with a dealer, or at a dealer and they give you a solid offer, it's probably in your best interest to take it. Because, a dealer that is going to give you a solid offer to begin with is going to be a lot easier to deal with down the line than a snarky one that wants to haggle a lot.

I'm not saying there aren't idiot and shady dealers out there. But in the case of FortMorganAl, those other dealerships didn't waste his time, he did.

Besides, if you want NCM, why the heck wouldn't you just call one of the great forum dealers? Work smarter, not harder.

wayback

When I went to buy my current AW 07 it was on the salesfloor with a dead battery. I guess it had been dead for quite a long time, as no one knew how to get into it. I used this in my barganing strategy and worked a good deal.....14k off and more for my trade (06 MR vert) than I paid for it. They also transfered my Corsa and DSV leather good over to the new car for free.

I also asked for a new battery of my choice and got it.

Needless to say they were shocked at how easy it was to get into the car.

AORoads

Except for the "exceptions" which makes them good salespersons, this is one of the few industries that allows their sales staff to know little about the product they are supposed to sell. In every other industry, or biz I've encountered if you don't know your products, you're gone very, very soon. But if we are lucky, almost every one of us knows at least one car salesperson who really KNOWS their stuff. Just one...

As to dead batteries, if (and most of us do) most customers for Corvettes knew that the charge may not last very long, they'd understand the process. Assume 10 Corvettes outside, all with dead batteries overnight. Does the dealer begin charging them at night---leaving expensive, or even inexpensive chargers outside? Does the dealer hook up ten chargers every morning? Does the dealer disconnect all cables until one is needed?

Let's understand that most cars' batteries on their lot do not die in a few weeks. They're just not prepared for or willing to do the charging and in some cases, it makes business sense (like not leaving chargers on overnight, outdoors).

This car, the Corvette, doesn't have the same charging/electrical capacity as your favorite ____(fill in the blank for make and model). But "we" don't know that until we understand this particular car.

Wayne O

Some salespeople are knowledgeable but they're few and far between. I agree the dealership sales experience sucks. The 'games' they play are beyond belief. I often buy new cars through what is in-effect a broker. I get a better deal and avoid the dealership hassles. Frankly, no matter why you do so you're better off paying cash for a new car and keeping it for 10 years.

FortMorganAl

How about it is easy to get advertised offers at 5AM on the Internet but I would prefer buying local? Also I said match it, not beat it. I would have gladly paid a hundred or so more for local over dealing through Fedex/UPS which is why I was looking local.

Yes, I'm in a bracket that allows me to pay cash for anything I want. But I'm "retired" and only work a few hours a week at this point. I can also do 90% of the work I do at any time of the day or night so taking a couple of hours off in the middle of the day doesn't affect my income at all.

You are totally correct in your assessment for most normal people. Unfortunately I'm not normal. I have time to try to find a local dealer who is knowledgeable and interested in selling lots of cars for a small profit each rather than a few cars at an exorbitant profit on each. So far I have not found one. I totally understand time is money and vice versa (which is how I got where I am) yet here we both are wasting "money" talking about cars and dealers.

N2TU

I don't like where this is going!

I thought we were talking about Dealers!?

rjr49

"Unfortunately I'm not normal"

Doesn't sound unfortunate to me. In any case I think we have beat this one to death.

TLS_Addict

JEEZ! If she told me they made a Corvette Table I would have said "Does it come with chairs?" j/k Yes, I have heard that same thing.

True, there are some good ones and those guys are good to deal with.

True.

Big Dan, I do agree. Issue is that when you are directed to a member of the sales staff who is the "Corvette guy" and he cant tell you how to turn off the traction control......there is a major issue. I have found the ones that are self proclaimed as such usually are not too bright.

I had it happen when I was buying motorcycles in the past and the dealer tell me some 'fact' that was no more a fact than me being in the movie 'COOL RUNNINGS' as one of the atheletes in the sled. hahah