919cw313

z06inVB

I was in the market last year to buy a new Ram 1500 Quad cab 4x4. My only hard requirement was limited slip and 3.92’s. I found one about 30 miles away and went over to look at it. I get Affiliate pricing so I knew my numbers already. I also was pre approved at my CU for 2% financing for 60 months.

When end I got to the dealer a salesman came right up showed me the truck I wanted. We drove it and I gave him my affiliate PIN number and my CU name and said write it up. Well next thing I know the manager comes in and wants to talk. So I prepare for the BS. Well turns out he wrote a deal coming in 500 less on the truck without using the Affiliate PIN and sense he was a network dealer with my CU he got my rate down to 1.75 %.

All this his and I get free inspections for life and oil changes for two years free. Now that’s service. Wish all dealers were like that.

FortMorganAl

But I'll drive 2K round trip to pick a new Corvette at the museum any week.

cmonkey713

When I bought my C-6 we walked into a dealership and asked if they had a new black C-6 in inventory. The salesman looked at me with a puzzled look and said "That's one of those big ol'e trucks ain't it?" We left.

FatsWaller

A few more thoughts on this:

Yes, the car dealers need to run their businesses so as to not lose money. From what I've read, and what I've been told, there's not that much profit in the sale of a new car; the sale of a used car has the potential for a much higher profit margin.

However, the sale of any car represents a potential revenue stream in terms of service and accessories. I have to admit that I'm no longer in the business of doing routine oil-changes - it's more hassle than it's worth. I can do brakes, but not tires. And, I've found that the local chevy dealer is more or less trustworthy who I figure won't drop my car off of the lift, or put too much oil in, with a service adviser that I can work with. So, I end up there on occasion. Just listening in (eavesdropping if you will) as people get presented with their bills, they are often $500 and up. I usually hear figures over $1000. We could argue all day whether or not these are fair prices, but the point is that they make a lot of money on service.

The point that follows is that if you are not local (i.e. you drive in with an out of state plate, or have some other non-local sticker), they know you are not coming back. Maybe I give them too much credit, but if I was running their business, I'd certainly try to get the sales force to sell to local customers (i.e. within a reasonable distance) where possible, with a manner that would entice them to come back for service. So, if they were getting a lot of action on a particular car, they might wait a bit to try to sell it locally, and discourage the visitors. If they were that organized.

Cygnus

I certainly get that logic, however without obvious signs that the potential customer was an out of the area buyer, they would have to take a minute to ask some basic questions. Maybe something like, "so where are from".

Now maybe I simply think a bit differently. If I were a car salesman, and someone drove up in a Corvette and asked about another Corvette, my first thought would be "this should be easy". I wouldn't have to spend any time "convincing" the buyer about the advantages of a vette.

From my experience, most vette people tend to know other vette people. If I were a car salesman, I would think that it would be in my best interest to make a good impression. A happy customer might just tell others about their experience. They might take pics of their new car, share it on facebook or whatever, brag about it a bit and I might get even more customers as a result.

Maybe it's just me, but a happy customer seems to be a much better investment of time and effort.

FAUEE

Well that's because Cosmo sucks. He knows his business, and it's selling online. Unless you know someone there, you don't exist if you're in person. Even if you do, you only half exist. Lots of people just stop by there to look at the fancy cars.

Everett only wants to sell trucks. That's what they sell, that' what they make money on. There's a few guys there that sell vettes, but you have to reach out to them. Easier to sell a truck than a Vette really.

Carmax, I've never had issues with them. They dongonthrough a lot of cars there, especially sports cars for some reason. He was probably just being honest with you, I've seen cars only be there for a day before.

Hickory is a weird market. Small town that sells a TON of cars. The Dodge dealer is the worst, they basically only do business online. They're good at that, but they don't do walk in really. But the days of uncontacted, walk in sales are long gone. People who walk in aren't serious buyers, serious buyers come in online or phone.

FAUEE

So true. The worst part is that these cars and owners are so particular, it costs way more time to sell to them. As a business they'e going to make way more money ignoring the picky vette buyer and selling several suv trucks or more mundane cars.

Cygnus

In general terms I would agree with you, but when someone shows up to see a specific car that a dealership has been posting online for a month, there isn't a lot to be picky about.

It isn't like we weren't perfectly clear in our intention. We were there to see 1 car with cash in hand.

It had all the options the wife wants, the mileage, and even had some extra little things like a spoiler package that was just a bonus.

This would have been a 30 minute deal if they had bothered to care even a little about selling the car.

As long as it ran right and hadn't changed in some major way since they took the pics, this vette would have come home with us. No question about it.

NYC-Style

I guess I'm just a little surprised that someone with the intention of buying would not have called ahead considering it was a two hour drive...yeah the service was lacking but you could have saved yourself the trouble by calling ahead and arranging an appointment to meet with someone specifically in regards to that vehicle...oh well good luck!

919cw313

Yes!

919cw313

Null Pointer

I also did not have a good experience the first, and only time, that I went to Fred Beans Subaru in Doylestown. Sounds like things haven't changed much since I left the area. I remember being treated very fairly at Fred Beans Ford at first, before he and Thompson started buying up all the other dealerships in D'town.

User Omega

This story is near unbelievable. I have never experienced this from a dealership. They are usually sharks fighting one another to get a sale.

CrystalRedTed

I'd find another dealer. There are a lot of them out there and the variance between them is surprisingly wide. I've interacted with three local Chevrolet dealers recently with very different experiences. When I was shopping for a car Dealer 1 was somewhat disinterested, made me stand around waiting even though I had an appointment, and then finally showed me a car that didn't match their ad. After I bought a car (not from them, but privately), I called Dealer 2 to try to find out service and recall history - they were unhelpful, disinterested, and rude. When I called Dealer 3 they were friendly, helpful, and even excited about my car. You don't have to guess which dealer will have my business in the future.

I have been driving for many years and have never owned an American car before my Corvette. Other than the Corvette I've only driven a GM vehicle maybe 3 or 4 times and all but one time were rental vehicles (the other was a Cadillac track day). My first experience with these dealers will not soon be forgotten and I was certainly surprised with the lack of customer service discipline displayed, especially since they should know that a Corvette owner is usually an enthusiast.

Cygnus

Here is my logic. We went to look at 3 vettes on this day. All were within spitting distance of each other. All 3 had been online for more than a month, all are base models, and all roughly priced the same.

Maybe in some other areas of the country 06/07 base models sell fast, but here they tend to sit for a bit.

If the 1st dealer had bothered to act like they wanted to sell the car, or had sold it prior to us arriving, no one would have ever heard about this interaction.

The 2nd dealer treated us very well, we simply passed on the car, no hard feelings.

The 3rd dealer treated us very well, they were in the process of selling the car when we arrived, again no hard feelings.

On top of that, this past Saturday was quite beautiful and gave us the opportunity to pull the top off and enjoy a nice long drive.

While I am hoping to get the wife another vette of her own sooner rather than later (so she won't be driving mine daily) it isn't the biggest deal in our life.

Now if we were out looking for another numbers matching show car, the way we'd go about it would be different, but we are simply looking for a run of the mill daily driver.

flyercatz77

Must be an epidemic. Trying to buy the wife an 18 Kia Sorento. Talked to the salesman/sales mgr. about what I want and and say they will call back and never do. I to have cash in hand. Strange times we live in.

dryadsdad

I had a highly similar experience with a local dealer, Mark's Casa Chevrolet. It had a nice C6 on the lot. I called but nobody had any idea of details or price.

So I went in to be told only the used car manager could handle this deal. Still no price or info on condition. It looked ok to me from the outside.

I was told manager would get back to me. A day or so later, nothing so I called. Manager busy but will be right back with you. Nothing.

I ended up buying the following day at CarMax and for me, if it's a dealer it'll be CarMax only from here on. Beats me how these places stay in biz.