Sigh, will we ever get rid of the stupid dealership system we have for new cars at the moment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people just ignore the pitter-patter. If you can't, and it stresses out that much, it probably means you have a social deficit such that you're not within the range of normal.

Oh BS. The majority of people do not enjoy the car sales process. Sales pressure is not enjoyable.

This. Too much wasted time and paperwork.

I'd like to walk on the lot, pick what I want, haggle a little over price, pay money, get title, leave.

The paperwork shouldn't take a whole frigging hour or more! 1-2 min max.

We recently bought a Toyota and it took over four hours. Absolute torture.

Same at Honda. I paid cash and had it all ready to transfer or I could write a check. I was stuck doing paperwork for hours and hours while my kids started screaming. I got the hard sell on some extended warranty multiple times and then they even transferred me into a different office for an even harder sell on it. FFS give me my car! They also spent a while doing a credit check on me. Why?? I was paying cash. By the time I finally got my car off the lot I wasn't in a good mood at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I absolutely agree, but I still want to be able to sit in vehicles and look at them. DH likes to test drive (I do not). I really want to look at the new Kia Carnival, but I'd never buy it without looking inside.

Some of what I hate the most about dealerships is that they never have the colors and interior that I want. You can order it, but then it's a lot more expensive.

No need to do away with showrooms.

Keep around a couple of guys to check ids and go on test drives - no need to have them on commission, more like brand ambassadors who can give you the basics if you haven’t done your research. Maybe an incentive structure that rewards them for volume in sales at that location rather than price of vehicle.

After you’ve done the drive, there can be a touchscreen kiosk, like at McDonald’s where you put in the version of car you want (may still have to order it but with less need for salespeople dealerships can focus on better inventory). If you came with a check or are paying cash you proceed to the checkout counter, they hand you the keys and you’re on your way. Need financing, touch screen either connects you with BoA or Navy Federal or you can tap to get dealer financing, also done on touchscreen.

Voila, problem solved.

I would love this. I'm another one who has put off replacing our car (9.5yo) because of how unpleasant the experience is. The last time I was there for hours (with no a/c!). High pressure from finance and the salesperson, who'd come over from another car brand and didn't know anything about the cars. Just miserable. If our old car hadn't died I would have walked, but we were under a time crunch.

We do not negotiate in any showroom. We learn the Costco price and the FitzMall price first. We never pay more than the lower of those two numbers.

Then we email a few dealers from a temporary email address and see what they offer. Possibly exchange email with a few dealers providing a reasonable email response.

What's the Costco price thing? Is this for financing only or can I pay cash?

[Anonymous]

I don't like haggling. Why can't dealerships be no haggle? They can run specials and sales, but the price you pay is the price you see. I'm always left with the feeling that other people are getting better deals than I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just bought a used car from a Toyota dealer and they did make me go into a little room at the end so a different guy could try to sell me a warranty, which I thought was a little silly but didn’t take more than five minutes.

I had this experience today. I was firm and refused the extra warranties and they relented. We were in and out in two hours.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the dealership model. I like that you can come in and test drive a car. Yes, it is a little unpleasant that they want to talk you into buying a car after that but I just tell them that I am not buying the car today, period. Other than that if you come prepared with your research done and financing lined up, you will be in and out under two hours. There is relatively little haggling going on these days plus the sales people got more professional. I don’t hear sales people saying “so you don’t want my kids to eat” in response to you asking to lower the price.

Nobody is suggesting you wouldn't get to test drive the car, but once you had, you'd get a touchscreen with the options you want and then you'd pay for it. None of this "well, let me go see what my manager says" and returning with a big sigh, "I know you wanted it for $38.5k, and we just can't do that, but I told my manager that you were just looking for a good deal, so he said he'd give you the friends and family discount and you can have it for just $675/month on a six-year financing deal!" and no "My associate would like to talk to you about filling your tires with nitrogen—I really don't recommend driving with children in the car unless you do it!"

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For some people it is more stressful to interact with a touch screen than a human

Not really. Most just want a prenegotiated deal, without all the scamming back and forth. I helped my 20 something buy a new car (via text, I wasn't local). They tried to scam him, told him the invoice included shit that shouldn't be on there, that the color he chose was a $495 uncharge (it was a basic color), etc. Once he told them to remove 3+ items and then they could talk the dealer became reasonable. They knew the 25 yo was not naive and had someone guiding them. Ultimately my kid got it for $100 more than I would have, so a good price for a $40K vehicle. But why not just offer these rates to everyone? I suppose it's because many are naive/uneducated about the process and over pay. We use TrueCars/Costco/something like those to get the negotiated rate. It's a quick process and so nice. Sure maybe I could get another $100-200 off if I spent an hour going back and forth, but why? My time is valuable and I dsespise that shit

[Anonymous]

I guess I'm just enjoy punishment, I buy a new car every year. Perform all my service and maintenance at the Dealership. Can't say of been subject to the mental trauma as some of the pervious posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a Tesla. It was an amazingly simple process, I never had to deal with a salesperson and the price was the price.

Junk absolute waste of money. No reliability

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Buy a Tesla. It was an amazingly simple process, I never had to deal with a salesperson and the price was the price.


Junk absolute waste of money. No reliability

Yep, that's why they are selling so many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do it all over email. Then just come in to sign papers.

Have bought three cars this way since 2010. The last one in July, I emailed twelve dealers about a week before the end of the month. I looked at reviews online to see which salesperson were recommended most and contacted each directly. With 24 hours I had completed the sale. The offers ranged from 37,500 to 43,000. Same trim level, same interior and exterior color. Put a deposit on my car and picked it up 3 days later. A little hard to find invoice these days, but I’m fairly confident I was at or below invoice based on KBB, etc.

[Anonymous]

19:39 poster.

I will add this took max 2 hours of my time. Dealers were within 150 miles of my house. I was willing to travel to the closest major city as I live in a rural area and have found the dealers in my area can not go too low since they do not make it up in volume.