Daily Podcast: Extra Effort
I hopped in my Boxster and headed to the Lexus dealer yesterday. We’d agreed on a price for their ’08 2k mile IS-F. Only a single hurdle remained: Mrs. Farago. Sam thinks I’m nuts to swap a Porsche anything for a Lexus anything. There was only one way to convince my live-in lead-footed badge snob that the IS-F is the right kinda wrong: a test drive. Sam couldn’t get out of the house. Hakuna mutata. I’ll just swing by the dealer, pick-up the car, drive it back home, let her drive it, drive it back, pay my deposit and tidy-up the details. I called the salesman to give him a quick heads-up. [NB: the same salesman who was pressuring me to get the deal done by President’s Day for HIS convenience.] Nope. No can do. He was slammed. Huh? Just throw me the keys. After all, they’d lent me the über-LS. Sorry. Tomorrow or Wednesday. [Insert silence while I waited for his offer to bring the car by the house.] OK. How about . . . never? Over and out. I know this will strike a chord with many of you. I’ve heard plenty of stories where car dealers pissed on pistonheads, operating from the mistaken belief that THEY’RE doing YOU a favor selling you a car. And that’s another reason automakers and their dealers should be “allowed” to go out of business. If there’s no downside for someone selling cars, there’s no upside for the people who buy them. It’s as simple as that.
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We have a Fit for a reason, the Mazda dealer worked themselves out of a sale on a 3.
@Bridge2far : You make good points, and I sympathize. Seriously. The problem -- and I don't mean to suggest I'm the first person to say this -- is that both sides of the car sales system suck. It's crappy to be a salesman and it's crappy to be a customer. It leads both people to act in weird ways, sometimes dishonestly. For every story I can think up about how a salesperson screwed or attempted to screw me or a family member/friend, I'm sure a seasoned salesman could talk about how many customers did rotten stuff, too. I'm not naive enough to think "let's all get along." But it surprises me that with car sales and the economy as they are, sales people wouldn't be bending over backwards to get sales. Not just on price, but on service.
@Justin: Besides, credit criminal? Seriously? Lots of people have less than perfect credit for reasons besides felonies. I’m not going to make a sarcastic jab at you about your comment, but it’s harsh and poorly-founded. "Credit criminal" has nothing to do with committing a felony. It's a term for people who deliberately borrow money they have no expectation of paying back, or for people who have done so in the past. It's possible to be the most vicious, violent felon imaginable and to have perfect credit. *cough*
"I’m not naive enough to think “let’s all get along.” But it surprises me that with car sales and the economy as they are, sales people wouldn’t be bending over backwards to get sales. Not just on price, but on service." Your thoughts make perfect sense. However, some individuals are going to give you rotten service no matter what the circumstances. You might not notice it as much during better times. And some will give you great service as well regardless of the economic conditions.