Ask Bark Brief: How Important Is the Dealership Experience?

Jeff writes:

I recently started shopping for my first new car in a decade. I have looked at Infiniti, Audi, VW, Cadillac, Genesis, Tesla and BMW.

Something that really stuck out about the process was the different dealership experiences. The quality and happiness factor of each dealership seemed to coincide with the price of their cars.

Tesla was by far the best — in another league really. BMW, Cadillac and Infiniti were next, with Audi and Volkswagen trailing behind. Genesis was an exception: maybe second best in terms of sales people, but set against the backdrop of a mediocre Hyundai showroom.

My question to you: how important is the dealership to the overall ownership experience? Is it worth considering a brand because of its dealers? The people waiting for service at BMW seemed happy, with their free coffee, wifi, and snacks, while the people at Volkswagen seemed depressed and, well, broke. There was a burnt pot of coffee and powdered milk there, while Infiniti and Genesis had fresh ground Starbucks.

The overall feeling I got from Volkswagen was that you get what it gives you. If you don’t like it, buy a different brand. VW won’t miss you. Higher-end stores made me feel as if they were doing everything in their power to keep me satisfied. Hyundai apparently realizes how important this is on multiple levels. Genesis doesn’t just have a concierge service for convenience; it wants to keep its high dollar customers out of its low-rent showrooms.

I don’t want to let my pride get in the way, but I also don’t want to give my money to dealerships who flaunt the fact they don’t really care about me as a customer.

What are your thoughts?

I have a few reactions to this, but let me get the first, most obvious one out-of-the-way.

duh

Yes, luxury dealers are typically going to offer a better service experience. For the typical Lexus shopper (think low driver engagement, focused on more concerned with type of coffee in service area than engine displacement), this sort of thing matters. However, there’s a reason that Ford/Volkswagen/Hyundai dealers don’t do this. Allow me to explain.

I was recently at a luxury dealership that sells several luxury lines (McLaren, Porsche, Aston Martin, Ferrari) as well as some more mainstream brands (Audi, Jaguar). This place was absolutely mind-boggling. Valets at the front door to park every potential customer’s car. A huge customer lounge with barista. A branded merchandise store with as much square footage as your average VW showroom.

Do you know what this GM’s biggest problem is with his volume brands? The showroom intimidates volume-brand customers. An A3 or XE customer feels like he’s not important enough or like he won’t be respected enough by the dealership employees when he shows up with his $30,000 car. They’ve actually considered moving the volume brands over to another showroom to solve the problem.

So instead of interpreting it as “the dealer doesn’t care about me,” maybe try looking at it from another perspective, which is that they’re crafting the experience that the customer expects.

There can be benefits to buying the most expensive car that a volume brand sells, too.

Back in 2001, I bought a Hyundai Santa Fe GLX, which was, at the time, the most expensive Hyundai money could buy. When I went to the dealer for service, it immediately moved my car to the front of the line for service. The service manager knew me by name, and acted as though the Beatles had shown up every time I was there.

My guess is that the Genesis dealer would deliver a better customer experience than a Tesla or BMW store would, simply for the fact they don’t sell many Geneses. It’s like the difference between how Kimpton treats me as an Inner Circle member versus how Marriott treats Platinum customers. Marriott has a million Platinums, while Kimpton might have a thousand IC members.

At the end of the day, remember that you’ll spend thousands of hours behind the wheel of your car, and maybe a dozen hours at the dealership — total. Pick the car you want, and don’t let your ego get in the way.