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>due to the long history of pushy shady salespeople, which if my last 3 visits tell me anything, is still very deserved It's hard for me to understand how peop

>due to the long history of pushy shady salespeople, which if my last 3 visits tell me anything, is still very deserved It's hard for me to understand how people get pushed around when they're walking into a situation where they may be on the verge of spending tens of thousands of dollars. The car dealership industry is hyper-competitive; if any part of the transaction makes you feel uncomfortable, let them know and take your money elsewhere. Dealers are a dime a dozen.

onion2k 10y ago
If you've researched your car options and decided that the best car for you is a Honda Civic then your local Honda dealer becomes a de facto local monopoly on cars. The fact you could go and buy a different car somewhere else means that you have to choose to spend thousands of dollars on something that you know isn't the right choice. Dealers know this, and they're very good at making the most of it. As you say though, the best way around the problem is simply to make sure you don't settle on a specific car so you're in a position to walk away if the dealer isn't great. That's easier to say than do though.
- pricechild 10y ago
  > a de facto local monopoly on cars I like the implication here. Because they're not going to have the specific car/options you want anyway, are they? No, you're going to need to accept what they want to sell...
  - onion2k 10y ago
    That's one of the many tactics car dealerships use. If you want the model with some fancy options then you can drive it away today. If you want a car without additional extras then it's not in stock, so you'll have to wait 4 weeks (or more) for delivery, but the finance deal they're offering has to be taken before delivery of the car and it expires in a couple of weeks. Consequently you can only get finance if you pay for the options...
    - ams6110 10y ago
      This can all be avoided by buying a used car from a private seller, or at CarMax. New cars purchases are a bad financial move since you're going to lose thousands more on depreciation vs. buying used.
      - iamatworknow 10y ago
        I prefer to lease. Sure you don't get the equity in the vehicle, but many people turn around cars every 3 years or so anyway. I like the peace of mind of not having to worry about mechanical issues due to the age of the car (and most issues that do arise are covered under included maintenance agreements or recalls) or missing out on new features.
    - cpwright 10y ago
      Depends on the manufacturer and your area too. Something likea Honda Accord or Pilot has about 5 choices. When I bought my Accord it was LX, EX, EX with Leather, EX V6, EX Leather V6. If you look at some of the Ford or Chevy trucks, there are probably 100 different combinations. It also helps that in the NY suburbs there are about 4 or 5 other places to buy that same exact car within a 30-45 minute drive.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >If you've researched your car options and decided that the best car for you is a Honda Civic then your local Honda dealer becomes a de facto local monopoly on cars. How you feel about the dealership should be accounted for in your model. If the Honda dealers are jerks, don't buy a Honda, or buy a Honda elsewhere. Buying a car is a huge expense and shouldn't be taken lightly.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    There's some really weird downvoting going on here. It seems that all the comments that suggest some practical, if not ideal, way to deal with the current dealership setup are being downvoted to obscurity. Who would want to downvote these? Car dealers? People who are certain that the current setup has no redeeming qualities? Of course eventually some corrective upvoting like I've applied already will fix the imbalance for some of these wrongfully-downvoted comments. Perhaps even parent, making this comment look silly. However this is still a phenomenon that has occurred on this page, so I thought I'd point it out.
Arizhel 10y ago
Huh? This really isn't true. For a given brand, there's probably between 1-3 dealers within a reasonable distance of you. For many people, there's only 1. Most people don't want to drive around to all the dealers in a 300-mile radius.
- forgetsusername 10y ago
  >Most people don't want to drive around to all the dealers in a 300-mile radius. You're spending $20,000+ and you don't want to drive around to a few dealers? Spending a day or two to make the best decision is too much for you? That's why you get pushed around.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    And we would much rather be able to do all of our comparison shopping from the comfort of our homes, like civilized 21st-century humans, which is why dealerships are so hated.
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    "Drive around to a few dealers"? It would take me a week to drive around to all the dealers in 5 different states. Do you really have that much spare time? A much better strategy is to figure out which car you want, then go online and contact all the dealerships within an 8-hour drive asking them for their best price on it.
    - forgetsusername 10y ago
      >"Drive around to a few dealers"? First of all, I didn't mention "driving around" all over the map; you did, along with what a problem it is. Now you're coming up with some ridiculous scenario about driving around to 5 states? Complete strawman. In every metro area I've lived there are larger suburban areas filled with dealerships of all brands. If 8 hours is too much time to spend helping form a decision on such a large purchase, than by all means go get "pushed around" by the scary car dealer.
aidenn0 10y ago
It's partly because the process is so painful; they throw a curveball at you after you've been to the dealership for 3 hours. At that point you start thinking "do I want to spend another painful 3 hours at a different dealership that is more than an hour drive away rather than just suck it up and spend $500 on something I don't need or want"

onion2k 10y ago

If you've researched your car options and decided that the best car for you is a Honda Civic then your local Honda dealer becomes a de facto local monopoly on cars. The fact you could go and buy a different car somewhere else means that you have to choose to spend thousands of dollars on something that you know isn't the right choice. Dealers know this, and they're very good at making the most of it. As you say though, the best way around the problem is simply to make sure you don't settle on a specific car so you're in a position to walk away if the dealer isn't great. That's easier to say than do though.

pricechild 10y ago
> a de facto local monopoly on cars I like the implication here. Because they're not going to have the specific car/options you want anyway, are they? No, you're going to need to accept what they want to sell...
- onion2k 10y ago
  That's one of the many tactics car dealerships use. If you want the model with some fancy options then you can drive it away today. If you want a car without additional extras then it's not in stock, so you'll have to wait 4 weeks (or more) for delivery, but the finance deal they're offering has to be taken before delivery of the car and it expires in a couple of weeks. Consequently you can only get finance if you pay for the options...
  - ams6110 10y ago
    This can all be avoided by buying a used car from a private seller, or at CarMax. New cars purchases are a bad financial move since you're going to lose thousands more on depreciation vs. buying used.
    - iamatworknow 10y ago
      I prefer to lease. Sure you don't get the equity in the vehicle, but many people turn around cars every 3 years or so anyway. I like the peace of mind of not having to worry about mechanical issues due to the age of the car (and most issues that do arise are covered under included maintenance agreements or recalls) or missing out on new features.
  - cpwright 10y ago
    Depends on the manufacturer and your area too. Something likea Honda Accord or Pilot has about 5 choices. When I bought my Accord it was LX, EX, EX with Leather, EX V6, EX Leather V6. If you look at some of the Ford or Chevy trucks, there are probably 100 different combinations. It also helps that in the NY suburbs there are about 4 or 5 other places to buy that same exact car within a 30-45 minute drive.
forgetsusername 10y ago
>If you've researched your car options and decided that the best car for you is a Honda Civic then your local Honda dealer becomes a de facto local monopoly on cars. How you feel about the dealership should be accounted for in your model. If the Honda dealers are jerks, don't buy a Honda, or buy a Honda elsewhere. Buying a car is a huge expense and shouldn't be taken lightly.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  There's some really weird downvoting going on here. It seems that all the comments that suggest some practical, if not ideal, way to deal with the current dealership setup are being downvoted to obscurity. Who would want to downvote these? Car dealers? People who are certain that the current setup has no redeeming qualities? Of course eventually some corrective upvoting like I've applied already will fix the imbalance for some of these wrongfully-downvoted comments. Perhaps even parent, making this comment look silly. However this is still a phenomenon that has occurred on this page, so I thought I'd point it out.

Arizhel 10y ago

Huh? This really isn't true. For a given brand, there's probably between 1-3 dealers within a reasonable distance of you. For many people, there's only 1. Most people don't want to drive around to all the dealers in a 300-mile radius.

forgetsusername 10y ago
>Most people don't want to drive around to all the dealers in a 300-mile radius. You're spending $20,000+ and you don't want to drive around to a few dealers? Spending a day or two to make the best decision is too much for you? That's why you get pushed around.
- mikeash 10y ago
  And we would much rather be able to do all of our comparison shopping from the comfort of our homes, like civilized 21st-century humans, which is why dealerships are so hated.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  "Drive around to a few dealers"? It would take me a week to drive around to all the dealers in 5 different states. Do you really have that much spare time? A much better strategy is to figure out which car you want, then go online and contact all the dealerships within an 8-hour drive asking them for their best price on it.
  - forgetsusername 10y ago
    >"Drive around to a few dealers"? First of all, I didn't mention "driving around" all over the map; you did, along with what a problem it is. Now you're coming up with some ridiculous scenario about driving around to 5 states? Complete strawman. In every metro area I've lived there are larger suburban areas filled with dealerships of all brands. If 8 hours is too much time to spend helping form a decision on such a large purchase, than by all means go get "pushed around" by the scary car dealer.

aidenn0 10y ago

It's partly because the process is so painful; they throw a curveball at you after you've been to the dealership for 3 hours. At that point you start thinking "do I want to spend another painful 3 hours at a different dealership that is more than an hour drive away rather than just suck it up and spend $500 on something I don't need or want"