4 ms·

> I have very little sympathy for car dealers. I helped mom buy a new CUV recently, and one dealer had it sewn up .. until they swapped the vehicle we had been

by sq_ 7y ago

> I have very little sympathy for car dealers. I helped mom buy a new CUV recently, and one dealer had it sewn up .. until they swapped the vehicle we had been talking about for a different one when we got to the "We're buying today - how much will you come down on price?" part. Helped my parents buy a car recently and had a very similar experience. The guys at the first dealership we went to kept switching the car and trim they were talking about, then promising deals that magically disappeared a few minutes later. They really don't help themselves if they actually care about rehabilitating their reputation for being shady.

mywittyname 7y ago
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't think honest dealerships can really survive the cut-throat car sales industry. You have to figure that these dealerships often get stuck selling whatever the manufacture sends them. So to get that nice, $70,000 truck they are required to accept a few shitty, stripper economy cars that sit on the lot for months, collecting interest payments. Shit rolls down hill, so when the the manufactures screw over the dealerships, the dealerships find ways to screw over the customers. It doesn't help that the owners of dealerships tend to be politically connected locally, which gives them a staggering amount of leverage to combat any consumer protection legislation.
- apta 7y ago
  You point out the conflicts of interest involved, this just means that dealers (at least for new cars) need to be completely cut out, and the car manufacturer itself should be responsible for selling (like Tesla). This would solve so many issues.
  - sq_ 7y ago
    From my uninformed perspective, it's hard to disagree with this. Tesla seems to have the whole manufacturer direct thing figured out pretty well. Anecdotally, no one I know who's bought a Tesla has had a major complaint about the purchase and pickup process.

by sq_ 7y ago

mywittyname 7y ago

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't think honest dealerships can really survive the cut-throat car sales industry. You have to figure that these dealerships often get stuck selling whatever the manufacture sends them. So to get that nice, $70,000 truck they are required to accept a few shitty, stripper economy cars that sit on the lot for months, collecting interest payments. Shit rolls down hill, so when the the manufactures screw over the dealerships, the dealerships find ways to screw over the customers. It doesn't help that the owners of dealerships tend to be politically connected locally, which gives them a staggering amount of leverage to combat any consumer protection legislation.

apta 7y ago
You point out the conflicts of interest involved, this just means that dealers (at least for new cars) need to be completely cut out, and the car manufacturer itself should be responsible for selling (like Tesla). This would solve so many issues.
- sq_ 7y ago
  From my uninformed perspective, it's hard to disagree with this. Tesla seems to have the whole manufacturer direct thing figured out pretty well. Anecdotally, no one I know who's bought a Tesla has had a major complaint about the purchase and pickup process.