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Tesla sales process features up to 95% less slimy car salespeople. I’d pay a premium to not have to deal with the local Ford/GM/etc dealership, who are all abou

by nikanj 5y ago

Tesla sales process features up to 95% less slimy car salespeople. I’d pay a premium to not have to deal with the local Ford/GM/etc dealership, who are all about scamming me into overpriced financing deals. Traditional auto manufacturers need to bring the buying process to this century, but that would sour their existing sales pipeline. I believe this conondrum is called ”local optimum”

SavantIdiot 5y ago
>t scamming me into overpriced financing deals. Um, you are admitting that you can be scammed. If you don't understand loans, yes, you can be scammed. Don't admit that. The last new car I bought: I walked into the lot, said I want that one, and took the lowest interest loan for 48 months. I didn't want a 72 month loan. I didn't want an extended warranty. I was done with the sales person in 15 minutes, and done with the finance department in 45 minutes. It's all in how you manage the situation. If you waffle and flake and can't decide, or don't understand loans or pointless "extras", then you're toast.
- thatswrong0 5y ago
  I just bought a car. I wanted to pay cash, and made it clear I would come back with the a cashier check the next day when my bank open. They said in order to “lock” the car in for me overnight, that I’d have to sign up for a loan (that I could just pay off immediately). It took a bunch of back and forth to make it clear I just wanted to pay cash and I’d be back tomorrow with a check. They finally relented and said ok we’ll put a complimentary hold on the car and accepted the fact I was paying cash. Then of course after finalizing that they pushed a bunch of vastly overpriced maintenance programs and severely misrepresented the expected costs of said maintenance if I didn’t purchase the plan. At least they had the courtesy to give me the time to quickly run the numbers in order to verify it was a terrible deal for me. The whole point is that buying a Tesla doesn’t involve this pointless, anti-consumer, borderline lying, slimey process. People shouldn’t have to worry about being scammed when making one of the largest purchases in their life. The traditional dealership model is terrible for your average consumer. Why on earth are you defending that?
  - SavantIdiot 5y ago
    You could have just said, have a nice day, and left. Were you that desperate for a car immediately? I'm not defending slimy car salespeople, but I'm not siding with your wishy-washy behavior.
    - thatswrong0 5y ago
      So I could go to another dealership and have the exact same experience? This is such a weird hill to die on.
    - skinnymuch 5y ago
      Where would the person go? For most cars, you have to go to a cars salesperson
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  It is incredibly alarming to me that your message is "Don't let yourself get scammed" rather than "Yeah, car dealerships should stop trying to scam people."
  - SavantIdiot 5y ago
    It's both. You need to advocate for yourself and not just decide to be a victim, and the government needs to regulate many, many predatory industries because half the population is below average intelligence, and, well, I believe a government is supposed to lookout for its citizenry (including when I get too old to understand tech and people try to take advantage of me, which they will). Yeah, go ahead and call me a nanny-state liberal. I'm OK with that.
- rictic 5y ago
  Needing to push through people who are trying to scam you is very unpleasant for many people. Others get a kick out of it, I get that, but it just not being a part of the process at all is a big win for me.
kgwgk 5y ago
Allegedly slimy Tesla has been scamming people into paying thousands of dollars for a useless FSD package for years. The coast-to-coast test drive of a fully self-driving Tesla is four years late and counting.
- bink 5y ago
  When you go to buy a Tesla the online order form will ask if you want FSD. You click "no". That's the extent of it. They don't try to push it on you, convince you it's a good deal, or call you a sucker for saying "no". It's just an option like any other.
  - kgwgk 5y ago
    You’re a sucker if you pass on this opportunity of making money! When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything else enroute to your destination. You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not. https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux
    - geoduck14 5y ago
      And it is ONLY 2 years away!
    - tootie 5y ago
      I live in NYC. If I could tell me car "go find parking" it would be a miracle.
  - _ea1k 5y ago

by nikanj 5y ago

SavantIdiot 5y ago

>t scamming me into overpriced financing deals. Um, you are admitting that you can be scammed. If you don't understand loans, yes, you can be scammed. Don't admit that. The last new car I bought: I walked into the lot, said I want that one, and took the lowest interest loan for 48 months. I didn't want a 72 month loan. I didn't want an extended warranty. I was done with the sales person in 15 minutes, and done with the finance department in 45 minutes. It's all in how you manage the situation. If you waffle and flake and can't decide, or don't understand loans or pointless "extras", then you're toast.

thatswrong0 5y ago
I just bought a car. I wanted to pay cash, and made it clear I would come back with the a cashier check the next day when my bank open. They said in order to “lock” the car in for me overnight, that I’d have to sign up for a loan (that I could just pay off immediately). It took a bunch of back and forth to make it clear I just wanted to pay cash and I’d be back tomorrow with a check. They finally relented and said ok we’ll put a complimentary hold on the car and accepted the fact I was paying cash. Then of course after finalizing that they pushed a bunch of vastly overpriced maintenance programs and severely misrepresented the expected costs of said maintenance if I didn’t purchase the plan. At least they had the courtesy to give me the time to quickly run the numbers in order to verify it was a terrible deal for me. The whole point is that buying a Tesla doesn’t involve this pointless, anti-consumer, borderline lying, slimey process. People shouldn’t have to worry about being scammed when making one of the largest purchases in their life. The traditional dealership model is terrible for your average consumer. Why on earth are you defending that?
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  You could have just said, have a nice day, and left. Were you that desperate for a car immediately? I'm not defending slimy car salespeople, but I'm not siding with your wishy-washy behavior.
  - thatswrong0 5y ago
    So I could go to another dealership and have the exact same experience? This is such a weird hill to die on.
  - skinnymuch 5y ago
    Where would the person go? For most cars, you have to go to a cars salesperson
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
It is incredibly alarming to me that your message is "Don't let yourself get scammed" rather than "Yeah, car dealerships should stop trying to scam people."
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  It's both. You need to advocate for yourself and not just decide to be a victim, and the government needs to regulate many, many predatory industries because half the population is below average intelligence, and, well, I believe a government is supposed to lookout for its citizenry (including when I get too old to understand tech and people try to take advantage of me, which they will). Yeah, go ahead and call me a nanny-state liberal. I'm OK with that.
rictic 5y ago
Needing to push through people who are trying to scam you is very unpleasant for many people. Others get a kick out of it, I get that, but it just not being a part of the process at all is a big win for me.

kgwgk 5y ago

Allegedly slimy Tesla has been scamming people into paying thousands of dollars for a useless FSD package for years. The coast-to-coast test drive of a fully self-driving Tesla is four years late and counting.

bink 5y ago
When you go to buy a Tesla the online order form will ask if you want FSD. You click "no". That's the extent of it. They don't try to push it on you, convince you it's a good deal, or call you a sucker for saying "no". It's just an option like any other.
- kgwgk 5y ago
  You’re a sucker if you pass on this opportunity of making money! When true self-driving is approved by regulators, it will mean that you will be able to summon your Tesla from pretty much anywhere. Once it picks you up, you will be able to sleep, read or do anything else enroute to your destination. You will also be able to add your car to the Tesla shared fleet just by tapping a button on the Tesla phone app and have it generate income for you while you're at work or on vacation, significantly offsetting and at times potentially exceeding the monthly loan or lease cost. This dramatically lowers the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla. Since most cars are only in use by their owner for 5% to 10% of the day, the fundamental economic utility of a true self-driving car is likely to be several times that of a car which is not. https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux
  - geoduck14 5y ago
    And it is ONLY 2 years away!
  - tootie 5y ago
    I live in NYC. If I could tell me car "go find parking" it would be a miracle.
- _ea1k 5y ago