(06-20-2023, 04:25 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(06-20-2023, 03:34 PM)Sneakers Wrote: It was obviously before online ordering, but I believe Lee Iacocca used to say dealerships were the manufacturers only customers.

Right.  And that's always been my experience.  I've bought 5 new cars in my life. I've never come close to the experience p_rushing and Marty describe.  

It's always, 
If it's not here, we don't want to talk about it.  
If it's definitely on the way, we will begrudgingly discuss, but you have to be here the day it gets here.  We won't hold it for you or for anyone.
If it's not here and it's not on the way, forget it.  
If it's at another dealership, go there! We don't like other dealerships, and other dealerships do not like us.
If it's here, you better come now, it's not going to be here long!

I wonder what manufacturer they bought from.  All 5 of those cars were Asian brands with North American VINs.  They didn't come on a ship.

I've had your type of experience one time, at Ernie Palmer Toyota.  My parents wanted a new Toyota.  So I took them down to Ernie Palmer Toyota.  The sales manager sat in front of me and told me his life story, all about his hobbies, etc, and would not respond to the simplest questions.  Things like "How much does this model with these specs cost?"  It was the weirdest thing.  He wouldn't even make me an offer.  He was wearing cowboy boots, and he put his feet up on the table and went on and on would not answer a single question.  Eventually I left.  I never went back there.   

Every other time I've bought a car, I've had a pretty good experience.

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(06-20-2023, 10:48 AM)p_rushing Wrote:

(06-20-2023, 10:14 AM)mikesez Wrote: My wife did a lot of that online configuration stuff on her last vehicle purchase, and she ended up being pretty rigid once she narrowed it down.  Had to be a specific accessory package, and had to be a dark blue exterior. 
We went to multiple dealers and expected them to say things like, "we don't have that now, but you can put money down and reserve it, and it will be here in X weeks."
They didn't say that.  We dealt with a very rude and condescending dealer and a very courteous and straightforward dealer, but at the end of the day, neither of them wanted to do a deal like that, and they were both very cagey about it.  They both spent a lot of time trying convince us to get the "wrong car" we test drove, then they made vague promises about "the car you want might be here in 4 or 6 weeks, but no we won't hold it for you. You'd have to check with us weekly."
Finally we figured it out.
The dealers could see that the car we wanted was already in stock at a dealership 2 hours away.  They wouldn't tell us that, and they wouldnt offer to trade with that dealer, but it was there.
The place 2 hours away, unfortunately, was one of the rude places.  They made us sit through multiple songs and dances about dealer fees and warranty extensions and it literally took all day.  I would rather have done business with either of the first two even ignoring the fact that they were 2 hours away.

You used the wrong option. There are 2 ways to shop now, build your configuration and search inventory or order it.

Dealerships always want to move the cars THEY have purchased. They will work on the pricing with you or throw in free dealer options, etc. You would think that they would want to take orders but they don’t because of how it works.

Orders are cars the dealer has to buy. The dealer is on the hook to pay for the car. If you change your mind, they can keep your deposit. If you are picky and get full options or go cheap, they may not be able to sell the car depending on the area and market.

Basically you need to just give them the build # and say order the car. Expect no pricing discussions except for addon warranty. Should be able to do it online.

I have employee pricing for most of them, so I'm able to just print it out and walk into a dealership and say give me this car for this price and doesn't matter if they need to order it or not. Makes it some much simpler.

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That's basically the way I do it.  I build the car online, I figure out what I am willing to pay for it, and I go in and say this is what I want and this is what I'll pay.  Last time I did that, my car had to be built from scratch in Finland, so it took a few months to get it.

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