Car dealer story

[CBODY67]

That just seems unrealistic and rather extreme. Like a statistic from CNN. I'm not saying that racial biases doesn't exist, but claiming that at least 30% of people are racist is pretty much saying that for every three people, one of them is a black panther or klan member. I don't know anyone associated with either organization and I know more than three people.

You don't have to belong to the named organizations (or similar) to have a latently racist orientation. Remember the quiet "outrage" when Obama was elected? At a time when the USA was becoming somewhat proud of its lack of "color bias", it seemed.

In general, I'd suggest that the percentage can vary with location, financial demographics, etc., but I tend to agree that the claimed 30% is probably, in total of all levels of racism, conservative.

Respectively,
CBODY67

 

[Fratzog]

You don't have to belong to the named organizations (or similar) to have a latently racist orientation. Remember the quiet "outrage" when Obama was elected? At a time when the USA was becoming somewhat proud of its lack of "color bias", it seemed.

In general, I'd suggest that the percentage can vary with location, financial demographics, etc., but I tend to agree that the claimed 30% is probably, in total of all levels of racism, conservative.

Respectively,
CBODY67

One needs to carefully define racism particularly with how indiscriminately the term is thrown around these days. The concept has been weaponized by sjw's to curtail any discussion/suggestions of inter and intra racial differences. This clip perfectly describes the issue.

 

[Big_John]

The way I'm reading it is she was buying the car, not him. Taking $10K deposit really puts them into a contract with him to sell him the car, not her. I could see how they would not want to get involved in the interaction within the couple.

Think about it, we all (or at least those of us that have been married at least once) have experienced wive's changing their mind at the drop of a hat. If she decided against the car, they are still obligated to sell the car to him and he is obligated to buy it. From the dealer's standpoint, at best, they could sell a car, at worst, it could be a scam.

I don't think it's a racial thing at all. They would have given the guy a hard time about taking the car for a test drive if that were so. Mixed race couple, gym clothes etc. may not have exactly helped either, but I'm more thinking along the lines of they didn't walk in the dealership together and she wasn't there for the transaction.

What the dealer should have done is just say "We'll hold it for a couple hours and take care of it when she comes in". Of course, that doesn't mean much, as they would still sell to the first person with a check, but that's another story.

 

[BigblueC]

...with how indiscriminately the term is thrown around these days. The concept has been weaponized by sjw's...

Sad but true. Personally, I hear "racist" and think of the extremes, which is probably why I find the 30% claim to be unrealistic.

 

[Rwc]

When selling anything a third party coming into it is always a nightmare. Woman wants the car, husband shows up afterwards to give his opinion, and they seldom agree.
I would find it hard to believe that they cared about color, other than green

 

[CBODY67]

The issue of "the contract" is interesting, but in a community property state I would suspect either spouse could seek to ensure the other one got what they wanted. I suspect that if the husband had appeared at the dealership in a nice attire, things might have been different.

To me, though, "a deposit" does not mean "a contract" for vehicle purchase,has been entered into. Just the greater possibility that "a contract" can happen at an appropriate time. Husband issues deposit to dealership operative. Dealership operative give husband a receipt for such AND marks the vehicle "Sale Pending"/"Deposit Tendered". Dealership either electronically processes check or puts it in the cash drawer for "holding purposes" the remainder of the business day. This is not unusual in the car business.

Unaware of his actions, wife returns to find the vehicle marked "Sale Pending/Deposit Tendered". Inquires as to what that means, with her salesperson. Is told of husband's deposit to hold it for her. What happens after that can be variable, plus or minus.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[Dobalovr]

Nowadays Dealerships live and die by online reviews. We have dedicated departments whose sole function is to police these reviews and handle all social media interactions with our customers. FCA dropped CSI requirements years ago and placed the responsibility of "Good Customer Service" on the Dealerships. In other words FCA doesn't really care how we sell cars as long as we sell cars. Other Brands such as Lexus, Honda, Toyota et al offer incentives to staff who provide good CSI numbers while penalizing staff with poor CSI. One bad customer review can determine whether a staff member gets a bonus or not and often it is a significant amount that offsets a poor base wage they are often paid. Keyboard warriors/trolls who hide behind their ipads while spewing misinformation are a regular occurrence but we have countered this by responding with the entire story or with sarcasm. We have found that our customers respond positively to calling out these Trolls for what they are. Example:

Troll: I will never recommend this Dealership to anyone they ripped me off and wouldn't repair my brand new truck when the engine died. Bunch of scam artists and liars......
Dealer: Sorry to hear that you feel you were treated unfairly. To be clear your truck was brought in on a flat deck covered in mud up to the mirrors and the engine compartment was filled with mud. Upon closer inspection we discovered your intake was full of dirty water that was sucked into the cylinders and hydrolocked the motor resulting in a catastrophic failure as our engines are not designed to run on water. They prefer fuel and air mixtures to mud and water. Unfortunately as we determined that you had been mud bogging your new truck we had no choice but to refer to the conditions of the warranty which clearly outline that your truck is not designed to be a submarine. If you want a submarine we are confident you can contact the Department of National Defense for any surplus submarines they may have.

True review we responded to recently.

In regards to the story the OP related all I can say is that Dealerships are Deal Whores. No one leaves a Dealer after offering to put a $10K deposit on anything empty-handed unless the Manager suspected some kind of fraud or was suspicious of the buyer's intent. Something went sideways between Mr. Gym clothes and the Sales Staff. We don't give a rats *** the colour of your skin as long as your money is the right colour. I have never met a Sales Manager who would refuse that kind of deposit from a legitimate buyer in 30 years of selling cars. There is more to the story here then what is being said and as I pointed out above it is easy to write negative reviews without providing all the facts from behind a keyboard. I would be very interested in seeing the rebuttal to the review that the Dealer posted but that doesn't make for sensational news.

 

[CBODY67]

Online review websites are touted by a lot by many dealerships. Last I knew of it, GM could track each service warranty CSI survey to a particular repair order (and service advisor, date, etc. as a result). What happens when these reports hit the managers' desks can be variable, though. The better dealerships can do their own things, as desired, survey-wise. But how those third-party surveys are configured (how the questions are phrased) can influence their ultimate results, by observation.

CBODY67

 

[Carmine]

But race was a factor in this. Whereas the wife is an Asian female and administrator of three hospitals she had no issues. Now her husband did. Was it his gym clothes? Was it his race? Was it the combination we may never know.

Don't forget a third possibility... he may have just been an a******.

The point is, you're hearing half a story, second hand and have no problem jumping to a conclusion. It appears that many of us have been treated poorly at a business, it stands to reason that it happens to mixed couples as well.

Only in America do we have to settle for a Porsche instead of a Jaguar because of racism.

 

[tbm3fan]

Sad but true. Personally, I hear "racist" and think of the extremes, which is probably why I find the 30% claim to be unrealistic.

Actually I could have gone as high as 40%. Note I said from highly biased to racist which covers some ground. Now generally anyone in that spectrum isn't going to broadcast it on an open forum or in the general public. Behind closed doors things change. I remember some unbelievable comments I got behind the closed door of my exam room right after Obama was elected. Really opened my eyes to things since I mistakenly thought all folks in the Bay Area were open minded. They are not.

A professional board that I am on and is closed to the public is an eye opener. There are a fair amount on that board who are in that group. Nothing overtly outright but through use of other words and terms one can read between the lines. They deny of course but their comments over several years betray them. They are also the ones who to have the most to say to our highly successful, gun toting in the office, liberal Texan, African-American doc where nothing gets by him.

 

[tbm3fan]

In regards to the story the OP related all I can say is that Dealerships are Deal Whores. No one leaves a Dealer after offering to put a $10K deposit on anything empty-handed unless the Manager suspected some kind of fraud or was suspicious of the buyer's intent. Something went sideways between Mr. Gym clothes and the Sales Staff. We don't give a rats *** the colour of your skin as long as your money is the right colour. I have never met a Sales Manager who would refuse that kind of deposit from a legitimate buyer in 30 years of selling cars. There is more to the story here then what is being said and as I pointed out above it is easy to write negative reviews without providing all the facts from behind a keyboard. I would be very interested in seeing the rebuttal to the review that the Dealer posted but that doesn't make for sensational news.

My 1986 experience would be counter to that. I happened to be in San Jose and went into a dealership to take a look at prices. I already knew what I wanted to buy and I was going to buy depending on the price as typical. I already had a price based on the sticker I saw around where I lived. Already approved by my Credit Union. This dealer had one of those extra stickers on their cars where the price was higher than the MSRP. This was not a Honda nor Toyota so I don't know what they were thinking. Anyway I mentioned the preliminary price I was working with and instead of countering the salesman said, and it sticks in my mind, was "well, if they want to prostitute themselves then they can go right ahead." I walked out bought my car a week later on Feb. 17, 1986 President's Day at another dealer.

 

[Dobalovr]

My 1986 experience

I know some guys still selling cars like it's 1976 but for the most part between the internet and government legislation that style of selling is mostly over. Raising MSRP prices is still common as the manufacturers leave next to nothing in the way of profit margin for the Dealers nowadays. Example we made $200 selling a Dodge Dart at full list price. The Pacifica Hybrid has only $400 margin in it as they are counting on the government rebates to make it attractive to the customer. Most people are looking for SOMEONE to buy from that they trust, price is number 5 on the list of buyer motivations.

 

[Fratzog]

There are a fair amount on that board who are in that group. Nothing overtly outright but through use of other words and terms one can read between the lines.

Good thing there's folks like you around to identify them for us... .

 

[commando1]

The Pacifica Hybrid has only $400 margin in it

I'm having trouble understanding this one.
Are you saying there's only a 400 dollar difference tween dealer invoice and sticker?

 

[Dobalovr]

I'm having trouble understanding this one.
Are you saying there's only a 400 dollar difference tween dealer invoice and sticker?

That’s exactly what I am saying. Now I picked the extreme cases but the margins have been diminishing for some time. Dealers are resorting to gimmicks and less than honest tricks to generate profit.

 

[tbm3fan]

Good thing there's folks like you around to identify them for us... .

No problem. Always best to shine light rather than let things hide in the darkness.

 

[tbm3fan]

I know some guys still selling cars like it's 1976 but for the most part between the internet and government legislation that style of selling is mostly over. Raising MSRP prices is still common as the manufacturers leave next to nothing in the way of profit margin for the Dealers nowadays. Example we made $200 selling a Dodge Dart at full list price. The Pacifica Hybrid has only $400 margin in it as they are counting on the government rebates to make it attractive to the customer. Most people are looking for SOMEONE to buy from that they trust, price is number 5 on the list of buyer motivations.

So my recent car buy had the manufacturer sticker at $21,300 and I got the car for $16,700 before taxes. What did the dealer make as that price was offered to me right off the bat.

 

[Dobalovr]

So my recent car buy had the manufacturer sticker at $21,300 and I got the car for $16,700 before taxes. What did the dealer make as that price was offered to me right off the bat.

Without knowing what you purchased I would guess rebates were a factor. Rebates are supplied by FCA and are passed onto the consumer so they have no effect on margins.

 

[Fury440]

In an earlier life I owned and operated a computer store which provided business grade data processing solutions to commercial operations. We did not sell retail. In the beginning we were an exclusive dealer for AST and later for ACER. Similar to the automotive world, computers were assigned a MSRP (Manufactures Suggested Retail Price). The dealer wholesale price was typically 15% less. So on a $2000 computer the range was $300 and to get a sale we would approach zero profit. This increased our volumes which generally gave us a better wholesale price. To survive we setup a package, we would analyse the customer requirements, select the best hardware solution and perform on-site installation. The systems were 100% configured and all applications were installed and tested. For all this the customers were very happy and when everything was counted we were making 35% on sales. Life was grand.

However big box stores arrived with retail prices lower than our wholesale. So we continued with our super customer support and resold big box products. Interestingly our margins only dropped a little to the 25-30% range. We quickly became "brandless", we handled only the best of the best and our customers loved it, one stop shopping and everything actually worked.
I never ever advertised, all our customers were sent our way by existing customers. I shut the doors in 2006 and even now after 12 years, I get calls for help. Getting tough to keep current.

The point of this rambling story, new cars are sold exclusively by dealers authorized by the factory. Lately however I've noticed a decline in the use of the word "dealer" and more use of the word "store". I expect to see the arrival of "big box" stores who will sell multiple brands at discount prices. I also expect to see custom made models with carefully selected options designed for splash and super low "sale pricing". This has happened already in stores like Costco, Walmart, etc. where the appliance and TV models offered have model numbers specific to the stores. Makes price shopping very difficult. I see this happening with new cars and trucks. I don't know the numbers, but my guess is there are 25 or 30 new car dealers and probably 4 or 5 that number used car sellers in Calgary. I really believe one regional super store selling all brands, both new and used, is in our future. The manufacturer closely controlled "dealer" model is going the way of the dinosaur. Similarly, the endless parade of look alike cars and trucks will dry up. This will reduce manufacturing costs and prices will drop. If the number of options get reduced to the point where cars and trucks become standardized, I can see purchasing a new vehicle with a mouse click for Amazon overnight delivery. The brand might even be Amazon instead of whomever actually built it.

In a similar way, I see "Big Box Service Centers" where any car or truck of any brand will receive full service and full access to factory parts and factory trained mechanics. Everything from warranty work to collision repairs. We already have a taste of this in Calgary where a number of dealers formed a collision repair center for "All Makes". I've used it twice and in each case the repairs were reasonably priced and were factory quality. I see this as the death of the "ma and pa" body shops and their questionable repairs. There will always be restoration shops that go far and beyond factory quality.

Like it or not, this is progress.

 

[65 500]

I would make the first dealership do ALL the warranty work if needed.

"If", that's funny!