Will dealerships soon be a thing of the past? | Column

While I do most of my own work on my cars, I recently drew the line on maintaining our Honda Ridgeline, the company truck. We have a local place–Auto Clinic of Ormond–that I trust, and it handles most service and repairs that I do not.

But sometimes I get tempted. Every now and then, o…

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I worked at a several dealerships in parts and service. I will never forget the sales people and sales mangers at each one of them laughing and high fiving each other when celebrating them screwing someone who just bought a car. They lived for it.

When I buy a new car, which isn't often, I arrive informed and tell them I'm ready to buy but I want no games. I have my own financing but am willing to use theirs if they can offer a better deal. I tell them I have a two hour limit once I know they have the vehicle I want. 
 

Mostly what I get in return is games and irritation and a feeling of being berkeleyed. I won't miss them at all. 

I was recently thinking a out this when driving through Sanford, Fl. On one side of the interstate, a HUGE car lot that i worked at many years ago, previously known as seminole ford, with its grand total of about 30 cars on the lot, the rest just open pavement that used to house hundreds and hundreds of new stock autos. 

across the interstate, a shopping mall that is rapidly heading towards being shuttered. 
 

my thought was smash the 2 together. Lots cant keep more than a few cars on the lot. Most is ordering online and waiting like any newer car buyer has found out.  Shopping mall is about empty. Move the cars inside the big anchor stores that are closed and make it an indoor, medium sized car showroom and ordering/pickup facility.  

granted the service dept is still a thing, but its also detached at this dealership. Close the showroom and lot, move that showroom to the "mall" and lease the showroom/lot property to anyone who wants it. 

Let the sales department die a quick, painful death.

I too worked at several stealerships and experienced the same disgusting sales staff jimbob knew. We had ONE sales guy who was decent and treated all his customers like customers and not 'marks'. He sold more cars than the other three nimrods. Most dealership GMs are former car salespeople and they do not understand (nor want to) how the back of the store works. But, it won't keep them from meddling in it, trying to make more money.

Dealers will still be needed for servicing because modern cars are simply too complex for the owner or corner garage to diagnose. But the sales model is irretrievably broken and needs to go away.

There is a definite trend for new OEMs to follow the path that Tesla has been blazing. There are no "dealerships" there are "galleries" and you can only order a car through their internet or phone portal. Apparently that is the workaround to dealer franchise laws in the states that they can pull it off.  Most of the new small EV players are doing that and it looks like Ford may be trying to move that way with at least their EV business with splitting ICE and EV sales.  That said, its gonna be hard for the traditioinal big manufacturers to walk that one back. 

Honestly, I dont call them "stealerships" and "salesweasels" for nothing.  

Call me strange, but I HATE when I go anywhere (department stores included) that I have to chase special "sales" and deal with a commissioned salesperson and negotiate a price.  It doesnt matter,  you always end up feeling like you are getting screwed over somehow, or at the very least SOMEONE is getting screwed over. Call me a bleeding heart, but it shouldnt be that for me to get a good deal that they have to try to Berk Over Ms. Jones over there ( Who NEEDS to buy a car today to replace the one that got destroyed for whatever reason), just so the stealership can make ends meet.   Besides, even if I did get a good deal, you are left feeling like they are hiding some way they screwed you over that would make it a bad deal that you are just fooling yourself over. 

I hate it about as much as politics. 

Since I'm sure they will show up soon, remember that for every "my dealer isn't bad" story there are at least a dozen absolute horror stories. 

Gnash your teeth about the (admittedly bad) state of dealerships, but as long as there are lobbyists and "middle man" protections enshrined in most state law, dealerships won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

It is possible for a better experience.

About a month and a half ago I had to replace my truck as it was no longer reliable for the long haul towing to tracks and back that it primarily gets used for. At the time of buying that truck I had been circling the dealership for 2 days waiting for them to close so I could look at it by myself but the place was open till 10pm and I gave up and went in. Got the normal aggressive, blood in the water treatment from the sales guy. Told him I was here to look at this truck and ONLY this truck (Ford at a Dodge dealership). After beating that wind out of his sails (sales?) I looked it over and then there was the test drive where he wouldn't shut up and I was literally running on E (I believe it went down to 3 miles to E on the test drive). I had some problems that gave me negotiating room and when he was too eager to get my trade in I leveraged for another grand over what they offered. Had to turn down/say no to a lot of valueless add on BS. Overall I got my money's worth but it wasn't really a pleasant experience.

Now by contrast just a over a month ago my buying experience when about as ideal as I could have hoped for. I arrived and nobody rushed me in the parking lot. I went and literally crawled under the truck to inspect it/verify condition (no rust) and that nothing was leaky or possibly failing. Then I went inside. I had to get the sales guy's attention, told him what truck I wanted to look at, he gave me the keys, photo copied my license. We went out to the truck, opened it up, told me what information he had/knew about it while giving the interior, box and under the hood a look over. Then he says it has plenty of fuel in it, just take it for a drive and come back when you're satisfied...and he went back inside. I had the truck all to myself for the better part of an hour to inspect and test drive to my satisfaction. The only thing I could find wrong with it was out of balance wheels. Deciding to buy it there was no negotiation on price. IMO it was a fair price that I was willing to pay. For my trade in I was honest about it's problems and realistic in my expectation of value which was no nonsense agreed to. Had my own financing so filled out some papers, signed a check and went to lunch in my old truck while they balanced the wheels and once done was on my way home.

So, if dealerships "go away" (they won't), how do you test drive?

I'd never buy a car without a test drive.

In reply to Duke :

The theoretical "build to order" future has the dealership with a very small allocation of demo vehicles. Think one high-option and one low-option trim level of every model. You come in, test drive those, then put your order in at the kiosk or online. Obviously the dealership will try and upsell you on accessories, warranty, etc

In reply to Duke :

The Carvana model maybe? They bring the vehicle to you. I think many of the newer model dealerships have a pretty healthy return policy if you are unsatisfied.

I agree - Tesla has made the process easy and 'how it should be.'   
 

I paid my way through college by selling cars at dealerships.  Last few years, I've had two 'what are you guys thinking' experiences.  
 

1.  Took my mom to an Acura dealer.  In the rain.  Told the salesman we didn't want to drive today but we just wanted to sit in a car to get a feel for the size.   He said he would bring one up since there wasn't any in the showroom but he needed my drivers license   I told him we weren't driving, just wanted to sit   He said that was their policy   To look at a car i asked?  We left   
 

2.  One of my old favorite Mercedes dealerships always had some drool-worthy cars   My wife and i liked to walk that lot after hours to dream a little.  The last two times we went, a voice announced loud on the speakers that we were trespassing, they were closed and authorities would be called.   I called the next day and the manager said we were welcome after hours - but when I t happened again months later, I scratched that dealership off my ever going back list  

It's a shame - a business model gone bad and no one will miss it when it's gone  

I for one hope they don't go away.  I never go to the dealership for new cars or service so I don't have to deal with them.  I don't want them to go away so that the sleezy salesmen stay there and don't leave to get sales jobs at stores and businesses I do go shop at. 

Duke said:

So, if dealerships "go away" (they won't), how do you test drive?

I'd never buy a car without a test drive.

 

Pave The Planet - One World, One People, One Slab Of Asphalt

The same way you test drive a Tesla. Go to their showroom and take one of a spin.

Or buy one and return in within 7 days if you do not like it.

We saw a massive variation in dealership experience the last time we purchased a car. Ownership, management, and market dynamics probably all matter, but some of them seemed like reasonable businesses with regular people and others felt like a giant mousetrap staffed by sociopaths. 

One Honda dealership was beyond awful and the other, 30 miles south of us was perfectly normal. 

I have only seen Tesla... boutiques? ...galleries? ...whatevers? ...inside shopping malls.  I guess they have a few demonstrators out in the parking lot?

On the Carvana model, I'm not going through the effort of making them drag a car to my house unless I'm 75% certain I'm willing to buy it, and I'll never be 75% certain without having already test driven one.

In reply to Duke :

Correct. Here they have a few showrooms, but they also have a few stores at a couple of malls. At the mall you make an appointment and they will have the car you want to test drive out in the parking lot.

When I was shopping for my truck a year ago I had it narrowed down to a Frontier or an Xterra. I had test driven both and decided that I would be happy with either one. When I saw one of the local dealerships had a 2014 Xterra on the lot for what was a little high but reasonable for the times price I went in to look it over. Before we even sat down to negotiate the games started. The whole time I was looking the car over the salesman kept saying "yeah we had a guy in here earlier that was really interested and if you don't buy it tonight he is coming back first thing in the morning to buy it." So after I decided it looked up to my standards for a used car we went inside to talk price. As soon as we sat down he had the numbers printed out and the price was inflated over $4K over the list price because of misc b.s. fees. At that point I told him he can call his other customer because that price is $6K over blue book and im not buying. 

When we stood up the "manager" comes over and tries to convince me to take a longer finance term (from 48 months to 84) to get the payments the same as they would be at the lower price because, "That is getting you the payments you wanted at the lower price so why wont you take our deal. Kelly Blue book looks at lots of cars not this one so they don't know how nice it is." So I told them good luck and walked out. 

I ended up finding the exact model and color Frontier I wanted at a dealership an hour away, did all the negotiating over email and was extremely happy with that experience.

Two months later that Xterra was still on the local lot. I guess that other guy never showed up.   

I have found that dealerships are very fluid places. For example, I had an old high school friend working as a mechanic at my local Kia dealership and the service manager I dealt with was very nice. I always got great service with no surprises.  When my friend and the manager left, service suddenly went South to the point that I stopped using them altogether. Bought my next Kia from a neighboring state. 

When I bought my Fiesta, the dealer had a long history of poor service and had hired a new GM to turn the place around. Apparently, I was an early customer of the new way of doing things and I received great service during the purchase and initial service visits. Over time however, the GM left and the dealership slipped back into their old ways and lost me as a customer.

Over my ownership of the Fiesta, I visited 8 different Ford dealerships up to an hour away trying to get decent service...and never found it. I think its a directive to provide bad service from Ford corporate! I eventually found one service manager who wasn't a crook and while not a great experience, it was at least fair.  I used them for recalls and warranty work but let a reputable garage do everything else. 

When I bought my Elantra N, the dealership experience was great, and service has been great so far as well. I hear horror stories about dealer markups on this car and deceptive practices, but I encountered none of it. My assumption is that it will not last, though I hope it does. 
 

Unnecessary PFA:

I have a good relationship with a salesman at a local dealership, we've bought many cars from him over an almost 30 year span. We were in there a few weeks ago to place an order, and he was moaning and complaining about how the OEM (Ford) is trying to squeeze them out and put them out of business. He's a nice enough guy and I didn't want to be an shiny happy person, but internally I was thinking "Good. You're a useless middle man who adds no value".

Duke said:

So, if dealerships "go away" (they won't), how do you test drive?

I'd never buy a car without a test drive.

 

Pave The Planet - One World, One People, One Slab Of Asphalt

Test drives are already gone, as I detailed in my Maverick thread. Dealers seem to sell everything they get instantly, and don't keep anything around for demo. 

When I bought my Jetta TDI wagon new in 2003, the dealer told me, "free inspections for as long as you own the car!"  Hmm... while it's a bit of a PITA to get to the dealer, might be worth the hassle.  So... Spring of 2004 rolls around and I take the car to the dealer for my "free" inspection. The next day after work (and thus during evening hours), I go to pick up the car - and I'm handed a bill.  (background: in PA, cars get two inspection stickers - one for Safety; brakes, lights, etc - and a second for Emissions; except diesels were exempt at the time) "Oh... only the Safety inspection is free. You have to pay for the emissions inspection."  But it's a diesel, it doesn't get an emissions inspection.  "Sorry... I'm just the checkout person; all of the service techs are gone for the day."  

I begrudgingly paid the bill since I wanted my car back and I vowed to never set foot in that dealer again.  And I haven't.  Hard to say how much business they might have lost for that $70 bill. 

I generally hate dealers... 

That said... I bought my last minivan from a Dodge dealer in NJ. The catch was the dealership is owned by a coworker I'm friendly with.  So I basically got the "friends and family" treatment.  I paid a price for the van I was happy with and I'm sure gave them a bit of profit. But most important, there was no B.S. during the entire interaction.  

In 2011 I was buying a Honda Accord LX 5-speed stripper model - not one option.  One Saturday I'm inside talking to the dealer that had 75 automatic Accords and 2 manual tranny Accords.  

They pull it up, drop the keys on the desk and ask if I want to test drive it - nope, already drove one, just give me a good price. 

Ten minutes later another sales guy shows up and says another customer is interested in the car.  Am I buying it?   So I decide the other customer should have it as it all felt preplanned.  

Four days later I bought it.