CAR BUYING TIPS
You may be asking yourself, “who are you and why did you create this website?” I recently worked at a large automobile dealership as the Customer Relations Manager. I had never worked in the automobile industry before but had extensive experience in Customer Service. I was to be the liaison between the dealership and the customer and disarm any customer complaints or concerns. In my many years of customer service I leaned early on that, “the customer is always right.” That theory was put to the test the entire time I was employed at this particular dealership. I was there for two years and made it my mission to learn everything I could about how automobile dealerships operate. After witnessing their practices I decided to give the general public the information they need to get a fair deal when making that large vehicle purchase.
In all fairness, I am sure there are dealerships; management and salespersons that are exempt from the practices that I am going to tell you about. Generally I have found salespersons to be hardworking family members that work an enormous amount of hours to provide for their families. A lot of them have college degrees and are bright. However, some of them are only interested in taking your money and as soon as you drive off the lot they wash their hands of you. The only thing they are thinking about is taking advantage of their next customer. If you have a problem with the vehicle you just purchased, do not count on these people to assist you.
My first piece of advice is to ask around: friends, neighbors and family. See if any of them have dealt with an honest salesperson that they can recommend. Referrals are the salespersons bread and butter and you will feel better if friends or relatives have worked with a particular salesperson in the past and feel good about the experience. However, it is management that sets the tone at automobile dealerships. Owners and managers that run honest dealerships are hard to find. Dishonest owners and managers bully their salespeople to get every penny out of the customer, whatever it takes. The managers pressure the salespeople to intimidate the customer until they have beaten the customer down and the customer no longer possesses any sales resistance. Some of these people are ruthless and have no conscience what so ever.
