Dealer Enquiry

[Tom483]

I have had a similar experience of going to two dealers who before had been helpful and easy to talk to but this time around they were completely disinterested which annoyed us because cars aren’t exactly cheap to buy. The talked down the value of our current car and laughed when we mentioned about any special deals they could do. 
 

We settled on a dealer further away who was nothing but helpful, even surpassing the carwow offers we had received (in the range of 9-10% off list price for a Corolla TS) and gave extra for part exchange. 
 

Sadly seems to be no loyalty for staying with the dealer you bought previous car and I’d deff recommend an online approach as this seems to be where the biggest savings are. Our original dealer told us there was no chance of getting anything more than 2% off the car 🤦. 

[Big_D]

Too true. Our Yaris was ordered from a dealer 300 miles away from us. He was helpful and interested. His deal was also £900 cheaper, with a free Dashcam.

[Roy124]

Street Hawk mentioned what might be termed post-sale amnesia. Our first Toyota salesman always, greeted us but then disappeared.  I just want to plug FortAutos near Birmingham.  It was 7 years ago but their salesman knew the car and gave good post-sale service.  The service book was missing but he had a new book sent to every garage that had serviced the car, and there were a lot, abd then posted it on. 

[Cyker]

Always good to hear positive experiences! I want to drive more traffic to dealers with good customer service because they're the ones that are more likely to close when times get tough, leaving the big uncaring ones  

[Spo2]

I have approached few deals including my local and from whom I bought the car for spare wheel kit. No one has come back yet. 

[Notfer]

In my old town there's this really good independent Ford garage, and between my Mum and I, we've bought 9 cars over the last 10 years - we change alot ,and that's not including other marques...
The reason we kept using the same garage, isn't because it was local and convenient, its because they constantly went above and beyond, both pre-sale, pre-delivery, and after-care. In fact they consistently won the award for best customer service every year for the last 7/8 years. They weren't necessarily the cheapest either, but sometimes you're happy to pay a little more just for that peace of mind that you're in good hands.

That being said, they were really funny with me when I bought my last car via carwow - down in Oxford, some 2-300 miles away, and I know they wouldn't have been able to match it, by any stretch of the imagination.

And now I think I've found the same sort of decent independent/very small franchise with Toyota. Local, competitive, and great customer service...for now.

 

[Roy124]

Notfer, when I went to this garage in 1964 there was the Old Mr E and the young Mrs E.  When I returned 20 years later, the Old Mr E had retired but lived across the road and was often around.  The Young Mr E however ran it. 20 years on again, the Young, now Old Mr E was in charge and the new Young Mr E was up and coming 😊. 

When you talk of swapping to Carwow did you consider a deal with your local dealer? 

I have done something like that but I went on with the base price, the delivery (ie the real delivery cost) but also factored in local convenience and good will.  I said I would offer the base price plus a reasonable mark up, thus showing willingness, and got a deal. 

A sale's a sale. 

[Notfer]

6 hours ago, Roy124 said:

Notfer, when I went to this garage in 1964 there was the Old Mr E and the young Mrs E.  When I returned 20 years later, the Old Mr E had retired but lived across the road and was often around.  The Young Mr E however ran it. 20 years on again, the Young, now Old Mr E was in charge and the new Young Mr E was up and coming 😊. 

When you talk of swapping to Carwow did you consider a deal with your local dealer? 

I have done something like that but I went on with the base price, the delivery (ie the real delivery cost) but also factored in local convenience and good will.  I said I would offer the base price plus a reasonable mark up, thus showing willingness, and got a deal. 

A sale's a sale. 

I didn’t, mainly because we were in proper lockdown at the time, and they were no longer local - I moved. Plus I wanted to see if the carwow hype was all it was made out to be.

In hindsight, I probably should have taken that deal to them, but I’ve sold that now anyway.

 

[Spo2]

3 minutes ago, Notfer said:

I didn’t, mainly because we were in proper lockdown at the time, and they were no longer local - I moved. Plus I wanted to see if the carwow hype was all it was made out to be.

In hindsight, I probably should have taken that deal to them, but I’ve sold that now anyway.

 

I did take my carwow best offer to local Toyota dealer but they could not match - they were £1000 or so more. The carwow Toyota dealer delivered the car as well. Also, I don't think the idea of local dealer preference has much merit- people move from one city to another for jobs or other things, so any dealer should provide service  irrespective of the car being brought or not brought from them.

[Spo2]

On 3/23/2022 at 8:54 PM, AJones said:

Yes Cazoo is excellent, you can tell its a tech company selling cars, rather than a car company trying to build a sales website, from the attention to detail and process, they've got everything covered, with the attention to detail like the vehicle spec, masses of photos, 360 view, details of the imperfections and servicing history. The sales and delivery process is so efficient and slick.

The car manufacturers and their dealerships are going to have to raise their game, particularly as newer generations of car buyers now expect seamless online sales processes, the typical dealership and their processes look old and clunky by comparison.

Car manufacturers raising their games would be a good thing for the consumers but it is going to be hard for them. Can't say any car manufacturers do infotainment systems better than tech companies - even their satnav is lousier than Google's.  However, the reverse is not true- several tech companies can and have made EVs. I recall Sony did and they partnered with Honda. No need to mention Tesla. Even Chinese companies like Huawei and Xiamoi can do EVs. Also, VW is buying Huawei's self-driving tech. 

[Roy124]

In a word, Apple.  😂

[Spo2]

26 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

In a word, Apple.  😂

Tbh, if any industry needed shaking up, it was the auto industry. They have been selling incrementally improved cars for several decades. There has been no quantum innovation or disruption. One can argue that traditional auto companies like Toyota or Honda thought of hybrids or hydrogen (not necessarily saying they are the best), what European car-makers did, what innovation they brought (cheat devices?)? They sold craftsmanship instead of innovation and superior technology- can't blame them. Why won't they do if there is demand for luxury or German quality? The simplicity of BEV, would lead to lots of new entries from China and elsewhere. I prefer a scenario where tech companies and new entrants create threats for traditional auto makers. 

[Roy124]

Spo, which of course Tesla did, and in a way Volvo/Geely with Polestar.  Polestar moving away from the traditional marque with a suggestion of revolution rather than incremental. 

[Cyker]

No innovation? How can you say that? Why, they have been pioneering newer, softer plastics, with 17% more leathery leather and BIG RIMS! Think of how much R&D has gone into high tech engineering that allows them to fit a 28" rim into a 27" wheel well! And they are pushing at the boundaries of tyre profiles! Soon they will be able to reach profiles of less than a millimetre! That's a lot of R&D right there!

And don't forget all that nurburgring testing time! Because it is of vital importance that a 3 ton sports utility vehicle be able to get sub-9 minute lap times for those school runs!

And all that performance means we need high performance seats! With 27-points of adjustment, 16 levels of heating, cooling, 20 slot memory and massage! Vitally important!

And let's not forget the advances in headlight tech! HID? Not bright enough! LED? Not bright enough! Now they have invented... LASERS! Yes! The same kind of lasers that carry blindness warnings, we can now have on our cars! Marvellous! Such advance! Many innovate!

 

 

[Roy124]

Cyker, surely 27 points of adjustment is so last year.  Surely cars should have CVA* seating. 

Constant Variable Adjustment - as I start to look right the seat will reform to comply with my movement. 

 

 

[Cyker]

Yes, continuously deformable seats! By Burberry! With wingbacks! That is the future of car R&D!

 

[dannyboy413]

How's this for an idea? You could have cars where people could do their own relatively minor servicing and repairs - things like change individual spark plugs, or change the coil, or upgrade the car radio for something better off the shelve. In fact, if you think about it, you would not even need a computer! Just a, (tongue in cheek), thought.

[Cyker]

That's just crazy talk!

[Roy124]

Danny, I can't even see if my car has spark plugs. 

[twintopp]

yeah , dealer phoned me great deals etc. asked for figures ...nothing , i phoned them he promised to email the figures...nothing, so having got the knew car bug we went in person to the dealer and give our custom and i assume commission to another salesman who was very good and fell over backwards to sort us out. like people have commented the sales staff don`t seem to stay long in any dealership and don`t generally know their product as well as the customer.