An Experience with a Great Car Dealer

Sep 30, 2011 by admin    No Comments    Posted under: Sponsored

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During my time in school, I participated in a research project for a local chain of car dealerships.  We were asked to do consumer research and focus groups based around point of purchase experience, likes and dislikes of the car buying cycle and ways to improve and better meet consumer needs.  The research revealed many interesting things about what people like and dislike about the car buying experience.  From this project and my experience purchasing cars, I’ve found the following to be important in a good experience with a car dealer:

1. Open and Honest Communication – In my experience purchasing two cars in the last few years, I have appreciated the honesty of our sales representatives.  In our consumer market today, car dealerships are striving to engage their customers beyond purchase.  As a buyer, I realize that I could be creating a lasting relationship with this dealership because of maintenance, oil change incentives, tires for life, etc.  If I have an experience with a dishonest sales representative, I question what my experience will be like long term.
2. Being Generous is Always Appreciated – In my most recent purchase (last week in fact), my wife and I were looking at trading in our older car.  We still owed money on the car and it had some exterior damage.  We had been concerned that the resale/trade-in value would not be sufficient to cover our loan and require us to front additional money for either the repair or to pay out the loan.  Our car dealership offered to cover the entire amount of the loan (despite the money they knew they would pay for repairing the damage themselves).  In fact, they offered about $700 above what was left on our loan.  That generosity was very much appreciated.
3. Being Patient Not Pushy – Our dealership allowed my wife to test drive the car all day.  She ran errands, we went out to dinner and really got to experience the car.  Our sales rep, who we know had gotten in to work that morning at 8:00, stayed around until we brought the car back at 8:00 PM.  After bringing it back, he waited patiently while my wife and I discussed our needs asked questions, made phone calls to friends for advice and reviews, and not once did I feel like we were being pushed.  That patience significantly reduced whatever buyers remorse I would have felt.

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