Why are people at the car dealership not helpful?!?!

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

I went car shopping for the first time tonight with my father. I look very young, some parents at the preschool asked my age when I started to work because I could pass for a 15-16 year old. My dad however looks his age, which is 55. We started our night at the Toyota dealership. The guy came out as we were parking, he spent 45 minutes with us talking about the two cars I am interested in there and I test drove both of them. Surprisingly he did not ask for my license. He was nice and helpful. We then drove to the Honda dealership, which actually has the same owner as the Toyota dealership. We get out of the car and no one says hi, can I help you, nothing. We see a salesperson talking to two people next to a 08 Accord and he barely glances at us. I understand that was a potential sale, but at least say "hi, how are you, let me get someone to help you" etc. We then walked into the showroom and there are no salespeople in there to be found. We see a receptionist sitting at a desk chatting away on her cell phone. She does not even look up as we walk by, and we were talking so unless she is deaf she would know that we were 2 feet away from her. We go back outside and look at a 08 Accord that was unlocked and when no one came 5 minutes later we left. Why can't people be helpful? I am not asking people to kiss my feet but if I had fallen in love with one of the two cars we would have taken the person's name and looked into financing with the bank tomorrow, and might have gone back tomorrow to buy a car. I am so sick of bad service, do I need to take a wad of cash out of my purse to show that I am serious about purchasing something? Especially because we drove up in a 2001 Volvo, and we are both dressed nicely, we didn't drive up in a 25 year old car wearing sweatpants (not that there is anything wrong with 25 year old cars or sweatpants). As my sister says "the customer is (almost) always right."

It is not a big deal, we are going to a different Honda dealership tomorrow, and I am hoping they are nice because I don't want to have to rule out a car before I even get a chance to drive it.

I know this is silly and not a big deal in the scheme of things, but I wanted to write Honda a email about this poor service and they do not have an email address on their website, so I need to decide if it is worth typing out a whole letter and mailing it to them.

I hate poor/no service for no reason, and receptionists who stay on their cell phones rather than doing their jobs.

[Marisa6826]

Unfortunately, car dealerships are pretty notorious for that sort of attitude. I ran into the same thing everytime I have been car hunting. Regardless of my age, or how I've been dressed. I think that when they see women, they immediately assume we're idiots. As to why they ignored your Dad, well, I can't answer to that.

This last time around, I did test drive my car locally (despite the salesman being an utter ass), but then conducted all negotiations via phone and email with three other dealerships simultanously.

The final one (who happened to be furthest from where we live - almost an hour away) did EVERYTHING via phone/fax, and the day we went to pick up the car, we literally walked in, signed papers, and walked out with the keys in under an hour. It was a beautiful, painfree transaction. Let me tell you, I got the most insanely wonderful thrill by letting the local dealership know that I went elsewhere to get the car. When they asked why, I told them EXACTLY why. Their salesman was the most demeaning of all of them and I told them that in no uncertain terms.

So, definitely find what you want by testdriving and do everything else virtually. You will save yourself a lot of headaches.

-m

[KBecks]

Call the dealer and talk to their sales manager and tell (most likely a him) about your poor service. Expect an invitation to come back and meet with them again.

It is most likely your age and it could be any other factors. When car buying, be assertive, you have the money and the power. I heard a story of someone who walked into the back office where all the sales people were yakking and said, I am here to buy a car, is anyone going to talk to me?

In a good dealership you will be helped and not hounded. It's not unusual for Honda and Toyota dealers to be super super busy on weekends and you may need to wait or a salesperson my juggle 2 or 3 buyers/ browsers all at the same time.

Also it could be your age and gender. Hate to say it but it happens. A good sales person will not judge you much. Drop the hint you are serious, but do not answer any of their nosy questions about how you are going to pay for the car, etc. or any questions that make you uncomfortable.

And if they ask if your dad or boyfriend is going to help you, tell them that you are perfectly capable of buying a car yourself. :)

Best of luck.. car buying should be fun but it can also be a PITA. You do waht you can to make it work for you.

[dr mom]

Let me tell you, I got the most insanely wonderful thrill by letting the local dealership know that I went elsewhere to get the car. When they asked why, I told them EXACTLY why.

When I needed to replace my 2-door Honda Civic with a carseat-friendly 4-door car, DH and I went car shopping together. We explained to the salesmen (aside: why aren't there any salesWOMEN?) that this would be MY car, and I was very specific about what I wanted and needed. Fully 3/4 of the people we dealt with would then proceed to talk to DH, completely ignoring me - even pretending not to hear questions that I asked about the various cars we looked at.

Being hugely pregnant and therefore more irritable than usual anyway, I would allow this to go on for a few minutes and then interrupt to ask whether they had any other salespeople who were capable of working with women. "No? Oh, well, I was hoping to buy today, it's too bad that you can't help me. Come on honey, let's go somewhere else." We walked off more than one lot.

I'd invest 5 minutes and either call or send a short personal note to the owner and the manager of the dealership, telling them why you are now shopping elsewhere for your brand-new car. I predict they'll be willing to go above and beyond to try to make you happy. And if not, they can stew in the knowledge of a lost sale.

[KBecks]

Yes, I didn't have those problems but I made it very clear that the salesperson should talk to me. Basically my DH didn't say anything and I dominated the conversation with the salesperson and I made it clear that I had done signifiant reading about the model online, so they knew I was informed. I think that helped me get more control. Plus I was buying a minivan so any salesperson should know I'm the driver. But it's worth saying as much as needed, this is going to be my car, I'm the driver, I'm deciding what and where to buy, you need to talk to me if you want to sell a car..... rinse and repeat.

[KBecks]

Ilana here is a good series of articles on car buying.

http://www.fool.com/car/car.htm?terms=car+buying&vstest=search_042607_linkdefault

[sidmand]

I think I partly ended up buying the car I did because I had a salesWOMAN! I'd never had that before. And she was awesome.

I used to be a mystery shopper and I live near the "automile" near us, so they would send to the car dealers all the time. I hated it. Besides being female, I also could only drive a standard! I know, it doesn't make any sense, but at the time I couldn't drive an automatic. It felt like I was driving a bumper car (now I drive an automatic because DH can't drive a standard and it's just easier, but that's another story).

One time the only manual they had on the lot was the display car on the edge of the road, so I had to take a test drive with a big $16,000!!!! written across the front window.

Not fun. I'm tired of them always talking to DH too. Hey, we're shopping for MY car, not his. Plus, he probably knows less about cars than I do!

[birdie75]

I am sorry for your experience. The one time I bought a new car mine was similar, I was 28 and was looking at a Honda. First i was insulted by the sales person once I found one that he started with the color of the vehicle not the specifications and some other frivolous stuff. After I asked about the power rating and engine displacement (BTW I am an engine development engineer) and he didn't know I dismissed myself walked up to the receptionist and asked to speak to a qualified sales person. My service with the second person was much better. That was the last time I had to deal with a dealership on a car and I told myself never again.

Since then I have bought either Ford or GM with employee negotiated discount pricing. My friends working for these companies just give me a code after I tell them the spec package and vehicle I want and there is no negotiation and the price is generally much better then I could have negotiated anyhow. One of those benefits to being in Detroit, everyone knows someone to get a discount.

I have also had friends use www.carsdirect.com to buy new vehicles. It is a lot easier.

[maestramommy]

When we first started looking for my car, we went to a chain dealership. They have Nissans, Hondas, Toyotas, VWs, dotted throughout our region. For whatever reason the salespeople (yes women too) are extremely aggressive and kind of jerky. One problem we ran into was when I said I wanted stick. They started in with the spiel about how nobody drives stick anymore, so they almost never carry them unless it's a trade in, you don't get better mileage, it depreciates faster, yada yada. Finally, one of the guys asked," why do you want stick anyway?" My answer? "Because I like driving stick!" Dh patted me on the back later and said with my reply there was nothing they could rebut me with, which turned out to be true. Anyway, that was the last time we went browsing at a dealership. We ended up doing all of our shopping online, and went to a place that had the best deal to do the testdriving. It turns out the staff for internet sales are really the nicest because the price is pretty much a done deal, the lowest they can truly give you, so it's just a matter of whether you want the car or not. No hardballing. What a relief.

[bubbaray]

Ohhhh, this is soooo common, it just makes me want to scream!

When I purchased my Ody van, I had DH do all the negotiating. He got a fleet price through his work, all I had to do was pick color and which model and show up to sign the paperwork. If you or a family member can purchase in this manner, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Good luck!

[pb&j]

I did most of the haggling for my new car over the internet. And lucky me, the dealership's internet sales specialist was a women! And mom of a kid about DS's age. I only had to visit the dealership to fill out the final paperwork and do a test drive. I would absolutely do it this way again. There's no commitment needed to get a quote, so if you're not exactly sure and need to test drive a few models, you can without having to commit to anything. I used edmunds.com to get a quote for my trade in and for the new car, so I knew I was getting a decent price/trade. Very easy.

I'm sorry you had such a crummy experience.

[katydid1971]

My mom tells the story of her wealthy uncle who owned a large ranch and dressed like he worked on a ranch (he did, his own). He wanted to buy a new car and was ignored at several car dealerships when he finally got service he paid cash for a cadi (this was the 60's) and all of a sudden everyone was kissing his feat :) I have to agree with pp who recomend the internet. I test drove our current car locally but had already decided I wasn't going to buy from that dealership because of poor service I had received from them on my old car (both Hondas, love those Hondas) We ended up driving two hours for our car but saved 3K and got an extended servcice plan etc. I did my search via the internet and advice my frineds and family to do the same. Hope it works out for you. BTW when you posted before about Honda or Toyota, I have owned and loved both and you really can't go wrong. I would choose the car with the best deal.

[Kungjo]

I hate going o buy a new car. When we went to buy our 1st van, I was 8 months pregnant. We even mentioned that the van was for me, but the saleman kept addressing DH. Just to piss him off, I kept asking technical questions about the van and he couldn't answer any of it. :) Loved makinghim uncomfortable. He deserved it for ignoring me.