re: Somebody's got to rethink the car dealership model

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It's all about doing your research. Every car salesmen is just a regular guy, many have kids. If you can show up with pictures of those kids, you're way ahead of the game.

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But 98% of people are only worried about what they are paying monthly. And that's how the dealerships win.

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yep, i'm fully aware they deal with 90% mental midgets.

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Boy, if only there was an alternative like TrueCar.

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Just signed up and looked at a few models.

Of course you have to sign in and put all of your info. So I made the mistake of doing just that. Well 10 minutes in I get 3 phone calls and 5 emails.... Yeah that's not frustrating at all.

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there's no need for salesmen at all in the current system. All they do is take you on a test drive and relay info from the finance manager

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True. I went and test drove some cars this past weekend. Sales guy sits down and gets my info, then says, "Let me go grab John. He's our expert Tacoma guy." John walks over, pats my salesman on the shoulder and says, "I'd love to help, but your salesman here knows more about Tacomas than I'd ever know." Cool, my guy knows his trucks. Let's go look at them.

Out on the lot the salesman is fumbling to answer my questions and can't even tell different models apart despite their being a giant logo painted on the rear fender. If this was their top Tacoma guy, then this dealership is in serious trouble. I want a guy I can talk technical with. Not some blow-hard who only knows about bluetooth syncing.

Some are good and some are bad and I agree that the whole way of doing it in general sucks.

Went to Lamarque Ford and I was in there 10 minutes and realized they are a bunch of nimrods.

Went to the Honda place in Slidel and they have even shifted to a worse way than usual with how they want to do it. They have this young 20's something somewhat ignorant person talk to you about what you want and show you the car while attempting to tell you about it's specs, etc.
Then they when it's time to talk numbers they run back and forth to a back office to talk to their boss.

Ray Brandt Nissan and Royal Honda both have legit salesmen that are generally allowed to talk numbers and make decisions.

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WTH? what was the point of this I wonder

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you should ask them who was the prius expert.

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I would like to see a system where salesmen are eliminated altogether. Instead the dealership would have some specialists (like at an Apple store) who walk around and answer any questions you have. I'm talking people educated in mechanics and familiar with the cars...Salesmen usually don't know crap about the cars they are selling. Then when you're ready to buy, you sit down directly with the person you negotiate with. Not a "wait 10 minutes while I go talk to my Manager" situation.

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That model does exist. It has been tried at various dealers and dealer groups in test markets across the country. It was generally phased out because dealer profits went down.

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I want a guy I can talk technical with. Not some blow-hard who only knows about bluetooth syncing.

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The problem is that you want him for $7.25 an hour.

it has to be a sales technique...make you feel all cozy about the salesmen or something. Just strange