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Dealership experiences

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Old Jul 9th, 2018, 20:01   #11
NigelDay
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Back in 2015 whilst shortlisting, I had TWO very negative experiences at Audi dealers in different parts of the country. In both I was pretty much ignored, and when I needed some specific question answering I was told by the (helpful) receptionist that the salesman would be with me soon. Well (and I did have some time to kill) nearly an hour later - and starting to get a little bored - he finally turned up. I concluded that some brands / dealerships spend most of their time cultivating company business, and when 'Joe Public' walks in for a private purchase then it becomes something a little too tedious to bother with.
To be fair, a BMW dealership was very courteous and honest enough to quickly tell me the lead time on an X3 was at least 9 months (which therefore ruled out even bothering with a test drive).
Finally - as we know - not all Volvo dealerships are equal. One 'chain' near to me displayed a complete lack of interest in trying to arrange a test drive, but then (to my amazement) ring me up 9 months AFTER I had purchased elsewhere to enquire if I was still looking to buy. You can imagine my response.
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Old Jul 9th, 2018, 20:58   #12
WABB
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Arrived at an Audi dealership in old model XC90 (3 yo at the time), parked outside showroom in view of staff on duty. Looked around cars in forecourt & showroom - six, yes six sales people sitting around a coffee table chatting. I left after 30 minutes without being approached by anyone. Subsequently bought 3 new XC60s. Seems to mirror others' experiences of this marque.
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Old Jul 9th, 2018, 22:12   #13
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Originally Posted by I-S View Post
...The second dealership couldn't have been more different... - he was wearing jeans and a football shirt, ... someone else to open the cars for us (who also was wearing a football shirt, ...
If that was a Lada dealership I would understand,
but if not ... chavs. Forget 'em.
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Old Jul 9th, 2018, 23:46   #14
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Similar experiences, some staff at dealers are great others are on another planet. Whilst I can look beyond smiles and friendliness, for me, a nice sales person is a warm welcome with a dealership that takes care of its customers after one has purchased a vehicle. This is more important as cars are generally built poorly in this day and age.

If buying new, I'd have no loyalty, just buy from which ever dealer can sell you what you want the cheapest and then take it where you want for maintenance.
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 07:28   #15
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The best experience I have had was when we purchased my girlfriends mazda 2 from a main mazda dealer but part of stoneacre. It was the right car at the right price especially being the current model. I typically thought when arriving this is going to be the usual rubbish you would expect from a large motor group and as mentioned earlier I wouldn’t have been surprised if they would have been wearing football shirts.

How wrong I was though. We arrived and headed for the car we had seen. The salesman came out near enough straight away but not to soon. He gave us plenty of time to look round and then offered to fill it with fuel and give it to us for a 4 hour test drive so we could make our own mind up. Well we didn’t take the mick but we had it for just over an hour. Liked it and bought it.

There aftersales service has also been really good. I can’t really fault them. It’s just been in for service and a recall. I know mazda isn’t a premium brand but others could learn a lot from these guys. Stoneacre also have a Volvo dealership anyone had dealings with them?
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 12:54   #16
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I may be unusual in that I have never considered buying anything other than Volvo for the last 25 years / 7 cars and have found a dealership we trust implicitly, so I don’t have a great deal of recent experience in visiting dealers.
However, a colleague at work fancied a new German car and had narrowed her choice to 2 models; a VW Passat estate or an Audi A4 estate, and she asked me to come along and help her get a good deal.
The first call was at the VW showroom and it was obvious that the salesman could not care a sh*t; on being told what she wanted, he vaquely gestured across the showroom and disappeared. My friend found a car she liked; colour, spec, etc and went to look for the salesman, who dumped a couple of leaflets on the table then muttered something about ringing him when she had made up her mind. He never offered a test drive, bothered to look at her trade in or offered any assistance or advice.
A £30,000 plus cash buyer walked out.

The next call was the Audi dealership. I was delighted to find that everybody: receptionist, salesmen and most of their customers were bright orange - there’s nothing like reinforcing stereotypes.
The salesman was ok, the coffee was reasonable and he did put in a bit of effort, but it was obvious that he thought that the cars he was selling were so desirable that they would sell themselves, so he did not make any real attempt to negotiate a decent price. He did not offer a test drive, but took the two of us for a run around the block in a similar car to the one that my friend fancied.
The attitude seemed to be; “it doesn’t matter what the car is like, it’s an Audi so you want it and all your friends will be impressed”.
She did eventually buy the A4, but the negotiations were short and white one sided; the salesman got the deal he wanted.
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 13:16   #17
T5R92011
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 60041 View Post
I may be unusual in that I have never considered buying anything other than Volvo for the last 25 years / 7 cars and have found a dealership we trust implicitly, so I don’t have a great deal of recent experience in visiting dealers.
However, a colleague at work fancied a new German car and had narrowed her choice to 2 models; a VW Passat estate or an Audi A4 estate, and she asked me to come along and help her get a good deal.
The first call was at the VW showroom and it was obvious that the salesman could not care a sh*t; on being told what she wanted, he vaquely gestured across the showroom and disappeared. My friend found a car she liked; colour, spec, etc and went to look for the salesman, who dumped a couple of leaflets on the table then muttered something about ringing him when she had made up her mind. He never offered a test drive, bothered to look at her trade in or offered any assistance or advice.
A £30,000 plus cash buyer walked out.

The next call was the Audi dealership. I was delighted to find that everybody: receptionist, salesmen and most of their customers were bright orange - there’s nothing like reinforcing stereotypes.
The salesman was ok, the coffee was reasonable and he did put in a bit of effort, but it was obvious that he thought that the cars he was selling were so desirable that they would sell themselves, so he did not make any real attempt to negotiate a decent price. He did not offer a test drive, but took the two of us for a run around the block in a similar car to the one that my friend fancied.
The attitude seemed to be; “it doesn’t matter what the car is like, it’s an Audi so you want it and all your friends will be impressed”.
She did eventually buy the A4, but the negotiations were short and white one sided; the salesman got the deal he wanted.
I hate that attitude. That is literally the lowest form of reasoning behind buying a car.

If I was selling an Audi, I would be highlighting it's build quality and technology to the customer, not spouting crap about desirability.

This is why I couldn't ever bring myself to buy a new Audi or BMW. The sorts of people who buy them couldn't give a toss about cars and probably never maintain them. They buy it soley as a status symbol and it really aggrivates me.
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 13:28   #18
MiniNinjaRob
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If they had the football on a TV I would turn around and walk out. Similarly wearing football shirts and jeans? No. Just no. And I would speak to the sales manager and make him/her aware that I would not be purchasing from them because of this, as if they weren't professional enough to wear something smart for work and tear themselves away from the TV then I couldn't rely on them to provide a professional service later on.

My dad buys a new car every couple of years and keeps buying Fords. Why? Well he's been in to local VW/Skoda/Honda dealers and they just don't care, barely ever want to speak with him. Whereas the Ford garage treats him with respect, makes him valued and looks after him. So they, for no cost whatsoever in money or time, just a bit of courtesy, manage to sell a brand new car every two years.

Anyway, I'd rather walk than pay for an Audi.
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 13:28   #19
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Quote:
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I hate that attitude. That is literally the lowest form of reasoning behind buying a car.

If I was selling an Audi, I would be highlighting it's build quality and technology to the customer, not spouting crap about desirability.

This is why I couldn't ever bring myself to buy a new Audi or BMW. The sorts of people who buy them couldn't give a toss about cars and probably never maintain them. They buy it soley as a status symbol and it really aggrivates me.
I agree totally, I tried my best to get her to consider other brands, but she got swept up in the hype. As it was not my money, I quite enjoyed sitting in the showroom watching all the orange people making their lifestyle choices and listening to the BS about how the neighbours, work colleagues and friends will all be green with envy.
I did throw in a few comments about diesel emissions and failing DSG clutches and swear the the salesman paled underneath his permatan, but he did not rise to the bait.
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Old Jul 10th, 2018, 14:13   #20
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Interesting that so many have had that experience with Audi.

We haven't been anywhere near an audi dealer as they have very little that interests us as far as cars go. All the VAG group cars I've driven in my life I've hated (except the golf mk 6, which was sort of ok). Of course, the image that audis convey is something else that counts against them.

Perhaps this arrogance and aloofness is something that afflicts all german car brands?
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