On September 8th there was an article in Pittsburgh Post-Cazette about using internet for car purchasing. It is time-consuming to compare different cars and models and I assume that most people want to get offers from several dealers to get the best price and deal, once the decision about the car and the model is made. It should be worth the effort and I want to share my own experience, which happened this week. I am a 39 years old male who moved from Scandinavia to Pittsburgh one month ago.
Internet is a very useful tool in making comparisons and contacting dealers to quote the best price as described in Tuesday’s article. That is exactly what I have been doing. I made my purchasing decision about the car and model already in August before we moved to Pittsburgh. At the time I made contact with a local car dealer in Pittsburgh via internet, which is selling luxury vehicles. Lexus has been fortunate to be the #1 selling luxury vehicles in America for nine consecutive years. Also the local Lexus dealer has been awarded the “Elite of Lexus Award” 12 times, thus I thought I’m dealing with a reputable company.
Using the net I made my initial purchasing inquiry but I only got a reply from an internet manager asking that I visit their showroom. In the meanwhile I also received e-mails from the general sales manager and general manager. It was very confusing because I didn’t know with whom I should actually communicate. I replied to the general manager and made my inquiry again but did not get any answer. Although I finally got an offer from the internet manager, I gave up because I got a feeling that I was not listened to and that I was not being taken seriously.
Since our arrival in Pittsburgh I have been sent price quotes from several Lexus dealers in Pennsylvania. On 3rd September I decided to visit a local Lexus dealer with a friend of mine despite the negative experience with the incumbent internet sales manager. I met a pleasant enough salesman and he made me a customer proposal on paper for the car I was looking at. Later the same day I wrote this salesman an e-mail to make my own counter-offer since I wish to make a cash purchase. Salesman asked me to talk directly with the general sales manager for any more discount.
I called this sales manager and the receptionist forwarded my message calling back to him but he did not call me back. Instead I got a phone call from this receptionist saying the sales manager will not be in the office the next day. I wrote an e-mail to this sales manager on 4th September, to which I had no reply. However, I got a response from my salesman day after saying that the sales manager received my offer but is not prepare to negotiate about it. I called the salesman on 7th September and agreed on test driving two cars.
I got a quote from one another dealer in Pennsylvania, which was a bit better than that given by the local salesman. On 10th September I went to test drive these two cars with the same friend of mine. Everything went pretty well until the test drive was over and we went back to the office for negotiating and (I assumed) closing the deal. I told him that I had received a better offer than he had made during my first visit.
Quite surprisingly, the offer he gave me the week before was apparently no longer valid and his new offer was now $ 500.00 less. First he tried to lie to me that the first offer was made 2-3 weeks earlier. We were still negotiating about the same car, which remains unsold in the dealers’ yard. I showed him the offer he gave the prior week, but he ignored it by saying that I should have made my purchasing decision already during the first visit on 3rd September. Also he did not return the original (signed) customer proposal back to me before I asked after it. During the first visit salesman made no mention about a time limit on the offer and there was no due date in the original customer proposal. Salesman started to argue with me and my friend about the due date. He disregarded anything I tried to say. He tried to make me feel guilty about my quotes about I had asked of other dealers. He continued in an accusing fashion as to why I had requested a quote of another local Lexus dealer in Allegheny County, because they own that company as well and he had knowledge of this.
Sadly, I never had a chance to explain that the best discount is not always the best deal. Unfortunately I was not able to state that I am not willing to travel a few hundred miles to get the same car for a slight increase in discount.
I gave up and left because the salesman underestimated me. I was neither listened to nor paid respect. At the same time this car dealer claims to have achieved top rankings from their customers in both sales and service experience. I think for most of us the decision to buy a new car needs to be carefully estimated. Certainly I’m not ready to hand over about $ 50,000.00 at the same time as the written customer proposal is given. I want to take time and consider the best deal.
This Lexus dealer has spoiled for me and my friend current and future business in the way that they handled me. I’ll start my homework again and start looking at another car and dealer, which is interested in at least trying to meet my needs.
There are no words that I could use to explain my feelings. I have never met a deceitful, argumentative or attacking salesman before. I had thought that this kind of customer story could only be read in a book.
Sakke
Sales case that should not happen
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