Toys4RJill

So, it finally dawned on me, the car dealer is absolutely essential in selling a certain brand of car. Was a KIA on Thursday evening, it was cramped, low ceilings, small service area and no drive thru service. Never thought I would say this, but service drive thru's with express, large modern showrooms with most if not all of the line up of cars inside is vital.

Hard to understand how Cadillac is going to be successful when they share a dealer with Chevrolet. The FCA brand seems to put everything under one roof and keep their dealer look consistent. Most Toyota and Honda dealers look similar.

What is everyone's thoughts on this?

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

as someone who'd rather have dental work done than going to a dealer it's not that important to me.

when i was younger and decided to have the dealer do everything just to 'be sure', i spent a FORTUNE there and wasted an enormous amount of time there, or futzing with loaner cars, etc.

in the last 12 years i'd say i've been in a car service area maybe a dozen times? my 9 years of explorer ownership required very little maintenance (in 100k mi.) and i did oil changes myself. my 3 years of jeep gave me 2 years / 4 visits included for 'inspection' and oil/filter, rotation, etc., which of course i used, but haven't been back since. i did an oil change since and am about to do another... it's TRIVIAL on the jeep because the filter 'cartridge' is accessible from the top of the engine. i get free balance/rotations at discount tire. haven't studied yet (but will), i don't think any other fluid maintenance is needed for a ton more miles...

so to me, i'd rather not set foot in the dealer at all. if it's full of marble and glitz and vast spaces, then i know I'M paying for that, so no thanks. but i realize some are impressed by all of that or think they're 'special' and need to be pampered.

as cars become more and more reliable, and more and more vehicles aren't 'bought' but leased, rented, have all inclusive plans, etc., (not to mention self-driving cars which can go in for service without the owner/driver going there at all!!!!), the dealer bling will become less and less relevant.

tex2670

I absolutely agree. Especially with brands like Kia and Genesis trying to draw in customers for higher-end products. You can't have someone buying a G80 or G90, and getting an Elantra as a loaner. I believe this was part of what doomed the VW Pheaton. It was a good car, but besides the fact that people had a hard time wrapping their minds around an $80k VW (in 2006 dollars), they had facilities and sales staff tailored to selling Golfs and Beetles. Looked at an Audi one time that shared a facility with VW, and the Audi sales people were busy and the VW guy tried to help me. I didn't buy an Audi...

If you want to project a lux image, you need to actually do it. It's the main reason Acura, Lexus and Infiniti, for their initial roll out decades ago, required dealers to make separate facilities.

Toys4RJill

Some good points. Most KIA dealers in my area appear to be older or former dealers from another brands.

Most Lexus dealers are now separate from Toyota. Never seen a split Honda/Acura

Referring more about the purchase process. Also, dealer vs dealer, things like a drive-thru oil change with a 39 minute guarantee are important.

mmarshall

I've already posted on this, at length, in other threads....but, in a nutshell, Kia and Hyundai dealerships, in particular, tend to vary enormously in size, refinement, and amenities. Just within a relatively short driving distance from my house, for example, are three Kia dealerships (I've done reviews at all three)...one is basically a hole-in the wall place where the few vehicles are packed unlike sardines, the second shares its shop with Volvo and is almost as crowded as the first one, and the third is enormous, part of a huge dealer complex of shops (all brand-new or just a few years old) with all the latest facilities, where you can look at or drive almost anything. Steve got the new Pacifica, for his wife, at the equally-large Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep complex right across the street.

Agreed. I have never seen a joint one, either, on these brands, except for maybe (?) the well-known Longo Lexus and Toyota in El Monte, CA. Even then, though they share a huge complex together, the Longo Toyota and Lexus shops are in different buildings...and the Lexus shop (I don't know about the Toyota) keeps all of their new vehicles in stock inside, out of the weather, in a special building.

mmarshall

You'd probably sing a different tune if you had my dentist. With his excellent fees, work, and care to not be painful, you'd look forward to appointments.

Today, dealerships often do some things as perks just to try and attract new customers (or to reward existing or repeat ones). With my Lacrosse, for example, they tossed in the first two oil changes free....even without an optional Maintenance-package. With a new car, most manufacturers and dealerships often give you the first year of adjustments free.....say, if you hit a pothole and need a wheel-alignment, or if a headlight is out of adjustment (state-inspections often check for that), or if your steering wheel is off-center, etc....

Toys4RJill

Anyone on here know what might the largest Toyota dealer in North America? Or Lexus dealer?

mmarshall

Not sure about Toyota, but, for Lexus, the highest-volume dealership in the U.S. is JM Lexus, near Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Longo Lexus, in El Monte, CA, also ranks way up there...they are probably second. Both of those regions, of course, like D.C., are big-money areas, where luxury vehicles sell or lease in good numbers.

Toys4RJill

Indeed Longo Toyota is the largest.

tex2670

I've never seen combined Lexus/Toyota or Honda/Acura (meaning both cars in the same showroom floor--not meaning the same dealership but separate buildings).

MattyG

It isn't so much a simple question about the importance of a dealership, but the more critical question about the future of the local retail car dealer. There is no doubt that the car dealer is the retail channel that's essentially handy for a car buyer. It is established and it is the nearest local source you have for your potential purchase.

You can look at online reviews, do Car Chat or whatever online model specific forum suits you - in the end you still want to touch, feel and drive the real thing. That's available locally, instantly and that's a proper 3D experience vs the filtered reviews and online reading.

What bothers people is the corptocracy and local profit motive infrastructure. The haggling, the issues with finance, insurance and various upsell/add-ons. That is what will change. That's why dealership models are changing to adapt to changing demographics and the online-informed consumers. People already know about the car or truck, they know the specs and they usually know what it's going to drive like. But they don't know if that's all true for them individually.

The result is that a lot of local retail dealerships are going to move away from the bait/switch pricing model and move to the experience model. That means you make it easy, you don't misinform the consumer and you don't do high pressure or other deceptive add-ons. You train your people to treat people like they're here to be your guest, not your next commission.

It is already changing. Sales staff are sent off to learn Disney Institute customer service. Or Apple Genius and Apple Store training. That's the way forward. The dealer will still be around, but the old school fossils will go away.

SW17LS

My0gr81

Your average dealer facility is a dying breed with it's inefficient use of real estate. Some manufacturers have already started putting up service facilities separate from dealers as their volume goes up the point where the local dealers can't handle timely service bookings. You can already build preferred car and book a test drive through most manufacturer's web sites, only a step away from completing the transaction and arranging for a pick up spot.

Fizzboy7

The main complaint you'll hear from people about dealers will be about the buying process, not about the facility or amenities. And this is the fault of the manufacturer for allowing it to be set-up this way. The problem is the big gray area of pricing, where there's a cost and a msrp, and all the bargaining, games, deceit, and flaking that takes place on both sides. It's a brutal act for most to go through, and many cave in and get hosed in the end. Personally, I'm okay with it because it's easy to be educated and armed. But perhaps manufacturers could cut out a lot of the gap between cost and msrp, make much less on the sale of a car, and focus more on the service end of it. If decent money can be made with the servicing to support the dealer and manufacturer, everyone wins and the buyer has no bad experience to go through. Happy customers can also lead to increased sales.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

the purchase process... even less reason to go to the dealer! many dealers will now bring the car to you. plus shopping over the internet is far better until you absolutely have to go to the dealer to do a test drive and suffer the inane conversation and cluelessness of most salespeople. and don't get me started on the actual purchase process. no matter how shiny the tile and marble and granite, the high ceilings, coffee bars, etc., you have to go through the awful a) sales process, then b) f&i shake down, and c) wait for the car... it takes WAAAAAAAY too long because the dealers want to wear you down.