|  Gregory D. Lee Read Greg's bio and previous columns here
June 5, 2009
My Auto Shopping Adventure: One Reason GM Failed
On Memorial Day, I went
car shopping for an SUV. I was tempted by GM’s 0 percent financing on the
Cadillac Escalade hybrid, and found a dealership to test drive one.
The salesman was polite
enough, and showed me some, but not all, of the vehicle’s many features.
When I asked about the navigation system, he said the DVD map disc was in
the office but assured me it was one of the best. I guess I’ll just have to
take his word for it.
When I saw a sticker on
an Escalade’s windshield that read: “Today’s Special,” I asked about it.
“Oh,” he said. “That doesn’t mean anything. Somebody puts them on the cars
all the time.”
Then I test drove one,
but the salesman was too busy to come with me, so he lost another
opportunity to explain the vehicle’s many features and why it’s superior to
its competition. When I returned to the dealership, the salesman wanted to
appraise my trade-in. I had checked the Kelly Blue Book’s web site, and knew
my vehicle was in excellent condition and worth $19,000 as a trade-in. As I
predicted, the appraiser judged the vehicle to be in not excellent, or good,
but only fair condition. According to the blue book, this particular vehicle
in “fair” condition was worth only $16,000.
The salesman countered
my initial purchase offer with a figure only $2,000 less than the whopping
$76,000 sticker price. He quickly pulled out the alleged “dealer’s invoice”
to show that his wholesale price was only about $2,500 less than the sticker
price, and said that meant that he would “lose money” if he accepted my
offer. Having bought about a dozen new vehicles in my lifetime, I’m always
amazed how gullible car dealers think buyers are. I know that domestic
dealers have approximately 13 percent of a vehicle’s MSRP to play with, and
that doesn’t count manufacturer incentives, hold-backs and other things.
When I mentioned I
might look at a Lexus, the salesman blurted, “They don’t negotiate at all.”
Considering GM was on
the verge of bankruptcy, I thought if there was ever a time that a dealer
would be honest and anxious to sell his inventory, this was it. But
apparently I was mistaken.
A few days later I went
to a GMC dealership. I told the salesman that I was interested in a
front-wheel-drive GMC Acadia SUV with leather seating, navigation and memory
seats. When I asked about a CD player, he said that it was an option. When I
looked at the sticker on the window, it was clearly written that a
single-play CD was standard equipment. Of course, the dealership did not
have what I wanted. All but two in the inventory were all-wheel drive, and
neither had navigation. This was the second GMC dealer I visited that day.
The first dealer wrote down the options I wanted and promised to call me
when he found a vehicle. He didn’t have the brochure I requested, and he
never called back.
I stopped at a Toyota
dealership and found a friendly, courteous and knowledgeable salesman. He
also offered me $16,000 for my trade-in, but the Highlander hybrid I was
looking at was advertised for about $6,500 below the sticker price.
Unfortunately, the Highland does not offer memory seats so I moved on.
I finally succumbed to
my wife’s wishes and went to a Lexus dealer. The salesman was polite, and
Joe Biden would describe him as “clean and articulate.” He definitely was
knowledgeable about the products he sold. He accompanied me on two test
drives and demonstrated the vehicle’s many features and the navigation
system. He pointed out tags on the dashboards of several of the vehicles in
the showroom announcing up to $8,000 off some remaining 2009 models.
The contrast between GM
and the other dealers was dramatic. As much as I would like to buy an
American automobile, it becomes harder and harder when dealers don’t have
what you want, and the sales force don’t know their products and have a
take-it-or-leave-it attitude.
Maybe now, having filed
Chapter 11, GM will direct its dealers to sell cars instead of playing
games.
Gregory D. Lee is a nationally syndicated columnist for North
Star Writers Group. He can be reached at info@gregorydlee.com.
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