Sooo....how do you
really feel?
I agree, generally. Although I have met a few good, kind people involved in car sales, the majority have been scum-bags. The poeple and process are especially awful in a "system house", where the salesmen have "mandatory turns" (Salesman #1 finds some lame excuse to bail out on you and "turn" you to salesman #2), and a fleet of "managers" who are second-year salesmen assigned to "close" the deal. (Like Lithia.)
I always tell the salesman the rules up front:
1) If you leave me in a cubicle for fifteen minutes, I'll leave.
2) If you "turn" me, I'll leave.
3) If you introduce me to a smiley manager? You guessed it, I'll leave.
4) If I'm goin to buy a car today, I'll be driving it out of here in less than 90 minutes. Any longer than that and we'll have to try another day, or I'll be buying somewhere else.
They leave you alone in the cubicle as part of the wearing down process - so you can sit there with the brochure and sweat yourself into how much you
need the car... When they do that to me I immediately bounce up and out of the cubicle and onto the lot. In our part of the country the dealerships are very big, often five acres or larger. If it's nice weather and I'm enjoying myself, I'll probably still be out wandering around when the guy comes looking. If they take too long, I'm gone.
The reality is, nothing they need to do takes more than a couple minuts. Credit history is almost instantaneous, as is trade evaluation...the four hour process is all about wearing/tiring the buyers - but we don't have to play by their rules.