News @lemmy.world Sunshine (she/her) @lemmy.ca 2mo ago

Plan To Sell Scout Vehicles Directly To The Public Has California Volkswagen Dealers Hopping Mad

cleantechnica.com Plan To Sell Scout Vehicles Directly To The Public Has California Volkswagen Dealers Hopping Mad - CleanTechnica

Scout Motors wants to sell its vehicles direct to customers. Car dealers in California and elsewhere are objecting strenuously.

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If dealerships are pissed, I can almost guarantee that this will be good for the consumer.
- Any good car dealership saw the writing on the wall a decade ago. The last time I was looking at buying a car the best ones wanted to work with me even if they didn't have it in inventory. They would get me whatever I wanted (within manufacturer trims and specs) and were upfront about wait times and transfer/shipping prices. Basically they were already transitioning to being a buying agent.
  
  The worst ones were trying to shout/quick sell me on the most expensive thing they had, that they thought I could afford.
  
  The last time I bought from a dealership was 12 years ago. The experience was so off-putting that I've exclusively gone to small used car dealers since then where the salespeople have been surprisingly more honest and less obnoxious. I felt like the dealership would've literally pickpocketed me if I had let my guard down.
  
  I had a new car place tell me I had to sign a sheet saying I would say yes to any "reasonable deal" in order to do a test drive. I walked out laughing after the test drive because they refused to even consider selling me a different car.
  
  Another place tried to sell me a new car while I was getting maintenance done on the old one. That guy was super surprised when I walked out mid sales pitch. He thought if he could just talk fast enough he'd have me in a new car with none of my requirements before the old one was even done getting worked on. That was also a fully loaded something or other.
  
  A third place tried to shark attack me. Literally had 3 guys doing the passive aggressive loud tone telling me I couldn't buy a hybrid anywhere in the US. Well that hasn't worked since I was 17 at basic training.
  
  A fourth place put an Internet ad up for a no frills car at MSRP. I emailed and had conversations where they said it was available. I showed up and oops, all they had was the fully loaded version.
  
  What really makes me sad is they wouldn't do this stuff if it didn't work. People have got to learn to stand up for themselves.
  
  I showed up and oops, all they had was the fully loaded version.
  
  ...that they were willing to sell at the price advertised for the no frills version, right? /dreaming
  
  The constant lying was the last straw for me. Every time I've dealt with a dealership, they've promised some deal or price that somehow disappeared off the table when the official paperwork came out. My wife and I walked out in the middle of the signing process once because there was so much bait-and-switch going on. Fuck these guys.
  
  Last time I bought i said I could finance through the credit union for a crazy low interest rate. Sure, I'd consider financing through them if they gave me a lower rate...
  
  I hadn't even got the rate quote from the credit union but that wasn't the dealer's business
  
  I test drove a Hyundai and was ready to buy. The sales person told me I had to put down a deposit before we could talk about a price.
  
  I told them where to go, and that they weren't selling exclusive vehicles here. There are plenty of places to buy a Hyundai.
  
  Ended up at a vw dealer and left with a 1 year old tiguan instead of a new tuscon, much nicer car to be honest. They did me a favour I guess.
  
  That last scenario is a classic bait and switch and is illegal. The state would be very interested in hearing about it.
  
  I can't complain about the dealership I bought my car from at all. They were straight with me when I purchased it and have been awesome when going to them for service. Yeah, they overcharge for some simple things I can do myself anyway but for the major stuff I had them do they were comparable to what other shops in my area were quoting me.
- Yarp, that's why the dealers in Florida wrote a bill for Florida to ban direct to consumer sales on most vehicles. (An exception was left for certain cars like Tesla's... Which Desantis owns)
  
  Because of course DeSantis owns a Tesla
  
  I mean, he does kinda gives me some 'Cybertruck if it were a human' vibes now that you mention it...

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