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Thread: Ford Rolls out online shopping

  1. #11
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    You're missing the third party of that equation: convenience. The flip side of customer service is having to deal with a stranger whose job it is to make money off of you and explain complicated things to you.

    Amazon isn't successful just because it's cheap, the fact that you can reasonable expect for anything you order from them to be delivered to your house in a couple days, and that if anything goes wrong they will actually care about making it right, is why Amazon beats out other online stores in addition to hurting local retailers.

    In my interactions with salespeople do I want to receive great customer service? Of course. But I'd much rather just skip the sales person completely in most cases, because they are in the way of my convenience. You have to establish a rapport with them, explain what and why you want something, figure out a negotiation tactic, deal with getting approval from them, and the manager, and financing.

    For someone that doesn't know what they want, a good, informative salesperson can be vital, but not the kind of sales people that typically get hired to sell cars. They are sales people, working on commission, needing to sell what they have on the lot to pay their own bills. Its not up to them to be an unbiased source of information, from all we known and see the most successful ones are the ones that take advantage of the misinformed rather than helping them.

    So yeah, avoiding the dealership experience completely is what I think most people want to do. Dealerships did it to themselves with decades of their previous business model, and the only real reason they haven't been completely usurped already is the myriad of legal restrictions that exist to prevent manufacturers from selling directly.

  2. #12
    What does the Bat say? Jason's Avatar
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    Customer Service matters a lot to some people, I absolutely agree. But, that is not still all what happens at dealerships with salesmen that work off of commission. If I could walk in, not be hounded, and not be lied to, I'd absolutely love dealerships. Because there's a great value in sitting in/test driving a car before buying it.

  3. #13
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Not good for test driving, but I use the auto show for that. They're not allowed to try and sell you anything at the show so you can crawl around all the stuff without any pressure.

  4. #14
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    I heard Saturn dealership experiences were awesome. Too bad it went under before I had a chance to try it...

    I think current dealerships really do not have customer services... maybe customer fuck overs would be more appropriately named. This is why Costco is now selling more and more cars by actually helping customers making the process easier and stress free.

    I can't imagine Ford can do better than Costco.

  5. #15
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    The expectation is that we'll stop buying cars as well, instead we'll be looking for mobility solutions. If you look at the sorts of things like Care by Volvo, Porsche Passport, Mercedes Me Flexperience, these are the sorts of ownership (or better put access) models that we'll be using in the future.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cam View Post
    Agreed. I should be able to buy a car online like a buy a pair of shoes or whatever. I purchase online and have it delivered to my door without having to talk to anyone.
    Purchasing for introverts is the way I'd like it.

    Here's my money. Just leave me alone and give me my shit.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kchrpm View Post
    ...For someone that doesn't know what they want, a good, informative salesperson can be vital, but not the kind of sales people that typically get hired to sell cars. They are sales people, working on commission, needing to sell what they have on the lot to pay their own bills. Its not up to them to be an unbiased source of information, from all we known and see the most successful ones are the ones that take advantage of the misinformed rather than helping them...
    Yup. That's how I feel about real estate agents; good ones have a purpose, the other 80% of them are there to make a few grand for opening the door and stretching the truth

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by IMOA View Post
    The expectation is that we'll stop buying cars as well, instead we'll be looking for mobility solutions. If you look at the sorts of things like Care by Volvo, Porsche Passport, Mercedes Me Flexperience, these are the sorts of ownership (or better put access) models that we'll be using in the future.
    Yeah, I think manufacturers like Ford ought not only develop autonomous cars but also develop their own uber or lyft services... just to get ready for the future.

  9. #19
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    If manufacturers can sell directly to consumers how will dealerships try and upsell you 'paint protection' and convince you into their finance deal with the biggest kickback?

  10. #20
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    When I bought the ST I had a great salesman, it was the sales manager and finance manager that screwed things up and pissed me off. Sales manager didn't like his ford corporate survey results and wanted me to change them saying they took care of the problem, uh no you didn't asshole and you didn't offer me anything in return. Talked up the sales guy and nailed those 2 to the wall with it. I'd be perfectly fine with dealerships going away, I haven't had a good experience yet. There are way too many steps and layers to buying a new car that just don't need to be there.

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