I recall about 5 years or so ago, my Mother needed a replacement car so I had arranged an appointment at the local Audi dealership for her to be shown around and taken for a test drive in an A1. We arrived 5 minutes before the scheduled appointment. There was a girl on reception who took our names and asked us to wait while she got a salesperson to help us. Shouldn’t take too long, thought I, as there seemed to be number of sales “suits” hanging around the showroom or sat at their desks. We decided to take a look at the cars in the showroom. 15 minutes passed. I approached a salesperson but they turned and vanished, looking all frowny and “busy”. At that point we noticed that the showroom had become like the Mary Celeste. After half an hour and still no sign of a salesperson willing to help us, and the poor girl on reception looking rather flustered - “I’m sure they won’t be too long”, we left. On the way there we had passed the local Mini garage, so on the way back my mother suggested we pop in so she could take a look. A totally different experience. Despite no advance warning of our visit, the Salesman made my Mother feel like she was the Queen. Needless to say she fell in love with a Mini (and perhaps the salesman too) and that was that.
We have a 25 year plus relationship with a local garage. The kind of relationship where when unknowingly on holiday in the same location as the aftersales director he hails across the street, dodges the traffic to have a chat.
When two years ago my daughter needed to change her car, she toured garages in Oxford. There seem to be two types, the bombsite miscellany and the dealerships. She gave up and came back to Bristol simply because she was fed up with men talking over her head to her husband who is a non-driver.
If you are happy to drive Suzuki, they are worth a try. She reports that the dealer in Witney where she goes for servicing is equally good at customer service.
Over the last 12 years or so I have bought a few new BMW’s. I am always pretty scruffy, jeans, T-Shirts, tattoos etc. Always had great service, sometimes the odd look from one of the ‘head down paper carrying sales floor shufflers’ but always a very hearty reception and fast response times. I am not a car person and consequently have stuck with them as its really easy to buy and deal with them. I value service above all else. I suspect that not all BMW dealers are the same however and this could just have easily been any other brand. Back in 2007 I just happened to go there first as approaching 30 I thought it was time to buy my first new car! Luckily for me I didn’t need to go anywhere else.
Steve, sounds like finding the right hifi dealer. Good on you👍
I have been in Sales for nearly 30 years now, business-to-business is my thing and it’s way tougher than Retail because it means having to go out and find one’s customers. I think that may explain my intolerance! So there’s a saying that goes “people buy from people” and that is clearly evidenced in this anecdote. I asked my cousin who is in the trade why there is this indifference in car sales. He said " it’s because the base salaries are so low". A little more probing and he revealed Motor trade salespeople can earn in excess of £80k on average with bonuses. Even if they didn’t, my attitude is " if you feel so hard done by, don’t do the bloody job"!
More luck than judgement I guess although I went on a recomendation from someone I trust. I get a call every 6 months with the invite of coming in for a coffee and a catch up which I never do, but I admire the fact they must take notes, as they know quite a bit about my life and always ask the right questions. I know its a crib sheet job, BUT I still like the effort!!
I have had the same success with HiFi dealers tbh. I use a couple and will most likely stay with them. Both have looked after me well!
I never have any problems buying a new car, Karen and I just walk into a showroom and we get instant attention. Most of the people we deal with bend over backwards to make sure we get what we want.
I’m not surprised. Who would want to annoy a polar bear? 
The purpose of a car sales man is “hit sales target” and the purpose for a customer is “put me in a car that suits my needs.” Sadly as the two purposes are different we typically get a poor experience.
Personally, I hate all that sales bull, it’s so unnecessary. I genuinely believe if they got shot of highly paid sales people and just let “normal people” be on point to answer questions and present best price first time then some cost could be taken out of the model and we would all be happier…
I bought my car used on line and when I went to pick it up they treated me like a lottery winner, the car was under a blanket and a big “Congratulations Mr Lewin” sign and the staff gathered round for the big unveil and started clapping, it was soo embarrassing!
Gary
I’ve run BMWs and a Merc for going on 30 years and I’ve sampled a broad cross section of dealers. There are good and bad and there doesn’t seem to be much correlation.
I’ve been ignored, treated offhandedly by bored sales people, lied to, welcomed, treated warmly, and treated with extreme friendliness. I’ve met company focused people and customer focused people. I’ve met hard nosed, figures driven, sales professionals, and petrol-heads who work in the trade because they love cars or love the brand.
Last year, Helen wanted to get a car again,. After some research we had two candidates lined up. C Class Estate and Three Series Touring. The Merc salesman just couldn’t be arsed. He either didn’t think we were credible or he had better things to do and we were holding him up. The BMW sales lady was warm, attentive and helpful, despite the appearance that she was having a very busy day. The money changed hands less than one hour later.
When I next switch cars, the S Class was first on my list of potential candidates. However, since my local dealer won’t get a penny of our money, and the next nearest dealer is a long drive away, the Seven Series is now in pole position. The Merc dealer followed up on our visit and I was happy to communicate this to them.
Having spent a career in sales and marketing, although not the motor trade, it is my informed opinion that poor/offhand/rude service is often an indicator of bad management, poor training, or both. Unless totally unsuited to the job (and therefore incorrectly selected by an incompetent recruiter), people tend respond well to appropriate talent management and training There are always exceptions, of course. And in some instances, even with the brands who don’t have to go looking for sales, the Sales Director or Dealer Principle might be interested in how many potential customers their floor level staff are turning away.
A business friend of mine had always fancied an Aston Martin. Business was good so he visited a showroom with his son, they hung around for a while, no-one approached even to say hello, so they went to the Jaguar dealership next door, were treated well and bought a Jaguar instead.
Just purchased a little car this week and visited 4 dealers, 1 non franchised, 3 franchised. The non franchised was brilliant (didn’t quite have the right car for us). The other three were split into largish dealer group (2) and 1 family owned. In the end we purchased in the family owned business. It was much more personal and was quite enjoyable. I used to work in the motor industry and hate all the malarky that goes on in terms of sales. By contrast I’ve owned 5 new motorbikes purchased from 3 dealers (very few large dealer groups) all independents, all willing to do a deal, but absolutely no pressure, more like buying some Naim/Linn stuff. Having said that some of those dealers can be a little bit lacking in the old customer service department and can make you feel very unwelcome…needless to say my ears do the walking…
Your appearance doesn’t matter but ignore at peril. Once knew a builder who looked like he’d been on site all week but got ignored at one dealer and went somewhere else and bought 6 cars for his managers.
I can’t fathom out why the quality of service levels between dealerships varies so much - and prices and its not just the vehicles, its servicing too.
My current car is a BMW 5 series. It needed a major service last November and being on a PCP deal I am duty bound to use a franchise. I was astonished to find the cost varied by as much as 20% for what is essentially a standard BMW service product. I am equidistant between a dealer in Oxford and another in Warwick and it was Warwick who were over £100 cheaper. I asked Oxford why they were charging more and they said it was based on local market conditions, a bit like how petrol stations fix their prices. I emailed the quote from Warwick but they wouldn’t budge an inch so I obviously spent my money there. In December Oxford contacted me to follow up on my enquiry. When I told the young lady I had taken my business elsewhere due to their price all she could say is they are competitive for the area. I had actually bought my vehicle from their branch and told her that if they were ripping off customers on servicing, how uncompetitive were they on the cars themselves? She said she would speak to her manager and call back and that was 4 months ago.
More lousy training or a manager who doesn’t care. More likely the latter. I am blessed with two good BMW sales and servicing franchises within reasonable driving distance. And a couple of bad ones in the same radius. I’m glad I’m not lumbered with Oxford. As long as people keep walking in, they won’t care. If the day ever comes when they need to sell their services to attract customers as a priority, they will probably no longer have the skills in house. And I doubt any Oxford punters will be crying.
I suspect most of us have had similar good and bad experiences at the hands of car dealers. The bad salespeople aren’t merely lacking adequate training, they’ve got a basic lack of common sense and courtesy, and I do wonder how on earth they get employed in the first place, and how they manage to avoid rapid dismissal.
Best (or worst really) was when SWMBO fancied a Golf VR6. We trotted down to the local VW dealers & I stood back whilst she did all the talking. Having explained to the young sales chappie her requirements, he got out his sales pad, looked across at me and said “So it’s mister…?” I’ll gloss over what happened next!
The industry has dealer monthly targets to get rid of overproduction, colours, models not selling. So sometimes the end of the month they might bite your hand off…but as per the above posts not really excusable for the poor management, customer service.
This is Retail, same as any shop and when one walks into an M&S or Tesco it would be normal to experience a consistent level of service whether the branch is over or under target. Furthermore,it matters not where their location is. the customer gets the same level of service. So why are car dealerships allowed to be exempt?
They’re allowed to do what they want it’s a free country.
If they decide their sales people won’t approach customers, but wait for them to make the first approach, it’s up them.
If they decide not to match a price from a competitor, it’s up them.
If they decide not to provide a test drive to somebody who intends to buy from a competitor, it’s up to them.
If they decide to set service charges at higher rates than dealers in other areas, it’s up them.
Prehaps you should consider a Japanese manufacture. I find their customer service to be top notch, and they’re better cars. 