Filed under: Car Buying
Survey: Most car buyers happy with dealer experience
Seriously, a survey by Consumer Reports shows 57% of car buyers are very satisfied with the treatment they got at the dealer. Another 31% said they were somewhat satisfied. That means 88% of those surveyed drove away from their car dealer with a smile on their face. If you find that surprising, get this: Of the car buyers surveyed, 96% said they considered the deal they got "fair."If you're wondering how such a high percentage of the public can be so overjoyed with car dealers, the magazine brings up some more interesting statistics that could help explain this. An overwhelming majority (90%) said they found the staff "informed and helpful," which, from our car-shopping experiences leads us to believe the survey respondents themselves could have benefited from some automotive education. Backing up our suspicion, Consumer Reports says from looking at answers to other questions in the survey, car buyers could have saved themselves some money by gathering more information before going shopping and by learning the tricks negotiating a better deal.
The survey also showed that 18% of customers who received satisfaction surveys from their dealer were offered incentives (like free oil changes) in exchange for a favorable report. Paying for good grades is a no-no, and we recently had a post on that problem. Hopefully, next time this poll is done, it's no longer an issue.
Consumer Reports points out, and we agree, that the bottom line in car buying is, no matter how helpful or informed the sales person is, they will almost never have you as their No. 1 priority. Always, always go in with a plan and as much information as you can gather and stick to your guns.
[Source: Consumer Reports]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
sw 9:16AM (11/16/2007)
I think a part and parcel of this happiness would be the fact that most people don't know enough about cars. I want to buy my car from a salesperson that knows more about the product they're selling than I do and sell it at a fair price that I've researched well in advance. So far, I've found 3 salesmen that have been able to do both of those things and I've talked to around 30 salesmen.
Reply
Tom (Honda Salesman) 9:18AM (11/16/2007)
I can’t speak for other companies, but at Honda the customer satisfaction survey is done by phone. In the old days you could bribe your customer with an oil change, free tank of gas, car wash, etc. to bring the survey back in and you could fill it out yourself.
The phone system makes it hard to cheat. You really have to treat your customers well. If you have a hard ass that's impossible to please then his phone number might be written down wrong but you get in trouble with Honda if you do that too much. Honda even financially penalizes dealers whose "callable records" are below 80% or if they find that the dealer is "coaching" the customer to give a higher score.
At my store if my customer satisfaction scores are below national average (96.8 out of 100) then I loose up to $2,000 a month in income. Let me tell you that is a powerful motivator to keep your customers happy.
Reply
rem83 9:22AM (11/16/2007)
I've dealt with a number of Chevy dealers in the Houston area, and it seems like every time I end up not purchasing because I become so disgusted with the sales staff. It's really quite amazing the low level of customer service they offer when trying to convince me to hand over tens of thousands of dollars.
Reply
SuperSkyline89 9:28AM (11/16/2007)
This isn't much of a groundbreaking survey, very few people know anything about cars. It's like this for everything else too though, my knowledge about computers goes as far as how big the hard drive is and how much ram it has. Besides that, I really am clueless. Car manufacturers are lucky that so few people know anything about cars though, if they did certain manufacturers wouldn't exist anymore.
Reply
YouFaceTheTick 9:29AM (11/16/2007)
People expect very little. I can't see giving a dealer a five if they try to lie to me or cheat me at any point in the deal. You put the hard press on for undercoating, you get a 3. I have to correct some lie about the car's ability, hello 1. I don't want to play games and I don't give a damn about the salesperson. The buying style is arcane and I do hope the salesperson stops selling...
Reply
henrykrinkle 9:30AM (11/16/2007)
It's not that surprising. If you feel you're getting screwed or somehow mistreated, you walk. It doesn't matter that it's not a fair deal - it only matters that you think it's fair and that's why you go through with it. So it only makes sense that the satisfaction numbers are so high.
Reply
k.w.a 9:31AM (11/16/2007)
i think this is for a couple reasons:
1.) like sw said, most people dont know enough about cars. they ask for the price,mpg,maybe ask about safety, and then they ask you for the color they're looking for then they're out the door. If you can't answer those questions then you dont deserve to be selling cars.
2.)Cars are one of the most expensive things people buy, so if they're getting attitude from a salesman, they're not going to trust the salesman with their money. I wouldn't.
3.)like tom said, most of the interviews are by phone, and they usually call while you're at work or at dinner, so you're usually in a rush to get off the phone, so unless your service was THAT bad, you'll just say everything was "fine" or "great" and continue about your day.
So, basically not complaining about service doesn't mean the service was great, it just means they managed not to piss you off, which in this day and age is still pretty impressive.
Reply
DriverX 9:41AM (11/16/2007)
Why is it all businesses are allowed to make a profit except auto dealers? Cost on every vehicle made is published on the internet but I can't find cost on a LCD TV or any other goods or services. Auto dealers are losing money or barely breaking even on most new vehicle sales. I understand, we all want a good deal but salespeople can no longer afford to be in this business. That is why the good ones are leaving the profession and going elsewhere. The public wants professional salespeople to work with but you want us to make minimum wage. Every business has overhead. Yearly Insurance, Interest Payments on inventory, and Utilities on a new car dealership are enough to equal the budget of some third world countries. After thirty years I am ready to say, "take this job and shove it". I have watched my income decrease year after year. I have a good loyal following but I can no longer afford to give professional treatment for minimum pay and work 60 plus hours per week.
Reply
Scott 10:00AM (11/16/2007)
Amen. I agree 100%. My income too has decreased the last 3 years while the cost of living (gas,oil, taxes) have all increased substantially. The customer and their unreasonable expectation that I will work for free has made it an 'us against them' buying experience. I can't tell you how many hours I've put in to helping someone find the right vehicle that fits their needs and budget, only to have them come back at me with a low-ball figure they got over the internet that may not even be real. Where is the value in the service I provided? What about honesty, integrity, ethics? The only thing that matters is the bottom line. The customer will take up all of your time with questions and test drives just to sell you out for a couple bucks not realizing any value in the service you provided. It has become a very discouraging business for an honest salesman.
sw 10:15AM (11/16/2007)
I say good. I hate the idea of dealerships and salespeople. I don't want to pay for the dealership renovations or the hiring of sales staff. I want it to be like purchasing a dvd player. I want to go to a service center, pay less than even the best negotiator can get because the dealership costs have been trimmed away, get a car, and then drive away. I have no problems with paying for a mechanic's salary and upkeep on the service center because I need them. I don't need salespeople or dealerships though. I can configure a car perfectly fine by myself on the web.
porker 10:19AM (11/16/2007)
That is precisely why I got out of the business after almost ten years of selling. The customers always say they want to know all about the car, but it really is just that they want to steal it from the dealer's inventory. Customers don't care whether anybody makes a dime on the deal, just so long as they get a "good" price. I found that I wasn't selling product, I was selling money. So, I got out and went to profession held in even lower esteem- I'm now a lawyer.
Hank 10:43AM (11/16/2007)
You know, in the rest of the retail world, if a business model is not making profit, guess what people do? They REFORM and come up with a new model that does make money.
The current auto dealership business model, at least for new car purchases, is outdated and should be phased out as part of the natural process of competition. The only reason they still exist today is all the local legislations created by the good ol' boys networks to protect their old high school buddies (now dealership owners) leech money off of commission-only newbie salespeople they hire.
There's GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY!
YouFaceTheTick 11:35AM (11/16/2007)
An LCD doesn't cost 40k either. An LCD on average will cost you at the time of purchase and then for the next 5-10 years you have no further costs. Depreciate a $2000 LCD over the course of 7 years and you're talking about 90% loss, but also it's only running you 265 a year.
On the otherhand, a car is the single worst investment a person can make viewed in total dollars. If the average car loses 20% of its value in year one you want to do everything you can to mitigate that risk. 40k, 4k in TTL = 44k. But the second you drive away the darned car is worth 35-36k. Wow, 8k and you just left?!
And unlike most other consumer goods, the car's cost to own and operate keeps going up. The LCD doesn't require $1000 a year in insurance. You don't have to pay a 2-3% tax on your LCD yearly! It doesn't cost you $2500 a year to just turn it on! You don't have to pay for new $1000 worth of new tires every 24 months on the LCD. Oil changes, tune-ups...it all adds up. All told the total cost to own a car is obscene. 0% interest for 2-3 years is pretty common on a TV too. Not so cars - unless you suffer through an American car.
So forgive consumers for caring that their 40k purchase will actually cost them 65k+ over course of 5 years. Unlike any other consumer product, the hidden costs usually don't double the purchase price within 7 years of operation.
Jeff 11:43AM (11/16/2007)
Oh boo hoo. Cry me a river. I've yet to meet a car salesperson who was anything other than a lying POS. Perhaps you're diffrerent, but you're in a profession in which someone who's been doing it for 30+ years has probably ripped off and taken advantage of countless consumers (will you let someone pay full sticker price even though you know the car can be had for less?).
As far as I'm concerned, the difference between a catfish and a car salesman is one is a slimy bottom feeder and the other is a fish.
YouFaceTheTick 11:46AM (11/16/2007)
@scot - you don't provide any value. You are an impediment to:
1. Getting a good deal
2. Enjoying the test drive
3. Learning about the vehicles
There are reasons every friend and family member asks me to help them buy cars:
1. Salesmen - even at luxury brands - GENERALLY know very little about the cars they sell or their competitors
2. Salesmen will outright lie to buyers
3. Salesmen and dealers push a myriad of pocket-fillers that are worthless - undercoating, scotchguard, lojack, alarms, etc.
4. Salesmen will not order cars and will always try to push the cars on the lot.
5. Salesmen do not listen to buyers and always push the cars on the lot.
6. Salesmen want to get paid today - thus the buyer is pressured into buying today
7. Salesmen want as much profit as possible, thus it's an adversarial relationship from the beginning - the buyer wants to lessen his exposure to the expense of a car and the seller wants to maximize profit.
8. Salesmen do not want buyers to go over a car with a fine tooth comb - time is money and some guy looking over the car for scratches, misaligned body parts or just exploring the car's performance, braking, parking, trunk space = time wasted to the seller.
Really the idea of salesmen and cars dealerships as known today needs to die. What needs to happen - autoparks that the manufacturers support and allow users to drive a myriad of cars over varied conditions and without the pressure of some high school dropout asking the inane "So what do you do for a living?" (I kill salesmen's careers. Care to die today?). Hell even charging $20 for a day rental sounds like a better idea as that will quickly help users determine if they want to spend $35,000 on a car.
The current system is flawed. My buyers go on lots, we test the variety of cars that match the metrics they set out (performance, value, maintenance, size, etc) and then we go through the internet/fleet managers to buy as the salespeople impede what we want: the lowest price under the sun. We don't want the "average" as that's what Edmunds' readers want. We want the best deal. i don't care if the dealer loses $500 on the sale; the truth is used cars, dealer trade-ins and service are the big bread winners for dealerships anyway.
Bert 9:41AM (11/16/2007)
What I would like to see is the satisfaction with the service department, specifically related to on-warranty / off-warranty work. I don't have much of an issue with stuff breaking, it happens. The question is will the service department stand up to the warranty?
Getting wined-and-dined by a salesman only to be told that (warped rotors at 10K miles, tranny slippage, oil burn, knocking, rust, etc. ) is normal, is not a great experience.
Dealers see a car sale as a revenue stream, knowing that the car will require service over a period of time. The satisfaction survey should cover that time, or there should be surveys that cover it.
Personally, I care more about the service than the sale. For every one purchase there can be 10-20 service visits.
Reply
bj 9:50AM (11/16/2007)
I'm actually surprised by the results of this survey. Another survey about which I heard on a chicago news channel said that car buying these days is a very stressful experience becoz of the way dealers treat customers. Did autoblog post about bad BMW dealers recently. Well I've had similar experiences with Subaru and Toyota dealers in Indianapolis.
Reply
chuck goolsbee 9:53AM (11/16/2007)
I don't mind profit, I just loathe the idea that you have to negotiate a price. To be honest dealers are just middlemen looking to squeeze both ends of the chain. I'd rather bypass the whole process and buy my car online. I have NEVER, ever had a positive experience with a dealership. What should be a simple thing, walk in, pick the car, pay for it and leave... is always transformed into a multi-hour ordeal. Why? What other retail operation tortures its consumers as a matter of course? NONE.
If the car makers were smart, they would start ecommerce operations and leave the dealers twisting in the wind. I'd much rather buy my car from Amazon than Joe Sleazebag.
--chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Reply
Tom (Honda Salesman) 10:21AM (11/16/2007)
"I just loathe the idea that you have to negotiate a price."
One word- Saturn
Not negotiating on a car for most people is just unamerican. Its like hating apple pie, it's what is expected. However, sticker is quicker.
Bert 10:45AM (11/16/2007)
The only thing with Saturn is how they apply their no-haggle policy. When the Sky came out and they were selling like hot-cakes, many dealers tagged on an extra 1 or 2 or 3 thousand dollars to the no-haggle price. What a nice show of corporate values.
I wouldn't buy a car from Saturn if my life depended on it!