I was going to like to visit my local Ford dealership, until a dear friend asked if she could do it. She is in the process of looking for a new car, but she felt TheShoppingNazi.com needs a woman’s perspective when dealing with car dealerships. So I asked her to fill me in on what happen right after she got back.
For a little background on my friend, she is African American lady. She is in her early forties.
She wanted to go on a Saturday. So last Saturday my friend visited the local Ford Dealership. Below is her recount to me of those events.
I arrive at the local Ford dealership, about 1 pm on Saturday September 17,2011. I drove on to the lot and parked my car between dealership offices and a row of new cars. It was just left of the front door.
About 30 feet from where I parked my cars was large group of six salesmen standing, talking to each other. They acted as if did not see me. So I went about looking at different cars and crossover vehicles. I peered inside a couple cars, then pretended to talk with someone on the phone. Just about the time I was ready to get back in my car and drive off, a salesman came up to me, introduced himself and asked if he could help me.
His name was Randy. He looked like he was in his late twenties. He was quite friendly.
I told I was looking to replace the car I was currently driving. I needed something with good gas mileage and a fair amount of cargo space.
Randy then walked me over the Ford Flex. Standing front of the car Randy began to talk about how he could see me driving a red Ford Flex. He opened the driver side door. Invited to set behind the wheel. He pointed out how pretty the interior looked. He wanted me to take a test drive and see how comfortable it drove.
I asked Randy about gas mileage, and few other semi technical questions such as engine size, and such. Randy told me he did not know the answers to my questions. He stated he would have to go into the office and look up the answers.
While Randy was in the office looking up the answers to my questions, I noticed the sticker on the driver side passenger door window. There was all the answers to the questions. Randy just lost 10 points, right there in my book.
Just about the time I finished reading the sticker, Randy came out with my answers on a little piece of paper.
I then asked Randy about which cars had front wheel drive. The recited a few advantages and took over to a car that had all wheel drive.
Finally, I told Randy I was looking for something in the $17,000 to $24,000 range. At that point the look on his face change. He immediately lead me over to the used car section. Where is started showing me a four year big old SUV for $20,000. At that point I felt insulted.
I could see dirt at various places on the vehicle. The interior smelled like some cat had been living inside. I wouldn’t even considering giving something like this to my worst enemy.
Bottom-line: My friend’s visit to the Ford dealership reminded of the different approaches sales people take. Because I am a male and she is a woman, different features of the car is emphasized. We will return to this subject later.
I asked my friend some questions as to how she would rate her visit, and if she would go back to that dealership. Below are her responses.
- How did the dealership make you feel? “I was made to feel I was putting the sales people out by being there.”
- What was your impression of the sales person who helped you? “Finally when Randy came to help me. He was friendly. I was surprised how little he knew about the cars we were looking at. What really struck me was the answer to all the questions I asked him were printed on the little sticker on the window of the car.”
- What did you think of the Ford dealership you visited? “I will go to another Ford dealership before returning to that one”
I hope your local does not treat you the way my friend was treated. They won’t be in business for very long.
If you have been to a car dealership lately, tell me about your experience. I want to hear from you.
