The future of new car sales...........a prediction

[RenRed2]

https://www.businessinsider.com/car...he internet&utm_term=INSIDER WEEKLY SEND LIST

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[J29DB03]

For over 20 years the salesman at a dealership has been absolutely useless for me. I have known more about the vehicle I'm there for than they have. I am 100% for completely eliminating dealerships in terms of the buying experience. Hell, service and parts departments are pretty useless too. I don't want your free lobby coffee and lobby donuts. I don't want your free t-shirt and/or hat for buying vehicle. I don't want your "platinum" service plan. I don't want your "friends and family" discount on an extended warranty. I just want my car and for you to leave me alone...

but I realize not everyone will feel the same.

 

[RenRed2]

For over 20 years the salesman at a dealership has been absolutely useless for me. I have known more about the vehicle I'm there for than they have. I am 100% for completely eliminating dealerships in terms of the buying experience. Hell, service and parts departments are pretty useless too. I don't want your free lobby coffee and lobby donuts. I don't want your free t-shirt and/or hat for buying vehicle. I don't want your "platinum" service plan. I don't want your "friends and family" discount on an extended warranty. I just want my car and for you to leave me alone...

but I realize not everyone will feel the same.

The dealership model must change as well. Smaller, better service if they go as planned in this article. I can see this happening in the US. Its this way here already and is normal. One orders the car to your specification and its made. A dealer does not normally carry a large inventory.

Will be interesting to see this evolve in the US.

 

[XtremeMaC]

The dealership model must change as well. Smaller, better service if they go as planned in this article. I can see this happening in the US. Its this way here already and is normal. One orders the car to your specification and its made. A dealer does not normally carry a large inventory.

Will be interesting to see this evolve in the US.

For me a dealership should have a wall of large color, fabric, etc. samples of interior and exterior, preferably with some actual vehicles you can get in get a feel for, etc.
A test drive ready full spec vehicle pointing out or giving brochures showing non-standard options in junction with aforementioned wall.
For vehicles with extensive trim, powertrain, etc. combos should help you guide thru them. Especially for trucks.
Even Toyota's LE, XLE, etc. you need an Excel file to show/hide actual differences.
None seem to have a great website to filter. Lines of O S doesn't help...

As for service.. well I'm not so convinced it'll get any better. In this new era of no-one-wants-to-work, mechanics are scarce and with EVs supposedly flooding the markets in few years, why would anyone want to go thru tech school to become a mechanic?
EVs don't require maintenance much, so it'll be dying job...
Save the ICE, save the MT.

 

[jchadwell]

The strange part is the first couple cars I purchased fit this scenario. Ordered with exactly and only the options I wanted. No packages, no mandatory options needed to get something else. Just here’s the car, here’s the choices, pick what you want and we’ll build it and let you know when to come pick it up. I would definitely be in favor of going back to that.

 

[nibble]

i didn't read the article but from reading replies, here's my thought.

People in most countries I visited including France, Japan, Korea, Spain, Israel, Canada, & ETC. their perspective on car is more of luxury item and not a necessary object to survive. Most consumer (car) in US needs a transportation to go from point A to point B or a work horse. you can tell by some of most sold car in US is ford truck and toyota camry. - i'm sure this statistic is a bit old. Hence US consumers cannot wait long period of time and rather take it from lot if possible. - for example, my neighbor just changed his car with something that was in the lot. Most likely, he spoke to a sales person and signed few documents and drove out with new car in minutes. plus, there are good amount of land to park these cars and if one ask for specific option, they would find it in other dealer near by and do either swap car or get it from them. Because this model works for majority of the cars they sell, it won't change unless entire US is populated. Even if a dealer wants to change, they'd afraid of buyer walking out to goto the dealer that has the model that one wants and further more, if I understand correctly, they need to order minimum amount of car from manufacturer to keep their dealership privilege. It's a complex business model that doesn't consider car enthusiast like we are.

And speaking of car enthusiasts, they are terrible at car sales. perhaps that's why most sales person won't know XXXX about supra. perhaps they know more about Camry or Tundra or Rav 4.

 

[BMWAF]

If buying a new car wasn't supposed to suck, we wouldn't have to buy them from stealers employing brain dead salesmen.

 

[MYA90SUPRA]

For me a dealership should have a wall of large color, fabric, etc. samples of interior and exterior, preferably with some actual vehicles you can get in get a feel for, etc.
A test drive ready full spec vehicle pointing out or giving brochures showing non-standard options in junction with aforementioned wall.
For vehicles with extensive trim, powertrain, etc. combos should help you guide thru them. Especially for trucks.
Even Toyota's LE, XLE, etc. you need an Excel file to show/hide actual differences.
None seem to have a great website to filter. Lines of O S doesn't help...

As for service.. well I'm not so convinced it'll get any better. In this new era of no-one-wants-to-work, mechanics are scarce and with EVs supposedly flooding the markets in few years, why would anyone want to go thru tech school to become a mechanic?
EVs don't require maintenance much, so it'll be dying job...
Save the ICE, save the MT.

Mechanics will just need to learn high voltage systems. I dont know the restrictions for osha but if these were on a mine site they would need to have an electrian green card for any system they touch over 48 volts and those are getting more and more strict to get. You are correct that the amount of needed Mechanics will drop in about 50 years or so. People will run ice vehicles for as long as possible till battery tech is good enough to dump an ice vehicle.

 

[RenRed2]

Mechanics will just need to learn high voltage systems. I dont know the restrictions for osha but if these were on a mine site they would need to have an electrian green card for any system they touch over 48 volts and those are getting more and more strict to get. You are correct that the amount of needed Mechanics will drop in about 50 years or so. People will run ice vehicles for as long as possible till battery tech is good enough to dump an ice vehicle.

They will run them as long as parts are available and the cost of those parts will determine the cars length of service . It wont be love. It will be money/cost for the average person. When that availability is killed by the makers due to lack of demand due to cost etc that will be it. Frankly that will be sooner rather than later due to laws and adoption of new tech. Im not the largest fan of new E -mobility but the practical side of me see's the writing on the wall. Just one good look at Norway and the future is evident.

 

[RenRed2]

New Cars Are Finally Selling Below Sticker
This is the first time since August 2021 that the average new car didn't have a markup on it.

https://jalopnik.com/new-cars-are-finally-selling-below-sticker-1850332108

 

[MisterSkiz]

New Cars Are Finally Selling Below Sticker
This is the first time since August 2021 that the average new car didn't have a markup on it.

https://jalopnik.com/new-cars-are-finally-selling-below-sticker-1850332108

Guess those 7% interest rates on car loans are finally working. lol

 

[RenRed2]

Time to tell dealers to go funk themselves!

Dealer Inventory Is Almost Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Hopefully, that means new car prices will continue to fall.

https://jalopnik.com/car-dealer-inventory-almost-back-to-pre-pandemic-levels-1850353306

 

[GoldenEye]

Well now that I don’t sell cars anymore, it did for YEARS, I can say dealing with clients is not as easy as you might think. Everyone thinks that all car salesmen are dirtbags, and even tho there are a lot of those, I’d say most just want to sell you a car without all the bullshit…and if you go to buy a car, just tell the salesman what you want and don’t play stupid games, that shit gets old really quick!

 

[gixxersixxerman]

Well now that I don’t sell cars anymore, it did for YEARS, I can say dealing with clients is not as easy as you might think. Everyone thinks that all car salesmen are dirtbags, and even tho there are a lot of those, I’d say most just want to sell you a car without all the bullshit…and if you go to buy a car, just tell the salesman what you want and don’t play stupid games, that shit gets old really quick!

Having just a little experience working at a dealership. I don't think people understand not walking a mile in a salesman shoes. In my limited time i cant count how many just wanted to go and have a look or a test drive but BS's for a hour or 2 when they had no plans on buying. Or making demands on how much of a good deal they can get with that 550 credit score no trade 0 down.

One hand you have a guy that's had his morning wasted by clowns and he is trying to feed his family, on the other hand you have a guy just trying to get the best deal he can on a car. No one has a problem paying 5k under MSRP but charge 5k over MSRP and all a sudden you are thief and POS and blah blah blah.



Also, go swing by a Telsa service center.......... technicians are always going to be around lololol. The need for a mechanic is not going anywhere, just what they work on changes up some.

 

[XtremeMaC]

One hand you have a guy that's had his morning wasted by clowns and he is trying to feed his family, on the other hand you have a guy just trying to get the best deal he can on a car. No one has a problem paying 5k under MSRP but charge 5k over MSRP and all a sudden you are thief and POS and blah blah blah.

Well, did he stole time from another prospective buyer??? Otherwise he was just going to sit at his desk..

I got an email from BMW to come and test drive i4. I went yesterday.
After the greetings he asked me my purpose. I told him, I've never driven the electric stuff from BMW, so wanna see how it feels with all the weight and all the torque.. Pulled the car around, the mid powered eDrive40 335hp. Test drove it for like 10-15 mins on the predefined path, side road/highway mix. Told him, it's slow and dull. Maybe for the wife it's ok.
Then the guy was on me the next 15mins. Brought over the finance guy. So, when will you buy it. Nothing preventing you from buying today right? So, can we sign today? I left. He left a VM today.. I'm like wtf.

Other times, I went to dealers, I didn't want to take up as much time, but then dealer chats you up. You don't want Supra, we have GR86. Have kids, how about a TRD Pro that just came in. I'm like, I'm here for an oil change j/k but there are 2 sides to every story.
No one's pushing anyone to work at dealers. You go in knowing what to expect. You get different experience at Nissan dealer vs GM dealer. I've friends that text me every week with a different car they want to buy. It's a big purchase and emotional one for enthusiasts. My friend genuinely wants an RS4, but heck no RS4 in US. Then, E46, but expensive.. Vanos issues.. so back n forth.

And I'm sorry but yeah, everyone even Warren Buffett or Elon Tusk will have issues paying more than what something's worth. So, I don't get your comment. These cars depreciate. Besides the chip shortage era, they've never gone up in value so much. Frankly, besides the people that really needed a car, I don't understand why people even bothered to buy a used car at brand new MSRP price or more. I sold my 10 yr old FRS with 50K miles what I paid for it in 2012 25K.. Some idiot bought it for $1K more at Carvana.. 2023 new one is 28K... Couldn't wait ? who knows. Like you gained money by selling it high, but bought it at high as well... whatever.
I know I couldn't wait to get new car because I live in MI and I had sold my winter car and winter was approaching, in this case FRS and wasn't planning on driving the Supra in the snow. So, searched around Carvana and others. Stupid expensive. Only maybe 3-5K cheaper but 3-4 yr old and 10k+ miles with god knows what condition that Carvana didn't disclose.. Then found MSRP my exact spec X6 out of state. Went n bought it. Can even finance or lease it.

For decades, you'd get discount during model year change, minor or full. That's a given. You'd get further discounts on cars sitting on the lot for so long. With this mindset, you do expect some hassle and some discount or at least a mug or whatever..
Everyone like a discount and expects some form of it. That's the way businesses conditioned people, grocery stores, dealers, clothing stores, buy 2 get 1 free.

Now, dealers are selling cars with "no hassle" price on them..
And then there is, spec a car online, press a button and buy it at that price without any dealer trying to force sell you extended warranty.

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