The "problem" with EVs ...is the DEALERS

[Mach1E]

I'll ask you again . Do YOU have any RECENT experience with trying to buy an EV ? I don't care about your literal interpretation of every word I type ...HAVE YOU WENT LOOKING RECENTLY . If NOT go blow up someone else's thread with your mental issues

Yes. My prior career was doing advertising for local auto dealers so I still help people out frequently with car purchases.

I understand the car buying process from start to finish, and especially the Mach E process as I read stories about it here daily for the last couple years.

There are ways to have a better experience. But it doesn’t look like you’re looking for help nor advice. You just want to yell and complain.

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[AngryMan]

Here's how car buying works.

Oh good ANOTHER dumbass on the thread. Thanks so much for explaining it to us all .

 

[AngryMan]

Yes. My prior career was doing advertising for local auto dealers so I still help people out frequently with car purchases.

I understand the car buying process from start to finish, and especially the Mach E process as I read stories about it here daily for the last couple years.

There are ways to have a better experience. But it doesn’t look like you’re looking for help nor advice. You just want to yell and complain.

So NO is the answer right ? You DONT have any recent experience with trying to buy an EV yet here you are sharing your wisdom like THIS

You could just as easily make a long video entitled- “the problem with EVs are the shoppers” with a laundry list of complaints about how bad car shoppers are.

Tell me WHERE I stated that ALL dealers suck or better yet where and when I asked for help or advice from you ??

 

[Efthreeoh]

Oh good ANOTHER dumbass on the thread. Thanks so much for explaining it to us all .

You're fun

Missed the sarcasm did ya?

Seriously, you expect a fun and gentle experience negotiating for a car? That's not how life works. If you dont have the balls to confront dealership personal when negotiating price of a car, then that's on you. Lol.

 

[AngryMan]

Now we're getting to the crux of the issue. A dealer won't sell you the car you want at the price you want to pay.
It seems pretty pointless to continue here as you have clearly decided that all dealers suck and anyone who doesn't agree is a fool. As a cOurtesy, I'm going to bow out. Good luck finding the car you want.

WRONG ...AGAIN. I posted a video that tries to explain why the narrative of EV sales is different from the reality and I have idiots coming to this thread and basically calling me a liar or have a mental defect that doesnt allow them to understand generalizations . People whove had ZERO recent experience looking at EVs and trying to buy one . I asked the other idiot to show me WHERE I stated that ALL dealers suck . It was HIS mental disability that started that. Ill ask you the same thing . SHOW ME where I said all dealers suck .
I got my new GT Sat 2/25 . HE got all 5 stars and a fantastic Google review .I was pointing out the things that I and others HAVE experienced during OUR searches

 

[AngryMan]

Seriously, you expect a fun and gentle experience negotiating for a car? That's not how life works. If you dont have the balls to confront dealership personal when negotiating price of a car, then that's on you. Lol.

Another guy putting words in my mouth

 

[AngryMan]

I used to think that there were some really smart people on this site ...then I posted this thread

 

[awp0]

Seriously, you expect a fun and gentle experience negotiating for a car? That's not how life works. If you dont have the balls to confront dealership personal when negotiating price of a car, then that's on you. Lol.

I just want to point out that this is the essence of why dealerships suck. Why should we even have to negotiate with a salesman that's inserted between you and a manufacturer under some archaic pre-internet sales model? Get rid of the middle man, get rid of the negotiation, list the car online with a price and a "buy" button. Heck, list it on Amazon for all I care. Abandon the stupid "let me go talk to my sales manager" tactics, and the awkward upsell process in the finance manager's office. Get rid of the sleezy questions on monthly payments. Get rid of all this crap. It's all so ridiculous. It speaks volumes that dealerships only exist today because they're protected by lobbies and local regulations.

 

[Efthreeoh]

I just want to point out that this is the essence of why dealerships suck. Why should we even have to negotiate with a salesman that's inserted between you and a manufacturer under some archaic pre-internet sales model? Get rid of the middle man, get rid of the negotiation, list the car online with a price and a "buy" button. Heck, list it on Amazon for all I care. Abandon the stupid "let me go talk to my sales manager" tactics, and the awkward upsell process in the finance manager's office. Get rid of the sleezy questions on monthly payments. Get rid of all this crap. It's all so ridiculous. It speaks volumes that dealerships only exist today because they're protected by lobbies and local regulations.

You can do that now. You can go buy a car on line at most dealerships I've seen. Or you can walk in to any dealership today, pick a car on the lot and pay their advertised price and their advertised loan rates and you'll have a fine experience.

Why do you think getting rid of the dealer interface and buying straight from the manufacturer off the internet means you get a "better" price?

All one has to do is educate themselves on the process, it's not climate science, just grade school mathematics.

 

[awp0]

You can do that now. You can go buy a car on line at most dealerships I've seen. Or you can walk in to any dealership today, pick a car on the lot and pay their advertised price and their advertised loan rates and you'll have a fine experience.

Why do you think getting rid of the dealer interface and buying straight from the manufacturer off the internet means you get a "better" price?

All one has to do is educate themselves on the process, it's not climate science, just grade school mathematics.

Some cars and dealerships allow it, and many of them (including many new build options) still only provide the misleading "get an internet price" button that only sends your contact info to a dealership.

Why do I think people would save money buying straight from the manufacturer? Maybe in some limited cases you could get a better price with a desperate enough dealership. But overall, these predatory dealerships need to make money as a middle man and I'm convinced that at least some of that money would come back to the consumer in the form of lower pricing if the dealer is permanently bypassed while competition across brands stays high.

Moreover my point isn't about "educating ourselves" on the dealership process. I've purchased enough cars and I've spent enough exhausting hours preparing for dealership discussions. My point is that this miserable process shouldn't even exist and for most transactions it provides no value to the shopper and debatable value to the manufacturer in today's day and age.

 

[Mach1E]

Some cars and dealerships allow it, and many of them (including many new build options) still only provide the misleading "get an internet price" button that only sends your contact info to a dealership.

Why do I think people would save money buying straight from the manufacturer? Maybe in some limited cases you could get a better price with a desperate enough dealership. But overall, these predatory dealerships need to make money as a middle man and I'm convinced that at least some of that money would come back to the consumer in the form of lower pricing if the dealer is permanently bypassed while competition across brands stays high.

Moreover my point isn't about "educating ourselves" on the dealership process. I've purchased enough cars and I've spent enough exhausting hours preparing for dealership discussions. My point is that this miserable process shouldn't even exist and for most transactions it provides no value to the shopper and debatable value to the manufacturer in today's day and age.

If you want to see a similar business model where manufacturer direct and dealership models exist and compete side by side today……… buy a boat.

Manufacturer direct-
Long lead times (months to 2 yrs plus)
Significantly more expensive
High customization
Spotty local service (sometimes you have to ship back to the manufacturer for major repairs)
Usually much higher quality

Dealership model-
Buy a boat on the lot today
Minimal customization
Much cheaper
Local service
Mass produced quality

Pick your poison. Personally I think competition is GOOD and we should be able to have both models side by side. But manufacturer direct doesn’t mean you save any time or money. Usually the opposite is true because they have zero internal competition for price.

 

[azerik]

The problem with buying any car is the dealers.

So, after we go the Tesla route and rid the dealers we can complain about the service department directly right?

Dealers lie for the sale.
Service Dept lies because they're not informed, understaffed, underskilled or lazy.

Does Tesla try to sell you and Extended Warranty or Desert Paint Protection yet? (They should try the subscription model lol)

I am currently shopping, for a Lyriq actually.

I saw what had to be 100 or more on Frank Loyd Wright blvd. I almost stopped in to see what thefuss was about.

 

[Efthreeoh]

Some cars and dealerships allow it, and many of them (including many new build options) still only provide the misleading "get an internet price" button that only sends your contact info to a dealership.

Why do I think people would save money buying straight from the manufacturer? Maybe in some limited cases you could get a better price with a desperate enough dealership. But overall, these predatory dealerships need to make money as a middle man and I'm convinced that at least some of that money would come back to the consumer in the form of lower pricing if the dealer is permanently bypassed while competition across brands stays high.

Moreover my point isn't about "educating ourselves" on the dealership process. I've purchased enough cars and I've spent enough exhausting hours preparing for dealership discussions. My point is that this miserable process shouldn't even exist and for most transactions it provides no value to the shopper and debatable value to the manufacturer in today's day and age.

Tesla is driving the direct to the consumer sales model. It works for Tesla because Tesla is a tiny car company compared to the Big 5. The Big 5 have a huge footprint in the industry and sell 10M of the 12M cars sold annually in the US. And the legacy manufacturers have the entire mass of the private fleet to support with parts, service, repair. The dealership model employs thousands people to support all that operation, which if the dealerships went away, the manufacturer would have to pick up merely just for the logistics of it all.

Everyone hates the dealership model when supply is tight, but love it when supply is plentiful and the dealers are discounting to move units off their lots. When Tesla sales slowed and it had to drop prices to keep sales up, recently new Tesla customers got pissed because it immediately dropped the value of thier newly-purchased car. The dealership model absorbes such price fluctuations (via dealer discouts and manufacturer incentives) and inventory stacking. Tesla does have the dealership real estate to park cars awaiting sale. Tesla HAS to get its cars sold and parked in the customer's driveway. That is going to change for Tesla as it grows and the EV market model types differentiation expands.

 

[awp0]

Tesla is driving the direct to the consumer sales model. It works from Tesla because Tesla is a tiny car company compared to the Big 5. The Big 5 have a huge footprint in the industry and sell 10M of the 12M cars sold annually in the US. And the legacy manufacturers have the entire mass of the private fleet to support with parts, service, repair. The dealership model employs thousands people to support all that operation, which if the dealerships went away, the manufacturer would have to pick up merely just for the logistics of it all.

Everyone hates the dealership model when supply is tight, but love it when supply is plentiful and the dealers are discounting to move units off their lots. When Tesla sales slowed and it had to drop prices to keep sales up, recently new Tesla customers got pissed because it immediately dropped the value of thier newly-purchased car. The dealership model absorbes such price fluctuations (via dealer discouts and manufacturer incentives) and inventory stacking. Tesla does have the dealership real estate to park cars awaiting sale. Tesla HAS to get its cars sold and parked in the customer's driveway. That is going to change for Tesla as it grows and the EV market model types differentiation expands.

Ford sold 1.9m cars in the US in 2023. Tesla sold 650k. Yes, Ford sells more cars (today, but maybe not for long), but I don't think there's some threshold at which point Tesla says "oh crap we need dealerships because we're now selling too many cars!".

Also, if this forum and Ford's recent MME price reductions are any indication, dealerships are not protecting us from sinking MME values. We're in a pretty similar boat as Tesla owners.

 

[BMT1071]

I saw what had to be 100 or more on Frank Loyd Wright blvd. I almost stopped in to see what thefuss was about.

Where??? I was texting with a sales guy at Earnhardt yesterday and he told me they only have a handful of the trim level I'm looking for. Their website shows 11 total, six of which are "In Transit".

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