Another American Car fan/owner has left.

[Popinski]

Another American car owner is gone. My friend, who was a loyal Ford F-150 owner, wanted the new F-150 to replace his aging 2000 F-150. He's already had 3 in his lifetime. He went to four Ford dealers to find the best price. He is like my Dad, if you don't meet demands, then he's leaving!!! He went to his local Toyota dealer and he bought his first foreign car, a Toyota Tundra.

The Big 3 needs to improve their dealers. They lost loyal customers like my Dad and my friend. As many of you recall, my dad traded in his 2008 Ford Exploder for a Toyota RAV4 due to bad dealers. This is my dad's first foreign car in 44 years!!!

 

[01rangerxl]

Toyota dealers are no better. You get good and bad dealers with any brand.

My dad refuses to buy a Toyota. He loves the Prius, and loves hybrids in general, but he owns a Civic Hybrid specifically because the Toyota dealer closest to him sucks. The Honda dealer is great though, and they should be because my dad's car is a POS.

 

[pbm]

If your friend needed the truck to work he should have bought the Ford.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Toyota dealers are no better. You get good and bad dealers with any brand.


+1

Toyota dealers in Miami-Dade and Broward County are a million times worse then any American car dealer...My sister sold her 07 Camry with only 7K miles on it due to nightmare service...I never saw such horrible service in my life...She bought a Mercury and will never buy another Toyota ever again.

 

[Drew99GT]

I wouldn't step foot into our local Toyota Dealers if my life depended on it. They're more crooked then Congress. And guess what: I OWN A TOYOTA!

You can't conclude that all dealers of a particular make, or even all "big 3" dealers are crooked just because of your own bias against domestic cars, popinski.

 

[rshaw125]

Depends where you are.

 

[river_rat]

Ya. Mine's a good one

 

[Popinski]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I wouldn't step foot into our local Toyota Dealers if my life depended on it. They're more crooked then Congress. And guess what: I OWN A TOYOTA!

You can't conclude that all dealers of a particular make, or even all "big 3" dealers are crooked just because of your own bias against domestic cars, popinski.


My bias? I'm a fan of American cars. My next car will be American. I go to American classic car shows all the time with my friend. My favorite car is the '69 Dodge Challenger. I'm talking about dealers, not American cars in general.

 

[The_Jeff]

Do you think, straight up question, being in Ohio has anything to do with it? The dealers are arrogant because they believe the "rust belt" clientele will only buy American?

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: river_rat
Ya. Mine's a good one


Actually when my sister lived in Kentucky she had awesome service from Greens Toyota...They were honest and never even tried to up-sell her anything...But down here they can't even change the oil without issues plus the are nasty and arrogrant...Complaints fall on deaf ears.

 

[sciphi]

I've had awesome service from some dealers, and bad service from others. It doesn't depend on the brand, just who runs the dealer.

 

[crazyoildude]

I agree i went to Japanese because GM would not deal

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Depends where you are.


Exactly. Up here in Pensacola, we have an outstanding Toyota dealership. Equally superb was our former Buick-only store, but they had their franchise revoked when GM consolidated a few years ago, and the right to sell Buicks ended up with a combined Cadillac-Pontiac-Olds-GMC store (lucky for them in the long run, I guess).

Our Nissan dealer is OK (from what I've heard) and is owned by the same guy who owns one of the two Chevy dealerships in town (Sansing). The other Chevy dealer seems to try even harder (this is a great place to by Chevrolets...). The Dodge dealership here is so bad (or have been in past years) that I've seen irate customers (former customers...) picketing them!

The bottom line, IMO, is that one's "local experience" is critical in the overall determination of what car to buy. There certainly are other important variables (one's nationality preferences, functional needs, etc.), but LOCAL dealership behavior is more important than it often gets credit for being.

 

[tig1]

10 years ago I had a total brain fade and looked at the local Toyota dealer for a truck. The sales people handled me as if I was some kid or something, insulting the Fords I had owned in the past. That's all it took as I told them I felt guilty for being there in the first place, and secondly, that I didn't appreciate being talked down to. Sale over.

 

[rpn453]

ADMIN NOTE: This post euthanized for your benefit...

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: tig1
10 years ago I had a total brain fade and looked at the local Toyota dealer for a truck. The sales people handled me as if I was some kid or something, insulting the Fords I had owned in the past. That's all it took as I told them I felt guilty for being there in the first place, and secondly, that I didn't appreciate being talked down to. Sale over.


That's just stupid sales people. Alas, those can be found lurking almost anywhere these days.

The only time I recall being outright offended at a car dealership was at a Honda lot some time in the mid-80s. Back then, Accords were in such high demand, relative to the supply, that the dealers were openly adding "ADP" to the sticker. That, of course, meant "Additional Dealer Profit". Yep, I understand and respect how the rules of economics, supply-and-demand and so forth, work; but I also understand the law of "you can just kiss my {you choose the body part}". A year or two later, I ended up with a Civic, but it had no "ADP" tacked on... And I've never felt warm and fuzzy about Honda stores since.

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
That's just stupid sales people. Alas, those can be found lurking almost anywhere these days.


True that I'm not sure the business and social skills education they get in prison is that good of preparation for the work release jobs.

 

[tig1]

And yes, some Ford dealers have bad sales personel as well.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Popinski
... He went to his local Toyota dealer and he bought his first foreign car, a Toyota Tundra.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: pbm
If your friend needed the truck to work he should have bought the Ford.

Good one. So if they bought a Chevy/GMC or Dodge they are just as dumb as buying a Toyota?

Glad there is no bias in your mindset....

News FLASH! Plenty of people WORK using all BRANDS of trucks. And they work just as well as the other brands.

What a statement....