Why are dealerships retards?

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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 07:38 AM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by jlukja
They don't know you from Adam. You are an enthusiast and you know exactly what you want. The salesman who got back to you was being "creative", trying to generate a sale. You took a shot, maybe they will offer a good price. He took a shot, maybe the tranny type wasn't a big deal.
Good point. But take it from some one who sold cars through the internet, they don't always all the info you submit, and the majority of the time, people don't want exactly what they eluded to in the beginning. This is why he called you to find out exactly what you wanted and what he could do to help you. Give them a chance before you condemn them, if you want a white/ebony 6 speed (one of the rarest color combos), you'll either have to hunt for it (and maybe pay up) or you'll need a good dealership to find it for you or have it built.

My advice, be civilized. You want a really good deal and for the dealership to go through the trouble of locating the car (it's not hard, but it is time consuming and does have it's costs). If you go in guns blazing or act like an ass over the phone, they are less likely to want to go through the trouble.
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 07:45 AM
  #42  
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If AWD isn't a big deal for you, GTI 5 door FTW!
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 09:31 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by dom
If AWD isn't a big deal for you, GTI 5 door FTW!
Crap, I forgot all about the GTI. Thanks a lot!


Now I have another car to consider. Basically the GTI is a non-luxury version of the A3 IMO.

If I were to get the '08 A3, it'd be the 2.0T model which doesn't come with AWD
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 09:36 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal

If I were to get the '08 A3, it'd be the 2.0T model which doesn't come with AWD

Didn't know that....Same thing with the 2.0T TT
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 10:01 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by dom
Didn't know that....Same thing with the 2.0T TT
A lot of people are asking for the A3 2.0T with quattro, Audi hasn't responded yet.

Although many, including myself, complained about the A4 3.2 not being available in the manual, and low and behold they made it and my friend promptly bought one.

I know it's a huge power loss with the quattro system added to the 2.0T, but I really am not going to be counting each horsepower. I just want an all around fun car to drive. Sure I'll modify it, or hope to modify it, but I'm not going to be super critical about it.

The part I dont' get is that Audi prides itself because of it's Quattro system yet they have FWD cars Shyt, Acura is starting to plant their SH-AWD in their models and at the rate they are going, they are going to have an all AWD model lineup before Audi does

Last edited by Sly Raskal; Aug 24, 2007 at 10:03 AM.
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 10:05 AM
  #46  
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Supposedly Audi wanted to make the 2.0T AWD model exclusive for the S3, hence why the base model 2.0T didn't come with AWD, same goes for the TT-S and TT-RS
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 10:30 AM
  #47  
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Your making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. They try to reach out to you, suggest that they also have an auto if your willing to compromise, that's not retarded.
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 11:12 AM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by KCPreki11
Your making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. They try to reach out to you, suggest that they also have an auto if your willing to compromise, that's not retarded.
If you went into a store, wanting a black shirt, and instead of addressing your request they ask you if you want a red. Is that not retarded?
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 12:41 PM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal
If you went into a store, wanting a black shirt, and instead of addressing your request they ask you if you want a red. Is that not retarded?
If they don't have any black shirts, offering you what they do have is just good business.
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Old Aug 24, 2007 | 12:50 PM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by Zippee
If they don't have any black shirts, offering you what they do have is just good business.
You're missing the point. They didn't mention the availability or an offer to search for one before offering up alternates. That is the issue. They showed no intrested in trying to make me a happy customer; instead, just that they are trying to make a sale. Had they put in an honest effort in finding the car I want first, I possibly would have considered alternates. Heavy emphasis on possibly.

In fact, this morning I got a survey request from Acura asking these questions:


Did the dealer
Provide you with info on available inventory? - NO
Recommend alternative models? - YES
Identify promotions/special offers? - NO
Point out brand/product highlights? - NO
Indentify special hours, amenities, special services? - NO
Identify next steps? - NO
Provide a point of contact for future questions? - YES
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Old Aug 25, 2007 | 01:35 PM
  #51  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal
You're missing the point. They didn't mention the availability or an offer to search for one before offering up alternates. That is the issue. They showed no intrested in trying to make me a happy customer; instead, just that they are trying to make a sale. Had they put in an honest effort in finding the car I want first, I possibly would have considered alternates. Heavy emphasis on possibly.

In fact, this morning I got a survey request from Acura asking these questions:
If they had a white/ebony 6 speed I'm sure they would have offered it, the fact that they offered you an auto should have let you know that they didn't have the manual.

You're making it sound like they had one but just wouldn't sell it to you and kept pushing the automatic. Or that they wouldn't even check their inventory to see if they had it.

I think you have no interest in being a happy customer, they were attempting to show you your options.
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Old Aug 25, 2007 | 08:22 PM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by dom
If AWD isn't a big deal for you, GTI 5 door FTW!
Test drove one today
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Old Aug 25, 2007 | 09:01 PM
  #53  
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99% of the people they sell cars to change their minds on what they want. Whether it be model, color or transmission or option choice.

In addition, their guess is that you're a smart buyer who will get a car for barely over cost and probably give them a bad survey. They just wanted to get rid of you and avoid the hassle.
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Old Aug 26, 2007 | 12:14 AM
  #54  
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First off, 5 door GTI FTW! It has the same great interior as the A3, just with a little less luxury, and obviously you'll save quite a bit of money with the GTI.

Now onto the main point of this post. If the dealer didn't even acknowledge your first choice (6MT) and went and tried to shove an AT down your throat like you claim he did, then he was in the wrong. In this case, what he should have said was something like..."I'm sorry sir, we currently do not have any MT TSX's in our inventory, but we would be happy to attempt to locate one for you or we could even special order the exact vehicle you want and have it here in (enter time frame here). Though if you are not entirely set on a MT, we have several AT's on our lot that you could choose from."
This would be the ideal answer that I would look for from a dealer who is willing to accommodate me and make me a happy camper...lay out all the options available to me, and even suggest an alternative.

Just my
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Old Aug 26, 2007 | 12:41 AM
  #55  
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^^^ I couldn't have said it better. And that is the type of response I was looking for.
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Old Aug 26, 2007 | 12:46 AM
  #56  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal
^^^ I couldn't have said it better. And that is the type of response I was looking for.
Yeah, I think I even impressed myself with that one.
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Old Aug 26, 2007 | 02:37 PM
  #57  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal
^^^ I couldn't have said it better. And that is the type of response I was looking for.
Well, gee...sorry for giving you a second-rate answer then, LEGO-lips.










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Old Aug 26, 2007 | 06:09 PM
  #58  
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Originally Posted by Ken1997TL
99% of the people they sell cars to change their minds on what they want. Whether it be model, color or transmission or option choice.

In addition, their guess is that you're a smart buyer who will get a car for barely over cost and probably give them a bad survey. They just wanted to get rid of you and avoid the hassle.
That's possible too. If they've busy they may blow you off if you come across as overy picky and cheap. There are those certain types of customers that I'm loath to deal with in my line of work. It's a give and take...part of the art of the deal.

Last edited by Brandon24pdx; Aug 26, 2007 at 06:14 PM.
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Old Sep 10, 2007 | 02:06 PM
  #59  
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My recent experience at an Audi Dealership

So the wifey, my best friend and I went to McKenna Audi in Norwalk this past weekend to take a look at an A4 Avant.

Here was my experience that I had to write to Audi Corporate about....

This past weekend my Wife and I, along with my best friend who owns an 2007 A4 3.2 6spd visited the McKenna Audi Delearship in Norwalk, CA.

My wife and I were hoping to see a White 2008 A4 Avant 2.0T 6spd. Unfortunately, they only had two A4 Avant models. We saw one of them which was a Black 2008 A4 Avant 2.0T Automatic.

The salesperson told us it was an S-line model which immediately threw up lots of red flags for me. I'm a car buff. I love talking, looking and drooling over cars. I did my homework prior to this visit numerous times. There was NO WAY that car was an S-line and here is why:

The S-Line badged, leather wrapped, three spoke steering wheel was missing
The S-Line door sills were missing
The S-Line 18" 5 spoke wheels were missing
The S-Line door badging like on my friends A4 S-Line were missing
The S-Line sport seats were missing.

The only thing that was S-line on that vehicle was the addition of an S-Line grille.

So I asked him again is this an S-line and he insisted it was. I also asked about the 5 spoke wheels, and he insisted that the wheels on the car he was showing us were the wheels available for an S-line, when in fact I knew that the wheels that were on that car are part of the Premium package.

I then continued to ask him questions about the Titanium Package since that is an option that I'm interested in adding. I asked him about the black roof rails, the rims, the interior inlays etc. He insisted that the titanium package only comes with rims and nothing else. I then told him the Titanium package comes with the black roof rails and he continued to insist that silver roof rails are standard on ALL models and that there are no black roof rails at all even for the Titanium package. All of that was false.

He went even further to state that the Corporate Audi website was wrong, and that the information I read, as described above, was not correct, and that everything he was stating was accurate and correct. This is how insistent he was on trying to push that car on us and try to get us to buy it.

We then went on a test drive which was nice, but the car didn't feel like my friends S-line which rides noticeably firmer due to the sport suspension which this A4 was definitly missing.

Afterwards he took my information which I provided as common courtesy; however, his severe lack of knowledge or lack of ethics in trying to push a car on us that wasn't what he was advertising was very disrespectful. I know my cars, I research them like no other. This is a dealership that has no respect for the Audi brand and it's image. They attempted to sell me and my wife a car that wasn't what it was advertised to be. They simply added an S-line grille to pass it off as an S-line model when it was far from it.

My disgust at this experience WILL NOT deter me from wanting an Audi, I will simply visit another dealership. I felt it was my duty to contact Corporate Audi about this incident as I don't feel it was right for them to do what they did to me and because I've been a fan of Audi for many years now.

Many consumers out there that know nothing about cars could easily have been suckered into buying that car if they didn't do their homework. This can do some serious damage to that dealerships image and to the Audi Image since that's what dealerships should be promoting which in this case was poor.

I hope that you will take my comments and use them to better other's experiences in the future at this dealership or take proper action to ensure that this dealership does not perform these acts again.

Please feel free to email or call me if you have any questions.

~Anil Natha
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Old Sep 10, 2007 | 02:57 PM
  #60  
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That's unfortunate.

Many years ago, I was at a Lincoln dealership talking to a new rep about a used LS V8. The sales rep was doing great, but wasn't closing me very hard (which is good, cause the moment I feel uncomfortable, I'm out).
His manager interrupted our conversation 3 separate times asking me why I don't just buy the car now...
I politely told him that if he approaches me one more time, will leave never to come back. 5-10 minutes later, the managers manager comes over and starts giving me the HARD sell... I told them that their lack of knowledge and common courtesy cost this young salesman a sale and that I felt bad for him working "under" such ignorant asses.
...and walked out...

Thank God, it was my first stop on my test drive tour and found out later just how much the LS's suck!
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Old Sep 10, 2007 | 04:24 PM
  #61  
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Originally Posted by Sly Raskal
So the wifey, my best friend and I went to McKenna Audi in Norwalk this past weekend to take a look at an A4 Avant.

Here was my experience that I had to write to Audi Corporate about....
Did ya whip out your 1:18 scale LEGO Model of a real "s" line to show him the differences?
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Old Sep 10, 2007 | 04:28 PM
  #62  
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Originally Posted by Moog-Type-S
Did ya whip out your 1:18 scale LEGO Model of a real "s" line to show him the differences?
Until I own one, it will not be built.
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Old Sep 10, 2007 | 04:35 PM
  #63  
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Truth of the matter is 90% of the car salesmen out there know less than a savy well educated car buff.

Moral of the story: Do your own homework, deal with a salesman for a test drive only, and buy the car over the internet via email.
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Old Sep 12, 2007 | 10:54 AM
  #64  
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So we got a call from Audi America yesterday. The rep told me that every 2008 A4 is technically a "S-Line" and I put that in quotes for a reason. Technically speaking they are ALL S-line models, but you still have to add the S-Line package if you want the S-Line goodies.

This makes absolutely no friggin' sense! if they distinguished that information online we wouldn't have had this issue. Even still, I have a feeling it's going to be really stupid later this year when they realize people are going to be like when they have a car that is labeled as an S-Line but doesn't have the S-Line package unless they pay for it.

So yea, that's the info I got from the corporate office. Just makes me think that they are all messed up now and not just that dealership, but I still love the car.
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