v_therussian

I think BMW is one of very-very few companies, who have it as a policy that their Service Advisers are not on commissions. You do know that in most other companies' service departments the SA's are lovingly called "writers"? They actually make more than the sales people! And it's all commissions - all because they scare oblivious housewives and widows into spending thousands of dollars on useless inspections and other fictitious things that don't even get done properly more than half the time... :thumbsdown:

Schu Dog Nite

Totally, my better half drives all my cars except my 930 turbo so shes well viced. That being said even she was like but he said and what about the,,,cant imagine how many people just pay up and afterwards they come home with a bill for dog mess.At least at jiffy lube they change the oil and call it day. Get what you pay for. Yes Ive used jiffy lube in my beater and in a pinch on my truck.

swajames

I'd all over the GTR in a heartbeat if it had a more elegant design and it didn't have a Nissan badge on the hood. There's no question that the GTR is an incredible machine, the performance per dollar is simply staggering, but for me performance alone isn't enough. Sure, the car has to perform, but it has to to have an elegant or an iconic design, and it has to have true brand heritage. For me, the Nissan only checks one of my three boxes. If they gave it the design it deserves, and it wasn't branded Nissan, I'd definitely be interested. Back on point, there's no reason for the dealers to treat this car as anything special and to treat customers with such disdain. It's an 80K car. Expensive for a Nissan (although great value for the performance) - but nowhere near expensive enough for dealers to act as though it were an exotic...

Schu Dog Nite

well said, very well said

v_therussian

In all fairness, one could argue that there is heritage in GT-R, but it's no P-car, sure...

swajames

Agreed, V, I'm really talking more about the brand than the car. The GT-R/Skyline etc does have indeed have history, the Nissan brand maybe less so.

craigm1841

i actually almost got into a fist fight with a service manager in a nissan dealership after i test drove a new maxima (06 at the time).

Long story, but it ended with me throwing the car keys at him, and i mean THROW. the key hit him in the shoulder. it ended with 3 salesman following me out of the dealer while another held the service manager there. they were like, please, let us work something out, we know you love the car, blah blah blah. i ended up getting a call from the general manager who apologized and said the sales manager has been reprimanded and has a problem with "drinking too much redbull" . I never went back.

chowbox

On the same line when the Honda S2000 came to market back in 2000. I went into a Honda dealership that was close that I deal with for work. I went in wearing my work uniform from the service station. I inquired about a S2000. The guy that helped me said, ?we don?t have one, how about a Prelude?? I just walked out the door.

I knew there were a few S2k?s in town and that they were asking around a $10k premium for them at the time. I wanted Spa Yellow that was a new color for the 2001 year.

I went back to the same dealership a week later. I went up to some young salesman that was prepping a Civic for delivery outside and inquired about the S2000 again. He said he didn?t have one but could get one for me, but the Spa would be a while. I told him that I wouldn?t pay any premium but would pay in full right now. Made his day when I scratched out a check for $35k

Never judge a book buy the cover. I love wearing my work clothes the buy cars. I did that same thing when I purchased my Lexus GS350

pjinca

You are so right Chowbox, my Mom's best firend's brother was a salesman at this Ford dealership in New Mexico. This little Mexican guy comes in all dirty, dirty boots, clothes the whole 9. He sits there for an hour when the guy I'm talking about starts his day and he asks about the little Mexican guy. They all thought he was homeless. So the guy walks up to the Mex and asks if he can help him, the Mex says he needs a truck with X,X,X features, towing etc. The guy I know tells him all about the F-250 and 350's. The little Mexican dude is so pleased that he tells the guy he'll take 10 right now - cash. So the little guy everyone else thought was homeless actually owned several ranches and from then on would ONLY deal with the guy that helped him the first time.

v_therussian

I remember my brother-in-law telling me a very similar story about buying his S2000. He actually did pay a premium though, I think... great car though His has like 10k miles on it and is tripple-black - I'm so hoping some day he'll sell it to me

I can tell you many stories from when I worked at Nissan and later ran a car lot - my bosses would tell me "don't waste time on this douchebag" and so on. I'd treat EVERY walk-in with respect and show them cars, take them on test drives - as a result, outsold everyone else, because people were starved for a decent salesman who doesn't want to rape them - just sell them a car, make an ok profit, but earn their business... of course, it all went to shit when the partners at the lux. car lot I was running got pinched for tax evasion (friggin' Russians! ), but it worked out in the end - forced me to go back to finance and now, a little less than a decade later, I'm a head trader at a hedge fund Still, I hate those idiots for having ruined a good business that I pretty much built with my sweat... car sales business, in my experience, is never without major disappointments...