Deposit and My Purchase Experience

[ispysky]

I just put down a deposit on a new 2008 White redline with all the Saturn/GM after market performance add-ons.

Over the last number of weeks I have been to two dealerships in my area. The sales staff was friendly but generally speaking very uninformed and really made some bad decisions.

Dealership #1:

I had made an appointment for a test drive. I got immediate help from the floor and was told my sales person that I had made an appointment with was sick. The sales person was helping someone else but he got to me in 30 minutes later.

Sales: What kind of Sky do you want to test drive?
Me: A Redline. A manual one.
Sales: We have a few automatic Redlines here. Most people buy them with automatic.
Me: Well I like the extra control of the manual in a sports car.
Sales: Most people who buy this car are women. It's not really a full blown sports car.
Me: (*Is this guy for real?*) Ah I still want to test drive the manual.

Dealership #2

They had no idea there was a CAI, Cat Back Exhaust, or a sports suspension upgrade. They told me the Redline came loaded but to wait on someone who knew more. A few minutes later I run into a Sky owner I chatted a bit with at a car show. He knew the car inside and out. After another hour, I was told the person from sales had 3 other customers and If I lived nearby, If I could come in later. So two days later, I come in and the same story, no one knew about the after market upgrades. Finally a manager came by and we took a trip to the parts/service department. I finally talked to someone who knew about the upgrades. They thought the price from the web site didn't include labor. So they checked some Pontiac internal site and figured out that the dealer installed after market stuff did include the labor.

When it came to place a down payment. They had no idea how much I should put down and had to ask 2 other people to come up with a figure.

I came back into the showroom and a salesperson approached me to ask If I could help a customer and answer any questions she had about the after market addons that I was purchasing from them. They wanted to know If I could explain to her what those packages did. OMG!

The Saturn people I dealt with are friendly but really I can't believe they dont know more about what they are selling, even from a non technical standpoint.

Anyways, Ill be joining the Sky federation soon.

[mbeardsley]

Well, I really can't defend the first dealership...but...

The "upgrades" you talk about are very recent items (especially for the redline), not only that, but it seems that GM has not really released much info about them.

I have yet to see any offical (numeric) claims for what they provide. The GM literature (of which there is very little) says things like "the CAI helps the engine breathe easier". Well...duh...but I'd like to see them say what the expected HP gains are. Same thing for the exhaust.

Further clouding the issue, we've had other companies selling "CAIs" that have been shown to actually reduce horsepower.

How about a skidpad comparison for the suspension upgrade ?

Considering all this, I'm not surprised that many dealerships are unfamiliar with these items.

In any case, I'm sure you'll love the Sky, it's a great car.

[MidniteBlues]

There is another reason of why GM lost money last year. Besides the fact that the US economy sucks, people that are selling these products donno shlt about them..No way for them to be able to fix this issue BTW. This problem happens with ALL manufacturers, of ALL products, mainly because of the major turn over in personnel, specifically (salespeople). Very much prevalent in my industry also BTW, turn over in key people hurts makers of stuff..
The day of working for a company your whole career has been ancient history in America now for decades, unfortunately. Companies loyal to employees and visa-versa is history, even in Japan.. Get use to it, just hope that the service department is "more" competent..

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by ispysky

Sales: Most people who buy this car are women. It's not really a full blown sports car.

Translation: "You're gay".

[lorennerol]

Originally Posted by ispysky

Sales: What kind of Sky do you want to test drive?
Me: A Redline. A manual one.
Sales: We have a few automatic Redlines here. Most people buy them with automatic.
Me: Well I like the extra control of the manual in a sports car.
Sales: Most people who buy this car are women. It's not really a full blown sports car.
Me: (*Is this guy for real?*) Ah I still want to test drive the manual.

The people at McDonalds don't know much about the product they sell either, and unfortunately that seems to be the caliber of employee at many car dealerships now.

The first dealership I visited had a used 2.4 on the lot, which I drove. The salesman tried to get me to pay MSRP for a used car, but I wasn't interested in a 2.4 or that color. When I asked him about a red/red car, he told me he'd only sold one, and that was to someone who was 'light in the loafers, if you get my drift.'

I ended up ordering my car from a knowledgeable, honest sales rep at a dealership 1100 miles away. We flew down and got it last August, no hassles, no fees, etc, then drove the whole way back to Seattle along the coast.

But keep in mind that this is a low-volume car and if you've done research here you are likely to know as much or more as most sales reps. I printed the order book and sent the rep the codes I wanted.

L

[reedred]

They shouldn't be car-blocking ispysky, they should be guiding his car.

Sweet avatar!

[ParrotHeadNation]

makes me glad I have Melvin at my dealership. He's been very helpful so far. I talked to him once with my dad when I was first looking at the car and the Vue RL. I was hooked. I came in a few months later, he recognized me walked right up to me. Hes not pushy at all. I acutally saw him at the car show and talked to him for about 15 mins. It was easy to get a test drive (i'm 20), I thought i'd be stereotyped for being too young. Hes a genuine guy, and a great sales person. I look forward to buying from him.

for your first guy.. what the hell was he thinking? hes turning down a sale. I wouldn't turn down a sale of a wing on a Metro at a parts store. haha

[SKYtime]

Originally Posted by Bogie

Translation: "You're gay".

I was waiting for someone to make a comment like that....

[compdoc777]

Yes, I delt with the same. These dealerships hire people they can work hard and pay nothing. Most are ingnorant to the core about everything mostly interested in smoking and talking about what they drank, sniffed or swallowed the night before. The only product knowledge they have is how to put the key in the ignition. The service shop LOL they have one qualified technician in the shop so they can say they are I-CAR or ASE certified, but what they don't tell you is that this guy barely passed and is probably a drunk, or worse and is rarely at work and they pay him peanuts. They hire illegals to work on your cars and pay them dirt of course. You think these guys know what they are doing??? NOT! If something goes wrong they just blame it on you!

Then the dealership rakes in all the cash that you are giving them. They rip you off on trades and selling price if you go with "thier" financing.

Yeah I made a pact with myself when I was 14 in 1984 after seeing the bill for my Grandfather to take his car to the dealer for a oil change and 10K tune up. Which consisted of an oil change, airfilter, oil filter and belt inspection. $1040 for a Olsmobile Broham 5.0. LOL!

Crazy. I just learned mechanics and bought Helms manuals on all my cars. Never took them to the dealer again. I save thousands anually.

Yeah GM is loosing money not from the dealers, just backward thinking for the past 30 years.

Just think if they would have jumped on the Eco band wagon, and worked on there fit and finish for all of there cars 20 years ago. Worried less on making 5.7, 6.0, 7.0 liter motors and focused on making quality. They would not in the spot they are right now. Had they come out with a Prius, and eco friendly line up they would be selling like hot cakes. Who wants to buy a car, truck or suv that gets 8-15 miles a gallon. Hell today 25-30 mpg is considered poor gas mileage. They are on the right path, but I think it is a day late and dollar short, Japan hell even Korea will stomp the piss out of them in the next 10 years unless they trim off all the fat and get down to brass tacks. GM, Ford, Dodge all of them need to wake up before they owned by some Chineese toy making company.

GM (Gutless Mananagement?)

[ispysky]

Some really good responses and food for thought on this thread. Thanks.

The first guy was basically trying to convince me to buy what was already on the lot. He broke one of the first rules of sales... "Listen to the customer". I wanted a manual shift car and he seemed more intent on moving product. Bad salesman.

The second Saturn dealership sales person was different. He was very inattentive. And the Sales manager actually let me walk out of the show room after telling me to come back another day because she was busy. This breaks another standard sales rule "Never let the customer walk out of the show room without giving the best service to that customer."

The second dealership was not knowledgable on both the sales offerings nor the technical aspects of the aftermarket stuff. I can forgive the technical side as most of them probably dont work on cars, but come on. They didnt know about all the options. They didnt know if they were installed at the factory or locally. Then, they didnt know if the price included labor or not. They also didnt know if they should order the parts before the car got there. You think it might be a good idea to do this?

I expect each sales person to know about what they are selling. I did when I was working in a bike store. I knew the details of each bike, what was going in next year and how to take each bike apart and put them back together.

It doesnt take alot for some Sales guy to surf this web site and read for an hour or so a day to educate themselves. It's odd, they really should be educating us.

As a whole though, I found all the sales people to be friendly.

Some comments have been made about the whole service industry in general and I agree, there a lack of retention and job promotion that might be contributing to this.

The guy I talked to from the Car show was hired by a friend to help his wife buy a car. Perhaps the lack of knowledable sales people might be a good business opportunity to start a small business in being an independant car buying agent.

[SKY Spy]

Originally Posted by lorennerol

The people at McDonalds don't know much about the product they sell either, and unfortunately that seems to be the caliber of employee at many car dealerships now.

The first dealership I visited had a used 2.4 on the lot, which I drove. The salesman tried to get me to pay MSRP for a used car, but I wasn't interested in a 2.4 or that color. When I asked him about a red/red car, he told me he'd only sold one, and that was to someone who was 'light in the loafers, if you get my drift.'

I ended up ordering my car from a knowledgeable, honest sales rep at a dealership 1100 miles away. We flew down and got it last August, no hassles, no fees, etc, then drove the whole way back to Seattle along the coast.

But keep in mind that this is a low-volume car and if you've done research here you are likely to know as much or more as most sales reps. I printed the order book and sent the rep the codes I wanted.

L

The issue here is that there are many Saturn Retailers out there that do not follow the training guidelines from Saturn/GM.

There are about 410 Saturn Retailers in the U.S. and out of those about 25-30 get the Summit Award every year. Those stores are up to date in product training and such. Some stores believe the Summit Award is too hard to get and make no effort to get it... That's when you get folks that don't know jack about what they sell...

Sad but true!!!

The store I work at has won it 4 times in the last 5 years...

Regards,

BA...

[Rob the Elder]

I bought my car in another state and drove it home. I then went shopping for a dealer to do maintenance. I called one of biggest local chain dealership companies I had had success with before, but with a different brand - so it was a different store. When I talked with the service manager he told me that they knew nothing about the cars, had sold very few of them and I really ought to take it down the road to a different dealership.

After thinking about that for a while, I called the GM of the store and related to him my experience. He it turns out is a part owner of the family run chain - something like 8 dealerships - and started running this particular store 4 months ago.

He was not a happy man. He put me in touch with the chain's VP of maintenance who hires and fires all the service managers. He was not a happy man. He called around and came back to me in 2 hours with a recommendation that I take my Sol to the local Chevy dealer who does the majority of their Corvette maintenance. Their SM and techs are well versed in taking care of performance cars and would treat my Sol like one of their own. They have it now and we have conversed on a daily basis. The SM gave me his cell number and said call him any time. He gives me reports regularly.

Unfortunately he can not do warrante work on the wifes Sky RL but he will be doing all our normal maintenance.

He started out by saying that they never park the cars outside, they always take special care with cleanliness and only specific techs get to touch the cars.

He called me and told me that the car had previously been improperly jacked and one fender was deformed on the bottom. I knew of this already but it only took him about an hour to get this info to me which tells me that they know what they are doing.

Personally I find that the direct approach can work and shopping around for maintenance is more important than shopping for the car in the first place.

[MidniteBlues]

Originally Posted by Rob the Elder

Personally I find that the direct approach can work and shopping around for maintenance is more important than shopping for the car in the first place.

Totally agree, HOWEVER, if you can get both, ur in car heaven..