Suggestions for car dealerships...

I had an interesting experience helping my brother buy a car on Monday. We were at four different dealerships, and I experienced four different approaches to selling a car. Here's how it all broke down:

Nissan: Salesperson was straightforward, talked about the car's strong points and its price advantage over its competitors. All of his claims about the car were 100 percent true. Did not come off as sleazy or scripted.

Honda (CR-V): Salesman was laid-back, but came right out and said "Our car is the best." He didn't like the Rogue, because he was 6'1" and said it was too small for him. The Honda drove nicely, and had a well laid-out interior. It wasn't as peppy as the Rogue, and was about $1-$2,000 more than a comparably equipped Rogue. The salesperson had no argument for this. And I stand by my opinion that the CR-V looks like a chick car.

Toyota (RAV4): This salesperson claimed to have been in the business for 30 years, and it showed. He also didn't hesitate to say "our car is the best" and was very slick. I honestly couldn't tell what was real and what was bullshit with this guy, and it was very off putting. The vehicle drove very nicely, but Adam echoed my complaint about Toyotas.. it has no personality. I like to call Toyotas "transportation appliances." We deliberately didn't bring the trade-in along for the test drive, and he picked up on that tactic right away. He somehow figured out that I was a former car salesperson. I don't know if that came from 30 years of intuition, if he overheard me, or if I ended up being heard on an intercom somewhere (remember, in a car dealership, someone's always listening). He and his sales manager were both asking very smart open-ended questions, and were trying to get as much information out of us on what we wanted to pay and the condition of our trade-in. Finally, he gave us a long-winded speech on how Kelley Blue Book values were inflated and how they would offer the "wholesale" price for the car, which was an obvious attempt to condition us and deflate our expectations before working the numbers. Even if Adam decided to go with the RAV4, I would have insisted that he get it at a different dealership, because I am certain this guy would have stopped at nothing to screw us for every last dime.

Subaru (Forester): Subaru is more of a fringe player, and doesn't move quite the volume of cars that Honda and Toyota do, so they weren't nearly as aggressive. Our salesperson was the most easygoing out of the four of them. He didn't brag too much about the car, instead letting the car prove itself during the drive. The car drove very competently. The interior looked nice, but the exterior styling was a bit oddball, like most Subarus. 

So, it was pretty much a toss-up between the Nissan and the Subaru. Adam decided to go with the Nissan, because he liked the styling and overall packaging of the car, the peppy engine and decent fuel mileage. The Subaru was a close second, and we very well may have gone with it if things went south at the Nissan dealer.

Fortunately, everything worked out with the Nissan. Unsurprisingly, they lowballed us on the trade in at first, but that ended promptly after I threatened to walk. After a few more minutes of back and forth, we made what I think is a good deal, and Adam is now the proud owner of a new Nissan Rogue.

Overall, here's what I liked about my experiences in the car buying process:

- The Nissan salesperson and the Subaru salesperson both talked about the strengths of the car, but did not come across as arrogant. They allowed the cars to do the talking during the test drives. The Nissan salesperson printed out some comparisons between the Rogue and its competitors, showing an obvious price advantage.

- We were very clear about our intentions during the first visit- test drive only, and no dealers kept us waiting or tried to make a sale.

- When I was haggling down the price of the Nissan, the salesperson took everything I was saying seriously, and didn't feed me lines like "Your information from the internet is false," and "We have to keep the lights on in here." He listened to what I had to say, and brought my concerns to the manager. I'm glad he did, because we would have walked otherwise, and I think he knew it.

- The Nissan dealer not changing the price of the vehicle, even though they only one they could locate was a car with a sunroof, which we didn't ask for.

- When Adam took delivery of the Nissan, no one tried to offer him worthless crap like undercoating, service plans or pinstripes.

- All four vehicles we drove had a full slate of safety features standard. It's about time.

- I would recommend any of these vehicles depending on someone's personal preference. They all are well-engineered, safe and drive nicely.

- Only the CR-V has seats that tumble forward. The rest have fold-down seats only. Honda is very clever when it comes to practical features.

- All four of these vehicles have enormous glove compartments and tons of storage space. The CR-V and RAV4 even have two glove compartments.

Here's what I didn't like:

- The arrogance of the Honda and Toyota dealer, saying their cars were the best. The Toyota dealer didn't even say why the RAV4 is the best, he just said "I've been in the car business for 30 years, and I know what's good and what isn't." Well, that clears everything up for me. And every Honda dealer I have gone to over the years has constantly said how their cars are so great and every other car sucks. IMHO, a good salesman, like the Nissan salesman who sold Adam a car, will emphasize the car's strengths, and allow the customer to form his own opinion during a test drive and detailed look at the car.

- The fact that Honda and Toyota charged $1-2k more than Nissan and Subaru for comparably equipped vehicles. Consumer Reports constantly reminds us how Hondas and Toyotas are the greatest cars ever built, so more people buy them, their resale values are astronomical, and these two manufacturers are able to get away with doing this. Note to car buyers: CR is a good resource, but it is not the Holy Grail, and there are other companies out there, even American companies, that are putting out cars every bit as good as Honda and Toyota.

- Constant lowballing of trade-in values everywhere. The only dealer that didn't do this was when we bought my wife's car from a small-town used car lot. 

- The fact that the Nissan dealer didn't put the trade-in value on the sheet with the payments. I told the salesperson we wouldn't even look at payments until I saw a trade-in value.

Overall, this was an interesting and entertaining experience. I enjoy the psychological games that go on at car dealerships, and how you can get eaten alive if you don't know what you're doing.