with that 'fact' in mind, I have a comment. I read somewhere that 75% of all car buyers do not return to the dealer where they purchased their previous car. Anyone have a link to back that up?

If it's true, it's no wonder that more than half the people here have awful dealer experience when buying or getting service for their vehicle.

You would think there is more money to be made by treating people fairly. You lose out on profit per sale, but you would hopefully offset that by doing a larger value of business as people bought future vehicles from you and told their friends and relatives you gave fair deals.

But what do I know?

my dealer tustin mazda was good

87% of all statistics are invented........

how about:

there are lies, damn lies and then there are statistics.........

You would think there is more money to be made by treating people fairly. You lose out on profit per sale, but you would hopefully offset that by doing a larger value of business as people bought future vehicles from you and told their friends and relatives you gave fair deals.


Gains from integrity are more long-term and intangible. Dealer managers don't like either of the two :)

Cynicism aside, I think prima facie you would guess better service would offset profit per sale, but when you get down to the nitty gritty analysis, the real numbers probably work out far different than any of us non-car-dealership-owners would even ponder.

You have to pay for consistent, good service. How much, is the question. Lexus-much? Or Honda-much? ....or heh...Nissan much :)

I read somewhere that Cadillac calculated the lifetime value of a customer at over $350,000. That's quite a few CTS's! http://www.ebizability.com/artman/publish/article_215.shtml
It seems that few car companies--and even fewer dealerships--take that long term approach. It's sad.

There are fewer and fewer car manufacturers that I am willing to patronize. Eliminated already are Mitsubishi, Infinity, Audi and Volvo. I can't say the RX-8 issues have elminated Mazda from further consideration, but $500 isn't enough to uneqivocably maintain me as a customer either.

If 87% of statistics are invented than it is probable that the actual number of statistics that are invented is lower than 87%. So if the actual number of statistics invented is lower than 87% than it could be probable that the number of statistics invented is actually 87%.

Hope you followed that, there's a quiz at the end of the thread. :)

On a more serious and less confusing note, I am dealing with Sterling Mazda and they have been great. If I ever buy another Mazda again I would go back there. However, I am not partial to one car company over another, so chances are I would probably go to another company's dealership next time. That right there drops my chances of going back to the same dealership significantly. It is probalby the same for many people.
Just my 2 cents.

-JiM

Yeah, I don't directly lump dealerships with car companies myself. I give them both equal chances to screw things up :)

But companies as a whole do have a general reputation for service. And no, whoever it was in the past, please do not post the picture of the JD Power & Associates graphs to try to knock this point home further.

The nissan dealership here almost lost my respect when they rushed me to purchase my maxima and essentially put an end-of-the-month deadline on the deal so that the saleslady could get it on that month's commission (at least she told that to me bluntly). They did lose it when they agreed to replace the rear shocks as part of the purchase, and did so with immediately defective shocks causing a very dangerous ride anywhere over 25mph, and then when they went to replace them again 2 days later, said "Oh, we don't have those in stock...it'll take a week to get them in. And we can't give you a loaner because you're too young."

In genereal, you would think dealerships would care about us, the customer, much more than they do. Then again, that is trying to apply some form of base logic to an argument. And any time logic is applied to such questions, things never make sense.

Originally posted by j1mb0x99
However, I am not partial to one car company over another, so chances are I would probably go to another company's dealership next time. That right there drops my chances of going back to the same dealership significantly. It is probalby the same for many people.
Just my 2 cents.

-JiM

I think that can account for part of it. Obviously, if the dealership who sold the car you bought in 1995 doesn't have any models you want in 2000, you will take your business somewhere else. There is also the case of people whose income has increased or decreased and will purchase a different class of car the next time.

On the other hand, there are plenty of dealers that offer cars from two, five, or even ten different manufacturers. I mean, sure, occasionally there are cars you can get from one company that have no equivalent elsewhere - e.g. the RX8 - but for most people that isn't the case.

I dont expect alot from dealerships.
My father has stayed with mercedes his whole life because of their customer service.
Dealerships just dont get it when they treat people wrong they lose money

I guess I've been lucky then. I always got a good service when I brought my celica in for maintenance. Also when I bought my rx-8 I didn't have any trouble, well not really they ran out of coffee :p . altough the saleslady did offer to take me to starbucks to make up for it. Oh I also went to tustin mazda like mike.

speaking of dealers,
my friend traded his 97 camaro to dealer, and it had 107,000 miles.
then he went to service his car(bought a used silverado), and he saw his car, and said it had 87,000 miles on it. Also, that was his car, becuase he had a scratch on the dashboard, it was his car(NO JOKING).

The dealer, messes around with the miles. He asked and they denied, and denied it. So all of you guys when you buy a used rx-8 or any car, be careful.

Originally posted by FamilyGuy
87% of all statistics are invented

and may I ask you where you got THAT statistic? Or was that, too, invented.

*smirk*

Originally posted by Squidward


and may I ask you where you got THAT statistic? Or was that, too, invented.

*smirk*

I opened my post with the statement, "with that 'fact' in mind".

Originally posted by FamilyGuy


I opened my post with the statement, "with that 'fact' in mind".

oh.. uhhhhh.. my bad :eek: