Buying a new car....

Sometimes..particularly in small towns where you and the dealership personnel know each other, and where your buying patterns are recognized and perhaps appreciated..

I doubt there is much loyalty either way in large towns where you are effectively unknown..

***Very unlikely.

*****Either a dealership is good or it isnt, as far as service is concerned. And that can change with time. If a dealership wants to keep your business, you would think they should cater to you a bit, but that doesnt necessarily happen. ****Some dealerships are quality operations and others may be despicable bottom feeders. It might be best to find out, as well as you can, which are good people and then try to cut an acceptable deal with them.

I'm ASSuming, much like any other business with which I've been associated, that service makes far more money for the dealership than does sales - just so you know.

I personally would try to buy from the same dealership just for the sake of the relationship. Again, just like any business, I would ASSume that they will gladly work on a car sold by anyone, but might be more charitably inclined if an issue arises and you have given them ALL the business for that purchase. Perhaps give them the opportunity to meet/come close to the lower price at another dealership?

nate

I personally would try to buy from the same dealership just for the sake of the relationship. Again, just like any business, I would ASSume that they will gladly work on a car sold by anyone, but might be more charitably inclined if an issue arises and you have given them ALL the business for that purchase. Perhaps give them the opportunity to meet/come close to the lower price at another dealership?

nate

******* If you can develop a good relationship with an honorable dealership, that has to be the best situation.

As you suggest, I've never seen a dealership turn down anyone for service.

Some years ago I had REALLY bad luck with Pontiac dealerships in Houston (referring to service). In those days, you could call the zone representative and get help or advice, which I did. He pointed me to a couple of dealerships which had good reputations and fewer than normal service complaints. Honestly, these dealerships didnt do much better, but I finally found one of them that would listen to me and the very long standing problem was fixed.

The dealership had some older mechanics who knew what they were doing, didn't "flat rate", and were proud of their work. I praised them to the service writer, who made some snide remark about them doing a good job but not putting out as much work as the other younger mechanics.

As you can tell in some of my posts, this was one step along the way which soured me on dealerships and GM. When a person did a good job, he was "low rated".

Not much later, I bought a Buick which shortly presented problems. It would die when I took my foot off the accelerator - at the most inconvienient and dangerous times.. I returned it to the dealership a number of times, but always got the excuse from the shop manager that he couldnt find it if it were not broken...meaning intermittent. I asked him to send a mechanic to ride with me and I would SHOW them what was happening.. He wouldnt... I asked him to check the TSB's on this, and he promised me he had already done that.. Then I called the zone representative.. Within seconds he knew the problem- a run of ECM's with faulty semiconductors - and authorized the replacement. There WAS a TSB on it.... Within minutes the owner of the dealership called me and apologized, and the shop manager called me, complained, and threatened me.

It doesnt make much different where you buy. It can make a lot of difference what you buy. And it can make even more difference where you take it when you have to have it fixed.

Sorry for the rant

Good advice. I lucked out when I bought a 2 year old Celebrity at a *good* dealership. First, there was misunderstanding about the warranty remaining. When I closed the deal I was told the salesman was wrong in telling me there was 17k miles remaining warranty. Since the dealership had used the car as a loaner, making them 2nd owner, the remaining warranty wouldn't carry over to me. Besides being honest about that mistake, they offered me at 2 year 48k mile B to B warranty at cost - 500 bucks. I took it and got that money back with a few problems, PS pump, bad injector, and bad window switch. The 3 times I was in there they had a guy drive me to work. Two times they weren't done when I got off work and gave me a loaner. So it was all painless going there. Only experience I've had with dealerships, but I've heard it's not always so. Not sure how to find out which are good. Maybe a net search.

--Vic

I have never owned a new vehicle before, so I don't know.I have always had pretty good luck with the old clunkers I bought, and traded in on other clunkers. cuhulin

Easier to drop it off when the dealer is close to home, as most will drive you home, and pick you up when done. We've had very good dealership experiences with SWMBO's 2009 Impala, any scheduled service over 45 minutes, she could drop it off, and get a ride home and picked back up when it was done.