Buying a Car in the USA
Credit: photographer Adris72 at stock.xchng.
Business management in this country is way past its prime. You can tell that when you go to buy a car.
I've been with my daughter to Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and Chrysler. We had researched the cars we were interested in because my daughter has a disability and there are specific needs the car has to meet.
At the dealerships of the three Japanese automakers, we had an easy time talking to the salespeople, never felt pressured, and came away with a positive feeling toward both the cars, the dealership, and the individual sales rep. None of the three dealerships had a receptionist.
We went to Chrysler to get a brochure for the PT Cruiser. We immediately noticed that the atmosphere seemed more "charged" as the receptionist went in search of someone to talk to us. All we asked for was a brochure. An obsequious salesman came out and assured us that if we would wait "just two minutes" he would be with us. He left and came back, asked us what we were looking for. We said we wanted a brochure for the PT Cruiser. He said he had a couple in the lot and if we followed him we could take a look at one.
I guess that was our mistake. We went out to look at the cruiser and my daughter sat in the driver's seat to see if the layout, proportions, etc. were what she needed. They weren't, unfortunately (or, fortunately?). All this time the salesman was maintaining a running chatter about the car, oblivious to our reaction. My daughter asked again for a brochure.
We went back to the showroom and after he handed her a brochure, the salesman pushed what looked like a sales agreement in her direction. She said, I'm not going to sign anything, please just give me your business card.
Instead of complying, he asked us to sit down and went off to get his manager. Exasperated, my daughter picked up his business card and motioned to me that she wanted to leave, and we did.
Now why the two different sales approaches. It could be partly cultural, even though the sales reps were all from this country. But I wonder if, because Honda, Toyota, and Subaru all have cars that are routinely highly rated in a variety of different categories including safety, reliability, price/value ratios. All of the salesmen from these dealerships knew that their cars would move.
But there's more to this than the sales experience. It just so happens that my daughter works for a foreign subsidiary of one of the big three auto companies. Even though the parent company's business history is scarred with the general decline of the US auto business, it is trying to force its corporate, engineering, design, and marketing philosophies on its subsidiaries instead of learning from the subsidiaries why their businesses are a sucess where the US business fails?
This really does speak to the previous post on the political behavior of the extreme right wing in this country.