My morning at the dealership....

[briarpatch]

So, this morning, I'm at our local Toyota dealer, while my wife's '08 Sequoia is being inspected for a frame (rusting) recall. While I'm waiting for a shuttle to take me back to work, I decide to look at a brand new Camry Hybrid they have on the floor....pretty car...burgundy...black leather....38k for it. A salesman comes in (obviously early), and sidles up next to me, trying to gauge my interest. I've looked this thing up and down, and it is one swirled-out mess. Every panel needed work. I said to him..."38k is a lot of money for a car in this condition".....he replies...."What do you mean...this is a brand new car?" We went around the car, and I showed him the paint. He first tried to tell me that it is because the car is on the showroom floor, and people brush against it. I asked him..."Do they brush against the roof, too?" He assured me that they have an excellent detail shop, and that they would fix it. I told him..."It's likely they're the ones who did it"....at which point I walked away and got on the shuttle.

[KirkH]

LOL! Excellent!

[Bruno Soares]

Sounds like the Honda sales guy that told me swirls are a consequence of detailing a car and every car that gets polished will have them. LOL. I drove the car out of the showroom without letting them touch it again and got everything fixed myself. Thankfully Honda has soft paint and it was easy to fix.

[DetailKitty]

Or the McLaren salesman that said the ones he brought to display at a British car show "just hadn't been waxed yet" when I asked how they had the nerve to ask that much for cars in that bad a shape...

:doh:

[Paul A.]

Brilliant, Briar!

Even though it is entertaining to have these discussions with dealer people we have to understand we represent the "1% ers". The other 99% never even see those paint conditions, don't ask about them or even care. Furthermore, even if we can enlighten the sales staff, they'll never justify the expense to have a "detail crew" to do it right.

I've told my story here before but for the new folks...

When I ordered my new BMW 335 back in '07, it took me 4 visits to finally get through to the dealership salesman to NOT TOUCH THE CAR AFTER IT ARRIVED ON THE TRUCK. No joke, 4 f****** visits! The salesman seemed hell bent on insuring the mandatory car wash was done prior to delivery. He was insistent.

On the 4th visit I walked him out to a black Z4 in the showroom sitting under the can lights that beautifully highlighted all the wash and wipe down swirls in the paint. I asked him if he thought it rolled out of the plant like that. I finally got him to realize his "Prep/Detail Service" did that. I then stated I would refuse delivery if they as much as spray it down with just water.

We negotiated what they HAD to do...remove shipping blocks, remove any Cosmoline used for shipping etc. BUT THEY WERE NOT TO TOUCH THE EXTERIOR PAINT! I went so far as to have him write it on the sales contract.

When it was in and ready for pickup it was absolutely filthy. PERFECT and I was happy.

Now...a freakin' McLaren at a British Car show! THAT seems downright treasonous.

[DetailKitty]

I feel your pain... last 2 deliveries I had to somewhat argue with the salesman about delivery "prep". Basically I said if it wasn't filthy at delivery I wasn't buying it.

And yes- a $200K car swirled to hell and back. And it was just because they hadn't "given it a good wax job yet".


Brilliant, Briar!

Even though it is entertaining to have these discussions with dealer people we have to understand we represent the "1% ers". The other 99% never even see those paint conditions, don't ask about them or even care. Furthermore, even if we can enlighten the sales staff, they'll never justify the expense to have a "detail crew" to do it right.

I've told my story here before but for the new folks...

When I ordered my new BMW 335 back in '07, it took me 4 visits to finally get through to the dealership salesman to NOT TOUCH THE CAR AFTER IT ARRIVED ON THE TRUCK. No joke, 4 f****** visits! The salesman seemed hell bent on insuring the mandatory car wash was done prior to delivery. He was insistent.

On the 4th visit I walked him out to a black Z4 in the showroom sitting under the can lights that beautifully highlighted all the wash and wipe down swirls in the paint. I asked him if he thought it rolled out of the plant like that. I finally got him to realize his "Prep/Detail Service" did that. I then stated I would refuse delivery if they as much as spray it down with just water.

We negotiated what they HAD to do...remove shipping blocks, remove any Cosmoline used for shipping etc. BUT THEY WERE NOT TO TOUCH THE EXTERIOR PAINT! I went so far as to have him write it on the sales contract.

When it was in and ready for pickup it was absolutely filthy. PERFECT and I was happy.

Now...a freakin' McLaren at a British Car show! THAT seems downright treasonous.

[Jaretr1]

When I bought my Accord, I asked the salesman to make sure the car WAS NOT touched or cleaned prior to my delivery. He said "but providing you the car clean and pristine condition is on the survey". I said, let me show you why and invited him over to an minivan in the showroom. I said "she this?" pointing to swirls. He said yeah. I said I dont want my car to look like that. So dont touch it, Ill write I got the car clean on the survey. He said I got it!

[Klasse Act]

Any car, whether it's $20K Civic or a $200K McLaren, should be prepped PROPERLY before the keys change hands but dealerships don't really know what that entails and certainly aren't going to pay a designated person to do it PROPERLY, that we all know.

I mean using a Civic as an example, 5 hrs to properly wash, decon, polish and apply a LSP shouldn't be asking too much. The person doing the job should be paid accordingly and take pride in their work. Hell, the dealership can use this to close the deal and make the customer feel special, isn't that what it's all about?!

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[DetailKitty]

You're absolutely right Roger.
Too bad dealerships won't do a really nice presentation of your car at delivery.


Any car, whether it's $20K Civic or a $200K McLaren, should be prepped PROPERLY before the keys change hands but dealerships don't really know what that entails and certainly aren't going to pay a designated person to do it PROPERLY, that we all know.

I mean using a Civic as an example, 5 hrs to properly wash, decon, polish and apply a LSP shouldn't be asking too much. The person doing the job should be paid accordingly and take pride in their work. Hell, the dealership can use this to close the deal and make the customer feel special, isn't that what it's all about?!

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[Klasse Act]

When I got my MINI they did, it was on the showroom floor with a cover on it. Then the sales lady took it and got a full tank of gas. Damn, that was over 10 years ago, WOW!

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[DetailKitty]

I remember MINI used to make a big deal at delivery. I don't know if the do now. I bought 3 different MINIs and never got the "hoopla" with any of the deliveries.


When I got my MINI they did, it was on the showroom floor with a cover on it. Then the sales lady took it and got a full tank of gas. Damn, that was over 10 years ago, WOW!

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[Desertnate]

Any car, whether it's $20K Civic or a $200K McLaren, should be prepped PROPERLY before the keys change hands but dealerships don't really know what that entails and certainly aren't going to pay a designated person to do it PROPERLY, that we all know.

I mean using a Civic as an example, 5 hrs to properly wash, decon, polish and apply a LSP shouldn't be asking too much. The person doing the job should be paid accordingly and take pride in their work. Hell, the dealership can use this to close the deal and make the customer feel special, isn't that what it's all about?!

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While you're right, I see two problems with this line of thinking:
- Dealerships aren't going to spend the kind of money, nor take the time in the sales process to make this happen. Dealerships make very little money off the sale of new cars and only a bit more off used cars. Service and Finance are the profit centers at any dealership. The won't cut into already slim margins to properly prep a car. On well producing dealership's you'd need a hefty sized detailing staff to keep up. It's easier and far to give a porter the keys and let him run a car through the swirl-o-matic (or the dirty scrub brush and grey water wash) and gas it up.

- Normal US car shoppers. The average American looking to buy a car wants to walk in, grind on the dealer, and get out with their new ride. Most don't even do much of a test drive any more. There is no way they would lock in a deal or buy the car and then come back a day later to receive a pristine car. 99.99 percent of car buyers don't know the difference between "a swirl and a squirrel" as Mike Phillips says. They couldn't care less.

[DMiglio]

I think part of this is also down to “Dealer Prep Fees,” it may be one way for dealers to make a little more profit on the vehicles they sell. I may be wrong as it is just an assumption, but I think they do it as a “service” for the 99% of car buyers and again for profit.

Why you may ask? A short story(probably made long..)

When I went to buy my car, I first looked it over in the beginning of the day, didn’t have any salesmen with me and I kind of looked over a few cars so they weren’t bugging me to buy a specific make or model(used car lot). I had noticed a price difference between the online ad and price listed on the car.

About 6 hours go by and instead of wasting time if it was the higher price I called ahead to double check and said I wouldn’t be interested at the higher price but would be willing to negotiate at the online price, they said they’d honor the online price so I went in.

After all was said and done and negotiated a deal(which he included prep fees for free, gee thanks!), he mentions they’d washed the car for me as it was raining and I said oh no worries I’d prefer you didn’t. He told me they prepped it when I called to ask about the car so it was clean when I looked at it and would do it again because the rain.

I looked over the sales total and couldn’t believe what the price of prep is.. The amount they charge for this service was $549!! I’m guessing a car wash isn’t the only performer for Dealer Prep, but dang if I could charge upwards of 500 bucks to wash, vacuum and throw some tire shine on a couple cars a day, I’d gladly do it!!

I wonder if by us 1%ers asking to not have the car washed alarms the dealers/salesmen not just because they think, “why wouldn’t you want a shiny clean car?!” but maybe because it also cuts into some possible profit..

[DetailKitty]

Interesting take on this. You may have a point.

[DogRescuer]

I totally understand what all of you are saying but if I'm in my Toyota dealership looking at brand new cars, I'm not sure how but they are pristine.