My Auto Shopping Adventure: One Reason GM Failed

On Memorial Day, I went car shopping for an SUV. I was tempted by GM’s 0 percent financing on the Cadillac Escalade hybrid, and found a dealership to test drive one. The salesman was polite enough, and showed me some, but not all, of the vehicle’s many features. When I asked about the navigation system, he said the DVD map disc was in the office but assured me it was one of the best. I guess I’ll just have to take his word for it. When I saw a sticker on an Escalade’s windshield that read: “Today’s Special,” I asked about it. “Oh,” he said. “That doesn’t mean anything. Somebody puts them on the cars all the time.” Then I test drove one, but the salesman was too busy to come with me, so he lost another opportunity to explain the vehicle’s many features and why it’s superior to its competition. When I returned to the dealership, the salesman wanted to appraise my trade-in. I had checked the Kelly Blue Book’s web site, and knew my vehicle was in excellent condition and worth $19,000 as a trade-in. As I predicted, the appraiser judged the vehicle to be in not excellent, or good, but only fair condition. According to the blue book, this particular vehicle in “fair” condition was worth only $16,000. The salesman countered my initial purchase offer with a figure only $2,000 less than the whopping $76,000 sticker price. He quickly pulled out the alleged “dealer’s invoice” to show that his wholesale price was only about $2,500 less than the sticker price, and said that meant that he would “lose money” if he accepted my offer. Having bought about a dozen new vehicles in my lifetime, I’m always amazed how gullible car dealers think buyers are. I know that domestic dealers have approximately 13 percent of a vehicle’s MSRP to play with, and that doesn’t count manufacturer incentives, hold-backs and other things. When I mentioned I might look at a Lexus, the salesman blurted, “They don’t negotiate at all.” Considering GM was on the verge of bankruptcy, I thought if there was ever a time that a dealer would be honest and anxious to sell his inventory, this was it. But apparently I was mistaken. A few days later I went to a GMC dealership. I told the salesman that I was interested in a front-wheel-drive GMC Acadia SUV with leather seating, navigation and memory seats. When I asked about a CD player, he said that it was an option. When I looked at the sticker on the window, it was clearly written that a single-play CD was standard equipment. Of course, the dealership did not have what I wanted. All but two in the inventory were all-wheel drive, and neither had navigation. This was the second GMC dealer I visited that day. The first dealer wrote down the options I wanted and promised to call me when he found a vehicle. He didn’t have the brochure I requested, and he never called back. I stopped at a Toyota dealership and found a friendly, courteous and knowledgeable salesman. He also offered me $16,000 for my trade-in, but the Highlander hybrid I was looking at was advertised for about $6,500 below the sticker price. Unfortunately, the Highlander does not offer memory seats so I moved on. I finally succumbed to my wife’s wishes and went to a Lexus dealer. The salesman was polite, and Joe Biden would describe him as “clean and articulate.” He definitely was knowledgeable about the products he sold. He accompanied me on two test drives and demonstrated the vehicle’s many features and the navigation system. He pointed out tags on the dashboards of several of the vehicles in the showroom announcing up to $8,000 off some remaining 2009 models. The contrast between GM and the other dealers was dramatic. As much as I would like to buy an American automobile, it becomes harder and harder when dealers don’t have what you want, and the sales force don’t know their products and have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Maybe now, having filed Chapter 11, GM will direct its dealers to sell cars instead of playing games.