Why do some dealers refuse to use email as correspondence?

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
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That's what the Internet department is supposed to do right? I got nothing from corvette dealers when i wanted their price, they wanted me to come in. Now that i'm looking for a cheap track car, the dealer won't answer my specific questions about the car. They want to talk to me. I want stuff in writing dammit

Their loss
 
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SearchMaster

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2002
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Because they don't want to waste their time on a tire-kicking, lowest-price-at-all-costs consumer. I'm not trying to be insulting but that's how they see you when your email is only about price. Plus someone shopping for a new Vette is usually well off financially and tend to not be lowest-price-at-all-costs consumers.

I assume now you're looking for a used car? Frankly those things come and go so quickly that most salesmen aren't going to have the capacity to learn everything about them. So every time someone sends an inquiry they have to take the time to find out about the car beyond what's simply listed on their Internet ad. If you're coming in, they'll feel like the time invested to learn the specifics will be more likely to pay off.
 

Denly

Golden Member
May 14, 2011
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Because they don't want you to go bargain with other dealership with their price.

Because they want you to sit there for 2hrs so they can sell you a 50k+ car.

Because they don't want to hold accountable for any fail information.

Just like you bring in a car for warranty let said a front control arm bushing, they refuse because you installed a after market cat back. You ask them to put it down on write they won't do it.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
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Honestly most salesmen don't really know much about the cars they're selling...just the whizz-bang options they can make more money on.
 

razel

Platinum Member
May 14, 2002
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More like... their gain. I assume you are asking for guarantees of performance in writing so you can sue them later/return car if you lose on the track. Are you really a track/car person? It's ok if you are just beginning... everyone was a beginner at some point, but putting money into a car blindly is a very expensive lesson.
 

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
9,376
454
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More like... their gain. I assume you are asking for guarantees of performance in writing so you can sue them later/return car if you lose on the track. Are you really a track/car person? It's ok if you are just beginning... everyone was a beginner at some point, but putting money into a car blindly is a very expensive lesson.
guarantee of performance? dafuq?

i was asking if the car has a stock air intake, headers, & catalytic converter. how hard it can it be to tell me that?
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
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It's sales 101... put something in the customer's hands and they're much more likely to buy it. It's harder to say no when you have a pushy, type-A personality salesman in your face.
 

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
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Honestly most salesmen don't really know much about the cars they're selling...just the whizz-bang options they can make more money on.

This is absolutely true in a LOT of cases. Most salesmen know how to sell stuff. As for whats under the hood? No fracking idea.

Honestly though, as it pertains to the OP and questions about stock cat/air intake etc... I can't fault them for not answering. They'd likely have to take it to the shop for that to happen. And if the car is fairly new on the lot, it's not going to be worth the effort compared to someone that comes in ready to buy. If it's a tough to move car, they'll probably have a 'special' weekend deal to lower the price to get someone to buy it. They're not going to go through the effort if there are 100s of other cars on the lot that require less effort to sell. Eventually, someone will come along that asks the standard questions that they provide standard answers to, and they'll sell it to that guy.

If you want to know about those things, best you can probably do is get them to put it on a lift and let you pop the hood when you get there.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
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They don't want a price in writing that you can shop around.

They think if they can get you in the door that you're probably going to leave with a car.

They think that you're a waste of time. (Probably a lot of tire kickers.)



Instead use a buying server like through USAA or Costco, etc. Maybe AAA has one too? It will help cut through the dealer BS.
 

WT

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2000
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I inquired about a local SUV at a dealer via chat and damned if that girl didn't want everything but my CC #. All I was asking was whether the SUV was still available on the lot. She never answered my question, taking name, numbers, email addy, etc., then telling me that a salesman would contact me at a later time and pass along that info. Then she promptly ended the chat on me !

I'm not about the lowest price, I just want to find a very hard to find SUV. Sales people hate a buyer who has singled out his purchase to a specific model with specific features, but that's what I want to buy. I'm not that interested in a PU when I want an SUV.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
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guarantee of performance? dafuq?

i was asking if the car has a stock air intake, headers, & catalytic converter. how hard it can it be to tell me that?

I doubt a dealership could legally sell you a car without catalytic converters and aftermarket headers can be hit or miss. Some are legal, some are not. It definitely wouldn't pass smog without the catalytic converters and that definitely is a requirement for selling a car in California.
 

brainhulk

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2007
9,376
454
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I doubt a dealership could legally sell you a car without catalytic converters and aftermarket headers can be hit or miss. Some are legal, some are not. It definitely wouldn't pass smog without the catalytic converters and that definitely is a requirement for selling a car in California.

their website pic has a perrin intake. I was wondering since it has that, if other crap was installed on it. I also wonder if they have to put everything back to stock for them to sell it. The dealership is 50 miles away and I figured I can save myself some time and just ask them.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,103
597
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They don't have to necessarily. Plenty of modded cars get traded in. IMHO passing smog check is highly dependent on the car anyway. Modded Subaru? Plenty of scrutiny. Modded Vette? The smog guy is probably too busy drooling. The car probably has stock catalytics but the other stuff like intake and headers could be different. Legal? Maybe.

Dealerships get away with a lot and likely don't care unless they get caught. But there's so much ambiguity and blame passing they likely wouldn't get caught anyway.
 

Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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People use internet chat and email to talk to dealers? Give them a call or drive down there. Not that big of a deal.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
325
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People use internet chat and email to talk to dealers? Give them a call or drive down there. Not that big of a deal.

It is when you want to talk to the 5-6 dealers in a 50 mile radius. If you're in a tiny town with only one dealer in the area... yah no big deal.