Is this typical experience?

Wisesmurf

Pretty meek experiences in the past few weeks- Rant to follow.

I'm looking for a brand new mid-range estate at the moment. Pretty much every marque has one. I've narrowed down to 3 that I want to see based on internet browsing, reviews, features and looks.

First gripe: Why aren't dealers generally open on Sunday? - It's surely the biggest shopping day of the week for this sort of thing.

Marque 1 -

Went to a dealer to see the car I wanted and they had none in stock - Salesperson went on to say that the car is no longer in production and they will release a new model and something else about WLDP and petrol models "all over the shop".

Wasn't convinced by the response so the next day I went to an online contact form and they responded with a brochure for the car (dated August 19) with the model with the WDLP figures and even a new colour.

Went to a different dealer and a helpful sales person confirmed what I was saying and looked up their internal system and said a few of the cars we're in the internal network and he'd try to get one for me to see - I was to expect a call first thing this morning.

Marque 2 -

Went to a dealer looking to see an example of a particular car. They didn't have one in stock but the Salesperson said the model I wanted was superseeded by their new shiny model and said the other car was finished. The new model isn't even a direct replacement for the one I was looking for and from what I can tell the one I want to look at was only refreshed mid-2018 and the hatch it is based on is still referred to as 'the new' on their website.

Went to another dealer and they did not only confirm that I could order a new version of the car I wanted but also had an ex-demo of the car for sale that I could see and test drive. I was, again, supposed to get a call from this dealer first thing today and not a peep yet.

probably relevant but the 2 dealers I got crap answers from were older garages and the two that were helpful were newish flagship dealerships.

Alanstrainor

Even dealerships need a day off. Closed on Sunday is hardly much of a gripe!

Hard to answer the other bits without any details, even some idea of the brand/car in question would help.

Wisesmurf

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Even dealerships need a day off. Closed on Sunday is hardly much of a gripe!

Yea I get that - but it's 50% of my available time to go see these cars - plenty other industries are able to staff up to provide support 7 days.

Re the brands - I didn't want to name in case it was libelous- happy to do so if that is allowed.

terrydel

Wisesmurf wrote: »

Yea I get that - but it's 50% of my available time to go see these cars - plenty other industries are able to staff up to provide support 7 days.

Re the brands - I didn't want to name in case it was libelous- happy to do so if that is allowed.

I'd never begrudge anyone Sunday off, in fact I think that barring essential services, the whole country should have one day a week that they are all off. Life is too short to spend it working.
If you are buying a new car for 10s of thousands, surely taking one day off work yourself is a very minimal extra expense? Most dealers would I'd imagine arrange to let you come in after 5pm if booked in advance.
Its not libelous if you just give the brand names.

Toyotafanboi

How do the people who work in the car dealership manage to make it to your business when they work Monday to Friday too

Your experiences while a mixed bag of rubbish, dont sound too unusual, unfortunately.

The only thing is, by "mid size", do you mean Focus/ Golf/ i30 sized, as generally the estate variants aren't as popular as their hatchback variants, you're much less likely to find one on a forecourt for viewing. A lot of salesmen just want the path to the easiest sale so if you are looking for anything a little bit off the beaten track, then their enthusiasm dwindles pretty quickly. You'll need to fond someone either good at their job or hungry for a deal.

Wisesmurf

terrydel wrote: »

I'd never begrudge anyone Sunday off, in fact I think that barring essential services, the whole country should have one day a week that they are all off. Life is too short to spend it working.
If you are buying a new car for 10s of thousands, surely taking one day off work yourself is a very minimal extra expense? Most dealers would I'd imagine arrange to let you come in after 5pm if booked in advance.
Its not libelous if you just give the brand names.

Yea I actually agree with the sentiment but I'm sure my experience is similar to a lot others (I work close to or past 6 every evening) - I guess I'm just saying I think it's an opportunity loss in my opinion - It seems to me they already skeleton staff at reduced hours on a Saturday wouldn't be any worse to do the same for a Sunday if they staffed accordingly. I bought a house without taking any time off work.

Marque 1 is Seat
Marque 2 is Kia

bazz26

I don't have the links now but I remember reading some time back that some dealerships trialed opening on Sundays in the past. They found it just wasn't viable from a business perspective as there wasn't enough trade to justify the cost involved - staff overtime, showroom heating, lighting, etc. There were plenty of people in looking but very few resulted in sales. People were just coming in, having a look around or to kill time while their partner was shopping nearby.

MarkN

WLTP, budget and EVs have created a fair bit of uncertainty in the industry so there can be a lack of knowledge with sales staff (there shouldn’t be really) but I’m not surprised. The brands themselves are sometimes going by a wait and see approach and then there’s allocation issues as we’re not the biggest priority here in Ireland. The sales staff could be getting the mushroom treatment in some cases.

R.O.R

Seat Leon Estate is no longer in production. New Leon due next year.

Kia C'eed SW is in production, as is the Proceed, which looks like the estate, but isn't the estate. The Optima SW is out of production, which is a shame as it was a cracking looking car.

You'd be doing well to find an estate in stock most of the time, but especially at the moment. Estate's are generally factory order when we look for them, except for Skoda (Octavia and Superb) which are usually available ex. stock, but not at the moment due to imminent new models or facelifts.

JoeA3

I've asked car sales buddies the "Sunday" question before and the answer is more or less what Bazz says above. You just get the lads coming in killing time, maybe with 2 or 3 kids in tow, with no intention of buying anything. On top of that, any support services that the dealer may need in order to close a sale are all unavailable at weekends - e.g. Banks, tax office, insurance companies, etc.

Anyone who is serious about a car goes in on a quiet weekday morning imo.