Auto Dealerships Becoming Takeover Targets - Would You Rather Have A Family Owned Store Or Part Of A Large Chain?

Have had good experiences with single dealerships and large chains. Problems have been with small chains...could not get anyone to take responsibility. Single dealerships have had family member present and appreciate importance of word of mouth in local community. With large chains their corporate offices if contact carry significant weight in getting dealership to do the right thing. That's been my experience.

My experience is dealers that are part of a larger organization tend to seek out better talent and really strive to please the customer. My experience with the family business is many of them do business the way they've always done it and it can be less focused on pleasing the customer vs getting the sale done and on to the next "Dork Stroke"... see the some of the names sales people have for buyers: http://www.insidercarsecrets.com/dealerslang.html

* An "Up" is someone who walks on the car lot. A customer!
* A "Beback" is a customer who leaves without buying, and comes back at a later date.
* A "Laydown" is a customer who buys at whatever price the salesperson quotes.
* A "Roach" is how car salespeople refer to people with bad credit!
* A "Get-Me-Done" is somebody who has borderline credit at best, and will take almost any vehicle at any terms just to get financed.
* The "Bump" is where the Sales Manager sends the salesperson back out to get a higher price, or to "Bump" the customer for more money!
* A "Lowball" is an unrealistically low price that the salesperson gives the customer before the customer leaves to shop price at another dealer.
* Upside Down" is when a person owes more money on their trade-in then the vehicle is worth.
*"Negative Equity" is related to Upside Down above. It is the amount that you still owe on your car loan after subtracting how much you are actually getting for your vehicle.
*"Positive Equity" This is when your trade-in is actually worth more than the amount you owe on it. Needless to say, this doesn't happen very often!
*"Croak and Choke" pertains to the Finance Manager selling Credit Life Insurance and Disability Insurance on the car loan!
* To "Brick" somebody, or to "Spot Deliver!" Car salespeople are so worried that you'll change your mind once you buy a vehicle, that they want you to take it NOW! Very often, the dealer will have the customer sign bank papers before the loan is officially approved, just to get the customer down the road.
*"Buyers are Liars!" Every car salesperson is instilled with this belief!
*"The T.O." If one salesperson can't close you he or she will T.O. you or turn you over to a Manager or a Closer, who in turn might T.O. you to someone else, and someone else again until you buy.
* "A Packed or Loaded Payment!" Packing or loading payments is a slang term used to describe a practice used by the auto industry to get customers to agree to purchase additional products, such as credit insurance, service contracts, chemical protectants, and security devices, without revealing their true impact on their monthly payments.

Packing is played out when a customer finances their vehicle through the dealer. A customer agrees to a purchase the car at a monthly payment that is much higher than what is needed to cover the price of the vehicle. That creates a "pack" or room in the payment to add in the optional products....of course without the customer knowing he's actually

In my market, the undesirable dealers are chain owned and the ones who actually are selling well are all locally owned.

I guess the small family dealers if I had to choose. You might not get the service at a small shop after the fact but no one is forcing you to take your vehicle back to the small shop for work. You have a choice after the sale just due to your warranty. The large dealerships... I find the salesmen are completely ignorant when it comes to their product. I flat out had a ford dealer tell me that no f150 outside of the raptor had a locking rear differential and I'd have to buy one if that was a desired option. I took him out to his own lot to show him and he still denied it... Needless to say I took my business elsewhere. They continued to hound me for months after about coming back despite me telling them I purchased elsewhere. So... This isn't limited to ford either. I just deleted another email from the Toyota sales guy. The pressure tactics are too much.

The biggest car dealer bonanza of our lifetime was when the financial crisis hit, bank's couldn't lend out ANY money, GMAC (i.e Bank of GM, i.e "Ally" financial) when instantly insolvent, and the banks pulled all the "floor planning" financing. Basically within the span of 6 weeks, about 1/3 of dealers in the country had to shut down, at least on a temporary basis, and only a few of those reopened with new "floorplaning" financing.

Floor plan financing is what dealers (car dealers, appliance dealers, farm equipment dealers) use to finance their inventory. When your local Ford dealer takes delivery from FOMOCO of new cars, they have to pay for them and most do so with a secured loan from a bank, which has each individual car as "security" or "collateral". These are meant to be short term loans, that "roll", and they are expected to pay the money back instantly (within a day or two) if they sell the car that secured the loan.

In 2009/2010 there were tons of car dealer transaction sales for a song - usually to deep pocketed investors. Those are the people who are now selling out and making out like bandits.