Customer loyalty use to mean something, blame it on what you want, Covid, the economy or just plain greed, but it seems for some car dealerships, Customer Loyalty is a thing of the past.
Just recently, I decided it was time to start looking for a new vehicle and being a loyal Toyota customer, for the past 25 years, and seeing no reason to change, because, for starters, there’s no denying they have excellent vehicles. In the 25 years I’ve been driving Toyota products, I could probably count on two fingers the number of times I had issues with the vehicle itself. Which brings me to another plus Toyota has, warranty on their vehicles. Neither time did I have to pay out of my pocket to have these repairs fixed, it was all done under their warranty. Their staff is second to none. Always friendly, always consulting with you if there is an issue with your vehicle, if it needs repairs and making sure, they go out of their way to ensure you are 100% satisfied with the work completed on your vehicle.
But this is where things change. You have a dealership who put out flyers in the paper which says, Red tag days, but when you go in to buy that vehicle, for some strange reason it never applies to the vehicle on the flyer, it’s always a different vehicle and they always come back with but we have this model” which is always 2 or 3 thousand dollars more.
Another concern is money. It seems that you get nickel and dimed for everything, from extra add on warranty for tires, to scratches, to rims, to extended warranty on the vehicle. Some will argue, well, you don’t have to get all of the warranty. No, you’re right, but sometimes the salespeople aren’t very forthcoming with the information regarding these extras or they use pressure for you to purchase the warranty. They make it sound like, “well, you better get this warranty because these newer vehicles have a lot of moving parts”, never mind I have a warranty for the first 60,000 Km’s. Why not wait to buy the warranty after the 60,000 km is due you ask, because they always tell you they can’t guarantee the price at that time for the warranty, it will probably cost a lot more once the 60,000 km warranty has expired, again, more pressure.
The part that irritates me the most is that some make up rules as they go along. For instance, I had a lease. I wanted to sell my lease to make a little profit and either put it towards the vehicle or my pocket. Even though the Financial Institution who holds the lease agreement says you can either have someone purchase your car or buy the remainder of the lease at any Toyota dealer, one dealer wouldn’t honour that agreement, mostly because they are not getting the sale of a new vehicle or made up excuse after excuse. And the few that would do the changeover, want a $1000.00 fee for processing the agreement, plus a $1000,00 from me to purchase my new vehicle. That’s quite a payout for a little paperwork.
Same goes for the little extras.
It used to be you could get tires, or a couple of free oil changes or car mats. Not today, today, you get your new car with nothing but the payment, a handshake and a smile. I’m actually waiting on the dealers to start charging you money to just have a look at the new vehicle. It may sound ridiculous, but… I mean, they charge you $500 to hold or order a new vehicle, but that's another story in itself.
Another thing, when you used to go on the lot and you wanted a particular colour, the dealer would go out of their way to look for one, even, sometimes contacting other dealers, but today, they refuse because it cost them money, plus, its almost like they are in competition with the other Toyota dealers and they don't want to have to deal with them. So its either pick a dealer, wait up to 6 months, pay your $500 for your new vehicle or go somewhere else.
Interest rates. It used to be you could get a deal for 1 or 2 percent drop on the interest of the loan, for being a Loyal customer, not today, Today the explanation I got was well, it costs us money to give up interest rates. But I was however, given the option to put $5500 down in a secured deposit then they would drop my interest rate by 2 %. So they make 5% interest on my money, but they only give me a 2% cut on the loan, sound fair to you?
I really wanted to purchase a new Rav 4 this year, but the way things came about, turned off this 25 year loyal customer and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
So much for customer loyalty.
Claim your business profile now and gain access to all features and respond to customer reviews.
