Car Shopping Baffles Me
Tank, my 2005 white Volvo V70 station wagon, is nearing 200,000 miles. It is still a great car to drive to work or to load my bicycle in the trunk on the way to the group ride. There is no need to disassemble the bicycle. Open trunk, slide in the full bicycle with room to spare.
Yet, I’ve been slowly looking for a new car. I need something that I can reliably drive to Lake Tahoe or even across the Santa Cruz mountains to Half Moon Bay. In other words, “I am in the market”.
Yet, when I visit the car dealers, my experience has been the opposite of somebody looking to buy a car.
A month ago, I pulled my aging Volvo into the Audi dealership at the Fremont Automall. I figured an old car may gave the impression that its greying driver may be in for an upgrade to a new car. I was completely ignored by the sales team. Nobody came to even see us when we were checking out the Audi A4 station wagon in the showroom or when we walked the lot outside. It was a very odd experience.
At Mercedes, it was clear we were not their clientele. We lacked the bling. I wasn’t offended. It was more a badge of honor to be ignored by Mercedes.
Yesterday, at AutoNation Volvo in San Jose, AT VOLVO (!), with my entire family in tow, nobody batted an eye for us. I appreciate allowing the customer to meander. Yet, after 10 minutes, or upon entering the showroom, one expects a friendly “How are you doing today” or “Can I help you with anything?”
My theory at Audi was that few folks buy a car without their wife present. So a smart salesperson may just skip the dad and his son ogling cars. That theory didn’t hold water after our visit to Volvo with my wife and kids.
Is the car business this good these days that one can ignore the customer?