Car dealers of Gloucestershire (and beyond)
We are considering the replacement of both our cars and have begun the (should be exciting) process of exploring possibilities. Mark and I work in different ways; he identified one vehicle which he thought would fit the bill, test drove it and more or less made his mind up on the spot. I bought the magazines, did the trawl of all possibilities and wanted to test drive as many as I felt necessary to confirm my eventual choice. Today made me question that approach!
First stop was at the VW dealer in Gloucester - Blade. I had thought a Golf GTI might be worth considering and since the dealership was directly opposite where we were parked, we dropped in to see what's what. Needn't have bothered though, because no-one noticed us come into the scruffy showroom, wander around and walk out again feeling miffed that nobody could be bothered to even say Hello to us, let alone sell us a car.
We drove to Cheltenham and planned to look in the dealers as we came upon them.
Next stop was the BMW place on Tewkesbury Road where both the 1- and 3-series were possibilities. We were given individual attention here, even though the place was bustling, and once keys had been found to the 1-series parked outside, we had a good look around. Key to success here was the offer of a car for the day tomorrow, to thoroughly put it through its paces and ensure it's the right car for me. The salesman understood our wish for a car which was well designed and which had style. He identified that I enjoyed driving and used my Alfa as a benchmark to measure the spec I'd likely appreciate. So, tomorrow, I'll have a new car to play with - I'm delighted by that and left feeling positive and enthusiastic.
Next stop, the Alfa dealer - in spite of continually appalling service I just had to try another Alfa. I love my 156 and would happily have another, were it not for the terrible place I'd have to take it for service/repair. But, the place was empty - the whole building closed up and not a car in sight. Who knew?
So, across the road to the Cheltenham VW dealer - another Blade. This time, very attentive service but sadly, the chap was not interested in what I was looking for, or about telling me of the different models and features on offer. No, he needed to know our personal details, how we'd paid for my car, how much it was worth and so on. We did get a test drive eventually, but surprisingly not in the model he (and we) had identified as being the most appropriate - a Golf GTi, but a Golf GT - boring and with no bolt on goodies at all. Reluctant to tell us about the GTi because they had none to sell, he concentrated on the "slightly used" GT - of which I suspect he had a heap behind the showroom. Completing the test drive and answering his "marks out of ten" question with a definite 6, we decided we were all wasting each others time and left.
Feeling ever so slightly disappointed that we had money to spend and nowhere to spend it (!) we stopped by the Mercedes place we knew on the way home. On going inside we saw nothing but Mazdas. Where were the Mercs? When eventually a salesman came over to speak to us, he explained that only the "high-end Mercedes" (aka Brabus) were here, together with used cars. If we wanted to see the C class and the CLK, we'd have to go look somewhere else. Huh.
We came home, feeling sad for the chap behind driving a Golf GTi. I'll play with the BMW tomorrow and we'll go from there.
Oh, and Mark? We went to the Lexus dealer in Swindon yesterday afternoon, looked at the R300 and 400, took one out for a ride and will no doubt order one of them in the next few days. The showroom was clean, quiet and elegant, the salesman was respectful, knew his stuff, had the right attitude and approached us in the right manner - and we felt our custom was valued and appreciated.
Is it too much to ask that all car dealers do that simple thing?
(Originally posted by Gill)
First stop was at the VW dealer in Gloucester - Blade. I had thought a Golf GTI might be worth considering and since the dealership was directly opposite where we were parked, we dropped in to see what's what. Needn't have bothered though, because no-one noticed us come into the scruffy showroom, wander around and walk out again feeling miffed that nobody could be bothered to even say Hello to us, let alone sell us a car.
We drove to Cheltenham and planned to look in the dealers as we came upon them.
Next stop was the BMW place on Tewkesbury Road where both the 1- and 3-series were possibilities. We were given individual attention here, even though the place was bustling, and once keys had been found to the 1-series parked outside, we had a good look around. Key to success here was the offer of a car for the day tomorrow, to thoroughly put it through its paces and ensure it's the right car for me. The salesman understood our wish for a car which was well designed and which had style. He identified that I enjoyed driving and used my Alfa as a benchmark to measure the spec I'd likely appreciate. So, tomorrow, I'll have a new car to play with - I'm delighted by that and left feeling positive and enthusiastic.
Next stop, the Alfa dealer - in spite of continually appalling service I just had to try another Alfa. I love my 156 and would happily have another, were it not for the terrible place I'd have to take it for service/repair. But, the place was empty - the whole building closed up and not a car in sight. Who knew?
So, across the road to the Cheltenham VW dealer - another Blade. This time, very attentive service but sadly, the chap was not interested in what I was looking for, or about telling me of the different models and features on offer. No, he needed to know our personal details, how we'd paid for my car, how much it was worth and so on. We did get a test drive eventually, but surprisingly not in the model he (and we) had identified as being the most appropriate - a Golf GTi, but a Golf GT - boring and with no bolt on goodies at all. Reluctant to tell us about the GTi because they had none to sell, he concentrated on the "slightly used" GT - of which I suspect he had a heap behind the showroom. Completing the test drive and answering his "marks out of ten" question with a definite 6, we decided we were all wasting each others time and left.
Feeling ever so slightly disappointed that we had money to spend and nowhere to spend it (!) we stopped by the Mercedes place we knew on the way home. On going inside we saw nothing but Mazdas. Where were the Mercs? When eventually a salesman came over to speak to us, he explained that only the "high-end Mercedes" (aka Brabus) were here, together with used cars. If we wanted to see the C class and the CLK, we'd have to go look somewhere else. Huh.
We came home, feeling sad for the chap behind driving a Golf GTi. I'll play with the BMW tomorrow and we'll go from there.
Oh, and Mark? We went to the Lexus dealer in Swindon yesterday afternoon, looked at the R300 and 400, took one out for a ride and will no doubt order one of them in the next few days. The showroom was clean, quiet and elegant, the salesman was respectful, knew his stuff, had the right attitude and approached us in the right manner - and we felt our custom was valued and appreciated.
Is it too much to ask that all car dealers do that simple thing?
(Originally posted by Gill)
posted by Mark at
1:05 pm
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