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2K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  MrPaulus 
#1 ·
ex colleague of mine went into the local VW dealer, enquired about the ID.3 ....

"You don't want one of those they'e for old people who don't drive far"

When she pointed out I'd driven to Italy and back twice in the model 3 over the summer he was surprised but confessed he didn't know much about electric cars. They've been dealing with this guy for 10 years so god knows what he's been doing recently.
 
#4 ·
ex colleague of mine went into the local VW dealer, enquired about the ID.3 ....

"You don't want one of those they'e for old people who don't drive far"

When she pointed out I'd driven to Italy and back twice in the model 3 over the summer he was surprised but confessed he didn't know much about electric cars. They've been dealing with this guy for 10 years so god knows what he's been doing recently.
That reads like the dealer your colleague spoke to has a whole showroom full of diesels he's been "incentivised" to offload onto his less-informed customers.
 
#5 ·
Golf 8 GTD/GTi - in stock in most colours for immediate delivery, or the ID3 on a 3 month waiting list with a history of lots of people cooling off whilst waiting (ok, that was for the launch edition over a longer period of time), and a salesman judged by sales completed this month. Factor in also the upcoming double-dip recession meaning the salesman is concerned for his job. So what would you expect?

Interesting that your former colleague is female - I wonder whether a similar male would have got the same reaction?
 
#8 ·
ex colleague of mine went into the local VW dealer, enquired about the ID.3 ....

"You don't want one of those they'e for old people who don't drive far"
Yeah, so the VW transition to EVs is getting off to a great start :rolleyes:
 
#9 ·
ex colleague of mine went into the local VW dealer, enquired about the ID.3 ....

"You don't want one of those they'e for old people who don't drive far"

When she pointed out I'd driven to Italy and back twice in the model 3 over the summer he was surprised but confessed he didn't know much about electric cars. They've been dealing with this guy for 10 years so god knows what he's been doing recently.
I have personally experience and heard this story SO many times now !.
Very few car sales people want to truly sell you a new EV.
The speech goes somewhere along these lines :-
"Sir / Madam - Forget that EV, there is a massive waiting list ( Why ) but over here we have the same car, but you can go anywhere you like in it and never have to bother plugging it in, the car is much much cheaper and we can give you a fantastic deal today".
Many sales people have very little knowledge of EV's and have no intension of learning about them either !.
They see them as a "Flash In The Pan" interest that ( Like the battery ) will not last.
On a couple of occasions I have had sales people admit that they know very little about how an EV works, then after a while they are heard to say :-
"You appear to know more about this car than I do" - but that is not too difficult.
We do have to remember, that these folks in some cases, are just sales personnel.
Repeating information and stats from an A4 sheet that came from a one day training course, if you are lucky.
How can you truly hope to promote and then sell to a potential customer, a product that you either no interest or any passion about ?.
The answer is simple - they don't !.
If you want to buy an EV - you have to do all the research yourself.
Then when you are ready to proceed, either order the car on line, or be really brave and go into the show room and do the sales persons job for them.
Walk in and say:- "Hi - I have come here hopefully to place an order for this EV and no other car, what are you prepared to offer ".
 
#10 ·
Walk in and say:- "Hi - I have come here hopefully to place an order for this EV and no other car, what are you prepared to offer ".
Best of luck with that one.

I've been in to dealers and said "I already know what model and colour I want and I can give you the order today, I just want to sort out the price" The response was "The price is on the ticket in the window".

They seem to not want to discuss price until they've already engaged with you.
 
#12 ·
The internet is helping with that as people find the genuine deals online. However people need to be more willing to share the deals they get and name and shame bad service.
 
#13 ·
Dealer standards are so very low. My experience is:

Nissan:
1. No, you can't charge them in the rain, sir.
2. With your profile I wouldn't recommend an EV
3. Left my phone number re buying a Leaf. Never called me back.

VW:
1. Sorry, sir. They're all in a meeting, no one can talk to you. I'll take your phone number.
2. ... but they didn't call me back

Honda:
1. We've discontinued EVs and hybrids because we've realised that they are no good.

Toyota:
1. Ah, yes, that's your Leaf is it? I can see why you'd want to get rid of that. (actually I want rid of my petrol car).
2. Can't show you a Prius PHEV as they've changed the model, but they've reduced the electric range on the new one (and he was the sales manager).

They seem to actively want to discourage any sales.
 
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#15 ·
Your opinion is the very same as mine, and has been for a long long time.
I find the attitude of the car sales people in large dealerships to be of a rude and very arrogate nature.
They give the opinion that they are doing YOU a favour by selling you a car of THEIR choice !.
I find the service they offer as complete and utter Shite !.
 
#14 ·
No surprise the news outlets reporting VW may not hit their CO2 target and will get fined by the EU then

 
#16 ·
Have to agree. Recent calls to various dealers using ended up me waiting a long time for a call back or no call back at all. Back in the Summer they blamed Covid but sales people were working at home (according to their websites) but if they were it was in between very long coffee breaks !
 
#17 ·
This is getting off topic, but I don’t think the poor service at dealers is specific to buying an EV. Having bought several new cars over the years, I’ve always known more about the car than the salesperson. Basically, most of them just want the easiest way to earn their commission. If they are mostly selling ICE vehicles, then putting the hard work in to learn about EVs is just not worth it.

As soon as EVs become the majority of sales, things will change.
 
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