Early next year and I maybe (hopefully) will be in the market for another car. As I get older the traditional car buy process is just tiring. I bet a big reason Tesla cars are so popular is the absolute ease of buying one. You wouldn’t even have to leave the house! It can all be done online, from selection to financing. At the end your car gets delivered right to your home or desired location (mistress’ home).
Direct-to-consumer sale is where it’s at. It’s like buying a car on Amazon. You skip the headache of negotiating a price with a dealership salesperson (Tesla is famously one static price). In this current climate of low inventory, the customer is negotiating from a huge disadvantage. And that’s only the first gauntlet. Up next is the financing department, where they upsell you on extended warranties and maintenance plans. Better look at the contract carefully before you sign.
The quickest car-buying process I ever did still took a bit over two hours at the dealership. And that’s with me already agreeing to the price via email. In a time when my generation and younger are so used to buying stuff online and having it shipped to us (always a ton of Amazon boxes in the recycling bins during the holidays), the old way of buying a car at a franchise dealership is hugely obsolete. Traditional car brands are losing out to Tesla in this way.
What we want is options. The dealership model can stay, but automakers should offer the option to buy directly from them - online. That way the old timers can get their coffee and scones while a salesperson show them the intricacies of a particular car, while people like me - who already know exactly what I want - can simply do a few clicks on the smartphone to order the car.
Besides, dealership still have an important role that isn’t sales: servicing.
Night games.