There are still some locally-owned dealers here, but you are correct that most have been bought out by large national companies. People should be aware of this, and try to support locally-owned businesses whenever possible. Often you will save money and receive better service. That’s especially true in the home services industry. The locally-owned company which I work for offers much lower prices, much higher quality, and much better customer service than our competitors which are owned by hedge funds.
Yep, most if not all the dealerships around here used to be family owned, then the owner passed away, then the kids ran them into the ground and then Corp bought them all up… Hays Automotive Group bought out some of them around here…
Of course. Almost directly…the car was parked out front and I inspected it prior to entering the dealership to complete the sale. Even the F&I pitch was short and sweet- extended warranty? no thanks, here’s the bank check for the agreed upon full amount.
Friend of mine from high-school family owns several dealerships in Central NY. They acquired a Datson (now Nissan) dealership when Datsun removed the franchise license after the original dealership was caught rolling back OD’s. There were always rumors of them being associated with some syndicate family.
The Jersey City Mafiosos eventually lost the Nissan franchise, but they managed to defraud a LOT of customers for a couple of decades before they lost it.
I agree with that and practice that sentiment, especially since I had my own small business for 8 years and understand the importance of supporting local businesses.
The other side of the coin is that even though the business itself may be owned by a conglomerate somewhere, the people working there are local. The mechanics at the dealership, the sales staff, the people working at Home Depot and Applebees, those people are also my friends and neighbors and if they say they are treated well at their jobs and happy there I will spend money at those businesses as well.
I always try to patronize locally owned first. The first advantage you listed seems counterintuitive. The huge corporations usually have the cost advantage and therefore, lower pricing. Most people act on price and ignore the big advantages which are the latter two things you mentioned.
This reminded me of the (very) old practice of naming your business with the most As as a prefix so it would be the first listing in the yellow pages. If you’re old enough to remember that, you might recall the Cheers episode where Rebecca named Norm’s painting business AAAA Painting. He walks in and someone asks how the business is going… it’s costing me aaaa fortune! 
I do that on my cell phone. I start my wif and kid with an “A”, then ice so it’s the first one on the list. Don’t have to look through the contacts then.
As far as how to negotiate, someone told me once don’t try to best the sales people at their own game. You’re a novice and they do it every day. At any rate on the last car, I walked away for six months. Same deal six month later. Went to a new dealer and substantially same Deal. We did get winter floor mats and touch up paint but that was it.
Now we aren’t getting any younger and the products are all in flux and just want something the wife could handle on her own if I’m not around. Even though Acura is also screwing up their models, she can’t drive 60 miles for service.
I’m reminded of the “Good Old Days” of 50 years ago when the consumer knew nothing about the Dealer Cost, Holdbacks, Advertising Allowances, Dealer Volume Rebates, etc. and the Dealer held all the cards including “bugged cubicles” to listen into your conversations when the salesman “went off to talk to his manager”.
Today any knowledgeable consumer can easily locate all that information, check multiple dealers’ inventories for a specific vehicle, view the Moroni Label, calculate the dealers’ cost plus a reasonable profit and arrive at an agreed On The Road price without even leaving home. For those who don’t want to make the effort there’s also Buying Services at most Credit Unions, many Banks and even at Costco.
That doesn’t mean that surprise Dealer Profit addons have entirely disappeared. in which case you walk, but because so many of the Dealers are now owned by a Group, most of the drama is gone.
I remember the good old days when you could find all that information if you knew where to look. Bought my first car over 50 years ago.
I admit it’s a lot easier to find that information out today, but 50 years ago it was still available - you just need to know where to look. As a poor college student, I spent many hours in libraries. You’d be amazed what kind of information you could find there.
Nope, not needed. I enter Mrs JT’s first initial and she always shows up first. Um, unless our youngest daughter was my last contact, and then I need to enter a second letter. Never misses.
Not associated with bing, but other posts above:
Let’s talk Mafia!! My second job was with a company that manufactured rotary compressors for window air conditioners. I was talking to the design engineering management one day and told them that I thought the owners didn’t know squat about building things they seemed to know finance, but manufacturing was not in their wheelhouse. They suggested that I watch mu mouth, because the company owner might have his crew break a few of my bones, because they were Mafioso. I protested that just because they had Italian heritage was no reason to call the Mafia.
Then I rethought my position. These guys came to Maryland from New Jersey with the owners when they spun off the compressor operations from the AC group. They liked their jobs, and didn’t seem to have a problem with the owners.
Yup, we all worked for the Mafia, no question at all. I left shortly thereafter. Their Mafia ties weren’t the reason, but the way they screwed their employees was. It even had a name: The (company name) Touch. I stayed almost a year after I decided to leave so that I could find a good job with a future. It was a great job and led to an even better one after that.
I have bought a lot of cars. l will not pay any fees that the deal;er does not disclose before we negotiate the price except sales tax,registration and a a $200 document fee. Anything else will kill the deal. The 3% credit card fee at better be disclode in advanced or I will just write a check’ The credit card fee is not common here yet.
In the home services industry, the big companies which are owned by hedge funds don’t actually have a cost advantage. Their overhead is much higher, and the investors require a certain rate of return on their investment. As a result, these companies are more interested in milking the customer for as much as possible, as fast as possible, rather than building a long-term relationship with the customer. The big companies spend so much money on advertising that they literally don’t care about burning through customers. Every time I (as an HVAC technician) have gone to a customer to give a second opinion, or provide a bid for a new system or major repairs, and the customer showed me the estimate from one of the big companies, I have been genuinely shocked by how much they are charging.
I have a service contract with the local hvac outfit. I always ask for Ben for annual air and furnace tune up. For $275 I get the service and priority service 24/7 if I need it. I chopped the air conditioning line whacking weeds but didn’t discover it till 2am investigating why the air didn’t work. I left a message and first thing my guy showed up to splice the wire. $135. Could have been ten below in January.
I’m to the point that a fee is not going to bother me. I just want it done with minimum hassle. All the issues with a new car such as garage door programming, filters, maint intervals, what to do with th3 spare car, etc just make an extra fee no big deal, get m3 outta here quick cried Daniel Boone. Tomorrow we’ll try the third dealer. I called them ahead of time to check on models and colors. I don’t care what it costs.
Congratulations on that. I keep wondering when I’ll get to the point that I don’t consider how much money I spend. 
Big companies? We really don’t have any big HVAC companies around here. Most are independents or they are one of the local oil companies that also does HVAC. And they are all locally owned. One of the largest is Palmer Gas and Oil
About as ridiculous as the 40% tip some restaurants attempt to shame us into (if you believe AI photos…).
I don’t know what changed here or if it was my own software update but sure looks strange. At any rate yeah I know all the advice on paying cash and not paying cash, etc etc. I have plenty of money and no debts but from a math standpoint, it is hard to argue with zero interest if you can make 8-12% on your money. Sure they play games but no trade and out the door price is still what you would pay.
Better make sure there’s no penalty for paying off early, for those wanting to play the 0 interest financing game
I don’t finance vehicles
I stay in my lane and don’t get out of my comfort zone
If someone else does otherwise and comes out okay, good on them
Almost ten years ago I bought my current car new, a Chevy Volt. I bought it the last few days of December. GM Financing was offering 0% loans “if” you qualified (as in high credit score). Talking to my salesman (who treated me well) I said “If anybody would qualify for that 0% it should be me”. Sure enough he clicked on his keyboard and said: “Yup,you qualify”. If I had to I could have paid cash for it but I used GM Financials money for 5 years!