Given the sales staff seems like they try to keep you at the dealership until you agree to buy a car, I’m expecting it was something beyond the pale to be thrown out. Any stories about car sales-staff not letting you leave? It’s never happened to me, of course I’ve only purchased one new car at a dealership. But I’ve heard from other folks who say one technique is they convince you to hand something over that they need to fill out paperwork, like your driver’s license, your car keys, checkbook, etc. Then later, if you decide the negotiation is at an impasse and you want to leave, they claim they can’t find the items you gave them. Or conveniently “forget” you gave something to them.
The only establishment I’ve ever been thrown out was a casino in Reno. I was playing blackjack, & they believed I was counting the cards. Which I was … lol … Apparently card-counting is not allowed in casinos. I was not physically thrown out, but asked in no uncertain terms to leave immediately.
No, not in today’s dealership environment. But if a lot of new car buyers made this offer, eventually the manufacturers & dealerships would figure out a way to accommodate, not b/c they wanted to, but in order book the sales. The car buyers ultimately hold the Aces b/c they are the folks writing the checks. Note that it wouldn’t be necessary to supply a scan tool that would accommodate all cars of that make over many model years. Just that car and model year. And it might not even be a separate gadget the car owner plugs into the obd ii port; the functionality could be integrated with the car’s electronics, only requiring an access code for the owner to use. If I were in the business of manufacturing & selling cars, I’d be happy to provide the option for that built-in functionality a the diy-minded buyer, as it represents very little add’l cost. the biggest concern I’d have (as a manufacturer) is liability in case the owner used the functionality in an incorrect way, and it damaged the car.
Some vehicles already have built in methods to display diagnostic codes. Most have some type of display that could be used to do the same but they choose not to provide that feature. This is disappointing. My Trailblazer can show all kinds of information on its Display Information Center (DIC). I can read each tire pressure there for example. But not the stored codes. As a comparison, my Odyssey has way more display capability but won’t even display actual tire pressure, let alone which one(s) are causing the TPMS low pressure light to illuminate.
I think you might be underestimating the effort required to supply diagnostics on par with a manufacturer supplied scan tool, built into the vehicle. Especially if it increased cost for every buyer whether they felt it was useful or not. How often do you really need to access that information in reality?
While these limitations aggravate people who can understand and use the information, the sad fact is that the vast majority of owners do not have a clue and would not find this useful at all. So 0.5% of owners showing outrage or demanding such things has virtually no effect on their sales…
Maybe. But a restaurant-owning friend told me that one of the frustrations is that the majority of his non-returning customers have a valid complaint for not returning, but they don’t tell anyone at the restaurant. They just dine somewhere else. He wished they at least inform him what the problem was for the loss of their business.
That’s absolutely true. However, I don’t think I’m alone in the feeling that it’s not up to me to go out of my way to explain why I will not return to your dealership. In this case, they need me more than I need them. For example, I walked into a BMW dealership once to buy a car with cash that day. I purposely dressed plainly as I usually do for such business transactions where perceptions can help or hinder your negotiations. Not one salesperson paid me any attention whatsoever. I guess they thought I couldn’t afford one of their cars. So I left, the whim dissipated and I bought a Camry that afternoon. I do not care if that BMW dealership succeeds or fails. I just know I will never buy one of their cars, especially from that dealership. I certainly won’t go out of my way to help them after that. That’s how I roll
He pestered every dealer in town. Amount of foam in the seats, specs on the coil springs, comparing one trim line with another. Finally ended up at the Chevy Buick dealer and decided on a 63 bel air. But because the springs were heavier on the impala, he required the bel air springs to be removed and had them install impala springs. The result was the rear end was higher so he had the only new Chevy in town that was raked. I used to see the car around town until a few years ago. I wanted to tell the guy the real story behind it.
But that’s the way he was, didn’t matter what he bought, tires or kitchen table, it was researched to death. I liked him though and had great kids but he drove my folks nuts. Everyone is dead now.
I know of two situations similar to that–both having to do with seats.
One guy whom I knew wanted to buy a new Honda, but he expected the dealer to swap seats from a higher trim-line Accord into the cheaper one that he wanted to buy. He wasn’t thrown out, but they apparently made it clear that he couldn’t do business with them.
The other situation had to do with my 2002 Outback, after I traded it in. I was friendly with the car saleswoman and she told me about one wacko customer who she had to send away. First, the customer said she was concerned whether my 6 cylinder Outback “would be able to make it up the Kingston Hill”. (The customer was currently driving an ancient Corolla that had not been well-maintained.)
The saleswoman assured her that the meticulously-maintained Outback would cruise up that hill with ease, but the customer was not convinced, so she demanded an extended test drive. After returning and acknowledging that the Outback was far more powerful than her old Corolla, she said that she would buy it, but only if they swapped the seats from her old Corolla into the Outback. The saleswoman took the customer outside, pointed to the Volvo dealership down the road, and advised the customer to go there instead.
To quote the saleswoman, “I would rather lose a potential sale instead of having to deal with that wacko for even one more minute”.
Recently went out to purchase a used 21-22 Audi Q5. Insisting it have GPS Nav because we’ve been in mountains and plains with no cell service, which the sales geek always says to use instead. So all the Q5s we found had Nav but it didn’t work. We finally got word they could be activated for like $800/year or more monthly. Called Audi dealer to find a used one without subscriptions. He insisted Audi doesn’t have subscriptions. I asked him why GPS doesn’t work. He said the cars need a monthly package of features. I told the ass thats a subscription. Bottom line told him no more Audis and got a QX50. Re the BMW seat warmers, I’m sure an added 3 way manual switch from fuse block to the heating coils solves that problem; maybe a load on the original circuit to keep computer happy. Most mechanical features (like vents or sun roofs) they may be able to charge for end up being controlled by a simple relay or voltage level state change. Hackers have broken into FOBs years ago. I believe this will become another cottage industry, bypassing code with feature hacking. A nice aftermarket switch panel to apply 5 or 12 volts to a number of things manufacturers want to charge for. Perhaps getting the car set up to work as you like, then unplugging the cell antenna to eliminate manufacturer interference without your approval will be the way of the future. After all, it may be their code but its your antenna. Most of these deep computer geeks are way smarter than the car manufacturers.
The manufacturer’s probably go to some bother in their electronic designs to make hacking difficult to accomplish without also adversely affecting wanted features. For example you might be able to accomplish the hack, but then the backup lights don’t work. Ray and Tom discussed this on the show one time.
Cat and mouse game. Embedded software in the car expects a ping from the mother ship every so often to verify subscription features are paid for and current. No connection? Disable features until connection re-established. Sirius/XM already works this way…
My Sirius/XM subscription stayed with my car when I sold it to my daughter and son in law. I still use the app on my phone at home, the gym, or when I walk. They haven’t caught on yet and I doubt that they will. I don’t think it’s a problem since it’s the same as it ever was from a source standpoint.
I had to transfer my subscription from the old car to the new car. I suppose they don’t care as long as someone pays the bill. I suppose they don’t even care if the bill too is changed. They are very eager.
But yeah if you remove the antenna, you won’t get the radio service. It’s even blocked in my garage sometimes. Maybe there are multiple antennas.
They don’t, you are allowed to have X number of devices basically and people like to give their password out to lots of friends and it is obviously shared when you are showing too many devices out their… Basically people get greedy and or stupid with sharing and they get caught…
I get an email every time a new device is used on my account… I’m sure it also compares the different IP addresses also…
My new car doesn’t have satellite radio. I’m going to try Bluetooth connection to my phone and see if that works, but I’m not particularly concerned about it.
As for reception, satellite radio and TV depends on a clear line of sight. I’ve always lost reception in my garage, parking garages, and going under bridges sometimes. I’ve also lost reception when driving in the mountains of Western Maryland and driving in the north side of a tall hill.
They don’t care who owns the car or radio as long as the subscription is paid. I buy yearly subscriptions. Been a customer for more than 15 years and had many vehicles and standalone radios through Sirius and XM. Once the subscription lapses, they shut them off within a couple months at most, pestering you to renew in the meantime. If you cancel a radio, it gets shut off in minutes.
I was really surprised that the dealership did it for me. Sirius/XM only initiated the transferred subscription from the old car after the 3 month free trial on the new one had ended, and when my transferred subscription expired a few months later, I was glad to see that I was still getting the lower rate that I had negotiated with them a few years ago. Just as with cable rates and a few other things, if you protest about the cost, they will lower it.
