Support you local dealer

Times are tough and dealers are not having good time. Desperation leads to excess discounting which while in the short term may be a good thing but in the longer term will just make it harder for everyone.

Our local dealer in Nambour closed a couple of years ago and although there are a few more near here I would hate to have to go to Brisbane every time I need the XR6 serviced.

In real terms nearly everyone buys on finance and the difference between $38k and $40k over 5 years is a tiny amount per week which you will easily spend if you have to travel out of town to get your warranty work or servicing done. The local dealer needs to employ people and as they are not as big as the capital city dealers the overheads are higher. Whether you have 5 mechanics or 15 you still need a service manager, parts manager and all the other administrative people.

So if you are looking for a new Ford give the local guy a go and even if he is slightly dearer remember if he closes then you will have to travel further and in reality there will be less Fords sold as most people don't buy cars that do not have local support.
Look what happened with Tickford, few dealers = few sales. Then FPV started with dealers all over the country and there were more FPVs sold in the first year than Tickfords sold in the previous ten years including EB GTs, EL GTs and all the T series.

So look after your local guy and hopefully he will look after you and your favourite car brand.

If you are not sure who your local dealers go to www.ford.com.au or www.fpv.com.au and use the dealer finder.

My local dealer would be the last dealer I go to and my reason is this, 6 week's ago my wife and I went into my local dealer after I seen a Titanium there, it was their demo that the dealer princible's wife has been driving around since April/ May 2011, it was not left on their lot and was there if someone was interested in a drive, otherwise the wife had it for day to day duties. Anyway in this timeframe I thought it had sold as I had been out to the dealership numourous times to be told by the same salesman "no that one is sold and we don't have any other Titanium's to test drive.

Then just 7 week's ago I was driving past there and noticed it was there sitting on the lot, so I rang up and spoke to the dealer princible who told me "this car has never been sold and was llway's here ready for sale and test driving", I asked lot's of question's about it to which he had no idea about, so I said ok I will be in tomorrow with my wife to have a look and test drive, He said he wouldn't be there but I was to speak with his partner in the bussiness and he would tell him all about our discusion.

Tommorow comes and we are there and looking at the car when the partner comes to speak to me after I ask for him and then he wouldn't want to tlak to me and got a salesman to talk to me, (the same one that told me it was sold 1st hand) fair enough I say, anyway it had 15,000 odd klm's on it and I said this was to much for a demo in my mind, he then proceeded to tell me that any vehicle under 22thou could be sold as a Demo, I told him I was not happy about the klm's on it for the price asking, plus it had a tear in the driver's seat and a few big stone chip's in the front bar.
The salesman was rude and said what do you expect for 15,000klm's and plus the dealer's wife had had it and well it was good if you could get away with it.. he also told me numourous lies about the car which I mentioned and caught him out with and since then he become very negative toward's us.

I asked them to give me a trade in price for my laser which he was only to happy to do and took the car around the back to value it, then an hr latter I never heard from him so in I walk and find him talking to other customer's???.
I then ask to speak to the bussiness manager partner again as I was sick of dealer with this salesman and I was told to deal with him anyway from his partner, I asked for the trade in price and he wouldn't tell me, he kept asking "what do you want to pay for this Territory".
I said I would negotiate with him and give him a figure in mind once he tell's me the trade in price... Once again he wouldn't tell me the price and said the trade in price would reflect on what I was willing to pay for it.

By this time I was seeing red and said to him look I am here today to buy a car and I don;t want to ask to buy it, I want you to sell it to me.
He wouldn;t give me a price so I walked.
The next day I get a call from the dealer princible to appologise over it all and I told him my frustration's with the day and that I was there for 2 hr's and my experience was not forthcomming.
I even left my email address and asked them to send me the final price with trade in to which this day I have not recieved anything.
The dealer princeble kept asking mw what I was willing to pay for it and still wouldn't give me a trade in price on the car, I left it at I could find and have got qoutes from dealer's in Melb that were well under his price and I left the ball in his court and I still havn't heard back from him.

Not to mention numourous troubles I have had with their sales department that have left me fumming, like one where I went to return a product that they sold me which was wrong, only to be told that they couldn't do it because there was no manager's there on the day (sat) to authorise it, they only had one kid (apprentice) working there at the sales department, so I come back on the Mon and they wouldnt give me a refund but a cheque.... it was for $12, I said you have to be joking... all I want to do is return this and I have a receipt.. we have to do it this way they said... so we go to the accounts department and then they say in there, just give him petty cash....
How this place operates is beyond me.

Very good thread and I think it's very relevant in regional towns.

Well said, we need to support the delaers as much as we can.

Agree supporting dealers who offer the service that you would expect from a normal business. Sometimes they are hard to find but worth the experience. I go to one local dealership for new car quotes yet another for spare parts and service. Funny that neither can get it together to give me a full, consistent package. But I deal with it and life moves on. Just refreshing to see a thread like this and no dealer bashing.

It's a good idea to sit down with a service or sales manager of a branch and ask the hard questions before anything, let them know what your expectations are and that you expect a fair go before you do any business with them. This can also be a good opportunity for solid groundwork to building a good relationship.