Car dealership payment options Videos

Re buying cars online: - The number of times a customer goes to a dealership before buying is dropping. There is not reason to expect that trend to stop. - The consumer is so much better educated. All the information the buyer needs is online, and he's already made his decision when he goes to the dealership. Thus, dealerships need "real professionals" who know the car inside and out to help the buyer get through the process as easily and quickly as possible. (I have two comments on that: 1. a salesman who doesn't add value above what's already learned online doesn't need to exist, and 2. if an educated buyer needs help getting through the buying process, perhaps the buying process is too complicated.) - But in the next breath, we're told that new cars as so complex that dealerships need to hire HS kids to explain the features of the cars. Now, take these two comments together--buyers know the cars better than the salesmen. - Therefore, for educated buyers, salesmen and dealerships are a waste. However, they lobby govt to get protectionist laws to preserve their existence. The process of buying a car is complex & complicated because the dealerships want it that way. They support laws that keep it complex. Complexity motivates people to not sell their car independently and instead take less when trading it in (so the dealership can get that profit). Dealerships are scared of losing those buyers who don't need need them. Then, we hear that the day of the salesman with the cigar is long-gone, that salesmen are "professionals." However, we just heard how buyers and even HS kids know the cars better than the salesmen. Those aren't "professionals." It only has long-term sustainability if the laws protecting them stay strong. If Tesla succeeds in opening up online car sales, the existing salesmen jobs are toast. - Dealers are super-competitive. They will do just about anything to make sure someone buys a car, and when the chips are down, they will do just about anything to make sure a customer buys a car. Does anyone who's bought more than a few cars believe that those dealerships are going to constrain themselves to the "legal & moral" condition? Now, what's a website going to do to make sure you buy a car? How many people leave a website saying that it was so pushy and wouldn't let them leave (you know, taking your keys to value your trade and then not returning them, perpetually 'talking to their manager,' etc.) and even bent the legal & moral limits to get them to buy something? Let's be real. People don't like the dealership business model. That model exists because dealerships got the govt to ensure their own existence. People so prefer online transactions that they even are now doing much of the paperwork online before going to the dealership so that they spend less time there. Dealerships refuse change, and when change is inevitable, they will implode, and they will only have themselves to blame. Furthermore, this guy owns the majority of car dealerships in his small town! He doesn't want competition. He is an oligopolist and wants to be a de jure monopolist.