Horrible dealer service experience

[JCL]

Originally Posted by Psalm40

What really amazes me is that the dealers don't take this opportunity for free advertising. You have a CURRENT BMW OWNER's full attention. Give them a great new BMW to "test-drive" for the day. Ask them what they would like to drive..."Oh, I see you brought in your 3-series wagon today, maybe you'd like to drive the new X-3 for a few hours, I'm sure you'll really enjoy it!" The customer comes back to their 5 year-old 3 wagon after spending the last 5 hours in a brand-new X3 and you just might have a new car customer! Seems simple....

Obviously this is a passionate topic for me.

It would be simpler if the customer came back and was willing to pay retail for the new X3. Unfortunately, the US market has been driven to lowest transaction price, and if the dealer isn't willing to sell a new car at several hundred $ over invoice, the purchaser will go elsewhere. The purchaser will also be very unwilling to buy a new car that has more than a few miles on it, so those demo vehicles are going to have to be heavily discounted.

I agree that dealers should be investing in the customer experience, and it would be far more rewarding for customers, but if customers continue to buy new vehicles based on $X over invoice, and don't reward those dealers making investments in training, facilities, improved processes, etc, then why would they?