How does anyone buy a new car?????

[craig_the_german]

The folks whose car wasn't pre-delivered? Yeah, they have cause to complain. But if a car is delayed by a day or two, or something doesn't go perfectly, maybe we all just need to cool it with our negative opinions.

Thats exactly right...had the car been delayed a day or two, it would not have been a problem as I wasn't trading anything in.....BUT I rang the dealer on Friday afternoon to ensure the car was ready for delivery before I drove 100km to pick it up Saturday morning...they lied...no excuse.

The salesman was prepared to deliver a car that had obviously not been detailed....whether you are buying a Kia (no offense) or a Rolls....to have as little pride in their product as to attempt to deliver a car that was in a disgracful condition is not acceptable.....no excuse.

The roll on effect is enormous....if they take that little pride in the delivery, do they expect me to take the car back for service...I think not....could you imagine it...."we couldn't be bothered detailing the car when you picked it up, now we can't be bothered to put the sump plug back in....it'll be ok...."

Despite the best attempts by the Brisbane dealers to put us off buying a VW and the selling dealer destroying the initial "pride of ownership experience", after a long weekend driving the Gold Coast hinterland roads (those in the Brisbane area will understand) I am so glad there is a new Golf in the garage

[Corey_R]

I'm not sure srl was replying specifically to you craig_the_german. Obviously when you're told that the car is ready and you call to double check because you have to make a 100km trip to pick it up and find it's not at all ready is a different situation to when the dealer calls you up to say "sorry, there is a delay, we need to do x work and it'll be another 2 days".

I think that some of the stories in here are really bad, such as yours. But for each of the stories like yours, there seems to be one where it just appears that an overly anxious new car buyer just wants their car now and is not being reasonable....

[Greg Roles]

I'm just so glad at the time I got onto these forums, read all the opinions and got a recommendation of dealer and sales person. Couldn't have been a better experience up at Maroochydore, worth the drive. Toowoomba too were keen as for the business at the time. Seems if you venture out of town, you get a better chance at good old customer service.

Having spent a very short time as a car sales rep a long time ago, it does all come down to the rep, and how much work he or she is prepared to do. I was only there for several weeks ( escaped FAST ) but had to do a lot of extra effort to make sure the few cars I sold actually went well, and had to push to ensure my customers were given what they were promised at delivery time. Took a lot of unecessary pushing behind the scenes. Back then I think I was getting $40 flat each car, but obvioulsy only starting out.

Little wonder good reps move onto things FAR more lucritive, but sad for the industry.

[srl]

Thats exactly right...had the car been delayed a day or two, it would not have been a problem as I wasn't trading anything in.....BUT I rang the dealer on Friday afternoon to ensure the car was ready for delivery before I drove 100km to pick it up Saturday morning...they lied...no excuse.

The salesman was prepared to deliver a car that had obviously not been detailed....whether you are buying a Kia (no offense) or a Rolls....to have as little pride in their product as to attempt to deliver a car that was in a disgracful condition is not acceptable.....no excuse.

The roll on effect is enormous....if they take that little pride in the delivery, do they expect me to take the car back for service...I think not....could you imagine it...."we couldn't be bothered detailing the car when you picked it up, now we can't be bothered to put the sump plug back in....it'll be ok...."

Despite the best attempts by the Brisbane dealers to put us off buying a VW and the selling dealer destroying the initial "pride of ownership experience", after a long weekend driving the Gold Coast hinterland roads (those in the Brisbane area will understand) I am so glad there is a new Golf in the garage

Craig, I completely agree with you. I was actually thinking you had every right to be angry. The service you got was appalling. However, to the point Coreying made, I reckon a lot of new car buys - myself included - set ourselves up with unrealistic expectations and blame the dealer when even small things go wrong. Anyway, great you got the car and enjoying it!

[mrpayne]

One of the salesmen from Northstar was a member on here a few months ago and was willing to give good deals however he moved on and Northstar wouldn't validate any of the offers he had given unless the contract was already signed.
The cheapest they would go when i contacted them after the forum member left was $1400 over the RRP advertised on tv.

If you were referring to myself...I am now back there after a break due to some family things, albeit in a slightly different role. Glad to see you have a Tig now, and looks mint with those wheels, and I would love to have a ride in one with the power yours has.

Interesting thread by the way, and unfortunate that you have had experiences such as that, but also glad to hear there are still some good stories kicking around.

Craig and Kath, I hope you are still enjoying your Golf and the issues with the dealer have faded to the wayside!

[team_v]

Nice to know you are back at Northstar Mark.
If i am ever up that way i'll try to swing by and give you a test run in the Tig.

[Mountainman]

Sometimes it's not the dealer at all but just a bad interaction with a certain salesman. I bought our Subaru Forester at a dealership that is also a VW dealer 3 years ago. The sales guy was fantastic, got the colour I wanted and had it trucked up from Sydney in 5 days and in June 07 I got a May 07 build Forester XT in the colour I wanted. A week later a friend went to the same dealer looking for a new Golf TDI Trendline manual. A different salesman took her for a drive in a demo but not the specs she wanted and and said they had what she wanted but in silver not white. She signed the deal after sighting the car and being happy with the silver and picked it up 2 days later. On the 200km drive home she was shocked to see that the odo indicated it had 460km on it and and had obviously been used as a demo but hadn't been registered. With further phone calls and checking she found her "new" Golf bought in June 07 had a Dec 06 compliance plate and a build date of Jan 06. The dealer was most apologetic and organized a couple of free options like window tint and mats and the salesman was no longer working there a couple of months later. I have since purchased our new Golf there and get most of the servicing of both our cars there and have had nothing but a positive experience. However my friend is reluctant to have any dealings with them again.