I came across this article on Jalopnik. The title is All The Cars I've Convinced People Not To Buy. The author talks about all the cars that he convinced his clients not to buy for one reason or another. An F-Type was on the list of cars. It was because of the dealer experience and lease pricing. I pasted the link to the article along with the section regarding the F-type below

http://jalopnik.com/all-the-cars-ive-convinced-people-not-to-buy-1785212914

Jaguar F-Type

The Jaguar F-type is pure sex. It looks good, it sounds amazing. In fact, I was pretty excited when a New York customer wanted me to find him a deal on a factory order. I did not realize how difficult this would be.

This particular client was perfectly content with a V6 model and the standard features. He did not want to spend all kinds of money on extras he didn’t want, so he assumed (as did I) that he could just ask a Jaguar dealer to order him a car.

I must have spoken to at least 10 Jaguar dealers in the New York City area, and most of them just ignored my request for an order quote. Others flat out refused. One salesman, that I swore was a reject from a Sopranos casting call, even went so far as to call my customer a “****ing idiot” for not buying the $95,000 V8 S that he had on his lot.

When I did finally get a lease quote the numbers were off the wall, mostly due to the fact that Jaguar’s resale value is not too great and the dealers refused to give much in the way of a discount on an ordered car. Just for the hell of it I got a quote on a Porsche Cayman S. The Porsche dealer couldn’t have been more helpful. It turned out the $74,000 Cayman had a lease payment that was $200/mo less than the $67,000 Jaguar.

Today the guy is driving a Porsche.

 

Shitty dealer drive away another customer, news at 11.

 

Having owned a few Porsches now, I do think that despite their arrogance, they are much more "enthusiast oriented" with their sports cars. They are much more willing to order, or search for a car you want. And the a la carte options list is much more suited to the enthusiast, in my opinion. Options packages force you to take things you don't want to get something that you do. Maybe, eventually, Jag will come around to this mentality. I have to say though, in the Atlanta market, Jag and Porsche dealers have been great.

 

Haha, I was just reading that article, and I come here and find you talking about it.

I didn't like that the article bunches the F-type with those other cars, but I guess he's not a professional journalist, and dealers can be horrible. I've had trouble with Porsche and BMW dealers in California, but honestly jag weren't much better. It was an interesting piece I suppose.

 

Unfortunately every brand of automobile has their share of bad dealers or more likely bad sales people. The ratio of lookers to buyers is quite high, so that probably contributes to their pissy attitudes.

What I found interesting about this article was his opinion of BMW engines, not good.

 

My experiences with the local dealer here (Bellevue and Lynnwood, WA) have been outstanding. In this region they set the standard by which others are judged.

However in the end just like any other endeavor involving human beings, it's all about the people. Go back 6-7 years before the current crop of folks were installed at my local dealerships, and the experience was not... well, let's just say it sure wasn't as good as it is now.

 

It used to be that dealerships, including domestic brands
were owned by car guys. Now, they are corporate groups
taking on any brand. With that comes all of the downsides
of large organisations.

The biggest BMW dealer in one largish market I know started
as a former gas station ordering in cars one at a time. I remember
going over with some part from an Alfa in my hand wondering
what to do. He took it and welded it up for the kid and sent
the kid on his way no charge.

As of this writing he is a multi-location BMW only dealer with
modern premises.

He has a loyal customer base and deserves it.

 

Brokers are as shady -- or shadier -- than dealers!

This guy has advised clients not to purchase cars just because he was too lazy to deal with a difficult dealer. Is that the outcome that was best for the client? Isn't that part of the point of having a broker...so that someone is doing the hard work for you to get a good purchase outcome rather than following the path of least resistance?

This is like having an investment broker not buy a solid company's stock just because he found the Investor Relations person annoying to deal with.
Sure, the IR person should probably be fired, but so too should that fiduciarily irresponsible and lazy broker!

 

+1. And the broker after he completed the negotiations should also never mention if it was a hassle for him to get the deal. That's what the broker is paid to do. He is not paid to whine.

 

Exactly! Hey, my local dealer didn't want to come off MSRP on my F-type, even though I've known them for years and bought lots of cars from them. I went to TrueCar and had another dealer not too far from me ordered the car I wanted at $6500 off list. No hassle at all. Didn't even need a broker.

 

Funnily enough my experience was the opposite. I was so disgusted by the Atlanta dealers that I went out of market just to make sure they wouldn't get my money.

 

I had the exact opposite experience. I wanted to buy a Porsche but they were ridiculous to deal with. Local JLR dealer was stellar and so, I drive a Jag.


Dave

 

It all boils down to people.

I deal with dealmakers. Salesman with hustle that think in terms of getting deals done and negotiating within the parameters of his limitations.

Whenever I get the stoic salesmen that act as if they are doing me a major favor by ingratiating me with their presence, I give them a firm handshake and skedaddle.

One needs confidence when dealing with salesmen. Know what you want before you walk in. Know the subtle BS tricks that turn a good deal into a nightmare implemented by salesmen.

I'm the kind of guy that will do a deal with a guy simply because I like his style, even if I pay a bit more. Especially if I feel the relationship will bear fruit later. I can't think of all the times I've developed personal relationships with the salesman that have dealt with. Drinks, dinners, nightclubs, ball games. Then people wonder why I am driving a LR Autobiography as a loaner while everyone else gets Discoveries. There needs to be a shared sense of loyalty and if you don't feel the connection with the person you're dealing with, move on. This is a skill in itself. Either your have the personality to engage in this or you should get a broker to fight for you if you don't have it within you. Understanding your shortcomings is a skill within itself.

I live for doing my own deals. It's in my nature. My best friend; a gloried sports agent dealing with millions daily, is just awful at negotiation. I cringed when I accompanied him to BMC to pick up his Phantom. I couldn't believe a guy spending a half a mil on a car would just act sheepish and go along with everything the dealership said without implementing any form of negotiation on his part. They would have given him the world based on who he was. They would have given him the world to keep him loyal had he simply asked. Had he been an actual ball player as opposed to an agent, the dealership would have bent over backwards for him. **** I think I saw that he paid $1700 for floor mats. I just kept my mouth shut and remembered thinking to myself: "It must be nice not to have floor mat concerns".

Even if I had his money, I think I would still do my own deals because I'm somewhat good at it as well as enjoy the challenge.

 

The low residual of the Jags are always an issue with leases. But they make the cars better used car buys one or two years out as a result. My experience in San Jose with the Jag and Porsche dealers was very different. The Jag guys let me test drive every version, they even did a freeway race with me with the V8-S and a Tesla 80 (which was kind of funny). I'd drop by and hang out and they were always great. The Porsche folks had a special event for the Macan and I kind of fell in love with the car but I wanted a deal and wasn't in a rush so I asked that they just give me a yell if there was a demo car that came up, or someone changed their mind on an ordered car that they could give me a deal on, or anything just so I felt I'd have a deal. They said no, they just didn't do "deals", and sent me on my way.

Eventually I ordered a Mercedes Benz GLA 45 AMG instead because that dealership was much nicer (pick it up in Germany next month). (By the way,
the Porsche dealer here in Bend is actually pretty nice but by the time I once again was in market the GLA was far more interesting to me as it is kind of like our Jags but in a more practical design).

So I do think it depends on the dealer but do know that leasing a new Jag, or any British car really (AMs are even worse) can be a real eye opener. Generally if you want to lease you are just better off staying away from performance cars altogether...

 

What shade of blue will the AMG be?

 

They have a special order gray. But you're right three of our cars right now are blue, one purple. Wife wanted purple but they'd stopped making it for the 2017 run. The exact color is: designo Mountain Grey Magno (matte finish)