My husband and I are looking into purchasing a car - that is, if my husband's startup gets more funding and several other things fall into place. We have two vehicles right now, but one of them is a big truck (needed for farm work) and next year both of us will be commuting daily. So for the environment, and for long-term gas savings, it would be prudent to purchase a fuel-efficient vehicle.
We drove to a local town to the Ford dealer where I purchased my truck, just to peek around, not to purchase. We wanted to go back to the same place due to the great deal and ease of which we purchased the truck, and the continued excellent service we have received. We live about a 30 min drive from the dealer, and more than once they have gladly driven me home with my two young kids when the truck has needed routine service that would take a day or several hours. And yes, they even drove back to my house to pick me up when it was ready. I found it hard to believe that a car dealer would drive me so far to make it convenient for me to have my truck serviced there, but they have always assured me it was no problem.
Upon arriving at the dealer, we noticed that their used car area had no cars in it (we are looking to save money by buying used) but there were used cars in the main lot. And then we drove through their main lot. For a car dealer, I would consider it empty. Probably less than 100 cars. It is a smaller dealer out in the country, but it sure looked bare compared to what I had seen in the past. We got the information we needed (what cars were there, prices, etc.) and went back through town.
About two miles from this Ford dealer, was a Chevy/GM dealer. Now, we didn't stop, had no intention of it. (I owned a chevy truck once that gave me more headaches than I care to remember). But what struck us was - my goodness, there were thousands of cars in the lot! I mean, their lot was packed full from front to back, even a huge number of white "service" type trucks. Good grief, we thought.
No wonder GM is going under. Look at that lot full of cars - still full of cars even in this economy. How could they possibly survive with that kind of management? I would guess there was every kind of GM car in every color possibility at least - and more - in a small town - it's just nuts. Why would a dealer hang on to such a large inventory? There were no empty areas on the lot. From the size of their inventory, you would expect them to be in a major city (not 30 minutes from one) and surely, their cars must be super popular and selling left from right? NOT.
I am no business major (although my husband has his MBA), but even I could clearly see the difference in the way the two businesses have been run. First you have the Ford dealer, that has a small-town flavor in, you guessed it, a small town. They get repeat customers due to their outstanding service and anyone who buys there knows how easy it is to get the exact car they want in a few days if needed.
And then there is GM, that came to the small town like a herd of elephants - after Ford did, bought a huge property closer to the center of town by 2 miles, and filled every inch of the lot with poor made inefficient cars (in my opinion) and thought they could somehow win over customers from the Ford dealer.
I don't know about the rest of the town, but I obviously didn't stop at the GM dealer. I never will. And that giant elephant is fading away into Ch. 11 - kindof reminds me of another group of elephants I know...