The most dreaded part of the colorful experience of car ownership is dealing with the dreaded dealer. Scams, bad deals and deceptive pricing are just some of the fears that turn off people from car buying, as eager dealers will do anything to get buyers in the driver's seats of their cars.
But according to a new survey, shady practices that people fear do not actually happen as often as feared.
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According to the latest edition of the Dealership Trust Survey conducted by auto dealer compliance solutions provider KPA and the Harris Poll, only about a third of Americans actually fell victim to shady dealership practices like deceptive pricing, hidden fees or salespeople that were lying about the price or something about the car.
However, the numbers behind the perception of car dealerships are much more jarring. According to KPA's data, 76% of survey respondents said that they do not trust car dealerships to be completely honest about their pricing. Additionally, a whopping 84% said that price transparency is lacking at the dealers and 86% of buyers say that they're concerned about the hidden fees that might add up when buying or leasing a new vehicle.
This reputation seems to not stack up when you consider that about two-thirds of respondents of the survey conclude that their dealership experiences were positive. As per KPA data, 34% of buyers surveyed felt pressure by dealer sales people to purchase additional add-ons or accessories to their cars, while 28% felt like their sales person was trying to "trick" them into a deal.
Additionally, 30% of respondents said that they agreed to a price at the dealership and found hidden fees tacked on when they went to sign their documents and only 28% of buyers left one dealership for another because they felt like they were being lied to.
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Nonetheless, the experience of buying cars can vary from dealer to dealer, brand to brand and can be a nightmare if you want to buy something different like an electric vehicle.
According to recent data by J.D. Power, very popular brands known for quality cars tend to have poor customer satisfaction at the dealer. They found that customers who bought cars from mass market brands like Hyundai, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Kia, as well as luxury brands like Acura, BMW, Lexus, Audi, and Genesis left dealers the least satisfied.
Additionally, they found that people who bought normal gas powered cars reported that they were more satisfied with the buying experience than those who bought electric cars, as they found that sales people on showroom floors lack knowledge about EVs and failed to disclose critical information about seemingly normal parts of EV ownership like charging and maintenance.
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