The Cost of Indifference

When I call my local Pizza place, they know a lot about me. They know the last pizza I ordered. They know my favorite pizza toppings and they know where I live. The pizza's good. The delivery is fast. They treat me pretty well.

Over the last 10 years our family has probably spent $5000 on Pizza.

Contrast this with my car dealer. Whenever I walk into the dealership, they have no idea who I am or what car I drive. They don't know how many times I've been in for service. The routine is always the same.

"May I help you?" the salesperson asks.

"I've purchased cars from here before. I thought I'd check out the new models."

"Do you know who your salesperson is?"

"I have no idea. They seem to change every time I come in".

"I'll go and look it up. [returns after a minute] Your salesperson is no longer with us. You've been assigned to Mr. Jones, but he's not here right now. Can I help you?" (oblivious to the irony of me being passed around yet again.)

Apparently, "being assigned" to someone at this dealership, means that they get to write up the order, should you happen to walk in and want to buy a car. They don't call to introduce themselves. They don't advise you when the new models are in. They don't remind you to come in to get your oil changed or to schedule maintenance inspections. In fact, they do absolutely nothing. Except wait.

Over the past ten years, I have either purchased or leased six vehicles from this dealership. My guesstimate is that the value of these purchases was around $180,000.

And they still have no idea who I am.

Which is why they are now my former car dealership.

Don't misunderstand me. I don't have a big ego. If the dealership had just managed to call me by name ONCE, after ten years and $180,000, that would have been nice.

I didn't fire them overnight. In fact, it happened gradually over the past 4 years. Four years ago I strayed into a Lexus dealership and they convinced me to purchase one of their vehicles. Their sales and services teams are spectacular. When I show up at the dealership they recognize me and call me by name!

I've never really looked back.

Both my kids now drive cars from sister dealerships (to the Lexus dealer), where the sales and service are also excellent.

So, now my former car dealer has lost not only my business, but have also lost two new consumers who have begun their car ownership experiences, with the competition.

And it all started with indifference.