I'll have to agree with you there.  I live in a small town on the edge
of a medium-sized city and the best dealerships that I've encountered
are the family owned ones.   I've met some really dishonest car salesmen
but I've dealt with some real good ones too.  One guy sold me two of the
best cars I've ever owned and he did it from two different dealerships.  

But, I have dealt with numerous independent garages and even bought a
couple of cars from one; I have no complaints about any of them.  I
currently have one dealer and two independent garages that I deal with
and none of them have ever done anything to make me stop dealing with
them.  

My idea of buying a new car is making a list of what I want and a price.
I hand it to the salesman and ask him if he can do it.  If he can I buy
and if he can't, I walk.   When I bought my truck, I had it for a long
weekend and drove it over 1,200 miles on a test drive (with the dealer's
permission).   I knew the dealer real well and he told me to drive it
for a week but after that weekend, I bought it.  I no longer deal with
this guy because he sold the business and retired.


Group: alt.autos.gm Date: Wed, Apr 12, 2006, 1:33pm (EDT+4) From:
HLS@nospam.nix (<HLS@nospam.nix>)
Depends on where you are and what you expect from a dealership. Some of
the small town ones are okay, since they are family owned by locals and
must maintain their customers honestly or go broke.
The large city dealerships tend to be the less dependable, with a
propensity toward incompetent and/or flatrate beating mechanics,
overcharging, throwing parts at a problem rather than diagnosing and
repairing, etc.
There are lots of experts out there without having to go to a
'dealership'.


"Rich B" <AutoHobbyist@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:24468-443C7A9F-851@storefull-3211.bay.webtv.net... So sorry to hear
that all the dealers in your area are tyrants but that isn't true here.
  I know that we have a couple of questionable dealers in my area but
most of them are honest and competent.   The dealer I use regularly is
extremely honest and caring and I also have a couple of dealers that I
deal with in other states and have had no problems with them. The
absolute worst dealer that I ever came into contact with was an
Oldsmobile/Honda dealer - he was just an old-fashioned crook.

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"Sometimes, when you're up to your butt in alligators, it's hard to
remember that the intial objective was to drain the swamp."  
~ Unknown ~