dealer misinformation/lack of knowledge

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cwerdna

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
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SF Bay Area, CA
Not sure if we already have such a thread... Post stories of it here.

Today, I was at https://www.fremont.gov/2089/Experience-Electric-Campaign to test drive a bunch of vehicles. I've test driven the Rav4 EV a few times before. I was a bit dismayed the the saleswoman that rode along had some misinformation about the range. She seemed to be under the mistaken impression that the Rav4 EV's range was either 76 miles or between 76 and 103 miles. I was like "say what?" I told her I knew the EPA range rating was 103 miles, supposedly obtained by the 80% 100% averaging. She knew about 103 miles being in small print.

After finishing the test drive I looked carefully at the sticker. (Pic at http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3067&sid=31e81345f6a3fb2c4cbb6da52d81c96a#p3067). Well, she confused 76 MPGe as being some measure of range or possibly the lower bound. :roll:

I wonder how many others are doing that. That'll really hurt the Rav4 EV's sales, but then again, it's not like Toyota wants to sell over 2600 of them..

On a similar note, we had similar (but worse) garbage going on w/the Leaf: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11867. They took the 102 MPGe number (http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/2013-Nissan-LEAF-sticker.jpg from http://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-side-by-side-range-comparison-2012-vs-2013/2013-nissan-leaf-sticker/) and confused that w/its range. :roll:
 
I would venture to say that some if not most dealers are truly IGNORANT about the RAV4 EV, and some are even just as ignorant about there own dealership's sales "incentives" to help move these cars.

My experience along these lines came a few weeks after the purchase (Nov 2012) when the incentives starting spreading like wildfire all over CA. I was at the dealership taking care of "other business" while talking casually with the sales force. All the way up to the floor sales manager, they denied any such incentives were in place. I whipped out my cell and showed them there actually was a very lucrative incentive (0% APR for 60 months, AND as I recall at least a couple K off MSRP). This was being offered on the very same model (new 2012 RAV4 EV) I had bought a month early, and it was, in fact, being advertised on their own website! As a testament to their stupidity, they still denied it! How stupid can STUPID BE?!?!?! :shock:

As those of us all know who have been member here since the "early days", incentives started in Dec 2012 and kept getting better and better throughtout the first half of 2013. I don't know if I was more angry about losing out on a much "better deal" if I only knew what was about to happen without any advance warning, or how stupid and ignorant the Toyota sales people were about the RAV4 EV at that particular dealership. Needless to say, I was quite disturbed over their total lack of knowledge; let alone their failure to make any amends. I paid nearly full MSRP and at the time Toyota's financing was still 1.9% for credit worthy buyers. (Prior to Dec 2014, a standard model RAV4 qualified for 0%, but not the "EV".)
 
IMHO, the Monroney sticker for EVs needs to be redesigned to put the range in the largest print and de-emphasize virtually useless MPGe.
Dsinned said:
I would venture to say that some if not most dealers are truly IGNORANT about the RAV4 EV, and some are even just as ignorant about there own dealership's sales "incentives" to help move these cars.

My experience along these lines came a few weeks after the purchase (Nov 2012) when the incentives starting spreading like wildfire all over CA. I was at the dealership taking care of "other business" while talking casually with the sales force. All the way up to the floor sales manager, they denied any such incentives were in place. I whipped out my cell and showed them there actually was a very lucrative incentive (0% APR for 60 months, AND as I recall at least a couple K off MSRP). This was being offered on the very same model (new 2012 RAV4 EV) I had bought a month early, and it was, in fact, being advertised on their own website! As a testament to their stupidity, they still denied it! How stupid can STUPID BE?!?!?! :shock:

As those of us all know who have been member here since the "early days", incentives started in Dec 2012 and kept getting better and better throughtout the first half of 2013. I don't know if I was more angry about losing out on a much "better deal" if I only knew what was about to happen without any advance warning, or how stupid and ignorant the Toyota sales people were about the RAV4 EV at that particular dealership. Needless to say, I was quite disturbed over their total lack of knowledge; let alone their failure to make any amends. I paid nearly full MSRP and at the time Toyota's financing was still 1.9% for credit worthy buyers. (Prior to Dec 2014, a standard model RAV4 qualified for 0%, but not the "EV".)
Dealers being ignorant about currently valid incentives offered by the dealership itself or Toyota corporate (found at http://www.buyatoyota.com/en/) is inexcusable. However, I don't believe dealers get much or any advance notice of upcoming incentives or whether current ones will be continued.

Side note: Some of the reps at the test drive event (not specifically Toyota, but others) were pretty ignorant about the cars themselves. One person who was in a Ford shirt didn't know the answer to a lot of basic questions that they were being asked by others (e.g. price of the Fusion Energi nor its range). To be partly fair, many of them didn't work for either the dealers nor the automakers directly. I believe some worked for an agency hired by the automaker and some were hired by the company putting on the event.
 
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