Is it deliberate?

[meyersnole]

Toyota Prius Prime buyers misled by dealers; more education needed

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1108282_toyota-prius-prime-buyers-misled-by-dealers-more-education-needed

 

At some point you have to wonder if car companies are afraid of the electrification of vehicles, on one hand they are expanding their experience in designing/manufacturing these vehicles. But outside of Tesla (and maybe Nissan - no experience here) there seems to be a common theme with dealerships steering the public away from these vehicles. It is blamed on poor education, but the Nissan Leaf has been out since 2011, the Tesla Roadster since 2008, and just about every brand is now dabbling in this market.

 

Yes, the EPA standards and California regulations are pushing car makers this way... but I had the opportunity to talk to one person responsible for creating the standard and he stated it was developed in a manner that would allow compliance with out alternative propulsion methodologies (electric/fuel cell/etc). So, even after all these years we have dealerships pushing people away from PHEVs or BEVs then stating there is no interest. Yet, spending just a few minutes on message boards like this you hear over and over how great these cars are and if they only knew sooner.  For a while GM was running ads for the Volt (first gen), but they come out with a redesign and do not recall seeing anything more than social media on it. 

[murphy]

BEVs don't require oil changes. 

My Energi requires an oil change every 20,000 miles or two years, whichever comes first.  The service writer at the dealer swears up and down that the oil should be changed every 3000 miles.

 

Most car buyers want to look at and test drive a car before buying it.  If the dealer doesn't have Energis in stock no one is going to be able buy one.  I had to custom order mine from the factory to get it.  It is really hard to get a good deal on a car when you custom order it.

[JATR4]

Dealers don't keep the cars charged.  When I was buying my 2014 Hybrid I looked at an Energi on the showroon floor.  I couldn'rt even get in the trunk because the 12 volt battery was dead.  When the sticker price dropped $4,000 the dealer was unaware of the price drop and was quoting a price based on the original sticker price.

 

There are many people on this forum who know more about the Energi than the salesmen at the dealerships.

[bdginmo]

The 3,000 mile oil change isn't even correct for a modern conventional engine.

 

Fortunately the dealer we got our FFE from already had a C-Max Energi so he was pretty knowledgeable...no where near my level, but not clueless either.

[meyersnole]

I started at the dealership near my house and the "salesman" really didn't want to sell me the car. Worse was making fun of people who did buy the cars propagating all the normal stories of range anxiety and how you would never recoup the cost of the extra expense and on and on. Left and came back another day to get someone else, but that dealerships policy was first contact -- that is your sales person.  I ended up driving to the next town and wound up with a person who was much more receptive to selling me the car I wanted. I would not say that he was an expert in the car, but he was trying and even followed up with me after the sale to find out about my experiences. Even though that dealership is out of the way, that is my new dealership.

 

Even they suffer from lack of experience with these cars though. Going in for service is always an adventure with at least a few bits of misinformation. I get it, you only have a few of these cars to service...but the service manager does care and has tried to make it right each time.

 

My point is, these issues are still happening and I see no real effort to seriously sell these vehicles. Everyone seems to be putting in minimum effort to be ready in case someone really does decide to push this space. It has been a decade and the cars have not gone away, so that is a good thing. It still feels that outside of Tesla no brand is really interested in this space taking off and being successful.  

Edited January 11, 2017 at 09:44 PM by meyersnole

[murphy]

 

It still feels that outside of Tesla no brand is really interested in this space taking off and being successful.  

I mistakenly thought, when I bought my 2013, that by 2017 Ford would have something for me.  Their loss.  My other car is a Tesla.

[JATR4]

I mistakenly thought, when I bought my 2013, that by 2017 Ford would have something for me.  Their loss.  My other car is a Tesla.

I sent a Groupon to my friend in CA for a cheap oil change.  It was a joke since he doesn't use gas stations because he has a Model X and a Model S.  He also has the roof panels.  He actually doesn't charge the X at home since there is a super charger station where they can do some shopping and charge the X.

[jeff_h]

I mistakenly thought, when I bought my 2013, that by 2017 Ford would have something for me.  Their loss.  My other car is a Tesla.

 

Same here... I now have a Volt and the Bolt is on the way (daughter gets the Volt) - but it's the same on the Volt/Bolt forums, posts about sales reps not being knowledgeable or interested in selling plug-ins, would much rather sell the customer a pickup/SUV.

[68mustangjim]

There not much better in the service drive.

[4cylinder]

There not much better in the service drive.

 

Can confirm, I don't trust stealerships and only go for recalls/TSBs nowadays. Independent mechanics are better in every way - faster, more skilled, more transparent, and cheaper. When I did my first oil change I got to stand outside my car and see every step of the procedure and be confident that no corners were being cut. Additionally, I was in and out in less than 30 minutes.

 

I currently have a rubbing noise issue that only manifests during hot weather. I tried going to the stealership last summer and they left the car parked in the shade and barely drove it, so they claimed there was no problem. When I forced them to actually ride with me on a hot day, they claimed it wasn't covered under warranty and just guessed that it was the body panels. By the time I got my car back, nothing was fixed and temperatures had cooled down enough that the noise didn't occur anymore. Now that temperatures are hot again, I'm going to give my business to an independent. Even if I'm technically eligible for a warranty claim, I'm not going to waste my time arguing at the stealership anymore.

 

As for buying the Energi itself, I got it used and like others said, the staff didn't seem enthusiastic about selling it. At least they didn't try to push me towards a gas guzzler, and they didn't argue with me when I revealed I knew more about how the car works than they did.

Edited May 28, 2019 at 05:36 PM by 4cylinder