Are Women Satisfied?
At the dealership that is. A conversation with a young lady prompted this question. She had recently purchased a car and had a really good experience, but only after visiting a total of 10 different dealerships. How many dealerships does a woman have to visit before she’s satisfied enough to buy? That’s the specific question to the general one: Are women satisfied with their dealer experiences?
I don’t know the full answer to that, but I can tell you that I’ve talked to a lot of women. Just yesterday I was having a conversation with a woman who is interested in hosting a Car-Buy-Her Auto Clinic for Women. After we finished our talk regarding the clinic, she shared her experience with the dealership she purchased her car from. Do you have training for them too, she asked, because I walked our of their dealership. She went on to share that the services department was really good but there was certainly some needed training when it came to the sales staff. I understand. I’ve heard it before. And yes, we do offer training for dealerships.
A recent survey conducted by Consumer Reports National Research Center found that overall car buyers are largely satisfied with their dealership experiences when buying a new or used car. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with their experience, with another 31 percent saying they were somewhat satisfied. The survey noted that satisfaction rates increased with age and household income, which are probably influenced by the consumer’s accumulated experience with the car-buying process and possibly by the purchase of higher-end models. The same survey found that ten percent said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied. This was a random, nationwide telephone survey of 2,000 households conducted during October of this year.
However in a poll of 12,000 women conducted by Car Max, car buying was found to still be a hassle for women. When it came to Ms. Alexander, the enthusiastically determined car buyer that visited 10 dealerships, the majority of her dissatisfaction was from her interactions with the sales staff. At one dealership the salesman yelled at her and at another dealership, the salesman kept showing her models she wasn’t interested in then walked away.
Why is that I’m hearing the same complaints from women? Why aren’t women getting the satisfaction at the dealership they should when clearly they are a huge buying force within the industry? I’m still asking this question. I’m yet to find the answer.
