20 February 09 - 17:04Domestic cars: Still a pain in the ass to buy

So, you might have heard that GM has had all sorts of problems lately, and they've had to close down Pontiac and Saturn (so far) and spin off Saab. Seeing all the Americans talking about how much money can be saved, I decided it would be a good idea to use GM's website's quote feature to ask a local dealership how much they would give me a deal for.

I picked out a base model Saab 9-3 Sport Combi, which I've always felt is egregiously overpriced, but GM's website says they will give me between a $5500 and $7000 "delivery allowance" since I am a good Canadian citizen and buying a car from Canada instead of getting it from the States, which a sane human being would do. I send off my quote.

This is where you, if you're a Canadian car dealer, might want to pay attention:

1. I am asking you for a quote because I want you to beat the MSRP.
2. I am asking you for a quote on the specific model because I want that specific model and probably have figured out what I want from a car.
3. For some reason, I am buying a Swedish-made American-supported car. This means I might be insane.

What does the local Saab dealer do? They send me an email in 16-point red Comic Sans, telling me that they received my "inquirey" and then telling me about the car I just told them to quote. Then they give me a price $2000 over MSRP and include erroneous information about options I didn't request.

If anyone from GM is reading this (if, in fact, you can read) you might want to clue in your dealerships a bit.

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