| Author | Message | ||
     Endoman33 |
One of my most loyal customer stopped by today after going to the nissan dealership to look at buying a new car. she goes inside with 2 friends and her brother 2 look at the car salesman stand there talking with them the car is locked up inside the show room. her brother is 6'9" . she asked her brother if he thinks he can fit. salesman still has not unlocked the car. after that she says lets go the salesman say you mean your not going to buy it, her response was you didn't even unlock the car. he says I can do that right now. She says don't bother its to late now. By the way she can write a check for that car about 20 and not think twice about it. Never judge someone by what they wear. | ||
| Skinstains |
Dude, slow down. I am having trouble following that post. | ||
| Jaimec |
Punctuation and capitalization go a long way to making sentences readable... | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Agreed but the point is clear to me at least. "Never judge someone by what they wear." Truer words were never spoken (or typed). | ||
| Court |
Tell me what Nissan gets locked up. We went in to get my wife's car and there were two McLaren SLR's and 4 Maybach's sitting there wide open. Seems odd to have some econ-Asian vehicle under lock and key. And what the heck is a VP doing in a Nissan? Hmmmmmmm | ||
| Froggy |
I assume he is talking about the GTR, as thats the only one that would go for $73k | ||
| Endoman33 |
Sorry guys sometimes I think faster than I can type. Sorry for the typo's. She is a vp for one of the two major hardware supply stores. She is a very down to earth person. She was looking at the GTR $73,000. She is not one to buy the typical vp type of vechile ie(Mercedes,BMW,or a vechile in this style). Why the car was locked I'm not realy sure why the dealerships in this rural area dose it, but they do. | ||
| Court |
I've got a silly question . . . at anytime did anyone walk up to a salesman and say "pardon me, could you please unlock this car, I'd like to look inside and sit in it?" If I were the one buying a car, particularly at $73,000, off a "rural" lot I'd hope it was locked and not been smoked or stroked in. Bottom line, did anyone ask politely? I've found it works well for me. | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Court, there you go again with that common sense reasoning. | ||
| Crackhead |
there are certian areas of the country were people don't both locking their house or car doors. | ||
| Court |
>>>>there are certian areas of the country were people don't both locking their house or car doors. That's correct. I am in one. I am in the house writing, it's 10:45PM, folks have been asleep for hours, my cars sitting in the drive with the keys in it and the doors unlocked with both GPS, iPod and who knows what on the seat. . . it's no big deal. We still use "our pleases and thank you's" and the car dealers, with 40 acre lots lock the doors of vehicles sitting out on the lot. | ||
| Billinpa |
Court I agree that the cars on the lot should be locked. It seems this car was locked on the showroom floor. My experience has been cars on the showroom floor are open to look in, perhaps windows even down. Maybe I have too much Ford and Chevy purchasing experience! LOL! | ||
| Court |
It seems this car was locked on the showroom floor. I agree that's odd. Even my Ford dealer, Gentillini in VERY RURAL Woodbine, NJ, had their Ford GT40 open and ready to sit in. My problem, and it's about to cost me a new Porsche, is that if I sit it in . . . I get addicted.  I suspect dealers know this. Just wishing I was a VP again so I wouldn't have to wait until May '09. | ||
| Edgydrifter |
What VP drives a Nissan? How about one who considers frugality a virtue? My company has four veeps. One drives a Chrysler 300, one a twelve-year-old Audi A6, and one a Ford F150. The fourth drives a sweet BMW, which obviously makes him the odd man out. Our CEO commutes in a Dodge Charger, albeit an SRT8 with a nitrous bottle the size of a scuba tank in the trunk. He does spend a fair amount on tires, but a man has to have a hobby, right? | ||
| Froggy |
Bill Gates's wife drives a run of the mill Honda Accord from what I've read. | ||
| Court |
>>>How about one who considers frugality a virtue? How is a $76,000 Nissan frugal? I never impute anything from what someone drives. . . my wife worked with 3 billionaires, 2 of them under 40, who didn't even own cars. On the other hand . . . what they FLY makes an impression. | ||
| Ratbuell |
On the other hand . . . what they FLY makes an impression. Ah, yes. Even automakers can make an impression on Congress that way, LOL. | ||
| Skinstains |
Hey Court, what was your address again ? You know for ummm Christmas cards, yeah that's it Christmas cards. | ||
| Court |
>>>Bonus points for Josh's post of Mariabelen! The shame is that the CEO's from Detroit SHOULD be flying and they are all pissing away 4 days driving hybrids. We're a funny bunch. | ||
| Ratbuell |
The CEO's should fly to expedite, yes. They have plenty of stuff to deal with back at the office, and the time away is not good. However...begging "mom and dad" for billions right after showing up in your multimillion dollar private jet? Not the best move. I know when I was a teen I always made a point to wear my worst pair of "holy" jeans when it was time to ask for new clothes... There *are* commercial flights that would save nearly as much time as private flights, and I find it hard to believe that *automakers* are a terrorist target, security-wise. I also don't get the "4 day" bit. Kim and I made it - without breaking any laws of physics - from Maryland (40 minutes from DC) to East Troy in about 12 hours. | ||
| Froggy |
Rat, the thing about flying that most people do not know, It is actually cheaper for them to take a private jet vs commercial. It is not 1 man on the plane, but several dozen people that accompany the CEO. Also having the private jet means they can leave on their own schedule, not when Delta says so. GM announced yesterday they are getting rid of their lease on the jets as a method to cut back expenses, as in the digital age the planes aren't used as much. | ||
| Dbird29 |
They don't have a hands free speakerphone in those hybrids? Maybe they will see what their customers have to live with, kind of like Erik Buell going to events and riding his product. | ||
| Froggy |
Bluetooth is standard in just about every 09 GM vehicle, including the Malibu Hybrid that Rick Wagoner is taking. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Froggy - I guess what most people look at (myself included) is, how many trips does it take to "save" the whatever-million-dollars it took to purchase and maintain the jet? And, how many trips do they have to take (not counting taking the family to the Bahamas for vacation...) in order to fulfill their CEO duties? I will say, I *am* impressed by the dollar-a-year-salary gesture. Of course, if I made what-was-it, $21M a year? for even *one* year, I'd be happy to work the rest of my life for a dollar a year | ||
| Court |
Planes make sense - but driving is pure silliness and for public consumption. The 3 of them, and their support staff of 20 each who ARE flying, should board a commecial flight in Detroit and go. The USA auto industry, shackled by 100,000,000,000 in pension costs and 2,000 per car "legacy" costs to continue to pay retired workers, is like tagging an extra 1,000 on a Blast. The solution is more complex than dousing money (yours and mine by the way) on the problem. The "corporate aircraft" story was a silly ruse by the media to get us ro look somewhere other than the real problems. It worked so good for the media they tried it themselves with the "I'll work for one dollar" trick. Think. | ||
| Ratbuell |
My overall thought on the subject is, if they, for whatever reason, can't run a competitive business in hard times as well as nice, fat times...well, that's a free market economy at work and some companies just don't make it. You, me, and our neighbors shouldn't be asked to pay, to keep (from a business perspective) a *bad* company in business. Although, I have yet to hear of an offer to completely revamp the management practices (and personnel) as a part of the 'bargain'. Bad decisions have been made by many, and now they have the balls to ask us to pay for their mistakes. I'd have no problem if the "big three" turned into the "big one". If that's what it takes to build a *competitive* American auto manufacturer, so be it. I think it's about time domestic automakers were held to a realistic efficiency standard. We're sorely behind the Asian and European builders for not only fuel economy, but also purchase economy - every car I own is American (I'm a Mopar guy, don't hold it against me), but hands down, foreign cars have more features per dollar. There are many, many layers to this one, and automaker health affects a HUGE number of Americans, as well as lots of other industries. I suspect we haven't seen the end of this one, and I also suspect they'll get some sort of bailout, and make a gesture of change....and it'll die out in a couple years once everyone "forgets", putting us right back where we are now. It's the way we do things 'round here. Much as it sucks, I'm too pessimistic to think we're capable of change. | ||
| Froggy |
GM is dying a death of a thousand cuts. Then every time they take a huge step forward, something else knocks them 2 steps back. Old GM that everyone hated complete with making bad cars and bad management started going away 7 years ago when the current CEO Rick Wagoner took over. They have made significant strides over the past 7 years to fix the previous 30 years worth of bad management. GM's lineup has never been better. Despite what misnomers you believe Ratbuell, GM leads almost every segment in fuel economy. As you know, you can’t snap your fingers and magically overnight have excellent new cars come out. Since Rick took over he has been fixing the lineup. Just about every vehicle GM sells is top notch. The new cars are winning awards left and right, the press loves the new Malibu, talking about how it makes the Camry look like a relic. Since Rick took over, he has gotten the unions to concede some of the benefits that are choking the company. I was even reading today they finally decided to suspend the dreaded jobs bank, where employees are paid not to work. Unfortunately like I said before, 1 step forward 1 step back. The rise in gas prices causes people to shift from SUVs to cars faster than anyone in the industry predicted. GM has more excellent small cars in the works, but unfortunately the shift came too soon. Even more recently, the credit issues have been hurting sales, people are not able to or not willing to hop in a new car like they would a year ago. Another thing people miss, this “bailout”is a loan, not a hand out. They will be paying it back with interest. The problem I see is that the money isn’t enough. GM’s share will keep them floating for a few months. The real solution to this mess? People need to go out and buy their cars. Also that isn’t perfect, still bigger issues to tackle like closing dealers and reducing other inefficiencies. | ||
| Easy_rider |
hands down, foreign cars have more features per dollar. I think the problem is, hands down, American car manufacturers have more retirees per car! It didn't hurt when there was only the big 3 and all were playing by the same rules, but they left the door open (on price and quality) and now even when quality is even they've got a burden that's hard to overcome. | ||
| Bombardier |
There is not a Nissan on this planet that is WORTH $73k US! | ||
| Old_man |
The WORLDWIDE auto industry is not selling in this country. The American auto industry is competitive in price with the rest of the world. The problem is that we are losing so many good paying jobs. Who will think of buying a new car when they can't afford health care or even feeding and housing their family. Our economy depends on ALL of our people. The attitude that we should cut costs regardless of the consequences to our workers is, in the long run, very foolish. Ask the question, "Who will buy your car etc. if they don't have a job that enables them to afford it, no matter how cheap?" |
