Originally Posted by S_W222

It's been 5 years since my last Lexus, but even then, I agree that they've become nothing but another Toyota dealership. In fact in most areas they even share the same building and same service departments with two logos (Lexis and Toyota) tucked in the parking lot!
Luckily I never needed service for any of my Lexus cars beside oil change. 15 years of Lexus ownership in total, spanning 3 different cars and ~500K miles combined, and the oil pan gasket was the only non-regular-maintenance item I ever needed. I stopped thinking about Lexus the minute other brands start to innovate with much better software and cabin technology, while Lexus decided to adopt their navigation and screen technology from Toyota matching the Corolla and Camry's of the world. The 360 camera that keeps spinning alone was a joke (heard it's still the same in 2024). Sometimes reliability isn't just enough.

Originally Posted by tx170754

It's still absolutely amazing, at least the one I'm servicing my LS's !

Originally Posted by tx170754

It's still absolutely amazing, at least the one I'm servicing my LS's !

Originally Posted by Bubba1

Over the last 40 years I have purchased 27 cars. The vast majority of which were purchased brand new from dealerships. That’s 1.5 cars per year. I would say it’s 50/50 as to the positive experiences I’ve had verses negative experiences with the buying process.

However, the arrogance of the dealership community hit an all time high during the pandemic. They thought they were the bees knees and could rip you off without shame.

The quality and knowledge of the sales people went down dramatically, not that it was even good prior to the pandemic!

I am an admirer of the Tesla model of buying online. I hate dealing with salespeople as for the most part they are shallow, uneducated, lack any pedigree or culture and are there to just make a quick buck (with of course some exceptions).

I’ve also been reading and was told by a salesman (who is now retired) at a high end dealership that some of the training is a form of “tough love” with clients looking for high end cars. They will literally ignore your requests and then respond erratically, then ignore etc etc, psychologically playing on any insecurities. What I mean by this is as a customer you will eventually say is they hope “Let me show you that I have the resources to buy this car” and then you buy it. Many of us here won’t fall for this stupidity but I have noticed this form of tough love.

My question to all of you is that the car market, especially the high end has fallen of a cliff. With interest rates higher than they’ve been in many years and most cars being leased, there is now a new reality. Also most supply chain issues have been fixed. Have dealerships toned down their rhetoric and arrogance to adjust? Or is it the same old same old??