U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Mercedes, Lexus Top Dealership Experience Survey
July 2009
If you want to be treated well at a car dealership, buy a Mercedes-Benz or a Lexus. That's the conclusion reached by researchers based on a new study that looked at how various dealerships treated potential car shoppers.
Reuters reports, "Daimler AG's Mercedes and Toyota Motor Co's luxury Lexus brand topped a ranking intended to measure how well U.S. car shoppers were treated in dealer showrooms whether they bought a new car or not." The study, conducted by the sales consultancy firm Pied Piper, sent paid researchers into dealerships posing as car shoppers, and asked them to rate the dealerships on qualities that actual car shoppers had ranked as being important to them in an earlier study.
Motor Trend adds, "Study author Fran O'Hagan says up to 90% of car shoppers walk out of dealerships -- as opposed to driving out with a new car -- and stresses the importance of a satisfactory shopping experience."
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