Before the holidays my wife announced it was time for her to look for a new lease vehicle. I had forgotten exactly when the lease was up but she knew, 30 days to go. How many miles had she done on the vehicle? She knew exactly how many were left. I took note, this was important to her.
Her current vehicle is an all wheel drive mid size SUV that she’s had for three years. What make is it? Well let’s say it was a top of the range American made vehicle three years ago. Consumer Reports didn’t give it high marks but she’s had very few problems.
I was given the green light to check out the gadgets on the potential new vehicle. She’s not a gadget person but once she sees something that’s useful it’s used. I thought to myself “this won’t take long”. At the car company’s website I reviewed the options and I’m DONE. The electronic wizardry built into the vehicle was fantastic and the videos sold me, hook line and sinker.
Then I thought to myself what do the experts say about the new model? A few clicks later I was on Consumer Reports website. All of the information was there but not for the model my wife wanted.
Sunday we were at dealers looking at the new vehicles in the snow. She was worried about the vehicles color and interior – were they a good match? The salesman said lets go for a ride. The key’s were found, the salesman opened the door for her to step in and she looked at me and said you drive please. After a smooth but very short ride (I think we did get in to fifth or six gear) we were back at the lot. The wet snow made the light grey carpets look dirty, even stained. The salesman sprang into action “don’t worry about the carpets we’ll clean them for you”. I saw her face, after three years in the old vehicle it was commented on as show room condition, one ride in the new vehicle and the carpets looked three years old.
Trying to move forward I asked about the leasing information and he said “we get the new rates next week, if you want to take the vehicle you’ve drove I can arrange that now”. I knew at that point he was an optimist, I had read my wife’s body language. We left the dealership.
Our daughter is very intuitive and recognized the difficulty. She conducted an online search and found the exact vehicle my wife had set her mind on. It was five hour away. After contacting that dealer he wouldn’t trade his vehicle with my local dealer. Something had to give and it was me. At the end of the day I extended the lease for an additional two months, paid an additional premium over the previous lease rate on the old vehicle and wait for the new vehicle to be manufactured.
I compared my experience above with the company I work for, EXAIR. We have experienced application engineers who give the very best information and stick by it. If we don’t have a product to help you but we know someone who can we will point you to them. Our products, specifications (including CE and ROHS items), CAD drawings, 3-D models and prices are on our website. We hold stock of catalog products from basic items to complete systems. We have videos, PowerPoint presentations, blog posts and energy cost calculators to inform a customer. If you want a special we will quote you and give you a delivery date. Last year 99.9% of our orders were shipped on time. Outside of the US we have a global distribution network. All in all we are easy to deal with. So I ask the question why can’t all companies work this way especially if the price for the lease will be over $20,000?
Ivan Banks, Business Development
ivanbanks@exair.com
