I remember shopping around for a used old Leaf. Couldn’t answer the most basic questions, like if the model came with Chademo or not (first few model year Leafs had DCFC as optional)
And it’s not like they didn’t have a chance to see it coming, either. Our 2010 Chevy Volt buying experience was exactly the same. “Oh, yeah - the new kid - he’s the one who knows about the hybrids…”
And the kid was like 23, fresh out of college.
And then the service center, ugh. We did have something weird going on with ours (it eventually got swapped out under Lemon Laws) but basically they were having to fly in engineers/techs from GM in Detroit because like the 1 mechanic at our dealer who took like 1 Volt maintenance training class … couldn’t figure anything out at all.
That was >12 years ago now. ICE dealers have had time to see this coming. They have no interest in adapting.
In May I bought my Kia EV and had the weird experience of the dealer’s sales manager telling me pure EV FUD foolishness about range anxiety while I was signing the purchase papers.
Hyundai Sonata. Two Hyundai dealers in town. Four more along the way until I get to a Hyundai dealer with a tech that can actually service my car three hours of driving later. But from a known brand with a local dealer they said. Service will be local they said.
I think the first time I ever test drive a car was about 20 years ago and it was a Kia Rio. The salesman couldn’t stop telling me how shitty some other car company’s cars were and had nothing to say about the Rio.
They don’t even know anything about their ice vehicles… I taught so many salespeople about things they didn’t know last time I shopped because I had spent a lot of time researching that particular truck and its trims.
I keep reflecting on how my experience was so much different than everyone else, and how lucky I got. In 2018 even and the sales dude actually knew his shit, even if he was slightly more PHEV than BEV.
I feel liked I found a damned unicorn based on the horror stories I hear regularly.
At some places they’re still not even knowledgeable about fucking hybrids. Went with the wife a couple weeks ago to toyota to test drive a couple and the salesman that went with us couldn’t answer literally anything she asked about them, I had to do it.
I’d love to just be an EV salesman for like 4 hours a day after my normal 7-3 workday. I’d be like do you love gas stations? No? Me either. Do you have a garage or drive to a work parking lot? Yes? Well you’d be perfect for an electric car. It’s the convenience and knowledge that you’re helping reduce carbon emissions after only a few years.
Every time I’ve ever test driven a car with a salesman it’s been the dumbest experience of my life. People who clearly don’t know a damn thing about the car, and can only tell you “this thing really suits you” or something. If I ask “does it have apple CarPlay” they gotta look it up because they don’t even know. I can only imagine it’s worse for EVs.
test driving EVs with sales staff is awful. They know next to nothing about the car or EVs in general.
I remember shopping around for a used old Leaf. Couldn’t answer the most basic questions, like if the model came with Chademo or not (first few model year Leafs had DCFC as optional)
And it’s not like they didn’t have a chance to see it coming, either. Our 2010 Chevy Volt buying experience was exactly the same. “Oh, yeah - the new kid - he’s the one who knows about the hybrids…”
And the kid was like 23, fresh out of college.
And then the service center, ugh. We did have something weird going on with ours (it eventually got swapped out under Lemon Laws) but basically they were having to fly in engineers/techs from GM in Detroit because like the 1 mechanic at our dealer who took like 1 Volt maintenance training class … couldn’t figure anything out at all.
That was >12 years ago now. ICE dealers have had time to see this coming. They have no interest in adapting.
In May I bought my Kia EV and had the weird experience of the dealer’s sales manager telling me pure EV FUD foolishness about range anxiety while I was signing the purchase papers.
So if you are inconvenienced by range, you come back in 3 months and trade it in for another and they make another commission.
Hyundai Sonata. Two Hyundai dealers in town. Four more along the way until I get to a Hyundai dealer with a tech that can actually service my car three hours of driving later. But from a known brand with a local dealer they said. Service will be local they said.
I had them outright lie to me about range and charging time, and were confused when I corrected them lol
The last guy who sold me a car didn’t even know which company he worked for. He kept saying the car/brand of prior place he worked.
That’s funny and familiar. One salesman could tell me absolutely nothing about his EV model, but kept pushing the EV at the dealer next door.
I think the first time I ever test drive a car was about 20 years ago and it was a Kia Rio. The salesman couldn’t stop telling me how shitty some other car company’s cars were and had nothing to say about the Rio.
When I test drove my Kia Niro EV the dude couldn’t even tell us how to turn the car on or shift into drive. (step on gas pedal then press button)
They don’t even know anything about their ice vehicles… I taught so many salespeople about things they didn’t know last time I shopped because I had spent a lot of time researching that particular truck and its trims.
They didn’t even know about the federal tax credit
They know nothing about gas F150s, in my experience.
FTFY.
When I bought my gas cars, they had no idea about the features of the car. Same held true for my EVs.
They’re just there to make sure you don’t run off with the car while you figure out for yourself if you like it.
I test drove a few in the past year, but I’m not exactly in prime EV sales territory. Every single one was at under 10% charge when I sat down.
I keep reflecting on how my experience was so much different than everyone else, and how lucky I got. In 2018 even and the sales dude actually knew his shit, even if he was slightly more PHEV than BEV.
I feel liked I found a damned unicorn based on the horror stories I hear regularly.
They don’t know anything about their ICE vehicles either, it’s just less obvious since they have general car knowledge.
At some places they’re still not even knowledgeable about fucking hybrids. Went with the wife a couple weeks ago to toyota to test drive a couple and the salesman that went with us couldn’t answer literally anything she asked about them, I had to do it.
It’s not hard to find the information, there’s literally entire YouTube videos dedicated to it.
They know nothing about cars. If they did, they wouldn’t be car salespeople.
I’d love to just be an EV salesman for like 4 hours a day after my normal 7-3 workday. I’d be like do you love gas stations? No? Me either. Do you have a garage or drive to a work parking lot? Yes? Well you’d be perfect for an electric car. It’s the convenience and knowledge that you’re helping reduce carbon emissions after only a few years.
Every time I’ve ever test driven a car with a salesman it’s been the dumbest experience of my life. People who clearly don’t know a damn thing about the car, and can only tell you “this thing really suits you” or something. If I ask “does it have apple CarPlay” they gotta look it up because they don’t even know. I can only imagine it’s worse for EVs.