[bradbmw]

Well said.

Originally Posted by prova275

Hi Dooma, Have been following this since seeing it on Autoblog earlier, very interesting. I'm coming at this a little differently than most of the other posters...... I'm a new car dealer. And I totally agree with you, it's your car. As long as you can stroke the check and live up to your side of 'the bargain', then the dealer must as well. Forget the arguments over the technicalities of eBay and all the various legalities: a deal's a deal.

The only advice I can give from decades of dealership experience would be the following:

Dooma, stick to your guns but take the high road. Be respectful, don't harrass or belittle. Assume they're going to sell it to you and start pushing them for delivery. Dealers (or most of them, anyway) are human and we're all more likely to work with the customer who works with us rather than one threatening us.

Fil, this guy has you right by the nuts. Take the hit, sell him the unit and get on with it. You're not losing much, if anything at all and the amount of negative NATIONAL publicity this has spawned is going to take you years and a fortune to overcome. I don't need to tell you about the importance of Customer Satisfaction Indexes, etc. The economic impact is far greater than you imagine at this point. Your factory guys are going to be pissed, your dealer principal is going to take a look at the big picture and be pissed, and your customer base..... well, you get the idea.

To the salesman who ran the eBay 'auction' for the store, ask for a transfer out to the wash bay. You made a run at this guy, and that's wrong. The new car business in general has evolved beyond these type of practices, and people of your ilk are not needed nor wanted.

and Mooseman, your argument is well presented, but I do wonder where you're coming from. I've had dozens of salemen work for me over the years and I'm just betting that you've put in your share of showroom hours. Make sure to hit Fil up for lunch tomorrow.

Good luck in all of this.