RE: New car discounts??

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> The fallacy is in the calculation - overheads divided by 
> visits.  Every
> time you don't make a visit, your cost per visit goes up.  
> The answer is
> not to turn people away, because that _increases_ your cost per visit.

... something that is intuitively obvious to some ... and is yet another
case of using  statistics, without considering 

> In Germany, dealerships have open days with free beer and sausages for
> anyone currently driving a car of their manufacture.  Free 
> strut insert
> checks using an accelerometer, free light alignment, etc.

The _best_ experience I've ever had at an Audi dealer was a few years ago
... in Japan!  I had seen the dealership on the bus from the airport to
Tachikawa.  I knew the place wasn't _that_ far away from my hotel ... and me
without a map, speaking effectively no Japanese, but having an afternoon
free, decided to try to find the place.  It was quite a walk on a beautiful
spring day, but I finally found it.  I got a cup of coffee almost
immediately, and went through a couple rounds of "wa karima-sen" (me telling
them I didn't understand what they were trying to say) with them when one
decided to call someone who spoke english.  I spoke to the person on the
phone and told them my story, telling them that I was so amazed to see an
Audi dealership in Japan, and since I was a fan of Audis I thought I would
like to check the place out.  After I gave the phone back to them, they went
back and got me copies of all the sales literature and a cute Audi
pen/marker.  I thanked them, looked around a bit more and bid sayonara.
I've got to say that while I appreciate the helpfulness of all of the people
in the parts department at Carlsen P/A their sales department sucks IMO.
I've got a check in my pocket today that would allow me to walk out with any
new Audi they have in their showroom, but I never even get the time of day
from them.  I joked with my wife about staying away from the dealerships
today ... just in case I saw something I liked ... ;-)

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)