An ETHICAL question about deliveries

[LEAFfan]

Unfortunately, the word "ethics" and the phrase "car dealership" are very seldom used in the same sentence. They are a few notable exceptions, like Fontana Nissan, but they are way too few and far apart...

You can add Greg Leach to that list as one of the best car salespeople I've ever dealt with, but he was fired for being too nice. Maybe partly because he gave me the .00180 MF on a 36 mo. lease. I find out later that that is the rate for a 'one-payment' lease only.

 

[TomT]

So, clearly he was, but his dealership just as clearly was not!

Unfortunately, the word "ethics" and the phrase "car dealership" are very seldom used in the same sentence. They are a few notable exceptions, like Fontana Nissan, but they are way too few and far apart...

You can add Greg Leach to that list as one of the best car salespeople I've ever dealt with, but he was fired for being too nice. Maybe partly because he gave me the .00180 MF on a 36 mo. lease. I find out later that that is the rate for a 'one-payment' lease only.

 

[Lanzer]

It'll be much easier to say that the dealer's action result in many people's emotional turmoil rather than being branded as ethical or unethical.

To the dealer, all customers who orders are designated to received their cars in the order which they reserved and order online. (overlooking Nissan's queuing problems) They can sell an orphan to someone who has a pending order, it means the action will allow someone to jump the queue and get his/her car earlier. The act of doing so is a good deed, while the failure to do that is hard to be considered as unethical when no rules are broken or deception being played.

It's inherently a difficult discussion as everyone's level of judgement towards the word "ethical" varies tremendously.

At the end of the day, I still feel like the core of the problems is how the cars were not delivered in the order which the reservations took place. Even if all the orphans were sold back to people with orders pending, that will only satisfy a hand full of customers over the hundreds of mis-placed orders. Nobody deserves to follow a dashboard with a promised date that's inaccurate by months on end, and nobody deserves to keep seeing later orders being delivered before they did. Failure to handle the orphans properly just added oil to the fire.

 

[BLUEH20]

I adopted an orphan LEAF.

The person that initiated the order became so inflamed with the delevery process that he demanded his holding deposit be returned and relenquished his claim to the order. I happen to be standing there and was most happy to assume his position in line. I did have a 90 day wait, so there was no instant gradification of immediate delivery.

No one's order position was effected by his nor my decision in this purchase. No one moved up and no one moved down--the delivery line is the same lenght as before.

In order to get the vehicle you ordered-you have to wait for it. I had no voice in the model, color, or installed options; I adopted it as is.

We love it as if it was our own--but then--it is our own LEAF: it just happens to be the right model, in right color, with all but one of the accessories we wanted pre-delivery installed.

 

[Herm]

At the end of the day, I still feel like the core of the problems is how the cars were not delivered in the order which the reservations took place.

The problem with this is that cars are built in batches, usually of the same color to avoid too many cleaning purges of the paint guns.. and also when parts are available for a particular option.. then everything gets scrambled with shipping. Nissan should have put a disclaimer that delivery order would not necessarily match deposit order.

 

[Glenn]

At the end of the day, I still feel like the core of the problems is how the cars were not delivered in the order which the reservations took place.

The problem with this is that cars are built in batches, usually of the same color to avoid too many cleaning purges of the paint guns.. and also when parts are available for a particular option.. then everything gets scrambled with shipping. Nissan should have put a disclaimer that delivery order would not necessarily match deposit order.

Others may know better, but I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of the Nissan assembly line in Oppama with cars of different colors intermixed, as well as Jukes and Leafs and Versas all going down the line in seemingly random order.

 

[aarond63]

In response to the "Ethics" question. I have personally seen alot of unethical behavior on both sides in my 10 years in the buisness. I got into car sales to be an ethical participant in this industry and have found it extremely easy to do my job ethically. There was a very valid point made earlier, the way the system is set up it would become a real issue if we "pulled ahead" orders to fill with orphans. With that being said, most individuals have volunteered to pay a "premium" because they realize that they will be able to take advantage of Cailf. $5000 rebate if they do and if they order the money could well be gone by the time there car gets here. I have found that, like most instances, about 98% of my customers are good, ethical people. There remaining 2% are "unethical" and live there day to day life that way. They are people that outside of being forced to do buisness with, none of us would hjave any interaction with them, because the have no morals ior ethics. I also believe there is a small percentage of "car people" still left in the buisness that are unethical and I hate every time I am lumped in with them. It is the same as saying, my friend was duped by a white male, therefore all white males are bad people and so forth. You are always in danger of stereotyping when you throw "everyone" in the same group. Do yourself a favor and have an open mind next time you hit the car dealership and see how it changes your perception and the end result.
Aaron de Priest
Stevens Creek Nissan

 

[derkraut]

In response to the "Ethics" question. I have personally seen alot of unethical behavior on both sides in my 10 years in the buisness. I got into car sales to be an ethical participant in this industry and have found it extremely easy to do my job ethically. There was a very valid point made earlier, the way the system is set up it would become a real issue if we "pulled ahead" orders to fill with orphans. With that being said, most individuals have volunteered to pay a "premium" because they realize that they will be able to take advantage of Cailf. $5000 rebate if they do and if they order the money could well be gone by the time there car gets here. I have found that, like most instances, about 98% of my customers are good, ethical people. There remaining 2% are "unethical" and live there day to day life that way. They are people that outside of being forced to do buisness with, none of us would hjave any interaction with them, because the have no morals ior ethics. I also believe there is a small percentage of "car people" still left in the buisness that are unethical and I hate every time I am lumped in with them. It is the same as saying, my friend was duped by a white male, therefore all white males are bad people and so forth. You are always in danger of stereotyping when you throw "everyone" in the same group. Do yourself a favor and have an open mind next time you hit the car dealership and see how it changes your perception and the end result.
Aaron de Priest
Stevens Creek Nissan

Well-said Aaron

 

[Herm]

Others may know better, but I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of the Nissan assembly line in Oppama with cars of different colors intermixed, as well as Jukes and Leafs and Versas all going down the line in seemingly random order.

I have seen that too, but still cars of the same color are painted in a line one after another by robots, then baked.. then the rest of the assembly work is done and thats where they mix up the models. Flushing out a color and using another is not trivial and they try to minimize that within limits. Paint is probably the 2nd most expensive part in a Leaf, after the batteries.