On Buying A Car--Because Every Few Years I Must GO THERE

September 07, 2009

By Kaira Rouda
Author of "Real You Incorporated: Eight Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs"

When Jody DeVere asked me to write a blog about my car-buying experiences over the years, I chuckled. Is there any woman out there who hasn't had a bad car-buying experience? Unfortunately, I don't know any women who smile when they think about walking into the men's locker room of a dealership. Not one of my friends relishes her trip to the service department. Nobody I know has loved their dealer--unless she's married to one.

My car-buying experiences have been a calculated process of minimizing in-dealer experience and, if I had to GO THERE, making sure I brought a man with me. At varying times in my life, said men have included my dad, my brother, my boyfriend, and my husband. A woman who works for me right now is in the process of looking for her first car. She's online, emailing dealerships. Whenever she asks for a price, they won't provide it. The emails invariably tell her she needs to GO THERE to get the details. Why?

Women are busy, but we buy a majority of all consumer products and services, including cars. This antiquated GO THERE and the whole haggling/secret pricing stuff that goes on is a complete and total turnoff. Not to mention the macho decor, the lack of female sales associates, and so on. Don't make me GO THERE anymore. I don't need to until it's transaction time, and I'd rather not even go then. All of the manufacturers have great "build your dream car" tools. And then, when I do build it, I want to just order it. If I have questions, I want to email and discuss. This process of forcing me to a dealer whose rotation it is in your ad co-op, versus a dealer somewhere in the country who actually has the car I've built in stock, is crazy.

Please, car industry. Let us help you, us consumers. We are telling you EXACTLY what we want when we build a car online. When we come in for a test drive, don't hassle us. Don't automatically look at the man I've brought as my buffer as if he is the decision maker. He's not. He's just my buffer. I make the decisions here, even when I must GO THERE, to your domain. Even if he's not just a buffer, if he's my partner in the purchase, I've still done most of the research to get us to this point, and I will make the final decision. That's how it works when couples buy together.

I love the notion that Volvo offers a customer service department that comes to you. This is great, because we don't want to GO THERE either, even Volvo.

I love that Jody trains dealerships and retail locations to be certified by AskPatty.com to be female friendly, and I'd actually GO THERE, I think. Lately, my car dealership has been really good about bringing things to me. I like them because they do that, and I don't have to, you guessed it, GO THERE.

Kaira Rouda is the bestselling author of Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, a guide to help women discover and love their personal brand and bring it to market as their unique competitive advantage. An award-winning entrepreneur, marketer, consultant and speaker of 20+ years, Kaira is passionate about entrepreneurism, marketing and the power of women in the workforce. Get her weekly dose of inspiration at RealYouIncorporated.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kairarouda. Friend her on Facebook and connect with her on LinkedIn.

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