Funny, I recently was having this topic discussion with a friend. I was all for rebranding, if the Genesis and Equus are supposed to be luxury cars. To me, there is a certain expectation when something is tagged as luxury. I expect sales people to look and act professionally, I expect the sales people to be not only knowledgeable about their product, but also knowledgeable about their competitor’s product, I expect the sales people to be aware that there are consumers who do due diligence before they purpose most things, especially high ticket items, and I expect them to tell me something I did not know already. Quite frankly, I would expect this if I was buying a Yugo.
I like others that I've seen post on this site pooh poohed considering the Genesis. Why, because it's a Hyundai. That name alone could be a deal breaker. What has changed my mind about getting a Genesis or an Equus, if it made fiscal sense to buy an Equus? My research and three test drives. Getting a used 2008 Lexus GS 350 or 2010 Acura TL are still on my list, however, because of the car and the dealer experience. In the case of both cars, it's the standard features (what they do compared to the Genesis) and the in dealership experience and dealership follow up that are keeping them in the running. Regarding the Hyundai, what I have not experienced first hand, I have experienced by reading dealership reviews (sales and service) and BBB ratings, accreditations or lack there of.
I went to three (1 in TX and 2 in NJ) Hyundai dealerships to test drive the car and to get a feel of the standard features and options. Its one thing to read about the features on a spec sheet, it's quite another to actually use them. At all three they mentioned the car being the 2009 car of year. Ok great, (1) I knew that already (2) ok, so show me and explain to me why or, better yet, ask me what I already know about the car. (3) Don’t just put me behind the
wheel of the car, have me drive a half a mile away or around the corner and then aggressively try to get me to by the car.
Only one salesman came remotely close to being able to go over the car. At the dealership in TX, the guy only knew the car was voted car of the year. In addition, I told him I wanted to test drive the 2010 V6 with the Tech Package and one with the NAV package to get a feel of the controls. He had me waiting in the cold; it was an unseasonably cold day in TX, for 10+ minutes. When he returned he claimed the keys for the cars had been moved. He left again, leaving me in the cold (I decided to go inside this time – though a suggestion to come inside, on his part, would have been nice). When he returned this time, he returned with the keyless remote, for a used 2009 with no NAV. During the test drive, when I asked him if there had been feedback regarding how the car handled in the rain with the rear
wheel drive, he seemed to not even know the car was rear
wheel drive.
In addition, all of the salesmen were completely clueless as to what the NAV and voice control could do. Of course, I knew I can, for example, use the NAV for directions, but can the NAV look up the nearest gas station?, can you upload CDs so you don't clutter your car with CDs?, can you use the voice setting to manage the temperature in the car? NONE of them knew that. When I asked one of the guys this question he began screaming out commands to the car. I couldn't believe it. He was even shocked when I mentioned the TL and some Ford cars have the CD upload feature (up to 50 CDs on the TL). His response was, "wow, really? I don't think this car has that. That's really cool". I raised an eyebrow.
At the two dealerships in NJ, even though I made it clear that I only was there to test drive the car and check it out in person, they both gave me the "what can we do so you leave with a car today?". I didn't get that at the Lexus, Acura, BMW, or
Infiniti dealerships. The Hyundai guys kept pressing. They both also asked what payment I wanted, which didn't matter because I wasn't there to buy a car and a savvy car buyer knows to negotiate price not car payment. Basically, both dealerships were very pushy, spending more time trying to get me to go beyond my intentions and less time on talking up the car (selling it).
I had already determined I didn’t want to go to either of the dealerships mentioned above (Global Hyundai in North Plainfield, NJ and Freehold Hyundai in Freehold, NJ) when I was ready to buy, since I didn't like those experiences. Therefore, I decided to save myself time for when I was ready to buy, by finding dealerships based on them being accredited by the BBB, having a rating of A- or better, and reviewing the types and number of complaints. I looked at about 10+ dealerships and only ended up with three on my list. Global Hyundai did not make the list because it had a rating of A-, BUT, it also had 24 complaints. I suspect they were able to have a high rating because they worked with the BBB and resolved most issues, but for me 24 complaints is unacceptable. Freehold Hyundai has an F rating; therefore, they are not accredited.
Speaking of Freehold, I forgot to mention the way in which one of the guys that deals with money part of the transaction handled customers. With me and other customers right there he was verbally abusive to not one, but two customers. Both customers were questioning the agreed upon figures to the figures on the typed up documentaion. From what I could hear with the first altercation, the customer did not like the numbers regarding his trade-in. The Hyundai person (1) was paying attention to his phone and texting while the customer was talking to him (2) at one point threw down his phone on the table after the customer questioned the documentation. Thankfully, the customer decided he had enough. Of course, the Hyundai guy then wanted to know what he could do to keep the customer’s business, but the customer felt the dealership was lacking integrity and he left.
Lastly, there is a dealership in NJ (Brad Benson) that has commercials on the radio. I refused to consider them because their commercials are tasteless. The guy talks about not having sex and relating it to discounts of some sort or him making your car payments or something. Now, I am no conservative, by any means, but come on now!! That’s just tacky. I did check them out on BBB though. I was not surprised to see the have an F rating.
As I started, I have certain expectations and as demonstrated above, I think it is safe to say Hyundai falls well beneath my expectations. Therefore, I suggest, even if they do not rebrand, that they MUST change their dealership practices because if I used that to gauge my decision, I would not be considering the Genesis. I must admit too, I am putting up a cautionary flag regarding the service department experience. Way too many Hyundai dealerships have very bad reviews in that area.
