Premise: Edmunds employee goes undercover and actually works at two types of car dealers: a Carmax-type place and a new car dealer.
Original: http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confe ... esman.html
Updated: http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confe ... -2009.html
From the updated article:
So...yeah these are pretty universal, aren't they? Literally all of those.What Car Shoppers Hate
To provide a more specific answer about what has and hasn't changed, I made a list of the things that irk car shoppers. It boils down to these five "pain points."
1. I can't get a real price for the car I'm interested in buying.
2. I hate negotiating.
3. I don't like waiting while my salesman takes my offer to "the boss."
4. I hate feeling pressured and manipulated.
5. The sales pitches for additional products and services in the finance and insurance office make me uncomfortable.
All that said, I think these really apply to the used car buying process. Buying new cars isn't that profitable on the whole, and it is pretty easy to get a decent price with a variety of tools and methods. Used cars, however, are a total crap shoot. You don't know what they paid. There is no "invoice" that you can look up for a used car. You can look up wholesale value I guess.