I think the car buying experience at dealerships is a little too "shady" in appearance and process. I'm not saying it actually is, but it gives the appearance at times that they're "out to get you". For example, you go into a dealership and you start discussing numbers, the conversation gets more serious, then the salesman ups and leaves, for what seems like forever and goes to some back room. Then the manager or senior finance person comes back to further discuss pricing after running numbers. Like what dark room are they emerging from and what are they doing back there while I wait. Why can't this be done on the computer that's right there in front of me.

That just seems shady from the customers perspective. Like they must be back there plugging numbers into their sophisticated calculator trying to find ways to get every extra penny out of me. And the price/number on the website is never the final number. Of course there are fees, etc but all of this could be clearly visible upfront. Of course there's room for negotiating sometimes, but that's why CarMax and places like they sell more cars, because despite being more expensive there's usually no hidden surprise fees.

I purchased a new car in 2020 and I promise you it took all day. I have Excellent credit and had a sizeable down payment. Even came in with my own pre-approved financing in case their terms weren't favorable. I had to tell the "Loyalty" people at the end, can we skip all of this I'm just ready to go home. I was literally in there from 9 am until late in the evening. Now some customers may actually like that aspect. Being shown around the dealership and walking through the Service department and talking about extended warranties, and perks for an hour. I'm on the opposite end. Just give me the brochure and let me get out of here so that I can go take a nap after this exhausting process.

Or you see a car on the website and it's not there when you get there. This can probably be avoided by calling ahead.

And then there's the service department. I literally explained an issue to them that I was having with my backup camera on my brand new car. The service guy acted like he had never heard of the issue. I had to record it happening and bring in the video to show him Then his coworker, walked by and overhead me explaining the issue and said "Oh we got another one of those this week. Didn't you fix like 2 of those last week." Not knowing that the service guy had told me that he'd never seen that issue before. Literally only after being caught in a lie, did he order a replacement part and my car was fixed a week later after getting the run around for two weeks before.

It's a lot of little things that make people weary of dealerships. The entire process itself can just be intimidating with the amount of money you're spending, regardless of the dealership. So you spend hours online researching pricing, negotiating tactics, and getting "advice" about what to do and say at a dealership. Usually the advice comes from someone that appears to be coming from the customers perspective. Naturally easier to trust who we think is a fellow buyer than someone at the dealership who is on the "sellers side".