A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Thank you everybody for all the feedback.
I purchased the car this afternoon for exactly the price I wanted to pay, and the dealer was happy with the deal too. We need to be sure to be fair to the Lotus dealersips, without them Lotus might not support the U.S. market like they didn't for so many years.
I can whole heartedly recommend Newport European Lotus, Joseph and Kevin made this by far the best car buying experience I have ever had. I don't have an ounce of buyers remorse, the car is awesome, even though the drive home proably cost me $6K if I wanted to think about it that way.
I can't believe I have a lotus parked downstairs in the garage!
fnBrit.
2006 Solar Yellow Elise.
A:
I have to say that I am very happy to hear that the lotus dealers are making so many people so happy. I have sold other car lines and that is not the case. You got a great deal and enjoy your great car.
Brandon
A:
Originally Posted by FastFreddy
I have to agree with Beverly Hills Auto here. The Lotus is a special car, that requires special care. (BTW, I am on the east coast, and have no ax here). There is always someone who will sell the car to you cheaper, but if you buy from a dealer who is only interested in moving cars at cheap prices, they may not be around to service your vehicle, or may skimp on service training for their techs.
I just traded in an Alfa Romeo Spyder on the Lotus. I was able to pick the Spyder up as a 4 year old low mileage car because the dealer, who had the lowest price, went ot of business, and the person that wound up servicing the car didn't know what they were doing. The owner wanted the car gone, because of repeated problems, and when the dealer I purchased the car from, who I had known for years, went to pick up the car was told "Just get the car out of my driveway." The "problem"...they installed the cheapest battery that they could find. Installing the proper size battery (which anyone who owns a spyder knows) solved the problem. I drove the car for 13 trouble free years, but am fortunate that there is still terrific service for my Alfa Romeos by former dealers in my region when I needed it.
Hopefully, we will not have many problems with our cars, but when you do, you want a competent dealer who knows what they are doing to be around to service the car. They can't do that if they are breaking even or selling the car for a couple of hundred dollars more than they paid. I am sure that I could have gotten a better deal, but I was fortunate that the 2 dealers from who I considered purchasing, had great reputations. I don't know about Newport, but if they have a good reputation for service, do you best negotiiatiing, but allow them to make a profit on the car. You will be glad that they are around when you need them.
BTW, if you own business, or are employed by a company, you wouldn't be able to purchase the Lotus if you sold your products or services at break even pricing.
Just my 2c.
Good luck, you will love the car.
Not so Fast...Freddy! Sorry, couldn't resist
You're kinda' right but, not 100%. While dealers are here to make a profit, most of their profit comes from either service or parts. Car sales contributes but, nothing compared to the other two dept. Our sister store South Bay BMW, averages out well over $1M per month in service and almost $2M in parts. Their sales dept. retails anywhere from 250 cars (on slow month)-400 cars (on good month) and do not average the numbers of their other dept.
Dealers like Newport and ourselves rely more on our pre-own sales to pay the bills while providing our customers with better than normal prices on new cars (Lotus) and great customer service. No offence to any other Lotus dealer but, probably the two best Lotus techs in the nation work for Newport (Don ) & South Bay (Qais ).