What I find most interesting is that you're describing in positive terms the same thing I was when I wrote (earlier in the thread) "Changing the terms at the last moment, or saying for any reason "I'll bring it to my manager and see if he ok's it," are standard sleazy sales techniques. So are mysterious last-minute added charges that were never mentioned before, or dragging out the process until you're too hypoglycemic and addled to think clearly and will sign anything just to get it done."

In other words, it sounds like you're quite enamored of the sales techniques I find so abhorrent. I'm grasping for explanations, because you're framing this in terms of satisfying the customer, while my direct experience has involved walking out--with or without a completed sale--feeling like I've been had. Perhaps it involves something about the attitude which accompanies those trips to the sales manager's office and the attempts to assemble a "persuasive package."

I've been much happier on the one occasion when I searched by internet for the best available deal, committed, then traveled by train to a city 250 miles away to pick up my new car. I was in and out of the dealership in short order, there were no surprises, and I saved a fair bit of money. I'd have walked right out the door if presented with any surprises, especially if described in terms of my self-interest.

I'm genuinely intrigued by these discrepancies. In the US, car salespeople are generally considered rather low on the ethical ladder. This being the age of multiple, overlapping truths, I assume there is validity in all sorts of perspectives. On the other hand, I doubt most customers leave vehicle dealerships thinking "I love the way they used my arguments to set up a deal which benefited me!"

Mark