Dealer Logo
 

We recently purchased a new truck. I requested that the dealer not put one of their logo decals on the back. Low and behold, we pick up our truck and there is a dealer logo on the back. We had to wait 30 minutes for them to remove it and remove the glue, etc.

The funny thing is, the salesman points to a highly polished vehicle in front of his office and says with pride "there is your new truck"

My reply "That can't be ours, our truck doesn't have a dealer logo on the back. Call me when our truck will be here..."

They threw in free oil changes and car washes for 1 year for the inconvenience of waiting for them to remove the logo.

The thing is this request was agreed upon with the salesman and the sales manager before purchase. We also confirmed this the day we were supposed to pick up the truck.

Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine?

There is no circuit city logo on my new TV, why would I want a dealership logo on my car?

As I understand it, they are not paying me a monthly stipend for advertising for them.

I was just wondering what your opinions were on dealer logos, etc.

The same exact thing. And the same thing happened to me in Michigan, sans the free stuff :( They think you won't bother them once it's on, HORSE HOCKEY!! I've only purschased 4 new cars in my life but none of them have had a dealer sticker on them. Yeap when I get a check once a month I'll think about it.

I agree completely. I always take them off immediately. For me it is easier to take them off myself than go through the hassle at the dealership asking them to leave the stickers off...only to find them on the car like you did.

FYI, with a hair-dryer they come off very easily.

I can't believe how many people leave the dealer logos on. And I really can't believe how many people drive around with both a dealer logo sticker & a dealer license plate frame!

What bugs me even more is when the dealer puts a dealer license plate on the front in the rear-plate-only states. They actually order the front license plate brackets & install them on the front just to put on the dealer plate. That would REALLY make me mad...drilling holes in my front bumper.

I feel better now....

I would guess you're also one of those pain in the azz customers that even when the dealership gives you a helluva deal, you piss and moan about their logo being on the vehicle. Then when there's a problem with the vehicle requiring service, you'll act as if it's their fault (even though they didn't build it) and piss and moan some more and demand a loaner. Just a s.w.a.g on my part..

To me the whole point is I'm not getting paid to advertise for them, plan and simple.

My wife bought a new mustang a few years back. When she picked the car out it did not have a front plate on it, when she went back to pick up the car they had drilled holes in the front of the car and mounted one of there logo plates.

I would not have taken the car.

Wow. There is a lot of attitude in your post. What happened to trying to create a pleasant customer experience? If the customer doesn't want a sticker on his/her car, why not just leave it off? Attitudes like yours are the reason most people hate buying new cars. Most car dealers don't care about customer satisfaction -- they simply want to get every last penny out of every customer.

That is a very short-sighted approach to business. A good dealer will work hard to please customers so they come back for their next cars...& send their friends. I was in the car business for 14 years & I know it works -- treat people right & they come back over & over.

I take 'em off myself, ASAP.

Sorry, you wanna pay me for the advertising real estate then fine. Otherwise leave it off.

As far as service, we start with a clean slate, the dealer determines how we proceed from there.

Bought a 3000 GT. They gave me 4 sets of keys.

After a year remote goes dead, battery, go into the house and grab another set. Remote works but key will not start car.

Turns out that 3 of the 4 keys are not for my car.

Take it in for dealer service and bring the 3 useless keys. Ask for replacements that are actually for MY car.

When I pick up the car there is a line item, $80 for cutting 3 blanks.

Uhhhh, f'u. If I wanted to PAY for the extra keys that came with the car I would have gone to the hardware store and paid $2 for each extra set.

Same dealer, clutch slave goes south. Paid for extended service that includes roadside. Dealer is 15 miles from my house. Call them to confirm distance is covered because there is another dealer 3 miles away, (farther dealer is closer to office so more convenient for me).

Go to pick up car, $150 for tow. Uhhh, no, sorry, covered. An hour arguing with service manager, sales guy made a mistake, I should have talked to service, tow is only good for 5 miles. Uhhh, no, f'u, service and sales work for the same dealer so if sales guy f'd up not MY problem, your problem, YOU go talk to him. End of dealer relationship. Not gettin a 3rd chance.

Man, I thought I was the only one that took the dealer logos off.
I, like the others, don't get a check from dealers so I don't advertise for them.

That said, I do have a Pelican on the 911 and the BMW. Not so much for advertisement but more so to let other Pelicans I may run into that we are Pelicans as well.

Yes, I would put a Pelican decal on the back of my car. For just the same reasons as you stated above.

I fell glad that I am not the only one who feels this way, Red Baron excluded.

I had a repair shop in Knoxville (which did a really poor repair of my 911 :mad: ) take a license tag frame off the back of my car and put theirs on in its place. I found my original frame on the floor behind the driver's seat. Needless to say, I fixed that situation.

Had the same thing happen, only they took off the license plate that had MY business on it and put their own. ...and mine was nowhere to be found. I made them take $50 off the bill to order a new one. They were reluctant at first but escalating volume in the showroom and a few f-bombs thrown in for spice changed their attitude.

There's a local car dealer that screwed a few customers and it hit the newspapers. Soon afterwards I started seeing some vehicles with " Buyer beware at" scripted above the dealer logo.

Sometimes their free advertisement can backfire.

dealer advertising
 

In the olden days, dealers actually drilled holes to mount their stinking company name.
I just took delivery of a new car, which was special ordered and took 3 month to get. When I get to the dealer I see my car with the logo on it. I flipped, the dealer had to remove the trunk lid and replace it with a new one. I checked if they just welded the holes and repainted it. No it was a new trunk lid.
And since I had already sold my car, the dealer now had to give me a loaner for 2 weeks till my new car had a new trunk lid.

From than on this dealer used glue on Logo. What a nerve drilling holes into a new car and I bet they did not repaint the holes to prevent from rusting.

I've always just taken off the advertising myself, but it occurs to me that I should probably start telling them to remove them before I even take delivery. It's always one of the first things I do. Like you say, I'm not getting a monthly check to advertise, why should I keep wearing their logo?

Now, if someone were to produce a Pelican Parts license plate frame, I'd have no shame wearing one of those...

Dan

Advertising that can be good or bad.
Let me ask you this, have you ever bought a vehicle because of seeing a logo on a car? If you did, did you ask the person driving that car about their expereince with the dealer first? And if their feedback was negative, did you still go ahead and purchase a vehicle from them?

I see the dealer logo as a 'double edged sword'. What if you hate the dealership and provide negative feedback to people who may ask you about them?

On another note, the dealership I purchased my previous 3 vehicles from pays me $100 per referral that results in a sale. To assert a dealership should pay for 'advertising' their logo on your vehicle is asinine. However if the dealer logo is obnoxious, I'd probably remove it regardless of how well they do business.

My attitude is why people hate buying new cars? That is plain stupid. Sounds more like you're dealing with 14 years of guilt in your post than the issue. Did the dealership you worked at use a logo?

The dealerships I buy from will give you your yearly State inspection for free if the license plate frame is on the car.I am pleased with the dealerships if I was not the frames would come off.

I like the dealer stickers that are slapped on crooked.

It's a real rarity in California to see a dealer sicker/plaque on a car. And while it would irk me to no end, given how many I see in other states, I think there are far more people who don't care than those that do. The fact that we are on a car enthusiast board skews our leanings.

For every car that I have ever bought, the single first thing I do is remove the dealer plate frame and put on a plain frame. However, once at an independent volvo repair shop in socal, the owner said, "Our tech noticed that the license plate frame on the front of your car is broken. If you like, and if you are happy with the service we provide you, we will put on one of our shop license plate frames and give you a $5 credit." I was happy to support him and his shop.