I have purchased 15~ new & certified pre-owned cars over - BTOPIA
I have purchased 15~ new & certified pre-owned cars over the years from various local dealerships & have always hated the entire process. It is typically such a lame experience, enough so that we have NEVER purchased 2 cars from the same dealership. That was until recently when we found Mercedes of St. Charles - WOW.
They seem to have 'rewritten the script' on defining a positive customer experience & working with Andrew Sofiakis was easily the "best" (by a long shot). We never felt like we were being 'sold', let alone manipulated or pressured into making a decision. Andrew was incredibly professional, personable, & he is one of the most knowledgeable car experts we've met. He seemed to know everything about the models we were interested in (pros & cons), even those we were considering from other dealers. Andrew never once disparaged his competitors, or other makes/models we were comparing to the Mercedes. He treated my wife as an equal with all the respect one would expect. I only call that out because every other time we've purchased a car together, at some point the salesmen would always defer to the 'man'.
Although we were leaning towards buying a Porsche, with plans to visit another dealer that day, we never made it out the door. Andrew let the car sell itself, politely answering questions & further establishing his credibility & that of the entire dealership.
The car we were interested in was already competitively priced, but I have a natural aversion to paying 'list price' for anything. At the same time, I'm not a big fan of haggling! Fortunately, there was no 'stiff-arm' sales tactics & the Sales Manager (Allan) worked with me on the price & made me feel comfortable that I was getting a great deal on a great car. After deciding to purchase, Allan & Andrew introduced us to Gene to finalize the paperwork. This is typically where all the high-pressure sales tactics & upselling come into play, but with Mercedes of St Charles, this never happened. Gene did offer us a few options to consider, but there was no hard-selling involved, only data points with clear context, & how related decisions would impact the purchase price or payment. Best - Gene was able to provide us with a better rate & the entire transaction only took 30~ minutes to complete! Similar to our experience with Andrew, working with Gene was the 'best' buying experience we've had purchasing a new car.
Worth noting, before we left to drive our new car home, I noticed a small, but deep scratch on the back of the car. Even after I showed my wife, it was tough for her to see. It was not a 'deal breaker' but I shared my concern with Allan. I was expecting him to push back & explain it away or try to convince me that the scratch was not noticeable. Instead, Allan immediately called "his guy" who was not even working that day. Allan sent him a picture over the phone & within 15 minutes his guy drove to the dealership & fixed the scratch as though it had never existed!
I rarely write reviews & this is a LONG one, but we had such a terrific buying experience at Mercedes of St Charles, it's worth telling others. We will buy more cars in the future & this dealership will be the first one we visit. Well done!
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