When a dealer doesn't need a customer

There is at least a pinpoint of light at the end of the tunnel for suffering car dealers who have Ford and the other struggling franchises of the Detroit 3.

That glimmer is arrogance on the part of their competitors. Toyota executives speak openly of their fear of arrogance even as they keep winning huge hunks of the American car market.

The following is a story about a dealer of one of the triumphant brands, Honda. While many Ford dealers scrap for every last sale just so they can stay afloat, this dealer appears to be so flooded with customers that … well, let's go to the story. (The story is unedited except that I have cleaned up a couple of typos from each writer.)

Paul Guthrie used to work at Reynolds and Reynolds, the big dealer software company. Last December, he was looking to buy a new Honda in the Dayton, Ohio, area. His e-mail sets the scene. The e-mail was to Matt Castrucci of Matt Castrucci Honda, one of four Matt Castrucci import-brand dealerships at the Matt Castrucci Auto Mall:

I sent a request for an Internet quotation on the new CR-V over a week ago after I received a promo email from Honda. After I sent in the request, I received a notice from your Internet Sales Manager that I would hear from someone shortly. Over a week later ... not a peep. Funny way to run a new car sales group, let alone an Internet sales effort.

Two minutes later, Guthrie followed that up:

I forgot to say that I've purchased 2 used, and 1 new car from your dealership in the past 5 or 6 years and have used your service area.

So here we have a return customer, but one with a little edge to his e-mail. Imagine a Ford dealer hearing from a repeat customer who wants to buy an Escape. At a minimum, the dealer would say: Not sure how we fell down there, but what can I do for you?

Here's Castrucci's response: What's so funny about it

Guthrie: Huh? Internet leads in the car sales business are known to be hotter than most. Dealerships which follow Internet lead process ... following up within hours -- not days -- are found to close a much higher percentage of their leads with sales. But, I guess you are correct. Your dealership's lack of followup from your Internet sales team isn't funny. It's pathetic.

By now, it's apparent that Castrucci figures he just doesn't need this sale. His response: You sure do know a lot about the car business.

Guthrie: Only what I read in the news and 19 years at Reynolds and Reynolds, bubba. Not nearly as much as you.

The tone has degenerated. Castrucci decides he'll bully the customer: Seeing as I'm a customer of Reynolds, I'll let them know how you feel.

The bullying fails:

Seeing's how I've been gone from REY for 15 months, I really don't give a shit. Also, since I'm a customer of yours and have spoken well of your dealership and its service to my friends for the last 5 or 6 years, your apparent lack of customer support makes it easy for me to shop for excellent Honda product elsewhere. You are a piece of work.

By now, it's pretty much just personal.

Castrucci: If you weren't such a jerk out of the gate there would be no problem. Why did you leave REY ... bad follow up?

Guthrie: Mr. Castrucci ... I can't wait to send these emails to the Dayton Daily News. I think this will make interesting reading for people in the area, to see how you communicate with your customers. Have a great Christmas.

Castrucci suggests he has some power over the newspaper:

I'll send them for you. I'm a pretty big customer of theirs as well.

And that's how it ended.

I left Castrucci a phone message and got a call from his lawyer. He positioned the e-mail conversation as a poor, beleaguered dealer protecting himself from a belligerent customer.

The next day, Castrucci called me. He seemed like a nice guy. "It's a bad situation, I realize that," he said.

"There is nothing in any of our archives that says he (Guthrie) ever requested information on the CR-V. And I didn't appreciate the attack on our dealership and the Internet sales process."

Castrucci has no apologies for running off the customer.

"Sometimes you've got to stand up for yourself for doing nothing wrong," he said. "Some days you handle it better than others."

Guthrie and his wife have decided to have their Hondas serviced elsewhere. In the future, they figure, they'll buy Toyotas.