Why I Avoided Traditional Car Dealerships And Purchased A Polestar 2 EV

A couple of years ago, I bought a Tesla Model 3 Long-Range. I made this purchase because I drive a large amount of miles every month, and that number was projected to increase in the coming months. I calculated that it would save me a massive amount of money in gas.

The purchase of the Tesla was the easiest car buying experience I've ever had. Since everything was done online, there was absolutely no pressure from any salesmen. I had an out the door price right away with no additional dealer markup(ADM). This was all done without talking to a single person via Tesla's web portal. The only time I actually spoke with someone was when I went and picked up the car, and that was just to sign the final paperwork.

Fast-forward to a few months ago, when I started looking into getting another electric vehicle. I first researched Ford's Mach-e. I liked the large storage capacity of the Mach-e and the MSRP fell right inline with how much I wanted to spend. I scheduled a test drive with the closest Ford dealership. It was your typical dealership experience, unfortunately. I let them know that I have a test drive scheduled, and one of them asks me to come sit down at their desk to start talking numbers. Despite this, I let him know that I was there to test drive before even considering talking numbers, and he insisted. Again, I stated I wanted to do the test drive before talking numbers, and he finally conceded.

The test drive went fine. I had done a decent amount of research and some of the questions I had asked him, he was unaware of the answer. Mainly questions about Ford's BlueCruise. I would assume this is due to Ford's lack of training. In any case, after the test drive, he again asked me to talk numbers at his desk. I refused for the third time, as I wanted to test drive the remaining cars.

Unfortunately, the local Hyundai and Kia dealerships did not have any of their respective EVs in stock. I called a few others, and the one Hyundai dealership wanted a credit check before I even came in. When I asked the Hyundai/Kia dealers if they were selling at MSRP, they either refused to answer or gave non-answers.

I went back to the Mach-e because I really did like the vehicle. After calling about 15 different Ford dealers, I had come to the conclusion that it was like pulling teeth to find out if they were selling at MSRP. Almost every dealership had some sort of additional dealer markup. This markup was anywhere from $500-$7000. For the ones that did not have any ADM, it was even more of a struggle to get the dealership to put it in writing.

One EV that was not on my radar was the Polestar 2. After some research, I found that I liked a lot of the things Polestar was offering. Among these offerings were online purchasing, a sedan vs SUV, and truthfully more power. After test-driving it, I was sold.

I placed an order for a pre-configured model, because of the quicker turn around time then custom ordering one. The order process was very similar to Tesla's. Finances, trade-in, and paperwork was all done online. I had an out-the-door price with no haggling or ADM. From the time I completed the online purchase to pick up of the car it was about 3 weeks. This included updates from the Polestar sales rep about the status of my car.

When the time finally came to pick up the car, I got a message to schedule a pickup time. Pickup was super simple. As they got their paperwork together, the sales rep helped me set up the keys and my phone as a key. When it was time to do paperwork, I had been pre-approved through my credit union, so I didn't finance through Polestar, so there was not much to talk about. I signed the final papers and was out of there in less than an hour.

I really do not think I will ever consider a traditional car dealership again. The purchase process that Tesla and Polestar are providing is so far above in terms of quality and customer interaction compared to Ford, Kia, and Hyundai. When I was dealing with traditional dealerships, I felt like I was a target. I felt that their main goal was to get as much out of the deal as they can. When dealing with Tesla and Polestar, it seemed like they just wanted to help with a cool car and a good buying encounter. Since there was no haggling or any ADM to fend off, it was a very pleasant experience to undergo.

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