The Car Dealer

Looks like I might have a little success story on my hands.

The car dealership originally had three handicapped permit spots, two in front of the showroom and one on the side near parts/service. The one on the side frequently had a dealership car in it. I complained, over and over again. I was told, over and over again, that they were so sorry, it would never happen again. Finally asked to speak to the sales manager, who said he didn’t see what the problem was, the owner like to park there, and it was marked as a permit spot to keep it open. (That way handicapped people could use it when he wasn’t there!) I was unable to remain business-like in my response. So the dealership’s solution was to pull out the handicapped permit sign.

Fast forward. Now there’s no place to park for parts/service, no way to get on the curb except by going down the driveway to the service bays, and in front of the showroom, the spots still have dealership cars in them. I notice for the first time that what I thought was a display area for a car (because there’s always a car parked on it) is actually the ramp up to the dealership floor!

I call the dealership. “Hi, is your showroom wheelchair accessible?”

“Oh, yes! Well…we’ll have to move the X5…”

“So you need me to call before I come so you can move the car? And where should I park?”

“There’s spots right in front!”

“They have dealership cars in them.”

“Oh, dear, they shouldn’t do that…let me get the sales manager…”

So on the phone the sales manager gave me a certain amount of song and dance, but I made an appointment to see him. Yeah! It’s a new, different sales manager. We walked all around the facility, pointed out what was needed, he was very agreeable and wants to get stuff changed. He even apologized for saying that he couldn’t do anything about employees parking the dealership cars in the permit spots.

It was a very pleasant conversation – I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out.