Latest dumb idea

[Anonymous]

I visited a dealer today just to have a look around and see if I could be tempted. Not a Jag dealer, a different marque.

And to my dismay I found that instead of having the price of the cars displayed in the usual fashion with a simple sign hanging in the window (like the last what 50 years ?)....each car had a sign with a QR code.

Now I might be getting a bit long in the tooth but this seems to me to be the dumbest new idea 'for the sake of it' that I've seen in some time.

No more casting your eye across the cars picking out something in your price range and perhaps finding something you hadn't even thought of. No more quick and simple visual comparison of similar cars and mental maths about the price differentials vs year/mileage etc.

No..you have to go up to each one and p**s about with your phone.

So...having establised this was the case I just got back in the car and left.

Really hope this doesn't become widespread.

Yours sincerely, Victor Meldrew.

 

[Kev]

It’s also a way to harvest your contact details before you can access the pricing of the vehicle, or to upsell you a better specified one in a follow-up email/call

 

[WShudds]

I think the QR code is a valid idea providing it's used in conjunction with the price tag displayed clearly. The idea behind the QR code is that it gives you access to the car details, history, etc so you can get better informed before inquiring about it.

It could be to reduce costs with sales people or to please those who since the pandemic want the least possible contact with a fellow human being

 

[scm]

The QR code saves them having to spend their money making price tickets - they wouldn't want to just have scrappy handwritten ones. Plus you can't easily track the downward spiral of pricing as they try to shift it!

 

[Anonymous]

The QR code saves them having to spend their money making price tickets - they wouldn't want to just have scrappy handwritten ones. Plus you can't easily track the downward spiral of pricing as they try to shift it!

I think there's a point here that they can fiddle around with the prices, probably automatically in the background, and quickly, if you can't phycally see the price until to use the code.

Isn't it great to be alive right now ?

 

[Anonymous]

The QR codes probably just point to their website with the idea being that they see number of hits to gauge interest, it doesn't require speaking to a sales person, a lot more info can be displayed, other cars in stock can be advertised as and pop up. It also allows you to review the full details of a car later.

My only comments on QR codes, not related to this, if you are using QR codes to pay for services ensure the website you end up at is not fake. There have been a lot of fake QR codes put up and stuck over legitimate ones, such as in car parks. You park, scan and think you have paid. But you you've actually just paid someone else on a convincing looking websites, given away all your details and still get a parking fine afterwards!

 

[Anonymous]

The QR codes probably just point to their website with the idea being that they see number of hits to gauge interest, it doesn't require speaking to a sales person, a lot more info can be displayed, other cars in stock can be advertised as and pop up. It also allows you to review the full details of a car later.

There are probably some benefits. But not displaying the price on the car forces you into using the QR code. And that sort of nudging alone loses this customer. At least until everybody else is dong the same.

 

[cj10jeeper]

I do get it and can see why it works for larger main dealer networks. They adjust prices weekly so no need to spend hours printing out price tickets, or other methods for hundreds of cars. Each requires getting keys, and taking people off productive work, etc.
Simply can’t remember when I last went to a garage to look at a car without already knowing lots about it, or just went to tyre kick or get ideas. If I do I want to see the web details promptly.

In an age where we do our research digitally, compare, price, sort and put deposits on from home it all works for me.

Maybe I’m different but also love QR codes in faster cafe/ restaurants so I can just sit down, a few clicks, pay and delivered to the table. No queuing, waiting for order to be taken, or errors (except mine).

 

[B8RS4]

I cant be arsed to scan every QR code. I used to love going to dealers but detest it now.

 

[cpq100]

I have been to several restaurants without menus. Instead they have stickers on the tables with QR codes on them. You scanned the code to see the menu. I was not a fan.

 

[Anonymous]

I cant be arsed to scan every QR code. I used to love going to dealers but detest it now.

Precisely.

Horses for courses. But whatever the benefits...if this becomes the norm I will no longer visit dealers for a random check of the stock as they have introduced ball ache with this.

I don't want ball ache.

And at least on two occasions in the past such a random visit has eventually resulted in an inscheduled purchase.

 

[Cluck]

I have been to several restaurants without menus. Instead they have stickers on the tables with QR codes on them. You scanned the code to see the menu. I was not a fan.

Walked out of one place (and nearly walked from the other) because of this dumb crap. First was back when my mobile phone didn't have a QR code reader on it - yes, that is still quite common - and the restaurant couldn't / wouldn't supply a printed copy. Their loss. On the second occasion, I had no mobile phone connection but the staff were able, most begrudgingly I should add, to provide a printed copy.

At some point, somebody is going to realise that forcing you to use an online method to do something that a ****ing piece of paper worked perfectly well for, for decades, is going to wind quite a few people up.

I know all the reasons why they do it but if it winds up a tech-savvy person like myself then it's a dumb idea. It is a solution to a problem that didn't exist.