5 years ago when I bought my current truck I almost had them call the cops on me because they wouldn't give me back the keys to my potential trade-in and started getting louder and louder in the showroom.
Here I am 5 years later and contemplating a new car again and it's pathetic how little things have changed in the 30 years I've been buying cars (25 years I've been dealing with dealerships). In that time I've managed to do a few deals online, and given that 5 years had passed since my last car-buying experience, and COVID should be at least somewhat limiting people's desire to interact...
But nope.
"fill out this form for your online price"
fills out form
"thanks for your email, when would be a good time to call you?"
"no, thanks. If I wanted to talk to you on the phone I would have *called* you myself."
None of this is helped by the fact that car salesdoods are probably the people I'd *least* like to have to interact with on any level.
My best experience ever was when I bought my 2006 GTO. I tried going to a local dealer and got the runaround. Bitched about it on a GTO forum and a (young, of course) sales dude on the forum saw my complain, PM'd me, moved it to email, and I wound up driving hundreds of miles in a rental car (that they paid for!) to pick up my new car at their showroom without ever having spoken to the man in any form. Pulled in, test drove, signed papers, handed over rental car keys (that they returned for me!) and drove away. I might have been there an hour.
Had almost the same experience when I bought my Tacoma a few years later. funnily enough, knew the sales guy from a local gun forum. The only hiccup on that one was when I got handed over to the "finance guy (perhaps the only worse human being than salesdood) who started to try the upsell and I lost my mind and got up to leave, but once they realized the sale was almost ruined completely they got that guy away from me.
here we are, damn near 2021, and you still can't just buy a car online.