CONTRIBUTORS

Cindy Perman
News Editor at CNBC.com and the author of The Pony Blog (ponyblog.cnbc.com). She has also written a book, “New York Curiosities,” and does stand-up comedy.
Jane Wells
CNBC business news reporter, based in Los Angeles, covering the defense and technology industries. She writes the CNBC.com blog Funny Business.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

The news can get a little heavy sometimes, with debt crises, vicious markets and crappy earnings reports. So, we dispatched our crack reporters, Cindy Perman and Jane Wells, to find some levity amid all this seriousness. May we offer you a Keynesian cocktail with a side of bacon?

Why a Pony? To be clear, there were no ponies harmed in the making of this blog. The blog’s name, “There Must Be a Pony In Here Somewhere,” comes from an old joke, a favorite of Ronald Reagan’s, that essentially means, with a pile of you-know-what this big, there MUST be a pony—a bright side—in here somewhere!

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Apr.17

2:42 PM ET

Friday, 17 Apr 2009

Readers React: No Wonder US Car Makers Are in Trouble

Posted By:Cindy Perman

Empty GM Dealership
Photo: Jane Wells
My post about car shopping touched a nerve — my inbox was flooded. One of the biggest criticisms was that I didn’t try hard enough to buy American — I only went to one GM dealership, then ran straight back into the unwelcoming arms of Honda.

To be honest, my husband and I would’ve tried harder, it just spooked us that a GM dealer could be so belligerent. It made us think that things were even worse for GM than we thought and scared us straight out of the dealership.

Admittedly, my story was but one couple’s experience. To get a broader perspective, we asked readers to share their experience.

In response to the poll, “Have you been able to get a good deal on a U.S. car?,” the runaway winner was “haven’t tried,” with more than 50 percent of respondents saying they haven’t even bothered to try a U.S. dealership. “No” came in second with 27 percent of the vote, and just 21-percent of the voters said “yes.” (Of course, if the email responses are any guide, many of those are U.S. car dealers.)

Readers weighed in from all across the country. Of those who took the time to share their experience in an email, a few found good deals, but the overwhelming majority said they had a similar experience to ours, with two unsuccessful attempts at getting a good deal for every one good deal.

Here's what they had to say.

Your Comments:

Try Harder to Buy American
Next time you should try harder to purchase a car from an American company and possibly the recession won't last as long as this one will. — Bruce, St. Louis, MO

Dealers Haven’t Learned Any Lessons
I agree. The dealers have not learned any lessons. They should be discounting the cars with a small profit for themselves to help GM, Ford and Chrysler. … I would like to buy a new Dodge Challenger but no deals. Well, no deals means Chrysler may go out of business. — Phil

Not Fair to Judge So Fast
I am a car dealer in Michigan and I have NEVER in my career had a customer walk into this showroom and get treated as you did. It is unfair for you to judge your experience based on the fact that you had an idiot trying to sell you a car. … [I]t's writers such as yourself who destroy the US car market one blog at a time. – Nikki, Michigan

CONTINUED : 'BIG THREE DESERVE TO GO UNDER'

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