Improvement to Vehicle Purchase System

[DatGuyThere]

Everyone has been complaining about the fact that it is not possible to purchase a vehicle unless an employee from a dealership is online and available to make the transaction. I understand that this is due to Admins and the Dev Team wanting to have RP interactions between players, but this system is too inconvenient to the point where the inconvenience out-weighs the RP quality.

My suggestion is that if the vehicle is in stock, the player should be able to pay for the vehicle (either fully or a deposit, up to the devs). From this point, the vehicle is reserved for the player at the system for the dealership. The next time an employee clocks-on at the dealership, they will be able to see that someone has pre-paid for a vehicle, and they will then be able to fully process the order. After this, the player will then receive an automated text message stating that their car is available for collection. At this point, the player should be able to go and collect their vehicle when they please.

Even though this may reduce the amount of RP interaction, I think that adding this will provide a much more enjoyable experience and allows players to purchase vehicles much more easily. I understand that having an employee at the dealership is much more realistic, however, having a business which doesn't have set opening hours is much more unrealistic.

 

[JackJohnson]

-1 

As someone who’s character works at a dealership I honestly believe the current system is great and better than the suggestion above. Personally I really like the system, you just need to use tweedle or friends etc… to get in touch with an employee at whatever dealership if you’re struggling, it’s not difficult at all imo 

 

[Liam]

I also work at a dealership and I have not seen a singular message put out on Tweedle for someone wanting to buy a car my dealership....Tweedle is your best friend

 

[DatGuyThere]

@JackJohnson

-1 

As someone who’s character works at a dealership I honestly believe the current system is great and better than the suggestion above. Personally I really like the system, you just need to use tweedle or friends etc… to get in touch with an employee at whatever dealership if you’re struggling, it’s not difficult at all imo 

I guess you do have a point and I do partly agree. However, depending on the time of day as well as the dealership itself, some players are not able to purchase vehicles. Since this is a video game, obviously many things IRL take priority.

Maybe instead of the player collecting the vehicle whenever they would like, maybe an employee will have to be there for them to collect the vehicle. With this, the player will be happy to know that they were able to purchase a vehicle and from this the RP interaction could take place.

One element which I feel like must definately be added is being able to view cars via category and sub-category. This can also be done for elements other than vehicles

Also, I understand that the individuals who own the dealerships feel like they have never had an issue. When speaking to people in game, it seems that many people have stated that it is sometimes annoying when you cannot get in contact with a dealership. Maybe even adding hashtags to tweedle posts which you can follow can even be much more helpful

 

[JackJohnson]

@JackJohnson

I guess you do have a point and I do partly agree. However, depending on the time of day as well as the dealership itself, some players are not able to purchase vehicles. Since this is a video game, obviously many things IRL take priority.

Maybe instead of the player collecting the vehicle whenever they would like, maybe an employee will have to be there for them to collect the vehicle. With this, the player will be happy to know that they were able to purchase a vehicle and from this the RP interaction could take place.

 I understand what you mean, IRL always takes priority of course. However, if you still need to meet the dealer to collect the car, it seems to me like its just adding an unnecessary step tbh. Just my opinion though. 

 

[KarlwithaK]

+1

The only time it seems possible to buy a car is after an 8PM storm, some people aren't on all the time. If people are willing to wait for the order to go through cause they cant roleplay the interaction, that's a con but a pro at the same time as they get the car they want eventually. But if you do find or use tweedle to find someone at a dealership, you get the car instantly as normal.

 

[thorbaf]

+1

Yes I agree

 

[DatGuyThere]

+1

The only time it seems possible to buy a car is after an 8PM storm, some people aren't on all the time. If people are willing to wait for the order to go through cause they cant roleplay the interaction, that's a con but a pro at the same time as they get the car they want eventually. But if you do find or use tweedle to find someone at a dealership, you get the car instantly as normal.

Agreed. With my suggestion I do not mean that system should be changed, I think that it should be added to. Hence the reason for the title stating that I want to suggest an improvement, not a change. Keep the current system. My suggestion could be added onto the current system. Maybe this feature could be something that an employee has to enable or maybe it is automatically enabled when an employee isnt clocked-on

 

[1A3]

My suggestion is that if the vehicle is in stock, the player should be able to pay for the vehicle (either fully or a deposit, up to the devs).

Having the player do a payment wouldn't rly work that well if the shop employee decides to sell the vehicle to someone else instead unless there was the option to refund them.

I understand that this is due to Admins and the Dev Team wanting to have RP interactions between players, but this system is too inconvenient to the point where the inconvenience out-weighs the RP quality.

As you said the entire point of the system is to make it so people have more RP, dealerships know they'll lose out on customers if they aren't on the server therefore that means they logically should be hiring employees who are able to cover as much of the time as possible. Plus there are many ways to contact the dealerships such as the landline phone each one has and tweedle if they aren't actually at the dealership. I'm not sure what's inconvenient except from expecting the employees to be stood at a shop for hours waiting for people to come in when instead they could be doing their own thing then go down when someone wants to buy something.

The only way I can think of that your suggestion would work is if there was a system to request to purchase vehicle from a shop then the shop employee can phone you when they are available.

 

[Raj]

The only way I can think of that your suggestion would work is if there was a system to request to purchase vehicle from a shop then the shop employee can phone you when they are available.

This would be a good idea, if there was something like register interest in the catalogue and it would maybe send a text to all employees or something with the persons name, number and the vehicle they were interested in.

 

[DatGuyThere]

@1A3

The only way I can think of that your suggestion would work is if there was a system to request to purchase vehicle from a shop then the shop employee can phone you when they are available.

I agree with this.

Part of my suggestion which I didn't mention was that maybe the player can only collect the vehicle when an employee is online. Maybe not implementing an option where they can fully purchase the vehicle, but maybe at least put down a deposit or show their interest. This could be changed into what you mentioned with showing your interest to where you would then receive a call/text

As mentioned, I think the UI needs some filters added to it. E.g. Muscle, Sports etc. as well as having other tags, such as being able filter through Classic Muscle Cars

 

[Samuel Shire]

downside i see is with cars that dealerships use as specials or exclusives like alot of the bikes ar custom motorcycles, or say the frankenstrange, alot of them are in stuck but not for sale to the public or they are only sold for events or times a month, if you were able to put a deposit or buy it outright and wait for the dealer to finalise it, there would be ALOT of canceled transactions, that would then take up the dealerships time, instead of going right into selling its now, please wait 30 mins whilst i cancel all these preorders

i would say +1 to something like having email system added so shops and dealerships could receive emails that can be responded to when times availible

 

[Tommo]

I dont agree that you should be able to walk into a dealership when no employees are there and buy a car.

I would maybe like the idea of an autotrader app - There could be a list of vehicles that you could "test drive" (declare interest) in

The dealers would see this  and respond to you

Could even have private sales on there.

Not sure how feasable this would be with dev time

 

[Robert Banks]

I dont agree that you should be able to walk into a dealership when no employees are there and buy a car.

I would maybe like the idea of an autotrader app - There could be a list of vehicles that you could "test drive" (declare interest) in

The dealers would see this  and respond to you

Could even have private sales on there.

Not sure how feasable this would be with dev time

+1 

 

[The Real Cynthia]

I work at a dealership. I sell pretty much one car a month. (I know, best sales-lady ever) 

However, when we was able to just walk in and buy, made it too easy to spend, spend, spend, collect, collect, collect and then suddenly you have cars scattered over the city. I enjoy the RP aspect of selling cars, I have enjoyed the whole team I work with and all the stuff that has happened at the dealership. (Bad and good) Which without having to need an employee would never have happened. If no one is around or you're not there when someone is, there are many means of contacting someone, or even asking around in city. Stock or second hand. There is always a way. An employee not being present when I had money to burn has saved me from buying shit cars. (10% of the time)