Regular readers of this column know that I mystery shop a South Florida car dealer every week. I’ve been doing this for over 17 years. You can access the archive of all my mystery shopping reports at www.EarlOnCars.com. I send my mystery shopper into a different car dealership each week and he or she pretends to buy or lease a new or used car. We report exactly what happened in the sales process, naming the dealership and the salespeople. From these reports we comprise two lists…” Recommended Car Dealerships” and NOT Recommended Car Dealerships.
In Florida and most states, car dealerships were ruled as “essential businesses” like grocery stores and pharmacies. They’re allowed to remain open during this pandemic. We continued the mystery shops during most of the pandemic with a brief hiatus when we quarantined ourselves, the “Earl on Cars” team, for 3 weeks. We’ve shoppednine car dealerships in just over the last two months and the salespeople in TWO THIRDS of the dealerships are NOT WEARING FACEMASKS.
The following 3 car dealership’s salespeople ARE wearing masks…Ed Morse Honda in Riviera Beach, Bev Smith Toyota in Ft. Pierce, Braman Honda in Greenacres/Lake Worth.
The following 6 car dealerships salespeople were NOT WEARING MASKS…HGreg Nissan in Delray, Sutherlin Nissan in Ft. Pierce, Advantage Ford in Stuart, Wallace Nissan in Stuart, Napleton Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge in North Palm Beach, and AutoNation Chevrolet in Greenacres/Lake Worth.
None of the 9 car dealerships we shopped required, or even asked or recommended, that their customers wear masks.
As of today, June 15, 2020, Florida is one of 5 RED STATES that has seen the Covid19 virus surge, after pandemic controls were relaxed. In Palm Beach County, today was another record day for Corona virus cases. The total grew by 391 to 8,833 as deaths reached 439.
You don’t see this lack of caring and disrespect for the lives of employees and customers in any other retail business except car dealerships. All grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, Walmart, Costco, Target, Apple…virtually all retailers require all employees to wear masks and many are requiring their customers too.
I know there’re those that believe they don’t need to wear masks during the Covid19 pandemic. There’re are also those that believe they don’t need to wear a motorcycle helmet when riding, abstain from drinking while driving, or quit smoking cigarettes. We cherish our freedoms in America and our laws and constitution allow us the freedom to even do stupid things if we don’t harm other Americans by our actions. We all know that the right of free speech ends when you “shout FIRE in a crowded theatre”. When you don’t wear a mask while you’re close to others during a pandemic, you’re infringing on their rights for LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I strongly recommend that you not patronize a car dealership or any other retail business that doesn’t require all employees to wear facemasks and ENFORCES the rule. I also urge you to wear your facemask, even if the retailer does not require it. A boycott of car dealerships and any retail store that doesn’t require face masks will quickly get their attention and likely bring about change.
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