An interesting and delightfully surprising part of this exercise was the manners of the salesperson.  He was superb and contributed to a great home visit experience.  The interactions that I had with him -- though we did not go the distance through purchase and postpurchase, which would have allowed for a fuller assessment -- was what I believe the majority of auto buyers prefer.  He was knowledgeable about the vehicle and was able to answer my questions.  He struck me as a committed auto professional who wants to satisfy customers.  He was not pushy and in fact, he thought the Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna was probably going to be a better fit for our needs.  This person was helpful, reasonable and there was an emotional connection which definitely made me think a little less about bargaining really hard and more about the potential for this person to take care of my long term new or used automobile purchase needs in a way that would be best for me (and for them as they would regularly get my business by doing so) -- though. let me make clear,  I would certainly maintain my senses to purchase from a merchant who offers the best value to me in the long run.

My mechanic -- Billy Hurwitz at the Old Time Garage (at the site, click on Needham)-- is someone who takes care of my long term needs and helps me make decisions that are best for me.  If I really do not need something for my car, he says so; if I can do something myself, he says so (I am the type that likes to do a few simple things if I can).  His automobile decision making is outstanding and he always understands my needs.  And, he offers advice that is meant specifically for me.  I will always be loyal to him as I know, in the long run I get the best value (i.e., my dollar goes furthest with him).  I've never given out my Seal of E-pproval before as I have not formalized it yet (right now, my working definition is "I know it when I see it"), but I would give one to the Old Time Garage in a heart beat.

For the home visit interaction that I had with the Clair Motors salesperson, I am giving him a Brucie.  It was done right.  My prior has been that the average -- not every -- automobile salesperson does very little for a car buying consumer, other than getting in the way and making it a terrible shopping experience; so much so that most consumers dread entering a dealership to buy a car (the dealer tends to be the grand architect in all of this -- by the way, I believe that consumers are not immune from some blame).  Believe me, it is not hard to figure out why consumers have turned to Autonet players that improve the online car buying experience (e.g., Autobytel, AutoWeb, CarsDirect, CarOrder, DriveOff). 

The salesperson from Clair actually provided me with valuable service.  By coming out to my house, he saved me time and energy and created a situation where I could drive the vehicle on my roads and test it out fully (e.g., putting in the car seats to see how they fit, or assessing whether the car will fit in the garage).  I did not feel hyped up, as one tends to feel in a dealership; I felt relaxed.  These are all worth something to me and as a result I would pay more for a vehicle from a dealership that offered this service, all else being equal (and this is a key assumption).

Given the long history of consumer abuse that many auto dealers and salespeople have delivered for decades -- and still do -- I feel compelled to add a few qualifying comments.  Please keep in mind that in this diary entry I am not making claims about any other part of the automobile purchase and ownership experience; I only experienced a home visit.  I can not comment on what might have happened had Amy and I wanted to purchase this vehicle.  I will add, however, that the vehicle price offered by the salesperson -- I did not ask for it -- was in the ok -- not the best -- range given the transaction prices mentioned by contributors to Edmunds.com  Townhall  ML 320 forum (assuming that I did my calculations correctly); keep in mind that pricing can vary for a number of reasons (e.g., supply/demand in an area, dealer's cost structure, dealer's emphasis on full service, customer value).

At the end of the day, I sent out a request for a home visit to a Lexus dealer -- not knowing whether it offers this service -- in order to inspect the LX470.