Email as a form of business communication

Good morning,
Has anyone ever contacted a dealer by email? Did they ever respond to you?

I emailed the five local dealers in the area looking to get pricing information on a hitch for my Xterra. I contacted them on Monday and I'm not holding out any hope for a response.

Is the consensus that email isn't a way to do business? Do they feel that I'm not a "serious" buyer if I don't pick up the phone?

Please let me know your stories/experiences.

Bogatyr

If you'd e-mail me or the businesses that I support using a link on a Web site. I would answer you within one business day.

If I could not do that - the e-mail address would be removed from the site and I'd only post the phone number.

Well i am using now email/website to make my conversations/set up appointments with my dealership tech. department -
that is after i poked them in eye with sharp stick that they aint responding. Now they pretty good at it.

Uzbad,
Ah, the pointed stick...forgot about that.

I did hear from one of the five last night. I wonder what place I'll go to for parts? Oddly enough, their price on the hitch was $20 less than xterraparts.com...so I guess Nissan dealers aren't all like Honda dealers. The local Honda places charge more than list for parts.

Bogatyr

I got the dealership searching for my truck by email while I was working in Canada. As soon as I got back I went into the dealership and signed the papers. I still email back and forth all the time with the salesman I bougt mine through a year and a half ago.

I kept trying to reach dealerships via Edmunds and other sites, but nobody really responded to my requests until I went through CarsDirect. I didn't do everything through them, as I needed to talk to a dealership to get some extra incentives that I qualified for. I managed to get all my quotes via email, and all I did was drive into the dealership and sign the paperwork.