After finally buying the TCR - I have ONE good reason that in the future I would pay extra for Trek or Specialized or BMC or Cervelo, etc
Here's the reason - if the local bike shop carries other brands - I would only buy from the local bike shop - because stuff goes wrong with mass produced bikes, and it's easy to have the seller of the bike close by.
The Giant TCR I purchased from a bike shop in a Chicago suburb, and now that there's a creak somewhere (BB? wheel spoke?), I need to drive 30 minutes to drop the bike off, then drive again to pick it up - total waste of time. The shop next to my home sell Specialized, and I would totally spend an extra few hundred to have quick access to the seller for quick fixes, etc.