Car Dealership Rant!!!!

[OneEyeJack]

Finding a good used car takes time, some research and a critical eye. An independent assessment from a qualified mechanic is a good idea. Take your time. It's your investment. A salesman is just noise.

One interesting little thing I discovered on vehicles presented at car dealerships that were certified whatever with everything checked, corrected, tuned up and ready to go was a missing or dirty, plugged up cabin air filter. I found my first one in a Camry at a Mercedes dealership where I was told it went through the same certification process as a certified used Mercedes. This repeated again and again at other dealerships. Interesting.

I just went through the process and it took about 3 months. Not one salesman could tell me anything constructive. In the end, I not only got a vehicle from a private party with service records in very good shape but a great price, too.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice

Probably wanted to try and sell you a different car.

"The Buick Regal is not here.... but we have an excellent low mileage Ford Fusion we can show you".....

Yep, they'll do anything to get you in the door.

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Vehicle sales these days is such a mess. People advertise things they don't have, have no rights to, and dont even exist sometimes.


They probably just sold the one he was looking at and tried to locate another one. Duh.

 

[aquariuscsm]

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I had a similar thing happen to me once.

Went to look at a 2011 Sonata for a great price at a local Kia/Hyundai dealer that I saw on their website and on AutoTrader. Turns out they hadn't even looked at the car yet, just snapped some pictures and created an ad. They couldn't sell it because their shop hadn't looked at it and the car was filthy. But they did try to sell me a newer car for more money.

Classic bait and switch.


It's all about generating foot traffic. I'll bet the guy who set it up got a bonus ...

 

[4WD]

Yep > like that $29,995 special … darn, you just missed it but let me show you the “Platinum” …

 

[mk378]

Originally Posted By: eljefino


I got that story on a hyundai accent, except that it was a trade in and the buyer wasn't making payments and they might have to be put back in their old car. I'm thinking, meh, that's not how it works.

That does happen. Finance companies may reject the deal after their initial "approval" if the buyer can't provide proof of income, etc. In that case the dealer ends up giving back the trade car. Dealers shouldn't touch the car at all until they have been paid for the new car and it is final.

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm


You think you hate it now, but wait until you drive it!

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Yep > like that $29,995 special … darn, you just missed it but let me show you the “Platinum” …


The sad thing is I bet so many people fall for that "deal". Thinking they got a much nicer vehicle for only a little bit more money, when in reality they can't afford the nicer one anyway.

 

[DakAttack]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: Oldtom
Could you post a bad Yelp review? Anything to let the next consumer know they cannot be trusted. I posted about my local Walmart having a lot of scanners not working and no one to help. The review was polite and factual but Walmart flagged it and had it removed. I must have hit a nerve


This is why Yelp is often useless. The bad reviews usually get flagged and removed. Same with the Better Business Bureau. Companies can often pay them off or wait a period of time and stuff goes away.

There is a family in my area who owns quite a few car dealerships. They are scumbags, and a lot of people have had problems with them. If they receive a bad rating somewhere, it is usually mysteriously gone within a few days.


I also don't like Yelp or their reviews. I prefer Google maps and their business reviews. I find it much better when searching and leaving reviews.

 

[JAYCEE]

I'm in my mid-40s and I've only bought 1 car at a dealership. Hated it. I won't do it again.

 

[CincyDavid]

Pfft, I can top that. I did a web inquiry witha local Ford store (Northgate Ford), had several conversations online and on the phone with a young man who I understood to be a sales guy at the store. I walked in and asked for him, turns out he works in a call center somewhere else in the country and doesn't even work for the dealership. They handed me off to some nitwit who couldn't find the car I was looking for. Turns out they had moved it to their service loaner fleet and didn't pull the information down from the website.

So, in my case, not only was the car not available on their lot, but neither was the "salesman".

 

[Malo83]

Was looking at a Buick dealers website and they had a 2017 Buick Regal GS for $31K, it's an hour drive so the wife and I went to check it out, drove up and a young sales guy met us, the car was in the back lot with a bunch of other inventory, he took us to the back in a golf cart, found the car and the wife instantly feel in love with it, Black Cherry paint and the optional 20" rims, he let us drive it to the front and went inside to talk, first thing he said was that the car was $39K, i just laughed and he was confused, i asked him if he was sure about the price, he said yes. I told him it's listed on your website for $31K, he came back saying that the Buick markdowns have expired and that $39K is the price, well we went back and forth for about 20 minutes and the price came down to $35K that was his final offer, all this time he's going back and forth talking to a Mgr in the back. He was going to talk to his Mgr and before he left i told him, Look, you want to sell this car and I want to buy it, you had it listed for $31K and that's what i'll pay, if you can't make the deal were walking, 15 minutes later he comes back and we have a deal,we drove it off the lot for $31K, momma and i leaving the dealer.

 

[DoubleWasp]

That is a beauuuuuuuuuuutiful car!

 

[JTK]

That is one of the shadier dealer antics for sure. Ugh..

One of the mega dealer chains in my area will bring any vehicle in their inventory to any one of their dealerships for you to test drive and buy. The only hitch I ran into recently was with our 2016 Nissan Quest. I bought it at the local Toyota dealer, but had to finalize the paperwork at the Nissan dealer it came from, 40 miles away because it was "certified used" per the dealer. That sucked. I put up a fuss and got some freebies out of it.

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
That is a beauuuuuuuuuuutiful car!

Thank you Sir.

 

[UncleDave]

Thanks to the enormous political clout of the good-ole-boy dealer network you are being forced to do business with a value removed middle man.

According to them you are being "protected" from evil practice of price gouging by the manufacturer buy their role being in the middle of the transaction.

Nice ride congrats.

UD

 

[jimbrewer]

Look around and buy your car from the "quality buying experience" dealer in your area. They share the same inventory. The sleazeoids are for test drives only.