Car (or tractor) Dealer Horror Stories

[AndyM]

We are starting to stray way off topic in the New Holland forum, so I'm going to continue our conversation on new car buying in a new thread...

We spent over five hours at the "King" of high pressure sales this afternoon! We knew their reputation going in there, but it's the closest dealer that has two of the three main brands we are looking at. We went in there and told them we were just test driving and gathering information, and we weren't going to make a decision until we checked out the third brand at the other dealer 10 miles away.

We test drove and compared four models (two of each brand), and we sat in the saleman's small cubicle alone repeatedly while he took off to get prices. After a while, it was obvious to the "floor manager" that his guy wasn't going to make the sale, so he got rid of the first guy and moved in for the kill. This was only five minutes after my wife commented to me how the first guy was really nice and had no pressure on us at all to buy!

This guy spent a lot of time trying to impress my wife with "made up" facts (Ford Taurus is the best selling car, etc.), and he just wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

After telling him that we still want to look at the third brand at the other dealer, he said he would take that brand if someone gave him one! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif What's the number one thing we say here at TBN? A good salesperson sells someone with good points about their product, NOT with bad points in the competitors'! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Am I different than most everyone else? I consider an automobile as the second most expensive purchase a family makes, and even though I've researched a lot over the internet and in newspaper ads, I'm just not going to go into the first car dealer I go to and walk out the same afternoon with a new car-- I've got to go to multiple places to shop. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Andy, I used to be a purchasing agent and that taught me a few things about sales people. THEY ARE THE ENEMY. I went to buy a car for my wife, we were replacing a Jeep Grand Cherokee and she wanted something that could carry my daughter's entire Brownie troop. I looked at Explorers, but found that Mercury Mountaineers are equiped to a slightly higher level and sell for less because Mercury is an unpopular brand. So off to the Mercury dealer. Turned out my brother went there the week before shopping for a mini-van, but got a price on a Mountaineer. As my wife & I looked around, we decided we liked the same one my brother got a price on, but decided he didn't want. So we get a price. $2000 higher than his price! So I mention this and the salesman says I should have told him. I said I didn't have to tell him anything, and I didn't want to get cheated. So I get a different salesman. Their company policy did not allow that. I didn't care. So new saleman, Mrs_Bob and I go for a ride. She is driving, I sit shotgun, the saleman in the back. He is telling me what I already found out from the internet. He suggests I drive the car. I said "no" he insisted. I said "the car is for her, I don't intend on driving it." Then Mrs_Bob suggests I drive it, I said "no" and then she pulls over. I said "no, I don't want to drive this car, if you are done let's go back to the dealership."

We get back and the salesguy wants to show me under the hood. I ask him if he is going to teach me how to change the oil??? He said, no. I said, well is there something under that particular hood that is different than every other hood on the dealership lot??? He said no. I said, well is there something under that particular hood that I can actually fix without first needing it to be hooked up to a large expensive computer??? He said no. I said, "well then there is no reason to show me anything under there is there?"

I gave him my name, phone number, etc and told him to call me with his BEST price. I told him I didn't want to haggle and I didn't want to get screwed. I pack Mrs_Bob into the Jeep and off we go.

Later that day I got a call. He beat the price he gave my brother. I said I was really too busy to deal with him, but the wife liked the Mountaineer but she saw an Exporer with running boards and really liked those. "POOF" as if by magic, we got a set of running boards. I told him I'd let him know.

2 days later he calls me back. I told him I was still pretty busy, could he bring me the car? 20 minutes later he delivers Mrs_Bob's new Mountaineer, complete with running boards. He brings all the paper work to me, I sign everything, but only after I get 3 free oil changes out of him too.

I got rid of that Mountaineer a few months ago and replaced it with a Volvo XC90 SUV. To make a long story short, the story was pretty much the same. No running boards though because I didn't like them! And free oil changes for 1 year. Plus the dealer drives me to my office if I drop the car off for any service.

 

[Degree]

I went to Bill Heard in Sugar Land and they held my keys because we wanted to leave and i got irate. He kept saying let me give you a good deal and lets work the numbers out. I was about to knock him to the floor. He would not hand us our keys, the manager now. Never will i step foot in bill heard again.

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> He would not hand us our keys, the manager now. Never will i step foot in bill heard again. </font>

I'm on to that trick. When we go to a dealer, and they want to look at the trade-in, I don't hand them my entire set of keys-- I give them the extra key in my wallet. That way, i'm not held hostage if I want to get up and leave. The same goes for the driver's license-- make a photo copy a head of time for them, so they're not holding your original while you're making the test drive! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

As fast as I figure out how to get around their schemes, they have new ones they haven't tried on me yet! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

There was one dealership once that blocked in our car while we were test driving their car, so we couldn't leave until we demanded that they unblock the other cars behind ours. They didn't get the sale!

Another dealer went outside to give me a price on my trade-in, and returned to tell me that it was worth several hundred dollars less than I had expected-- because of the large dent in the front fender. I KNOW it wasn't there when I got there, but how do you prove it? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[Bob_Skurka]

<font color="blue"> Another dealer went outside to give me a price on my trade-in, and returned to tell me that it was worth several hundred dollars less than I had expected-- because of the large dent in the front fender. I KNOW it wasn't there when I got there, but how do you prove it? </font>

I would call the police and have them come to fill out a police report, I wouldalso ask them to look for paint match ups!

As for the KEY or drivers licesne thing, I've not had them ask for a drivers license from me in the last few years and I buy 2 to 5 cars a year (for work and I never tell them up front it is a company vehicle purchase). I never discuss trade in until after I look over the car, sometimes until after I leave the lot, and NEVER until after I get a cash price on the vehicle I am looking at. But if one of them ever would hold my keys, the police would be at that dealership very quickly and I would file unlawful restraint charges against them. And I am a big enough xxshole to do it, right in front of all their customers.

I won't shop at the pressure dealerships at all. If I walk in on to check out a brand that has been requested, I typically make a quick retreat. Not because they will win, but because I won't deal with that type of business.

Then again, I'm the jerk who went to pay for my gas & the clerk was talking on the phone, she wouldn't put it down, so I wouldn't pay. She insisted on talking to the caller, and to me at the same time. That is just rude. There were 5 people in line behind me and the manager finally took the phone, the girl may not be working there anymore??? I guess I expect a certain level of professionalism and I won't deal with people who do not provide it. Car dealers are selling a very expensive item, why should it be considered a game?

<font color="black"> And NEVER take dealer financing unless there is a special manufacturer's offer that makes it more attractive than a home equity loan because h.e.l. can typically be tax deducted while car loans cannot be, further if you pay interest, the dealer gets a cut of it, you should be able to do better by going to your bank and pre-arranging a loan before you walk into the dealership, it also allows you to talk about a cash sale. </font>

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> I would call the police and have them come to fill out a police report, I wouldalso ask them to look for paint match ups! </font>

You don't know what do or think when you don't see something like that coming... especially since I was probably 21 or 22 at the time. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

<font color="blue"> Car dealers are selling a very expensive item, why should it be considered a game? </font>

Why does it need to be this way? Buying a new car should be a happy thing, not an experience that gives me a few more grey hairs after visiting each dealership!
Going to a car dealer should be a fun, rewarding experience! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[TCowner]

I went shopping for a new FOrd F-150 a few years ago. The well groomed "sales consultant" greeted me right away and schooted me off to his small cubicle. I told him I that I was shopping for the truck, told him the trim package I wanted and what I was trading in. I asked him if he could get someone to appraise my trade in.

At this point he tried to take over. He advised me that it was "too early" to begin the appraisal process. I told him that I wasn't going to spend 4 hours getting a price. He started to go through the list of information he needed before he could proceed. I stopped him. I gave him my name, address and telephone number and told him that he didn't need any more information on me. I was pre-approved at the credit union for financing and all I need is trade price.

I could see his frustration was increasing. He left his little cubicle to go talk to someone who I assumed had more authority than he did but was hoping someone would begin the appraisal of my trade in. He returned in 5 minutes to tell me that he had 5 trucks that were equipped like I needed. I told him thanks but what about the appraisal on my van. Again, it was too early for an appraisal. He advised me that it costs the dealership money for someone to appraise a vehicle and that the dealership didn't invest time and money until there was some assurance that a deal was forthcoming.

I told him that I couldn't make a deal until I new the trade price and advised him again that I was shopping. At this point I stood up and told him that I was not going to purchase a vehicle from this dealership under his terms and started to walk out. He demanded that I wait and that he would try to get the manager to appraise my van. I said go ahead.

Ten minutes went by and no sign of any one. I walked out of the cubicle only to see the sales consultant and the manager having a conversation. My van hadn't moved. I walked over and asked him if had appraised my van. He said the manager would not appraise the van unitl we were close to a deal. I walked out and never went back.

A little over a month ago my wife purchased a new Saturn VUE and I must admit it was the least painful purchasing experience I've ever seen. My wife test drove the VUE while I went for a short drive (3 minutes) with someone who was apprasing our Jeep Cherokee. We were a little short for time so we asked the salesman to call us with his price. He called us the next morning. There was no pressure but he did remind us that the rebate program expired on May 31 and that he didn't know what if any new programs would replace it.

My wife said she would get back to him as she wanted to drive the KIA Sorento. A week later she called them back to tell him she wanted the VUE. The price she had been quoted hadn't changed. We were impressed.

 

[om21braz]

Car buying has gotten easier in our area thanks to one dealer. The owner of one particular dealership used to be a salesman at another and now owns his own company. You can call him on the phone and ask for his best price - have an invoice off the internet handy as he will go thru the entire list and price each item, and he'll just tell you upfront to sell your own car and we'll both be happier with the outcome. If you really must trade he is very competitive.
You'll see folks driving cars with his tags on them 100 miles from the place of business.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( they held my keys because we wanted to leave )</font>

I had that happen once; big dealership, huge showroom, lots of potential customers there, and after asking nicely a couple of times, and the salesman took off toward the sales manager's office again, I YELLLED his name and "I WANT MY KEYS, NOW!!" and I made it loud enough to make sure everyone in the building, whether behind closed doors or not, heard me. You could have heard a pin drop in that dealership when everyone in the place stopped and was looking at me. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Everyone, that is, except that salesman and from the speed I saw him moving to get my keys from an office on the far side of the showroom, I believe the guy could have been an Olympic sprinter. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[mathey]

I bought my last car over the internet via email...I knew exactly the model, trim level, colors I would be OK with, and options I wanted, and had my financing in place at the CU, and had no trade.

Honda lets you serch for dealers by zip, and most dealers have email. I picked the 15 or so closest dealers (within about 100 miles) and sent them all the exact same email requesting BAFO price. About half bothered to reply. This was a brand new model (2002 CR-V) so some were at list, some were well over list, and some were under list approching invoice. This whole email process took about 4 days.

I took the lowest 3-4 and played them against each other for a few rounds. Luckily the closest dealer agreed to beat the best offer I had by $400. Ended up paying about $200 over Edmunds invoice price.

Spent a total of about 45 minutes in the dealership for the entire transaction...15 when I put down the deposit, and 30 when we picked it up. Still had to sit throught the finance guys sales pitch on all his worthless overpriced junk (gap ins, scotchgard, paint protector, extended warranty), but basically walked in and said I wanted none of what he was selling, so even that was relatively painless.

The sales guy was a good guy and never pressured me at any time, and I'd go back to him first if I was looking to purchase again, but he'd still need to earn his keep, as nothing is a "given".