Posted on 06/23/2021 12:38:16 PM PDT by Leaning Right
You would think that by 2021 car dealers would have wised up and fixed the broken mess that is car shopping. Many stores have adapted, but some are still relying on classic “stealership” tricks. One of the most egregious is preventing someone from leaving the showroom.
(Excerpt) Read more at jalopnik.com ...
> I don’t know what was entailed in getting the keys back but 10 to 1 the dealer lost a sale. <
I guess those guys think it’s worth the effort.
Years ago I went with my aunt to a car dealership, just for moral support. After showing my aunt a car, the salesman immediately started berating her. “You know you can afford the payments! Let’s get this done! Sign here!”
I’m a peaceful person. But I almost got into a fistfight with that guy. And, yeah. We left.
Now here’s the thing. About a year later I was talking to a lady I worked with. She had gone to that same dealership, and was berated that same way.
I guess they think it’s worth the effort.
They tried that not giving me my keys crap once. I called the cops from the desk of the salesman and told them I was being held against my will and had stolen my car keys.
That got my keys returned instantly. But I waited for the cops to show up and told them I wanted to press charges. The look on the managers face was priceless as the cop ripped him a new one in front of the entire place.
All the customers left.
L
These bastards make their money on fees.
When they come in with the agreed upon price, they add fee upon fee. Simply sit down with your pen and cross off ALL the fees and tell them you will take care of all that by yourself.
Watch them squirm.
OH and BTW! The first thing they do is run down your trade. They start doing that, then simply walk out the door.
Wife bought a 09 car 4 years ago from a private individual, 2500 bucks, I had my fav mechanic look it over and he approved of it. For 2500 bucks and she is still running it. Most likely put just around a grand in it for repairs. So divide 3500 by 4 years and that is what that car cost her in price and repairs.
> the white F150 hit a tree earlier in the day and is back in the shop. <
By not buying that white F150, I think you got lucky there. That truck was evidently possessed by some sort of bad-luck demon.
After all, what else could it be? No way would that sales lady have lied to you.
Wonder how they did that without the title.
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Dealers buy and sell all the time without the title. It’s called float. They may have sold your old car before your lien was paid off, but it will get sorted out eventually. Dealers generally hold onto their money as long as possible before they have to pay off the liens on trade-ins.
Remember the movie Fargo? Where Gunderson had a hard time with the GM representative who wanted payoff on the floorplan loan?
I used to do that for the bank I work at. Most dealers floorplan their inventory and when they sell that car they’re supposed to pay the bank off. They usually do. But not always in a timely manner.
I like my SUV (used) - bought it off a lot along a strip mall. The guy was gracious and I just said “what’s the price out the door” (my bro told me to say that) - I knew the retail value and he came in a couple hundred below.
Last time I was in a dealership when my wife purchased a car and we were stuck in the finance office for 3 hours. She was paying cash (certified check) for the car with a guaranteed trade-in value on her old car. This should’ve been a quick thing, but the ‘new-ish on the job’ finance guy wanted her to sign all the papers without anything else being filled out. People must be really stupid. No, my wife would not sign anything until she’d read it, and they were filled out properly and completely. Three hours. It was NUTS.
I don’t get it... how do they not understand “give me my f’ing keys right now”
Still drive that Jeep today...
OH and BTW! The first thing they do is run down your trade. They start doing that, then simply walk out the door
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Never walk into a dealership with a trade-in without first knowing exactly what it’s worth. Two easy ways to figure this out. First go to kbb.com and truthfully and honestly enter the data on your vehicle. It will give you a wholesale amount. Next go to carmax.com and do the same thing. You don’t even have to go to Carmax. They will give you a written bona fide offer on the Internet.
I just traded in my Volkswagen Jetta last month. The dealer offered me $8000 for it. I countered with $8500 which was the KBB and Carmax value and they agreed. No hassle no fuss.
If you think you can get more by selling it yourself, then by all means do so. You probably will but dealing with the public on Facebook marketplace or craigslist is a total PIA
Last time I bought a car, I tripped them up by bringing my wife's later model car (still in excellent condition) to the dealer. I left my car at home as I never had the intention of doing a trade as I was going to sell it privately. So I was able to negotiate a decent price on the car with them probably thinking they could make it up on the other end.
They could not have been too happy when I told them at the end I was not doing a trade-in.
Drove 35 miles to buy a Toyota Highlander listed by a Chevy dealer. Called ahead, and was assured it was there, then made an appointment to see it.
Got there, only to find the Highlander had mysteriously vanished. The salesman tried to sell me an Equinox instead. I was furious, and everyone within earshot knew it.
Our last purchase, the dealer had been servicing our trade-in since it was new - purchased from them.
I did my research and told them which vehicle on their lot I wanted, and had a check premade out to the dealer for the difference incl tax, license, etc that I was willing to pay.
I told the saleman not a penny more. Make it work or I walk. Finally with rebates, incentives, and increasing trade-in value they figured it out.
But when the sales agreement printed it came out to $.10 more than my check.
The salesman reached in his pocket and handed me a dime.
My used Trooper (2001) I’ve had for over five years. Love it.
I bought my 2003 Jeep Liberty off a lot in 2005 using the then-new website Cars.com to find it.Haha, still have my '05 Volvo XC70, now 250K mi, that I bought off a 2yr lease from a dealer in '07. I asked for a test drive, drove home, hopped on the internet, printed out a cars.com quote for same model, similar condition, drove back, then knocked off $3K from the asking price. EZ peezie.
I got my revenge a couple of used cars ago. The salesman an manager knew I was going to buy the car, but I wanted $600 more off the asking price. By the time we discussed price, world events, family, even to the point that I invited the manager to a round of golf, we had held everybody, including the loan guy, well over an hour past closing. (We didn’t get the $600 break, but didn’t really want it.)
“She was paying cash (certified check) for the car with a guaranteed trade-in value on her old car.”
One dealer tried this crap on one of my kids, circa age 20. Cash deal.
They even lied about some law requiring them to possess the buyer SSN. Nothing a dealer won’t try.
In the end in Florida they take a personal check for a new car. You drive it off lot. They don’t process the transfer with DMV until check clears so you don’t own it for more than a week.
Oh please, I got locked in a broom closet at a dealership in Columbia, SC back in the early 90’s. When I got my first job after college, I bought myself a brand new Ford Escort- it was all I could afford but I was proud of myself. Long story short, it was a piece of crap that had lots of issues and the dealership I bought it from didn’t want to fix it. The last time I took it to the dealership I started getting the run around again. So I walked out of the garage and into the lobby. There was a nice young couple- he was a soldier stationed at Fort Jackson and his wife was expecting their first child. I stopped them before they signed the papers and explained the problems I had had with the car and the dealership. They decided to go somewhere else. As they were walking out of the showroom I went into the parking lot and told anyone who would listen what had happened. Next thing I know I have 3 people coming towards me- one of them was the manager of the service department telling me they had a rental for me I just needed to come sign for it. I followed him and the other 2 back, they led me to a what I thought was a small office, basically shoved me in and locked the door. They told me it would only take a few minutes to get my car. I was only in the closet for about 10 minutes and when I came out I had a big sedan filled with gas and was told I could keep it as long as they took to figure out what was wrong with my car. I had that thing for about 3 weeks.
Best negotiating move is to wait until the inevitable, what do we have to do to get you in this car today. Take a look at the “discounted” price they say they can offer the car at, subtract 15%, at $5.38 or some other small random number and write it on a blank piece of paper. When they come back higher, get up and walk out. In seconds you will know if you have your price or not and eliminated an hour of stupid back and forth let me check with my manager razamataz.
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