I suppose I might buy a Ford if forced into it but other than that, I won’t buy anything made by union pukes.
Well Bo you are wrong, alot of dealships add that type of crap, Ford and GM add a lot higher price to the MSRP so dupes can be told they are getting a $4,000.00 savings on the car they are buying. There are several GM and Ford dealers in the DC area that add the same crap to their cars. I know of one dealership that charges $2,995.00 for those strips.
I know because I am in the car business in the DC area. The other thing is rebates, when a company gives a rebate on a car it lowers the value of the used car by that amount too. So if your new car you just bought will go down next year by whtever amount the Ford rebate on it will be next year plus whatever it goes down for miles and age.....
Hyundai could do the same crap with MSRP as American car companies and lie about MSRP but instead their markup is lower, and give you a better car and warranty....
The fail is strong on this thread for so many reasons.
“Hyundai and Kia are notorious for this kind of stuff...”
Did you even read the blog (not news) you posted? Why are you blaming Hyundai and Kia when it’s a reportedly sleazy DEALER that is adding these high priced items?
And the reason you bought a Ford at $4000 below MSRP is because they first jacked up the retail value $4,000. Then suckered you into believing you got a great deal as they lowered the price.
We bought a 2011 Hyundai Elantra in mid-February with 17,000 miles on it. Great car, the price was right, and we’re getting 36-38mpg combined. The 2012 models were higher by about $3,000 but I didn’t see anything on the sticker like you’re suggesting. Those on the lot had “packages” that our vehicle didn’t. Including, leather, GPS, etc. Don’t care whether we have leather or not, and we already have a Tom Tom...
Have you paid 2 cents for everything else?
Reading the rest of the article, seems that one dealership is the only one in the area charging that. One said $100 and another offered to throw them in for free.
My 2004 Hyundai has had the suggested maintenance, front brakes and new windshield wipers. Never had a vehicle out of Detroit that came close to that for low maintenance costs as well as reliability.
What kind of Ford - do you like it?
That should throw a huge signal that if you decide to buy there every part of the transaction will become as contentious as that ADM on the sticker. Frankly, I believe that any dealer who puts ADM on every car on the lot is sleazy as hell.
These are called “bump stickers” and can be safely ignored. I recently purchased a new Hyundai Tucson and it went away without even me asking and I bought it at a reasonable margin over invoice and got pretty close to the NADA trade-in value for my vehicle. This was done over the internet and there was no haggling. This is purely a dealer deal. The manufacturer, to my knowledge, has nothing to do with this. Generally speaking this will be on hot sellers where the demand is high and some unwary buyers will pay that price. I would pass along this tip for any buyer of any make or model. Never make an offer. Always let the dealer negotiate with himself.
I took my Mini into the dealer last week for state inspection and they wanted me to pay $512 for two new front tires even though the ones on the vehicle were still legal.
That pissed me off. I've never paid $256 for a tire in my life!
So when I received the follow up survey from Mini, I rated them unsatisfactory. They really hated that. The service manager called me and explained that I just didn't understand.
End of relationship with those guys.
“...General Sales Manager, Sudip Gupta...”
Heh. Made my day.
I wonder if their customer service line is routed to Omaha?
I get this much car for this bottom line price, with or without trade in. Then once you decide on one or two models, canvas each dealer for that vehicle.
If you have a trade in, all you care about is the “DIFFERENCE” price. My car and how much cash? Don't get hung up on how much you are getting for your trade in. If they are charging you $4,000 for door edge guards, your trade in can be worth $4,000 more than at a dealer who isn't. FUZZY math. Forget payments and interest rates for now! Work that out later, maintaining the same “cash difference” price. Do not get switched to “payments”. REFUSE to get switched to payments until you know the bottom line “difference” price.
Never buy the heath and accident or life insurance on dealer provided financing. Never buy add on warranties, fabric or finish treatments.
Getting the best deal on a new car is a lot of WORK! You have to spend the time to compare makes, models, dealers, interest rates, terms, warranties, trade in value, delivery date, and more.
You have to determine your priorities. Is “COLOR” really that important? Status? Willing to wait for an ordered car so you can have it just the way you want it? (not so important these days as many cars come only with a few different packages of options).
Buy now, buy today, will usually get you the best, bottom line price, BUT you must have already done all of your research and preparations to be able to recognize and take advantage of it.
REMEMBER, the warranty is with the MANUFACTURER not the dealer. It doesn't matter (after adjustment period) that you bought it one place and take it somewhere else for warranty service.
You will have a better selection and lower prices in larger city suburbs. Spend the time to travel to nearby (100 miles, 2 hours or more) areas.
The personality of your salesman is not important, good or bad! You will likely never see them again.
I have purchased many new cars and have sold them for a living.
Our Chrysler dealer had, the last time I looked, “$1,400.00 ADM” on every vehicle sticker. Additional Dealer Markup.
At least they didn’t hide it.
Next step was to talk to the sales person. I told him that I was gong to buy that day, if the price was right. I told him to give me his best price and that he would only get one chance. If his price did not come in at or below what I was willing to pay, we would walk away, no hurt feelings.
However, if I was walking away and he came up with a second “lower” offer, then that meant he lied to me the first time, and I never do business with liars, and furthermore, I would let my friends know about this dishonesty.
As was mentioned in a previous post, let the dealer haggle with themselves. Had to go to 5 dealerships, spent about 10 minutes in 4 of them, (either refused to do business that way or made me a second offer). Bought the car from the 5th dealer when they offered me the car for $500 over invoice.
Great thread!
Some shop is charging me $260 to replace a shifter cable on a durango. Im tempted to try to do it myself.