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We went through Geico's website that shows the dealer price for the car and got a really good deal on a Honda Civic.
They had some deal called the VIP program () that said you got $20 oil changes, free tire rotations and free car washes for as long as you owned the car.
The car wash - they limited this to Tuesday - Friday from 9:30-3:30 only. Even then it consisted of a guy basically hosing your car down.
The oil change and tire rotation - first time I used this, they tried to charge me full price. I reminded them of the VIP program and they said that they discontinued, but would let me slide and give me the promised rate. They cautioned me that next time, it was full price. When I called to complain, the manager apologized and said it wasn't true. They still had the program. The next time, I got the same song and dance. Another apology.
I had a blowout later (I couldn't avoid a road hazard) and since the tires were still pretty new, I was able to replace only one tire. So now I have three tires the same and one odd one. When I had them rotate the tires, I checked. The odd tire was in the same place as it was before I brought it in. They told me they rotated the tires, but had not.
I have never retuned to these bunch of scam artists.
I had several dealers quote me prices via email. The dealer that I had taken the test drive with also happened to quote me the lowest rate (this was also the dealer I had bought another car from only one year prior). I arranged an appointment to sign all the paperwork for the car. I got to the dealer and was chatting with my salesman. The manager comes out and tells me that since I was providing my own financing through my credit union, the price for the car would be higher than quoted. I explained to him several times that I had a quote in writing, this new condition was not stated before, and I expected him to honor the quote. He wouldn't budge. I got up, politely expressed my frustration, and left.
The next day, I bought the exact same car at another dealership and they gave me no difficulty about financing or anything else. Here's what also happened the next day: I got an email from the first dealership asking me what they could do to make it up to me, that they did not want to lose my business. I decided to mess with them a bit. I told them to give me a real quote this time of an out the door price. They sent a new quote, which was still higher than both their original quote and also than what I actually ended up paying at the second dealership. A day later, i told them i bought elsewhere and made it a point to say that the financing was not an issue.
I think the most stupid part of this, from the point of view of the first dealer, is that this was my second new car purchase in a year, and rather than putting value on what could have been a longterm relationship, they decided to try to not honor a quote and stick me for more money in a single transaction. Now they've lost my business forever, including the lucrative periodic maintenance work.
As soon as the salesman draws the "four boxes" on his pad, I leave. That tells me that he wants to quote payments instead of price.
I've also seen "ADMU" on window stickers. Additional Dealer Mark Up.
There's one dealer in town that automatically adds the cost of paint protection, undercoating, and pin striping to every new car on its lot. I asked the salesman, "Do you mean to tell me that Toyota is not capable of producing a car that won't rust?"
Okay, well be shocked. Dealers pay a person or three to sit around all day and do nothing but chase titles around, file deals and manage offices. These people don't get paid commission and have to be paid more then sweat shop wages. Whatever is left over after the owner buys his boat out of the doc fee profits helps pays their wages.
I didn't say there wasn't any truth to it, but $300? Nope.
There's really no reason to itemize it either. Is that fee specific to my car? No. I purchased a car they already owned. I did not trade in a car. There is no chasing to be done.
By your logic they may as well add a "janitorial fee" onto my purchase, because hey, they've got to pay the cleaning staff, right? They aren't on commission. What about a property management fee? Advertising fee? Electricity fee? Water fee?
It's called overhead. All businesses have it. The only reason it is there is to have something to pack on top of the sales price. In essence, it's a way to make the price artificially appear to be lower than it actually is.
I'm sure most businesses would love to price their merchandise with as much of their overhead left outside of that equation as possible, while still being able to bill it to the customer.
And for my personal touch is my friend who is a F&I manager, who I quote: "It's b***s***. I never pay it."
We went to the local Toyota dealership with full intention of buying a new Toyota Venza Limited. We knew what color we wanted and options. The dealer didn't have it but we wanted to test drive one to make sure my wife liked it. She did, but it was completely the wrong color option (She wanted white, it was black and she wanted black leather and it was almost white). We told them that we would have to think on it as no one locally had it. The manager had "lost" the keys to my wifes car in the process so he had someone go find them while we tried to negotiate.
The sales manager was new and young (we are friends with the dealership owner) and didn't know my wife's grandfather was a dealer until he passed and she knew her way around cars. He was basically giving us nothing on our two trade ins and raising the price of the car. After about two hours of trying to find our keys we walked out the door. He came out and asked what it would take to buy the car today and we told him what we wanted as far as price and payments, but that the color was just wrong. He then said he would give us the deal. I reminded him that my wife really wanted to think it over since the color was wrong before making a decision. He promptly folded his arms and said "If you don't make the deal today it won't be on the table tomorrow." I was furious so I pulled the extra key from my pocket intent on leaving the other and calling the owner to get my key. He walked over to the car and rolled down the window and handed my key FROM HIS POCKET.
We left and went to the dealership two towns over who had EXACTLY what we wanted and didn't hassle us AT ALL. Best experience we have ever had. No doc fees, no hidden fees, or anything like that. I know they made money but the deal seemed extremely fair to us. We will now only buy vehicles from that dealership.
Found a used car I liked online and saw they had a nifty tool to check my credit, aka ruse to get my information. I filled out the form like a gullible person and within an hour I had a salesperson calling me saying to finish the credit check, they needed to know what kind of car I was interested in. Next thing I knew, I had an appointment after work to check out some cars.
Then I checked out the car I liked (while he also proceeded to show me brand new, more expensive dealer cars that he claimed were similar) and I knew I needed to talk it over with my wife and wanted to take her on the test drive with me. He gave me the whole speech saying he can't guarantee the car would still be there the next day but he could put a 24 hour hold if I gave him a $200 deposit. I politely let him know that I liked the car but not that much. I'd take my chances. And of course it was still there the next day.
My dad actually walked out of a dealership because they wouldn't give him what he wanted for his trade in. I mean, they really lowballed him. On the way out, he saw a sign on the door with a phone number to call for the manager if you weren't satisfied with your experience. So when he got home, he called the number and left a message and forgot about it. A couple hours later, after him and my mom got home from dinner, he had a voicemail from the manager saying they would accept what he wanted for his trade in!
I had a dealership salesman agree to a price. Then I went into a meeting with the guy who was the manager in charge of the trade-in deals. He told me rudely that they wouldn't be buying my old truck as a trade-in (I hadn't really expected them too - was just wondering if they would) and that they wouldn't be selling me the lightly used truck I was looking at for the agreed-upon price (they were asking just a thousand bucks less than the cost of a new one, and I'd bid just a bit lower). He was visibly trying to intimidate me, which was funny. (I'm just not that kind of girl.) It was worth it to see the shock on his face as I smiled at him quite sweetly, thanked him for his time and then got up and strode out. I'd never heard of a verbally agreed-upon price being revoked like that.
I went to another dealership in another part of the state and bought a new pickup for a little more than I was looking to spend, but it was a good little truck, and they were nothing but polite to me. I later sold the old pickup for way more than any dealership would have given me, and I got to have a good laugh when the first dealership called asking to sell me the "lightly used" truck at the price we had originally agreed upon a few days before.
I went on a date with a guy who worked with car loans who had dealt with that dealership, and he laughed his ass off when I told him about walking out. He said that the guy I was dealing with had a long history of being a total douchebag.
I got pissed off over a trade-in at a dealership that had sold me the car I was trading in. I think it was because they spent so much time when I bought it trying to convince me that it was great that I was baffled at their assertions that it did not hold its value (it did, as it turns out).
I even had the finance guy wander over and give me the "you're taking food from my children's mouths" routine.
I got up and walked out. They had my keys, but I had the other set.
When they realized I was turning on my car, the sales guy ran out to tell me they'd give me what I wanted for my trade.
I almost didn't go back inside, I was so irritated by the whole charade.
I do not do that anymore. I just look them in the eye and say "no."
And I am oddly calm about it. It's their job to make as much as they can and mine not to buy for more than my (realistic) budget.
We're both just doing our jobs.
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When I had them rotate the tires, I checked. The odd tire was in the same place as it was before I brought it in. They told me they rotated the tires, but had not.
But they did! The tires "rotated" when they drove the car back to the shop and then rotated again when they drove it back around for you to pick up.
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) that said you got $20 oil changes, free tire rotations and free car washes for as long as you owned the car. 
