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We just bought a Hyundai applying a $500 "rebate" for doing their financing. Long and short of the story is they put that $500 into the negotiations instead of applying it afterward... and beyond that when we were actually doing the paperwork they say we're getting another $500 eco-credit rebate "just for having another car in the family" (didn't matter what kind of car). OF COURSE that extra $500 never came up during negotiations 2 days before. They just wanted to put it down as the sales price (adding rebates back in) to pad their numbers or whatnot... we get charged extra taxes as a result too which they made up for with more free oil changes (5 years worth). Oh and a lot of "I'm sorrys" for the confusion. If I were a hard-nosed NO BS negotiator I would've just given them the finger and walked but my wife wanted the car and it was the last day of the month for any incentives. Turns out there are no such incentives this new month so we're fine.
Moral of my story - even if you do your homework and they know it - they will still do everything in their power to pad their margins. Then try to make it up to you in other ways if confronted. This sales guy wasn't even some dirtbag who'd give you a bad feeling the instant you shook his hand - he was a clean-cut family guy who you'd love to have as a neighbor - doesn't matter... they are all about the $$$ in the end and will speak any mistruths that will help the dealer's profit margins. Another example is he mentioned the minimum to finance was $7k... then another day he said it was $10k. Finance guy finally said it was $7500. They didn't try to get us on the rate though - it was 0.9% for 36 months as promised which will be paid in full during month 1 anyway.
As you have discovered.......There is no honor among thieves.
99.999% of all car dealers are thieves which means on those rare times I must replace a car I always wear comfortable shoes..........so I can walk out then they get greedy.
Cold,
Sorry to hear @ your experiences, but sadly yours is a far too common story. I've been in and around the industry for decades, and I still can't understand why so many wish to promote an adversarial relationship with customers. Could anyone imagine being treated similarly at a restaurant, grocery store, or by a Real Estate agent?
Not only can I "imagine" such treatment by these other businesses ...
But I have experienced same, especially by a Real Estate agent very unhappy to have spent their time on a deal and then I walked away from it when the flaws of the property ... not disclosed by the agent, who should have known them (and, most likely did) ... became evident when I did my own due diligence instead of relying upon the representations of the agent. It's happened more than several times. One deal I did was so messed up with the hidden stuff not disclosed by the agent who refused to make good on the deal, let alone see that the paperwork was completed so that I could get clear title to the property ... left me with no option but to contact his managing broker who was as beligerent and loudly insulting as his agent. He invited me to sue them which he knew would cost me a ton of money to do. Instead, I walked over to the state RE Licensing board and filed a complaint. In due course, the RE company fulfilled their responsibilities for the deal and I got my clear title ... long after they'd been fully paid their commission at the closing table.
Similarly, I've had more than one run-in with restaurants where the menu items were represented to have certain ingredients, or not, as the case may be. You may think this isn't a big deal, but when you have family members with allergies to certain foods that may cause a severe enough reaction to risk anaphylactic shock, it's a big deal. Having sent food items back many times, for example ... prepared salads with croutons on top, they've simply brushed off the croutons rather than prepare a salad without them. Unfortunately for us, even the minute crumbs from this are enough to trigger an allergic reaction with severe discomfort. As well, I've eaten in some top dollar restaurants where everybody at the table eating a featured item that evening got food poisoning, and the restaurant owner was defensesive and belligerent about the report. I appreciate that they may have followed good practices in their kitchen, but good results weren't what they served. Several days to recover from the food poisoning isn't fun and the least the restaurant owner could have done would have been to offer their sympathy, if not some accomodation for a future meal at their establishment instead of an earful of how good their food. The proof, I'm afraid, came out in the end. Next time, I'm headed to the e-room where they can document the ecoli or salmonella that I got.
My point here is that car dealerships with the tactics that add to the stories of bad dealings aren't unique in the world of businesses. They all have their ways of treating clients poorly, and there are also many that don't do this stuff. Seek out those who do the right thing and don't bother yourself to try to do business with the ones who won't. There's another car dealership somewhere else that can earn your business.
As you have discovered.......There is no honor among thieves.
99.999% of all car dealers are thieves which means on those rare times I must replace a car I always wear comfortable shoes..........so I can walk out then they get greedy.
T-Wad ...
You've mentioned that you're driving older Suburbans.
When have you been dealing with buying a newer vehicle in the last few years?
Asserting that 99.999% of all car dealers are thieves ... just doesn't make rational sense, unless you've been into all of them and know for a fact that you've been treated badly and worn out all those pairs of comfortable shoes you've got.
Slandering everybody in the business is just asserting your projections as to how you do business.
This is why I had my financing set up BEFORE I went into the dealer. When I bought my Jeep, I went in with a check from my credit union. The dealer beat their financing, so I didn't use it. My rate now is 2.4% for 60/mo.
Nothing gets a dealer dealing like walking in with financing already arranged.
I've also found that getting up and heading for the door also gets them dealing. As long as you are sitting they feel you will buy at some price (or rate), heading for the door, that's business walking out the door and they don't want that to happen.
This is why I had my financing set up BEFORE I went into the dealer. When I bought my Jeep, I went in with a check from my credit union. The dealer beat their financing, so I didn't use it. My rate now is 2.4% for 60/mo.
Same here, except my dealer beat my credit union's rate by .5%. 1.99% vs. 1.49%...didn't even have to use the blank CU check, but having it there was incentive for the dealer to give me a better deal on financing.
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