Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Worst dealership here in nyc- major world, held me 4 hours then refused to sell the car to me after all the paper was signed because they werent making enough on fininacing, they said i had to finance it, so i put 19000 down and finincaed 3000 lol
Last minute $350 paper work processing charge. They relented. Car had a "BRA" on it. Was never discussed. They tried to add a $200 charge for it. I said take it off. They relented.
Taking a car on a test drive, chatting for a bit while the sales manager made his way over to the desk, and when I starting asking about the particular price and payment the sales manager tells me that "when we get to this stage we expect that you're going to buy the car as a thank you for the time the salesman has spent", without actually getting to what that number might be? At that point I said thank you and starting to walk out....the salesman asked if I thought I was being pressured and I told him yes. And I told him I react to pressure like a watermelon seed, I squirt right of your fingers.
The Mercedes dealer in Anchorage was probably the worst pressure I had ever experienced. We couldn't get a firm price out of them but they used every pretense to keep us in the shop and passed us from salesman to manager to salesman to manager like a biker's girlfriend. We finally just got up and left......told them we had to feed the dogs, which was true, and they said that was OK and come right on back afterwards, like they had given us permission. Never went back to the sales floor, but we did go to the parts counter as the service there was excellent.
I just purchased a new car completely over the net - negotiated the car via email (under invoice), ordered from factory, delivered to my home, papers signed on my front lawn. No trade and I brought my own financing. So MUCH better than the usual way. They did have the finance guy call up and try to sell me the mop n' glo, but it's a lot easier to say no over the phone.
I've walked out of dealers that are still pulling out the ol' four-square and saying 'what ya want yer payment to be lil lady?'. /sigh.
I know one of the big scams(more of a technique) that I believe they still do is if you have a trade in they ask to get a copy of your ID to verify its you. The salesman will come back outside without the ID and begin to tell you how they are inspecting the car and try to begin selling to you. I remember one time I wasn't interested in the car in person and asked for my ID back. Big surprise they "lost it."
I would say if you do have a trade make sure you get an offer in writing before talking about money for your new car.
I had a good friend and former employee that went to work in the Detroit area for a one low price, no haggling dealership. He said for the average person buying a car it was a good deal but there was still money to be saved if one wanted to or knew how to haggle.
My personal belief is those saying they never went to the dealer, did it over the Internet, played two dealers against each other online, etc. are maybe getting a better price then some do, but they are not getting the best possible price.
Can you haggle? Can you look someone in the eye and say BS? Can you get up and walk out? Can you be tough? I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
I had a good friend and former employee that went to work in the Detroit area for a one low price, no haggling dealership. He said for the average person buying a car it was a good deal but there was still money to be saved if one wanted to or knew how to haggle.
My personal belief is those saying they never went to the dealer, did it over the Internet, played two dealers against each other online, etc. are maybe getting a better price then some do, but they are not getting the best possible price.
Can you haggle? Can you look someone in the eye and say BS? Can you get up and walk out? Can you be tough? I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.
It's difficult to truly haggle in person unless you know what true cost basis is and the dealer isn't about to give that info out. Plus, the in person prices are usually more than the online prices, so you have to start from a higher base.
In a perfect world, the dealers would be competing in a transparent market and consumers would have easy access to that info, but the world isn't perfect...
Another one is when they accused me of lying (or the other person who I spoke with of lying) when I told them another dealership quoted me a lower price for a similarly equipped car.
I had that from an Infiniti dealer in Seattle. Their sales manager wrote a long email to me in which he accused me of lying about a price I got from another dealer, wasting his time and insulting his intelligence. I guess I hit a nerve.
Also, not sure about your area, but what is this crap I am seeing in addition to the window sticker that the dealer has added that says "AMV", adjusted market value and it is about $2,000 higher than the MSRP???
Our local Ford and Subaru dealerships pull that one. Apparently people do pay it for the privilege of buying local!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
