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I had a used car dealer (Toyota dealership) actually try and tell me that if we wait, the value of their 3 yr old Prius was going to go up and the value of our 99 civic was going to go down. I actually laughed in her face and promptly explained that NO used car on your lot is going to increase in value and that the value of my 99 civic with 160,000 miles had already reached bottom. I could put another 100,000 miles in my civic and it will still be worth 1500 bucks. She tried to say I didn't know what I was talking about, so we promptly left.
We ended up buying a VW Jetta from a VW dealership down the road. I told them that story and even they were laughing about it.
There are so many vehicle buying programs that you can use you never even need to go talk to a sakes guy. I plan on using the Costco or go to a few of them to get some competitive rates
What about the "We must run your credit due to 9/11" even when you're paying cash scam?
This isn't totally a scam. Thanks to the wonderful PATRIOT act an cash transaction over a certain amount($3000?) must be reported. So they would need your SSN. That does not mean you need your credit run, but that could have just been the idiot sales person babbling.
Went in, and looked at a car we wanted, it was almost 2X the blue book. I tried talking them down, they told me I wouldn't find a better price anywhere. Promptly showed them on my tablet 3 other identical cars for sale near blue book price (and several more at less from individuals). They wouldn't budge on price claiming that the others probably had issues you couldn't see unlike theirs. so I walked. suddenly the owners son runs out and tries to convince me that he can give me a better deal.
Please. Just sell me a car at a reasonable price and don't make me hate all of you. I now no longer visit car lots.
After the third trip back to talk over my "deal" with the sales manager, I left a note on the salesman's desk that I went home to consult with my "Sales Manager" and I'd see what she said. When he called to ask where I went, I told him that I was just playing the same game he was and how did he like it?
When they ask what I want to pay, I ask , how much profit do you want to make? Works much better!
I truecar'd and knew invoice, avg sale price as configured, and all available rebates so I was pretty confident they couldn't pull one over on me. When it came time to sign the papers, they added an extra $500 rebate on top of the existing $500 rebate onto the finance form. They certainly didn't give us the extra $500 (don't think they pocketed it since it wasn't an available rebate anywhere I saw from research). Not sure how else they would benefit from that. Anyway, all they could do was "apologize" when we confronted them "well why didn't you offer it to us?". We could either continue with the paperwork or drop the whole sale. We really didn't want to find another Hyundai dealer as the others were far away and they ended up giving us a ton of oil change vouchers. In the end the cost was the same as we had agreed to earlier, but these things just leave a bad taste in your mouth.
It mystifies me why any retail outlet would ever treat potential customers this way. Can you imagine getting this kind of treatment at the supermarket or clothing store or bookstore?
What is it about the car culture that fosters this kind of hucksterism?
A friend was buying an Accord. They tried to sell him etched window glass. He refused because the price was outrageous and knew he could get it done cheaper elsewhere. So he bought the car without it, but it actually turned out that the glass was already etched. So the dealer tried to get him to pay for something that was already done.
During the ride, the check engine light came on. I was like eh, nevermind, I don't want the car if it's already got problems on a test drive. The guy LAUGHED at me and told me it was just a loose gas cap. I was like oh well don't want it now. I also didn't like that he laughed at me.
So somehow a friend of a friend ended up going to that same dealership, being told the same story, and buying the car, of course "as-is" and it ended up having so many problems she spent a fortune getting it fixed. Gas cap huh? I think he thought because I am a woman I wouldn't question his "authority" but my dad used to own his own mechanic shop, I'm not an idiot, while I know a gas cap could be the problem, but that seemed fishy at a test drive to me.
I looked at a car a tiny little lot. After I was done, I asked to use their bathroom. The toilet (no stall) was filled to the brim, and not with water. The floor was covered with globs of used paper. The sink was black -- but who's looking at the sink, by that point?
I came out and said, 'That is honestly the worst bathroom I have ever seen in my life'. The guy had the decency to look ashamed. He said, 'I guess we don't go in the women's much'.
Well, someone sure does.
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