Have decided that the wife and I need a new toy so we are in the market for a new jeep Rubicon, That was the easy part and being that it has been awhile since I have purchased a vehical from a car lot it has been a real eye opener. Having worked in sales myself on and off it is quit comical to watch them go through the paces and for the most part though it does nothing but piss me off, it is no wonder that domestic manufacturers are hurting for sales. The one that killed me was the guy that told me he was going to charge me $600.00 for a vehical lean search and to check and see if the doors we're stolen. My first question is does your dealership make a habit of stealing or buying stolen cars? While he was trying to answer that I did the lean search myself on a laptop,which in turn showed me the car was registerd to them. when I told him that it was already done and showed it to him he still insisted that I pay him for administration. At that point I'm sure he still has his mouth open when I got up and left. We are still shopping but it is sad that they feel people are that gullable. I'm sure some are and would happly pay these made up fees just so they can further line their pockets, but I refuse to be one of them. It really makes me wonder if there is such a thing as a honest car salesmen. I think I already know the answer to that one. The other one was the 0% finance that only applies apparently on vehicals that no one wants, I have also learnt that they make money on the interest over and above what the bank will offer them so it is just another way to get you to part with your hard earned cash. Not that I care because I have already secured financeing from the bank but it does help me decide where I am going to spend it. The other one was "I just need to clear that with my manager" and this guy was'nt even smart enough to go some place where we couldn't see him not that I didn't know already, He stands out side has a smoke and has the balls to come back and tell me what a good deal he has gotten for me. Needless to say he's still standing their wondering what happend as we drove away yet again. Well I'm sure you can all see where this is going, It makes me wonder though if the industry is that hard up why do they not do themselves a favour and clean up their act in the salesroom and just offer the product to the puplic for a fair price and be done with it instead of going through all the song and dance which in my case has done nothing but leave a bitter taste in my mouth and a little pity for the guy on the assemble line that is just trying to turn out a quality product and feed his family and sadly his income is relient on that ******* you meet in the showroom (Sorry about the langauge Ross) But how else do you describe these guys?
They've done the same thing to me. And then some. Oh extra charge for this, oh well according to your credit. I just look at them. Well, my credit is fine, but sure. (I get a credit check done annually). It's like come on, don't BS me and I won't BS you. lol....But, you know how it goes. Anyway they can stiff a customer, they are all over it.
A couple of years ago, I was looking into replacing my little Nissan Pickup. The first place I went to was a Ford Dealership. I parked my little truck and started looking around the lot. Well, it only took a couple of seconds for the sharks (I mean salesmen) noticed me. One came over and asked what I was interested in and I indicated I would like to test drive a Focus. He said "sure, why don't you hand me the keys to your Nissan and I will get the paperwork started while you are test driving" Excuse me?!? When did taking a test drive ever mean that I was ready to get any paperwork started? And he must've been on drugs to think that I would ever hand my keys to him.
I ended up at a Subaru lot. The owner of the dealership was the one that sold us the car. He saw us on the lot looking around and said, "If you have any questions or want to take a test drive, I will be inside at my desk" Huh? No pressure? No one trying to harass us into buying? It was the most wonderful, low pressure car buying experience ever.
New Paul Miller Ford lot here in Lexington you have to walk in sales building through sharks to get to the car lot you can no longer walk off the street on to the lot to look at a vehicle.
I have to say that buying a Honda or Toyota is different. They don't have to try to sell those cars. People go in with a computer printout and negotiate up from dealer invoice. Another good option is to use the Costco fleet discount. Every member gets the same price. Just like buying a Saturn. I did that last year for a Honda Civic EX, and the only thing I had to worry about was my trade in. Since it had a blown transmission, I was happy with the price they gave me. It was book - the cost of a rebuild. I wound up saving around $3K on the Honda.
How is that Honda? I had an '81 1500 DX 5 speed, paid about $6K for it new. I ran it for 10 years and 141K miles with no real problems. It gave Me 41 MPG reliably when I worked about 45 miles from home, mid 30s MPG on shorter trips. Back then You had to put in Your order and wait for delivery.
They had plenty of inventory when I bought mine. They had leftovers from 2007 and tons of 2008's. It listed for $20K and they let me have it for $16K something. It is by far the best new car I ever bought. It is absolutely perfect. Even Toyota's and Mazda's I bought new had flaws in the past. Especially all the new Dodges my dad bought had major flaws. Some of the engines ran so bad, the car would stall when taking off from a stop. It was extremely dangerous in traffic. If you did not want to risk getting hit, you had to wait before pulling out. This always pissed off the people behind us. Of course they always got pissed and almost rear ended us when it stalled too. I get 34mpg with my Honda, but it is a lot bigger than the older ones, almost as big as an Accord. My understanding is that even the American made Accords are as good as the Jap cars, so my opinion is it is all about good management and good design.
Best way I found is to just ask for a quote. No BS, just their bottom dollar ammount. I did it when I bought my truck, 05 Dodge 3500 diesel. I just built it on the website an sent it to about 50 dealers up to 250 miles away. Got four wuotes out of those 50 and got my new truck for 33,500. Even got to pick out the exact one from the dealer invoices that were comin in the next week. If I remember right, the salesmen got paid hourly an not just commission so they could care less how much over cost they sold it for. I think they ended up makin 1,500 off of it. Lots better than havin to play the game with some guy in a white shirt all day to get the dealer to down to 40,000.
Thats a great ideal thats what I am going to try.
Sending out for quotes like this is a great idea. I know a guy who did this. He was a painter and treated the whole auto purchase as though he was buying paint supplies. He researched the car he wanted, sent the info to the dealers for quotes, then went for the best deal. Of course, some of the car salesmen played their games, and he played "buyer's agent" and gamed them right back.
He said the most fun was playing the "buyer's agent" part with the salesmen, including all the usual head trips he could play on them.
ps, I have a friend who's "hobby" is to go around dealerships and just take test drives. He's a real talker and just loves to scam salespeople.
That is how I bought my Honda. I sent for quotes to 5 dealers on the web. I told them the exact model. They gave me a bottom line price, before I went to the dealer. When I got there, they changed their story slightly. Since I had a trade, they played a few games around the issue of the total "package deal". They would not say exactly what they would sell the car for, they would only ask what "bottom line" I would pay including the trade. I asked them for a calculator, and when I used it, they were forced to match my price. I got both the price I wanted on the new car, and I got the price I was willing to accept for the trade. The only problem with using the web is they will jam your email full of spam once they have you as a sales lead. Some dealers are good about delisting you if you are kind enough to tell them you have already made a purchase though. It has been a year now, and I no longer get the junk mail. I will buy using the web next time too, unless there is a dealer who uses the Costco fleet discount. The dealer I used matched the Costco fleet discount and did a little better for me. It doesn't cost anything to check at the Costco website I don't think. Once you see what they offer, you might be able to determine if a Costco membership is worth it. Sometimes you have to drive to another city to find a Costco dealer though.
I have had both good and poor experiences buying cars and bikes. The best experience I ever had was at the Harley dealer. Prices are non-negotiable, period. There are no hidden fees, no waiting til I talk to the manager, blah blah. But yeah, if I walk onto a lot and the vultures descend on me, I'm out of there. I hate the game, but learned a long time ago that you can hit back just as hard. I guess that I'll be testing that theory again next year, when the wife gets her new toy, probably a BMW 3 series convertible. Have to see about that.
Forum
