Anyone have any bad experiences to share? So here is my rant for the week, I have to vent a little bit here.......... Found a killer vehicle online that I really wanted for a great deal the other day. It was 7 hours away though, so I had to work with the dealer over the phone, close on a loan locally with my Credit Union, and the plan was to drive out tomorrow morning to pick up the vehicle so they got credit for it in their month end. I offered to pay them a significant deposit over the phone to hold it, but they refused and said they have a no hold policy. They also said that I should be OK because they hadn't had any activity on the vehicle in two months. So this morning I get an email (not even the courtesy of a call) from my sales rep telling me he was sorry, but the truck was sold last night. He wanted me to call back and look at the other "comparable" vehicles they have on the lot. I'm a career sales guy by trade, and today I manage a team of about 20 other sales guys. I usually really enjoy interacting with sales people in other industries when I buy things, but this is really a terrible experience and I hate how people associate this type of thing with all sales people. Anyone have a similar bad experience to share?
sucks but could have been worse could have drove there only to find out it was sold... I don't have a recent one.. many years ago we were trying to buy a bronco, we talked to dealer that morning told him we would be be there at lunch and there was a 100% we would buy he said he said he would hold.. it was only an hour away when we got there it was still there but was being purchased... They had another one but not the color we wanted so we left.. ON the flip side in my 20s I used to go to dealerships and test drive the latest hot rod they had to offer with no intention of buying. I took many a salesman for a white knuckle ride...lol
Wow, that sucks big time. I bet he probably already had it sold before he talked to you. Yes, when purchasing my current truck actually. I was looking at another Dodge at a dealership which happened to be across the street from the dealership where I ended up buying my truck. Anyway, I look fairly young for my age so I think the guy was trying to take advantage of me. He tried to sell me a 3 year old Dodge RAM with 40k miles for $21k. I offered $18k and he all but laughed in my face. I simply told him that he had the truck overpriced and there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money on a 3 year old used truck, so I simply told him I was going to buy one across the street at the other dealership (I had no clue I really would end up doing it) and walked away. I ended up going across the street and buying a 2 year old Dodge RAM with 30k miles on it for $16k. It's still the best deal of my life to date and I almost wanted to go back to the first dealership to show him my new truck but that wouldn't be very nice of me so I refrained.
I an understand your disappointment. But you were really committing to buying a car seven hours away that you hadn't seen? What if you get there and find some problem(s) with it? Put your self in the shoes of the salesman. He has a mortgage payment due on the twelfth. He has a guy seven hours away who says he'll buy the car, but hasn't even seen it. On the other hand he has a guy standing in front of him who has driven the car, checkbook in one hand and pen in the other. A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
When you find a good car sales person you send them all your business. I have one here that all I have to do is call him, tell him what I'm looking for new or used and bam 2 days later a list of trucks in my inbox. Sucks you couldn't get it done over the phone but I kind of understand the no hold policy but on the other hand if you haven't had any activity on the truck in 2 months why wouldn't you hold it. On a side note can you get together this weekend then?
Hey - Pretty sure I can get together this weekend then, I've got another truck (Actually up in your area) that I'm going to try and pick up but not sure yet if I can make that happen tomorrow or not. I'll know more in a few hours. I'm still so mad about this. There is literally no other trucks like the one I was going to get anywhere in the country right now for the price I was getting it for.
I was 17 and had a ZR2 S-10 that I wanted to trade in. I was looking at Ford Rangers, so I went by myself to the dealer and started working on the trade. They test drove my S-10 and came back in and said there was something wrong with the 4 wheel drive and had to severely reduce the trade in value but could still work the numbers to get me where I needed to be for a payment. I walked out with a new Ford Ranger thinking to myself how glad I was to get rid of that S-10 if it had 4WD problems and even happier they got my payments where need (with a 6 year loan). Wow...I was young, gullible, ignorant and had a salesman ready and willing to take advantage of a kid. I'm still embarrassed about that.
If you haven't had any activity on the truck in two months, you would sell it to the first guy with a handful of cash.
I was going to drive 7 hours, there really can't be anything wrong with a vehicle that has that low of miles and I had a 125k mile bumper to bumper warranty included on it. If something was misrepresented I would have not signed and walked. I am a career sales guy and run a team with 20 guys now. We keep our word and don't mislead our customers because we know that a positive customer experience is the most important thing we can do. The guy was on the email string with my loan officer, saw the approval come through, sent the purchase order to the bank, etc. I also offered to pay them several thousand over the phone to hold the truck. It was a slam dunk and he knew it.
That's your answer right there in bold. He doesn't know you from Adam's brother-in-law. On the other hand, he has a guy ready to buy right now. He also knows they're are plenty of vehicles out there for you to buy. You're not going to be walking for the next couple years because he sold the truck to someone else.
Yup. Last car we bought used was a Pathfinder. Dealer was about an hour and 20 away. Was a good deal and it was what we were looking for. Salesman said, I only have one key for it. Will need to get the service department to order you another one. I said, shouldn't I get that on the IOU slip. He said...nope it's fine we will take care of you. Well 3 months later with no return calls from ANYONE at the dealership and I learned my lesson. I spoke to at least 3 different people during that time who all said, we will ensure it gets taken care of. Hope they felt good saving a hundred bucks at my expense. If you give someone your word, honor it or own up. I don't care what industry or walk of life you come from.
It does suck when crap falls through message me and Mike if we can do it. I would rather this weekend then next if possible.
Yeah, we were looking at a car. We're not ones to want to hang around a car dealership so if we are there, we're most likely buying something that day. We told the salesman which one we wanted and what we wanted to pay. He told us to give him a bit(going to talk to his sales manager). 15 minutes went by and I was getting pretty irritated so I went looking for him, found him outside smoking and BSing with another salesman. We quietly got up and walked out, and never had a good thing to say to anyone about that salesman or the dealership. Today, we make it extremely clear from the first moment that we are not there to **** around and play their games. You can either deal with us or not, we don't care who sells us the car. We also are never desperate to buy a car, we also make that very clear. When we bought our Charger, we told them what we wanted to pay, they countered and we said we could come up a little but not even close to their counter. They didn't come down much on their second offer so I told the wife we were done. Told the sales person that if they changed their mind, they could call us, but not to call us unless they got the number down to our offer. About 2 hours later, our phone rang and they gave us the price we offered. It was fair and they knew it, they also knew they weren't selling us a car unless they compromised. I personally hate buying cars, it's such a PITA, and I'm not wasting a day ****ering at the dealership.
There were some good deals at Christmas time, anyone ever try a lease over buying? Not like your ever going to get ahead when it's time to trade in the car dealers screw ya both ways.
I was looking at an explorer sport trac a few years ago. I drove it, it was pretty nice. They drove my car and were going to give me a good price for. All in all it was going really well. Then it came to the financing... unfortunately for them I have logic, and am good at math... the loan amount would be about the same as the car I was trading in (originally). they were giving me more than payoff on my current car also. The term amount was the same, and the interest rate was a little better even... but the payment was $200 / month more. After doing the math I found they have about $5k that was "unaccounted" for in their numbers. I asked what it was for and they all just looked at each other, then tried to show me where I misunderstanding... unfortunately for them I was able to show them where it was accounted for. The sales manager got mad and started being a ****. He had my keys still which was fun for me actually. I demanded them back and he asked a few more questions on the deal. Again I demanded them back and he had another question. I pulled out my phone and looked up the number for the sheriff's office. Showed him that I was going to call the sheriff because he refused to give me my keys, yelled at him so the other customers could hear and finally he handed them to me. STILL he asked if we could finish the deal... "Are you kidding me!" "You can't tell me where $5k went and are being shady" (again loud enough to ward off others). He actually called back a few days later and asked again. Same thing, your numbers aren't working and there's approx $5k in the deal somewhere you cannot show me.
Other than that it's just guys that have no idea what they're talking about. When I was looking at trucks I wanted a 5.4 F150. One guy showed me a F150 with a 350 in it... it was actually a 4.6 liter. I said it had to be 4x4, showed me 2x4, wanted extended cab, showed an expedition? Finally I looked at him and asked "do you even have anything that fits my criteria" to which he hung his head and said no. Just no need to waste my time like that.
My girlfriend is going through this right now. She is looking to buy her first car that wasn't handed down to her, and she has no idea how to handle salesman. She is too worried about hurting their feelings and not telling them exactly what she wants. She is specifically looking for a Toyota Venza, AWD with the 6 cylinder. The salesman ended up showing her a Highlander at the dealership, then sending her a bunch of SUVs by email, not one being a Venza. She finally got fed up with all the emails of vehicles she isn't interested in and handed the phone to me, and told me to set him straight
That surprised me my local Toyota dealer has been a joy to deal with and has many of every model,we bought the RAV4 and love it. I drove the Venza and liked it also.
