I know what you are going through.. I have bought my last 4 trucks via online purchases (Cincinnati OH, San Antonio TX, Atlanta GA, and lastly Boston MA)... I've broke even or made money on every single one of them after driving them from 6 months to 3 years. It's definitely a gamble but the internet has changed how to deal with car sales... I don't even step foot on the local car lot anymore. My last truck (2013 Tacoma with 4k miles on it) was the biggest gamble as I actually bought it sight unseen, and arranged to have it shipped down to Kentucky. It was a long story, but I saved $5k easily over the going rate for a package that I couldn't even get locally (literally the toyota dealership said they couldn't get limited tacomas for whatever reason). My biggest gripe was with the F150 I got in Atlanta GA. Didn't even make it back to KY before I started hearing rear end noises... Needed replacing I soon found out. I got them to work with me and actually cover the repair for me however after seemingly days worth of calls/emails.
I'm guessing he's using Autotrader.com. You are able to search for any specific vehicle, trim model, mileage, color, engine, etc and then contact the dealer directly. You can find incredible deals if you are willing to travel or ship the vehicle. That Platinum F-150 I was trying to get was listed for about 6k less than the next closest priced option (and had less miles), it simply would have been about a 7 hour drive to go pick it up. I've bought 3 vehicles this way and today was the first time I've been burned.
I tried to buy my last truck at the closest Toyota dealership, about 20 minutes away. I went there and was crunching numbers with them. It was the last day of the month so they were moving more on the price than usual but not enough. The vehicle I wanted they would have had to have done a swap with another dealer. I ended up walking and continuing to talk with them as well as a couple of other dealers. These other dealers were hitting the price I wanted but I really wanted to stay local. I called the dealership and asked them to match the other prices I was being offered, they would not touch it. I felt so adamant about staying local I told them that I would pay a grand more than the other dealers were offering, and they said no. I finally said I would take the deal they offered me on the last day of the prior month and they told me that deal was off the table. They kept trying to talk me into lesser vehicles for the same price I was being offered for the actual model I wanted from other dealerships. I finally said screw it and made the deal with a dealer about an hour away. They beat the price of then local dealership by $1500, and gave me $2000 more on my trade. The local dealership called me a few days later and i told them I had already bought the truck I wanted for the price I wanted. To this day I am perplexed as to why the local dealership did not want to deal with me and I will never buy a vehicle from them.
Car dealers do not like me lol. I've had some good and some bad experiences. I'll have some stories to tell after today i'm sure. My girlfriend is in the market for a vehicle and left it in my hands . I despise the whole process. I understand they operate a certain way, but so do I. I simply don't have time for the BS. I dont' want to hear about your life story. I don't want to drive 50 cars/trucks. I don't want you to go back and forth to your sales manager a dozen times with a dozen different numbers. I don't want to hear about how you will match anyone elses offer. If you can do that, then do it up front. Im not doing your homework for you. Why would I find a better deal somewhere else and then go back to you? I don't want to hear about how the rebates or incentives end today. I don't want you to think that you can pressure me into a sale. And I dont' want you to assume you're the only dealer I'm working with. Here is my criteria.... you can do it.... or you can't. Either is fine with me. Thats my opening statement lol.
Kinda different story here. A daylight foreman at my employer is a car buying fool (he gets a car every 2-3yrs, I think he leases them but he denies that lol) either way he did a internet car buying experience where they quoted him a price and he went back and forth till they both agreed to a certain price...he then drives there which was about 30mins away and when he got there, the salesman he was working with on the computer was with another customer and basically pushed him off to another salesman, this salesman then proceeds to say the price quoted by the other salesman isn't going to work on the vehicle he wanted but he would on a lesser version model. So after about 5mins of this he then just walks out of the dealership...heading home he gets a call from the original salesmen that goes on to say turn around and we can work something out...my Foreman basically in a nice way tells this salesmen and his dealership where they can go. He did about a week later get the vehicle he wanted for the price he wanted at a dealership closer to his house. IMHO, car sales and their employees have to be some of the most rude, unknowledgeable, lack of concern for other people out there. I haven't bought a vehicle in over 4 yrs and when I will (which hopefully is another 2-3yrs) I don't look forward to it, but honestly I hate to say this I feel as the buyer you have to go in with a bad attitude and treat the salesman as if he is working for you, and he needs you more then you need him, when he comes back with a price, say do better etc.....
When we bought my Cavalier, it was a fun learning experience for me. We found one we liked and when my husband asked the price, the salesman pointed to a sticker in the window. My husband is noticeably older than I so you know whatever he does, it's not for the first time. So my husband just looked at him sort of questioningly. Then the guy quoted a lower price. My husband said that was too much so the guy asked him how much he would be willing to pay and my husband gave him a price. So then he had to "write up an offer" so he could take it to his manager for approval. Well it turned out the manager wasn't willing to go with the price my husband gave, but knocked a little off the price the sales guy had given. So then my husband explained with a straight face that he just wasn't very good at bargaining and maybe he could get the car for even less, but that the price he had given was the only price he would be willing to pay. He repeated again that he just was terrible at bargaining, so if they couldn't accept his price we would just have to leave. So the sales guy said he would go back and talk to his manager. Then my husband stopped him and told him to be sure and tell the manager that this was the only price he would accept. If that wasn't enough we would just have to leave because he just didn't really know how to bargain. So we got my Cavalier for that price. Afterwards, I asked my husband if we could have maybe gotten it for less. He said he couldn't be sure but he thought that was a fair price and he was satisfied. I've driven it for about seven years now and it's really a sweet little car. But I learned something that day. She learned how to avoid getting fleeced
Just look at it this way, Matt. A platinum edition is too nice for a hunting/fishing truck. Maybe it wasn't meant to be :D In all seriousness, though, I can't really see any justification as to why they did what they did. The great thing about Autotrader and similar online classifieds is that another deal is bound to pop up again. Btw, I bought both of my trucks from Autotrader. Paid significantly less than I ever would have locally. I don't ever see myself buying local for vehicles around here. The pricing is just too high locally.
Most dealers suck. When I was a kid in the 80's, a local dealer sold the folks a Thunderbird with a turbo...it was a hot little sob both performance wise and quite literally. It would overheat and the electronic fan wouldn't work dependably. Finally it was in a fender bender and when insurance had it in a shop to repair, the mechanic said the frame was twisted. Come to find out it wasn't twisted from the current little incident it had been wrecked and rebuilt before. This was also the source of the electronic problems. Insurance totaled it and my folks let it go rather than suing the dealer for misrepresentation. I bought my current truck from a local dealer and have been really pleased with it but it's getting over 70K on it and thinking of trading for a new 2015 F150 rather than a F250. I love a 250 but the fuel usage is terrible at 11-13mpg. I think I'd be ahead to get a 150 for most of my driving and small hauling and an older nice 250 for pulling equipment and carts. Right now my 250 is doing both at poor fuel mileage. I dread trying to trade, I hate it x10 but I also hate to lose any more trade in value with my current truck so...I guess I'll brave it.
My brother was looking for a very specific criteria'd F150. We found one that fit in Cincy and just happened to be down that way so we swung in. This truck was DIRTY, CRAZY DIRTY... I'm talking sucker sticks stuck to the seat, froot loops broken up on the floor, sprinkles, mud in the front, straw on the floorboard, dried up soda in the cupholder... The kid said they have had it for months and couldn't get it sold, also, that his manager refused to take a penny less on the truck, which they might have gotten had it had the "wow" (really clean) factor. Instead they let all their people drive it and trash it and wanted top dollar for it. Last I checked it's still sitting there. Beautiful bright red FX4.
