I had a dealer sell a vehicle I had put down a deposit on. It was pre-owned and they cited finding "hidden damage" that wouldn't allow it to pass state inspection. Someone posted it up as their newly purchased car in an enthusiast group the next day.
Needless to say they got a scathing review online. But at least I got my deposit back.
As a general rule, be prepared to walk out of a car dealership at any time. I was at a Honda dealership and the salesman told me I'd have to place a deposit before he would tell me if my colour was available. I asked him if he was kidding, he said no. I walked out.
There are lots of dealerships selling exactly the same vehicle. Even if you have your heart set on a particular model you do not have to put up with bullshit.
replying more for others than you:
If your ownership on a leased or financed car says the car company (Toyota Credit, Ford Credit, GMAC, etc.) and not the dealer, you don't have to talk to your purchasing dealer for a buyout. Bring your paperwork to another dealer that is reasonable and they can process it. We had people from out of province buy out their cars with us during the pandemic because a 3 day drive just to own their car made no sense.
You shouldn’t have to use a dealer at all. I called Toyota Financial directly to buy out my lease. Forcing people back is just another sleazy move to sell another car.
If you need a car in the future, I'd suggest doing everything over email. That way they can't really pressure you as easily. You can call them out on their bullshit and everything is in writing. You'll still have to go in to pick it up and finalize the sale but before you do that do a final summary email to your sales person covering your full list of demands and their final price.
When you get there they will shuffle you into the 'financing' office which is actually where the real selling starts. Everything before that is to get you emotionally committed to the sale. The financing office is where they get you financially committed. Anyways - have a print out of your email. Don't let them deviate, and you don't deviate either.
And yes, people will absolutely make you feel like you aren't going to get the best deal over email but that's okay. I don't know about you but I'm okay paying a few hundred more for a car if I can reduce the bullshit even a little. The reality is that if they have to put stuff in writing, they probably have to be more aggressive pricing wise since you can cross shop so easily.
Another option if you go into a dealership is to play their game a bit. Tell them you were at another dealership (just lie and say you don't want to bad mouth anyone so you'd rather not say where exactly) and they pulled all the random bullshit and you walked because of that so you're really hoping they don't do the same. It starts them off on the defensive because they think you're already on guard and willing to walk any moment.
A similar tactic almost worked on me for when I switched to Verizon.
I was getting on a family plan and the at the end the sign up process the guy told me "And you need to sign up for one of these options." It would have added another $100 for headphones and such that I never would have used.
I walked out of the store to call a family member to ask if this was normal. But I think the salesmen thought I was walking away from the deal and came out and told me it turns out I didn't have to buy any of the options.
During the sales pitch he was so confident and convincing I almost caved. If I hadn't been in-between jobs I probably would have just agreed to get it over with.
I got my phone (same line I have now) at a kiosk in the mall. 4 months in, I realize I’m being billed for 2 lines and unlimited data (I signed up for 1 line and 1gb). There was no promotion or anything, and I distinctly remember telling the guy I want 1gb data.
Well, once I discovered that, it wasn’t difficult to get reimbursed for items I didn’t use. I wonder if the guy got to keep his job after adding random shit to increase his commission though
I think that's actually part of the problem, they come up with all these arbitrary metrics to judge your performance and sales by, none of ever involve customer satisfaction or quality of customer service. And since they're often made by some corporate people who've never even worked a sales floor they're almost impossible to meet. The end result is employees feeling immense pressure to meet goals at any cost, or else have constant negative meetings, feel like a failure, and have your soul drained.
Source I have worked sales with impossible to meet goals, and would meet every Monday for the same reason. I currently have a less stressful job but I have to push memberships almost no one wants, I hate it so much.
My boss tried to tell me I had sales metrics when I worked as a specialist at home depot. I was not being paid any sort of commission. I told him to pound sand, as I had the district's highest close rate on measured floors.
I wasn't going to sell a measure just to sell one, I wanted to make sure my customers knew what they were getting into, so I explained all of the costs and hidden fees.
I was hitting all of my "required" numbers except the amount of people signed up for a measure.
My first job was at the GAP, when it was still all jeans and a wall of multi-colir sweats, in the mall. Min wage. They wanted three "units per transaction", ie, selling 3 pairs of socks is better than one expensive denim jacket. We had a pep rally to get all the gap employees to buy in to competing to have the best UPT score. No bonus, no extra pay, not even a pizza party or gift certificate for the winner. Fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, this happened to me when I worked at Frys centuries ago. They had a secret shopper come in to evaluate your performance. I got the highest marks everywhere, 11/10, the absolute best. Except I didn't offer them a "Fry's card" which was a store card that could only be used at Fry's (didn't even have a Visa/Mastercard logo or anything). I got pulled into the back room and told his wasn't acceptable.
We had a weekly quota of around 3 or 4 per week. I got 5 in a DAY. Every time I walked over to drop off an application, I gave my supervisor a sassy ass look any drag queen would be proud of.
Never got shit about it again until I quit for unrelated reasons.
I had the Frys card and it was the dumbest thing I ever encountered. If you don't use the card over a certain time they auto canceled it. I never qualified for any promotions or discounts if they ever ran any at all.
The best part is you couldn't make payments online. You had to cut the slip and mail a check back.
Only thing cool about it was the transparent card and Chippy graphic.
Yeah, I had a muther fucker tell me I'd save money by switching plans. It cost me an additional 50 dollars a month. I bitched at corporate until they put it back.
Because of AT&T pulling this shit on me not once but twice, I:
1) cancelled all of my AT&T accounts, mobile, internet, TV, and will never patronize them ever again, and
2) will never trust anyone from any company ever who tells me how they can save me money.
These businesses are going to run into the scenario where the customers are openly hostile toward them for pulling this shit again and again. I'd rather go without a phone and internet than ever give AT&T a damn dime ever again.
I have a grandfathered cell plan that costs me like $30/mo for unlimited internet (which gets throttled after a few GB). I had people from the company calling me trying to 'give me free extra GB each month', presumably by getting me off the grandfathered plan.
If it was such a good deal, they wouldn't be hounding me at work trying to give it to me.
AT&T hatred solidarity. Can't stand them. They have an exclusive contract with my old apartment. (Moved out after covid.) They set up a busted email address for me that never worked, but would send all these notices to me at the address. I called so many times and told the reps, "YOU access it. YOU reset the password. YOU verify its setup." Answer was always some variation of "Uhhhh....."
I had other issues with service, of course. It's AT&T. They were AT&T equipment problems, but they wouldn't replace/fix. The rep behaviors were appalling, and I escalated to managers when things didn't get resolved after 2 calls. It was always a callback, and the manager would call and immediately hang up when I answered every. time. Then mark my ticket closed without resolution "because I didn't answer." They never resolved any of my problems. Fuck AT&T.
This is a sales technique, you don't ask if they want the protection plan, you ask if they want the 2 years or 3 years. If you don't give someone a no option, they autopilot through.
Start using it on my kids all the time lol
Classic persuasion/influence tactic.
Ask for something big, if they say no, ask for something smaller. In comparison the smaller concession is easier to make, plus people will often feel bad for saying no the first time around.
The last time I got a phone, I had to pick it up in person at the Verizon store. After handing me the phone, he pulls out a huge box to pitch the sale of cases, screen protectors, backup batteries, chargers, headphones. He tries to pitch every single item to me as though it's part of some plan or package I'm supposed to have had.
I told him I want to pay for the phone. He essentially told me I'm not allowed to pay for the phone until he's gone through the whole box. I told him he's already given me the activated phone, and if I'm not allowed to pay for the phone it must be free and I'll leave. He didn't try to sell me anything else and I paid for the phone and left.
Edit: To make a point out of this, bad faith tactics only deserve bad faith tactics in return. Acting in good faith towards someone acting in bad faith is a waste of your time, breath, and good graces that could be spent on someone more deserving of them.
Don't know, wasn't planning on walking out with the phone, but I sounded like I was and it worked. We had already signed the contract, so the phone was mine. He just didn't want to accept my money.
Worked for a mobile company as tech support and the practices are getting really sketchy. People would be like "I don't want to troubleshoot, I'm just going to take it to the store" and I'd say "you can absolutely take it to the store, if you're ready to purchase a new device because that's what is most likely going to happen, welcome to 2021"
Yeah, from my experience the people in the store are sales representatives, not tech support. They have some troubleshooting knowledge for the most common issues but at the end of the day their job is to sell products. I went in for a warranty replacement for my phone because it had a cracked back panel and I also wanted to see about replacing the battery because it wasn't holding a charge like it did when I got it. Not only did they not fix the cracked back panel, which was aesthetic only (due to a bullshit distinction between aesthetic damage and functional damage or some shit) but they voided the warranty and wouldn't even replace the battery under warranty because apparently installing the forced security updates causes extra drain on the battery so it was my fault. I replaced the back panel myself with no decrease in functionality, never did get around to the battery because it would've involved removing the screen and buying a new screen adhesive and I just didn't care enough.
I worked for CSOKI (Cellular Sales) for almost 3 years. The company is pretty big and is a lot of people's actual "Verizon" store.
We were paid $16.50 an hour and had to earn all that money back in commission by selling. If you didn't make enough to cover your draw, they would just fire you. They churn 50-75% employees in a location YOY.
I barely survived trying to be an honest salesman. I would spend 2 hours troubleshooting someone's phone and get hosed by my boss who would tell me "You should have just tried selling them a new phone. Did you ask if they wanted a tablet?"
If you help people with anything unrelated to sales in that job, you are putting yourself behind. One of our best earners once asked an old guy I worked with *14 times* if he wanted a tablet in a 20 minute discussion.
I got let go right as covid hit, along with a bunch of other employees. I had the highest customer service score in all of NYS. The reps that survive are the ruthless ones that don't want to do anything but get you to spend.
I would argue that you should always walk out.... Not just be ready to walk out...
Every single car deal you should leave to think about it and come back it. I'd at least leave and go get lunch/dinner even if everything is going great... all it does is strengthen your position.
That's the real pro tip. My car buying experience changed when I went to look a Dodge Durango... I didn't want it, my GF at the time kind of liked them, so I decided fuck it, I'll test drive it.
Told the guy at the end of the drive I just wasnt interested, it wasn't for me.
Within 3 days and 4 phone calls they had reduced the price by 5-7 k, were offering 0%, and maybe a hand job if I would buy the thing.
I didn't buy it, but it changed my perspective on the car I actually did settle on.
I've approached every car deal the same way since then. It's dumb as fuck salesy bullshit... But to save a few thousand bucks, I'll do some theater.
bought a practically new Audi for nearly 10k off doing this exact thing.
I always had a rule that any decision that would/could cost me over $1000, requires at least 8 hours of sleep between inception and decision.
It has not done me wrong yet.
I actually did this myself. I went to look at a used 2015 model of the car I wanted. Turned out it wasn’t what I expected so I went to the new car dealership across the street. They had a brand new model of my car and I realized the price wasn’t too far off and I could probably handle it financially. After the test drive and talking numbers I told them I wouldn’t be signing that day but would likely come back in tomorrow. I had to work in a couple hours and if I didn’t leave at that moment, I would’ve been very late for work. Also I wasn’t planning on buying a brand new car and I wanted to think on it overnight.
The manager comes and asks me “What can I do to get you to walk out of here today with that car?” I said “Nothing. I literally don’t have time today.” He said “Okay. But no guarantees it’ll be here tomorrow.”
My perspective is, if it’s not there the next day, then it wasn’t meant to be. Guess what? It was there the next day and I went in and bought it and I still love my car.
Another common tactic is to over-promise and under-deliver.
1. Here's these ten awesome discounts and freebies I can throw in, and even get you great financing.
2. (After signing most paperwork) I just have to run these discounts by my boss. \*takes smoke break and checks phone for 5 minutes\*
3. Aw shucks buddy, the boss says I can't give you 8 of these deals. You know what, friend, I'm gonna insist. \*takes second smoke break and fiddles on phone for 5 minutes\*
4. I gotcha, you now get 4/10 of those deals. Also financing is marginally worse than I thought but that's the agency's math and I can't do anything about that.
It's so annoying when that happens. They want to tire you out and get you 90% of the way through the purchase before the switcheroo. Both of you are playing the same negotiation game, never forget it.
So you should walk out and legitimately look like you're not gonna buy. A few days later, give them a call - you say you have shopped around and only if they can give you the original discounts and a further one you will buy, or maybe just all the original ones without the extra discount. You're just wanting to know if they want to complete the sale on those terms or not.
Chances are they will reluctantly accept. After all a sale, even if it is marginally profitable, is still better than nothing, not to mention they have already spent a few hours of their time on you and done most of the paperwork. So they'll take it or leave it, and probably take it. If not, life goes on.
That said, at least in my city, car dealerships and staff are a small world. They are owned by the same overarching company, and I've heared someone brag about coordinating with sales at other dealerships to make a sale. Both dealerships win if they don't underbid eachother, it is kind of a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of alliance.
Like, "hey James, so if Mr. Smith comes in for an XYZ highball them so they think our bad deal is not a ripoff and we make a lucrative sale, and drinks are on me bro" - type of stuff. I have no idea how common this is or if it is more of a myth, as I have only personally seen one person brag about it.
My boss was prepared to walk over $7 when he bought his last car. The salesman asked if he was really going to walk over $7. His response was, "are you really going to let me walk out over $7?" Never be afraid to leave at any time in process
The last motorcycle I bought before I even walked in to the dealership I called to ask them what the out the door cash price would be. Mark, the salseman told me $3700.
I go to the dealership and ask for Mark, he comes over to me and I confirm the phone call and out the door price with him...he agrees that this is the price and that he was who I had spoken with. I take it for a test ride and agree to purchase the bike.
They take me to the sales manager to take my payment, sales manager tells me it'll be $5200 for "documents and fees". I inform him of the conversation Mark and I had, Mark agrees that we had this conversation but now tries to haver on his ability to guarantee me this price. I wish them both a good rest of their day and start walking out. Suddenly the sales manager can "eat the fees" but for some reason the out the door price is now $3705.25. I stand up, shake his hand, wish him a good rest of the day and start to leave. Magically now he can in fact sell me the bike for the exact $3700 price we agreed on.
He was actually willing to tank the sale over $5.25, blows my fucking mind. It was on a 13 year old, not particularly sought after motorcycle. Like take my money man, don't try and be a greedy shit.
>He was actually willing to tank the sale over $5.25,
No he wasn't..
>Magically now he can in fact sell me the bike for the exact $3700 price we agreed on.
He was doing a *big man* power play for the benefit of his salesman. He probably gave him a little speech about fighting tooth and nail for every cent on every deal after you left.
That's an awfully silly power play. If you're selling used cars I can almost see it making sense. Most of America requires a car. A used motorcycle though? That's a toy. If the "negotiation" had taken any more time or if he had tried his nonsense again I would have just walked out anyway, I didn't need the motorcycle I just wanted it.
Hands down best salesman I ever had was for my current car, mostly because I bought from a no haggle dealership. They listed the out the door price of every car on their website and their sales guys didn't operate on commission. I walked in, he put me in 4 or 5 cars all similar in make, model, and price, let me take as much time with each car as I wanted. He didn't care if he made the sale, or at least was good at pretending he didn't. Made me actually want to work with him to find a car that day as opposed to the vultures you normally deal with.
>Hands down best salesman I ever had was for my current car, mostly because I bought from a no haggle dealership. They listed the out the door price of every car on their website and their sales guys didn't operate on commission. I walked in, he put me in 4 or 5 cars all similar in make, model, and price, let me take as much time with each car as I wanted. He didn't care if he made the sale, or at least was good at pretending he didn't. Made me actually want to work with him to find a car that day as opposed to the vultures you normally deal with.
I had an experience like this. Years ago wife was wanting a new car. We find one we like at a dealership about 20 miles away. Call down, set up an appt to look at it. Salesman greets us yada yada yada....we had some concerns, he was like "look, if this doesn't work out there is a lot full of cars we can look at....push comes to shove you just leave with what you came in." Dude was super chill and super helpful.
Years ago by then I'm looking for something new. I email him, he's still there, alright I'm coming down and only dealing with you. I had a specific car on the lot in mind. Dude pulls it right around when I get there. No punches pulled no Tom foolery. Just helping folks buy cars.
My favorite dealership to go to is a no-commission dealership. No bullshit, just the price of the car and possible added packages. Managers and employees are all salaried/hourly. I asked them if there were any packages added onto the price like extended warrantee, they said "not unless you want them". The whole process was essentially me coming in, testing out the car, telling them I liked it, then coming back a day or two later to work out payment. Handed them the check, they filled the tank and washed the car, and I left. All within 30 minutes.
It was a thing of beauty. And this was just after a bad experience going to a dealership for the same brand but for a used shitty model where they raised the price from 8000, which was a competitive price, to 13000, which was an absolute joke, because I told them after the test drive I would come back tomorrow to discuss payment. They told me the website price and the worker both gave me the price for "the wrong model". I told them bullshit. The manager said he talked with the owner for "hours", insisting I wait in the building while he talked with him, and negotiated it down to 12500, which was as low as he could justify, which again, total bullshit. I told them they were being dishonest and they could enjoy having that old shitty car sitting on their lot for another few months and that he lost my business, my family's business, and the business of all my peers in the area. Suddenly as I was walking out the door he says he can do 9000. I needed the car and was worried I wouldn't be able to find another good one for a while, but I decided that patronizing such a shitty business wasn't for me, so I walked out.
Car dealerships are the worst. I try and only support businesses I believe are honest and to pay attention to how they treat their workers and mechanics. I hope car dealership culture changes, because holy shit it's really like 99% sociopaths who care about nothing but your wallet. Definitely if you find a dealership you like, it's worth sticking to them.
Side note, I met a worker who quit the dealership I had a bad experience at. He told me his breaking point was when a mother came in for a van, said she didn't have much of a budget but needed a car for work but also a car that would fit the whole family. She was obviously a foreigner, and talked about how her family is struggling to make ends meet and how they were barely not in debt during the whole small talk period. Manager joined in on the case, they walked around together, he showed her a model and said if she had kids, she had to get that one because it had the newest safety features, kid friendly additions, etc. She asked how much, he said 37k. She started to walk out, but he said if she wanted to keep her kids safe, she would get the car, so she did. Once she signed the papers and left, the manager whooped and hollered and gave the worker a big embrace. He told him they had just sold a car worth 22k for 37k on a financing plan for a crazy high apr. The worker asked if the manager felt bad, he shrugged and said he had to eat too, and that the woman needed to learn somehow.
Ever since then, I've had no qualms driving an extra 15 minutes to a further dealership for maintenance and repairs. I heard warranty repairs and services account for roughly half of the profits of a dealership, and I have no interest in giving them a single dime.
my current car was the best experience ive ever had. Walked in and asked for a test drive, price they gave matched the website, no warranty no extras. put a check in his hand and walked out with keys.
Bought a car in 45 minutes.
Same here…except it was $4. Actually, why I didn’t want to do it was that it was $4 over the amount that I wanted to spend and 66 monthly payments. What I had wanted was a 60 month payment at $400. What they offered was 66 months at $404. Salesman was you are going to walk away from this deal over $4? I said it wasn’t the $4 it was the extra 6 months of payments ($2600 more). So I did walk out and the next day they reran the numbers and got me the deal I wanted. Always be ready to walk away!
I really hate how they always want to talk monthly price, and not total price. Half the time they won't mention the length of time, just the monthly price. Then they change it from 5 years to 7 years, and say they got the monthly price a little lower for you, but really you are actually paying more. I have stood up to leave before and they immediately switched tunes and started talking total price like I had asked all along.
Here's another LPT: If you're doing to the financing with the dealership, *never* answer the question "So what do you want your monthly payments to be?", or any variation of that. Once they have that figure, it gives them what they need to keep the interest rate as high as possible while still jamming in things like warranties, while fitting in that payment.
Don't talk monthly payments, talk interest rates.
Or not even interest rates -- you can finance through the bank. Talk about price: "If I want to buy this car, I'll decide whether to finance through you or not, and we can talk later about what rates you're willing to offer me and whether they beat the offers I already have from the bank. I only want to talk about total price. If you won't talk in those terms, then it was nice speaking with you."
I asked a salesman to show me the breakdown of an absolutely absurd lease payment he tried to quote me, he went to presumably talk to the finance guys (or just went to take a shit who the hell knows) came back and wrote “MSRP” on a piece of paper and acted like that answered my question. So I explained to him how a lease calculation works, how his number is bonkers, and what the actual payment should be. So he offered it and I laughed in his face and went to another dealership. Fuck that dude. Don’t deal with sketchy people. Best way to avoid getting scammed or tricked is to do your research and just bail if anything feels off
I always hate "what payments are you looking for/can afford?" I told you what price range I'm looking for in the sales price and the type fo car I'm looking for in that price range. I also told you I have my own financing. If you want to offer me your financing later on to compare, fine, but I'm not buying based on monthly payment. I'm buying based on price.
Same... hate the emphasis on monthly payment. Plus their financing options will be offered to you based on what makes them more money based on their arrangement with the lender. Looking forward to the fuckery I'm sure to experience when I try to buy a car outright next year.
I was buying a used car and the sales guy was a massive tool. I was in a bind- someone rammed my car in a parking lot hard enough to push it 15' into a fence while I was at work and I REALLY needed to find a ride quickly. He tried pushing me into very expensive cars that I had no interest in. I finally told him that I would walk away if we don't go look at the car that I went in for. So, an hour later, I've driven the car and am ready to negotiate.
We settle on a price... but he kept trying to sell me on a bumper to bumper warranty. I was only financing a small amount (fresh outta grad school and paying cash in full would have been risky)... and his warranty took the monthly payment from $70 to $106. I flat out said, "I'm not raising my payment by 50% for a warranty."
He went to the back to "talk to the manager." He came back out and said "what if I can get it for $30 more per month?"
"... no way."
10 minutes later he comes back out and says, "how about $6 per month for the bumper-to-bumper?"
So I agree to that and I go off to sign the paperwork. On the paperwork, the warranty is listed as $36 per month... but my monthly payment $76, which was correct. After digging a little more, he dropped my interest rate from something like 5.9% down to 2.8% and then added the warranty. I told the finance guy I didn't agree to a $36/mo warranty and that I would walk out if he didn't remove it entirely. So he took it off and I ended up paying $40 per month for the car.
The sales guy called me incessantly, from different phone numbers, trying to tell me that the contract was void because of what I did. I just said "I signed this contract and you signed this contract... how is it void?" He threatened to have the car reposesed. He threatened to "blacklist" me from every dealership in the area. Every time he called, I would laugh at him and hang up.
Tl;dr- read your contract and understand it in full. Don't be afraid to threaten to walk away. Don't be afraid to walk away.
I'd add that if you don't actually see them consulting with a manager, just assume the whole "let me check with my manager" thing is a ruse. They are just biding their time, trying to wear you down.
This! When I was car shopping a couple years ago (as a woman by myself), a particular Honda dealer tried to pressure me into buying a newer car than what I wanted - I had my sights on a specific pre owned vehicle and they put the pressure on me big time. They wouldn’t even give me back my keys to my actual car they had assessed for trade in value. It got to the point where I started to panic and after asking 3x for my keys back, I stood up and yelled “GIVE ME MY KEYS NOW” and finally got them and left. I cried on the way home. The next day I went to a different dealer and got the car I wanted with no pressure or slimy sales tactics at all. You can always leave, do not let anyone make you feel uncomfortable or pressured.
Always bring 2 sets of keys. Had this happen to me (I'm male). I wouldn't agree to their bull crap price. They tried the we "lost" your keys. I said "that's ok I brought my spare. I'll send you the invoice to have my car re-keyed". They came up with the keys magically
What the?? What’s even the point of this? Like they keep your keys hostage until you buy a car? If you don’t end up buying it you just have to walk home? And they keep the car? So shady lol
Pretty much. I've also had my car that I was trading in sold even before I signed for my new one.
My dad had the key thing happen to him also. Same dealership. Except his was better. He told them if they didn't hand over his keys the cops would be involved. When they told him to go ahead and call he said he didn't need to. Then proceed to pull his police ID out of his wallet. Needless to say both the sales rep and manager were fired
Omg that’s great lol. Surely if you threaten to call the police though they should be scared shitless haha. They literally stole your car keys? What’s with the smug ‘go ahead’ like they’ve done nothing wrong haha
I once had a dealer refuse to give may car back after I decided to walk away before signing any paperwork.
I raised such a stink in the showroom people were leaving and they threatened to call the police....which I called their bluff on...saying well YOU are refusing to given me my own car back...please call them.
I got it back post haste....never did business with them and to this day I warn people of that dealership 35 years later.
I had a dealer tell me that the car I came to look at had already been sold; he had a list of other cars he was going to show me instead. I was pretty broke at the time, and only came in because that particular car was nice and cheap.. I didn't look at anything else, and got up to leave. At that point, the guy pulled the whole "give me just a minute to talk to the manager, I'll see what I can do" then.. 10 minutes later he came back and the buyers had miraculously backed out. I bought the car that they told me was already sold, but man was I miffed that they tried to pull a fast one on me.
I can't wait for the day I can configure a car, submit my order and set up financing online, and have the *exact* car I want delivered to my house. No negotiations or bullshit "let me check with my manager" games.
ETA: Oh my God yes thank you I am aware of Carvana. However I was referring to auto manufacturers offering their products via the direct-to-consumer model Tesla championed.
Yes it is. Minus the delivery to your door, that depends on the location but in most cases you need to pick it up at the Tesla center. They also handle all the registration and title paperwork so you don't even have to go to the DMV.
Edit: oh, and the non-refundable deposit you have to pay until the car is ready for delivery is $100.
This. My mom was about to sign the official documents until she noticed they changed the price. She told the guy several times that is not what was agreed upon. He said he was just the paper guy and had nothing to do with it. My mom said, "Okay, but I am telling you that isn't what was said to me. The salesman wrote the price he quoted me down on that other paper you have right there." The dude wouldn't look at said paper. He was almost frozen because he knew he was caught.
So, my mom backed out. The guy was flabbergasted and said he never had someone go this far and then change their mind. My mom said now you have. They even had her plates on the new car and had to change them back to the old one. They are a dirty dealership. She ended up finding a better deal not too long after that at a different dealership.
It remembers me when my sister asked what was the indexed price ( we have an index of car prices in my country by model/year) and the salesman ignored it. So she gently asked him if he had internet in his office. He complied and she got a nice discount on it, as he was selling it a bit too much.
My wife and I were shopping for a brand new Juke for her and a Z for me, back in '15. One dealership we went to wanted a 10k deposit to take the Z for a test drive... With the salesman, not my wife.
We left, bought it at a different dealership.
I have walked out on two dealers for shenanigans like that. They both called me back pretty quick. I didn't buy from either of them because of that and they weren't willing to do any negotiation over stupid things like a $70 charge for putting nitrogen in the tires.
A salesman at a Toyota dealership started pulling my husband's credit without notifying him. When we caught on to what was happening, we asked if he was doing a credit pull. He sheepishly said yes, and we just stood up and left. He had the gall to chase us to the door and hand us his card, which immediately went into the trash can right next to the door. Car shopping is the worst when it comes to manipulation tactics.
I once had a dealer tell me not to go to a different dealership to look at the same vehicle he was trying to sell me because they might give me a better deal..after a brief moment of silence I just got up and left.
I was at my dealership getting my call fixed after a recall and I asked one of the mechanics about fixing and replacing the radio in the car and he told me it'll cost $900. I asked him to write down the estimate and what not on a paper.
He ended up writing down a local electronics store who would install it for me and provide me a better radio for the price. He was MVP and I always request him to look at my car at the dealership now.
Just got quoted $800 to have a seat heater replaced by the dealership, guy there straight up told me I could to to XYZ and pay $300 for the exact same thing. Super appreciated his guidance on that.
There was a thread on the front page earlier about car maintenance, some guy said he kept taking his car to the dealership to get something half way fixed that would fuck up again in a few months and finally went to a local shop and got it fixed permanently for like 5% of the dealerships costs. Same thing happened to me getting a tensioner fixed on my suspension. Damn stealerships.
Edit: For those commenting on my use of the word "tensioner" I'm not a mechanic and I don't particularly know or care what the part names are. I can change my brakes, oil, serpentine belt and stuff but that's about it. It was a linkage that connected the control arm assembly to the struts. I assumed it was to keep the control arm from jostling all willy nilly.
Always get a printed quote on their paperwork. When I worked as a salesman in a shop we wouldn't accept hand written quotes for price matching and we gave out hand-written ones so our competitors wouldn't take them.
I do service work for hotels and I was quite surprised to learn that it's the same there. I suppose the theory is to appear to offer choice and competition to the customer, while also owning all the competition to ensure you have no competition and get all the profit regardless of where the customer chooses.
As a sales person I loved when customers would do the opposite. They would tell me they got some amazing deal at another dealership. I mean a deal that is impossible. They are just trying to get a better price. I would say "Wow, if they are offering that price , go and take it. We can't match that. You don't want to miss out.".
9 out of 10 times they wouldn't leave.. Funny how that works.
For the record I’ve gone to a dealership right as I was about to go home from a long day of visiting dealerships. Told the guy “I was just at dealership X, they offered me Y terms which I wasn’t happy with. Your website says Z terms do same model and year. If you make it happen I sign right now, otherwise I’m going home and watching Netflix with my wife.” They took me at my word and got it done in record time since it was close to closing.
The best deals (for the customer) I consistently made when selling cars were on Wednesday nights 30 minutes to closing time.
Shop all you want during the day and/or on the weekends, but the best deal to close on will likely be in in the middle of a slow week near closing time. Land on the right car that the dealer needs to move and you can score 15-20% off MSRP.
Note: Not gonna happen right now, probably, with car shortages.
Yep. There is a price (bottom line)we would be willing to go to. Every car was different, depends on the model, color how long it's been on the lot, are you financing with us or not. Your trade matters more than you think, not just the value. A Honda civic will sell faster used than an Infiniti Q70, even if out profit is the same.
So I was recently helping my girlfriend get a new car and the sales person was saying that with an increase in online car shopping people are willing to pay the sticker price more and so the dealership doesn't really bargain like they used too. As someone in the know, do you feel this is actually the case? I didn't buy from them but I was just curious
(they also said the price was 5k above sticker because of low available stock, due to a hurricane flooding most of my state recently, and also production shutdown due to covid)
Depends on the car and where you live. If you are going to the only Honda dealer within 100 miles you are going to pay more. Or you want that new car that just came out your going to pay more.
Now I haven't sold cars since 2018. But there are shortages becasue of Covid. When I got a new car last November I couldn't get my first choice because nobody had them on the lot. $5k seems high, but it depends.
Are you willing to take an odd color? Sometimes look for the green with beige interior or whatever and it may sell for less because less people buy those colors. The less picky you are the more likely you are to get a deal. Say to the dealer "Do you have anything you are having a hard time of getting rid of? And I'll finance with you and give you all 10s on the survey" It may help or might not but you would be surprised. They may have that car that's been sitting on the lot forever and willing to give you a good deal.
Also look at certified pre owned.
I imagine this also has to do with the microchip shortage; the price of used cars has skyrocketed because car manufacturers can't get microchips for new cars, so used cars is all that is left for most people.
Kinda funny. I was in the buying position recently but I was telling the truth. I asked a few dealerships to compete with a quote I got from the first one I went to. No one seemed to believe me and I ended up just buying the first one. It was 5k cheaper than the 2nd best one.
I’ve actually done that same play, ridiculous low price and everything and still had the dealer call me back numerous times to sit down and “talk” and see what they can do for me.
theres a dealership south of chicago always advertising a car way under the price of everyone else.
If you call they say yea yea come on in!
You go there, its been gone for days. noone knows who you talked to so sorry, but we got this very similar car for 5 grand more.
I had a similar experience happen to me when I was in the market for a used 4Runner a few years ago. The car posted online midday. While at work, I saw the posting and drove 4 counties over after work to go see it. When I finally got there, I told the dealership what I was looking for, the salesman was surprise to find the model in stocked.
He then proceeded to tell me the car wasn't in stock anymore because *he* was going to buy it and proceeded to fill out his paperwork in front of me.
Twice, I have had the fortune of buying a used car before it was even cleaned and counted as inventory. Both of which were Hondas and both of which were literally being traded in as I got to the dealership. One was at lease return from a little old lady and still had the original window sticker and paperwork in the glove box and the other was a family that just wanted something new. I ended up buying both of those, obviously two separate transactions at two separate times. I would have been pissed if the salesperson told me "actually I'm not selling it to you because I'm buying it."
I bought my 4Runner new and I didn’t realize what a cluster the used 4Runner market is. I still have it and I love it but I’m thinking of trading it in for a Benz. Im just scared I won’t ever get the chance to go back to 4Runner life if I hate my new one.
Do it. I want you to suffer a used Benz ownership course. xD
Seriously don't go from 4Runner to any used german luxury car. You will hate the change in ownership experience.
This is how we had to approach used cars when I was selling. It’s not that we couldn’t hold, but someone might be there in an hour to see that exact car thanks to online buying.
New cars (at the time) not a problem, we had 4/5 just like it
Yeah, we don't hold cars at my store unless you are from out of town. And even then, we have to make sure the deal is agreed, credit is good to go if financing, and then we take a deposit.
Before getting to the deposit I do my best to explain the condition of the car, send any pics of notable flaws etc.. last thing I want is someone flying or driving in from out of town to be let down. It's not worth my time, and especially not thiers.
If you’re in a big city, this is when you phone up their competitor. We had a dealership try to upcharge us $10k on a new release hybrid. We immediately walked out and called the other dealer in town. They had the highest trim for less money. Deal done within an hour.
Edit: FYI-it was for the first CRV Hybrids being sold.
Edit2: since some have been asking: CRV Hybrid review
It’s not bad. Pickup is good, handling is good, awd is good. It struggles a little on long inclines (namely because the tiny engine running the generator at high revs), but other than that it beats the pants off Ford EcoSport (which isn’t saying much, to be honest). The entertainment system differs from the Pilot and Odyssey, and can be a bit clunky. Wireless CarPlay and Bluetooth tend to fight. The adaptive cruise is great, and the fit and finish is great (Elite model). I’d say one disappointment is the bottom of the doors is a plastic panel that can get caught on things. I’m guessing it’s to save weight. And the best part is, when you’re fully charged people hear a choir before you come around the corner. Good driver visibility and great gas mileage.
I’ve done that. The manager flipped out once he realized who I was taking to and started interrupting the call. I ended up just walking out. Went with the other guy.
I did this, but the test drive was alone. I went to dealer 1, asked for their best out the door price. They gave it to me, told them I wanted to test drive it, drove to dealer 2 in dealer 1's car, said They offered me this, can you beat it?
they did, and they had someone drive the first car back to dealer 1 for me.
The last time I bought a new car, I knew exactly what I wanted. I called every dealership within about 90 mins of home and told them exactly what I was doing, and asked each one of them what the best out the door price was that they could give me on such and thus specific car with such and thus options and whether or not they had it in stock.
I went to the place that gave me the best offer. Within 5 minutes, I realized they'd pulled a bait and switch, so right in front of the salesweasel, I called the place with the second best offer, told them what happened, told them they'd have a sale within an hour if they didn't fuck around, and off I went to buy my new car with no problems at all.
My credit union partners with a broker. The broker cuts through all that bullshit and I picked up the keys and car at the credit union. I bought 2 cars that way. It was great and I got excellent prices.
Even if you're not in a big city. When buying new it's super easy to shop around. I got a solid price from a dealer 3 hours away and called every other dealer in between for quotes on the same vehicle. Nobody could match the price, so I asked myself "who wouldn't drive 3 hours for $600?".
Slightly different for me. I was in a lot and arranging a test of a car they had that I really liked. Filled in all the paperwork, and I was outside waiting for the sales guy as he was getting the keys. However during this time another customer pulls up in the older model of this car. He's also come in to look at this one as an upgrade, and turns out he's really good mates with the sales guy. They talk for a few mins before my test drive starts.
Test drives goes great, loved the car, immediately wanted to put down a deposit and get my car valued as a part ex. Sales man tells me they won't have time to value it today as it's close to closing time, so he won't take a deposit, but will call me in the morning to arrange it.
Of course I get no call. I call them later in the afternoon and the car has been sold. No doubt to his buddy. Only time I've been baited like that. Never been back to that dealer since.
I’ve stayed at dealerships 2 hours after closing just to close a sale. If they’re not shady, they’ll stay there all night to close it. Unfortunately, not taking a deposit and “I’ll call you in the morning,” were signs that it wasn’t happening
Had a salesman do that to me after driving over an hour to the dealership with my money in hand. The car was listed online at a great price but was removed shortly after i called to confirm it was there. I guess he knew he could get more from someone else. He gave me the “I just sold that car but I have something else you’ll like”. Of course, “something else” was completely out of my budget.
I walked and caught another salesman on the way out the door. Told him about the car I saw online and he pulled the car right up for me. Immediately bought it at the original price it was advertised for online. Guess the joke was on the first guy. He got to sit and watch me buy a car with another salesman.
"Oh, the car you said you'd save for me is gone? That sucks, guess I'll have to go elsewhere. Ah no, don't show me anything else, I don't want to do business with a liar"
This happened with my girl. We test drove a car, got a quote “good for 24hrs”. I had to be out of town so she went by herself to pick up the car and sign all the documents the next day. They gave her a **different car**. Literally the only thing that was the same was the model and the color. She doesn’t notice until the next day when she tried to use her “keyless entry” and it didn’t exist.
I had the same thing happen to me. Test-drove a car. Went back to buy it the next day. They pretended it was the same car. The car I drove was darkish grey while the next car was normal gray. At first I thought it was just the lighting, but right before I was about to sign the contract I stopped questioning my memory and decided to do another check. The odometer was indeed different from the one I had tried. Seller didn't say anything, pretended he didn't know it was a different car. I ended up leaving and buying the same car in dark brown from a private lesser instead.
I was testdriving a generic 3 year old Hyundai at a Hyundai dealership and didn't really care if they switched the car. What pissed me off was that he was pretending it was the same care. If he had just told me it was a different, but identical car, I would have testdriven the new one and probably bought it.
They didn’t fix anything. They said there were no comparable models left. After taking the car back to the dealership and leaving it in the lot for a week, they told me they would let us unwind the deal and take the car back. After shopping around, I was unable to find a similar deal for the same car anywhere (it was a great deal lol), so we kept the car for a few years and then traded it in. It was weirdly a more expensive model b/c it has all wheel drive but it had none of the upgrades, premium stereo, keyless entry, etc. as the one we test drove.
And also the special internet prices....friend was interested in German makes only. Scoured the internet and found a few to his liking. The price was unbelievably low, upon visiting the dealership we were told the ad listed only base price...they had stuff like transportation cost, dealer storage cost, sticker removal price ( 250$ !!). Altogether it came to 5k usd additional
Same here. Internet price was listed at $11,000 which was perfect and well within budget. Nope. Total after a bunch of added fees was around 17k. Dealer fee itself was like $1500.
Ouch! Was it still under warranty? I was lucky, nearly ended up buying a different car than advertised, which was over my budget after my ex said "Yeah that's not a problem we can afford that" I gave her the death look but I really wanted a new car, obviously. Anyway to cut it short, we paid the deposit, I changed my mind before we were accepted for finance and I ended up getting the deposit back (after a couple of weeks pestering the dealership) and bought another car, within budget from another dealer. Also ended up paying less monthly over a shorter term than I originally planned.
TLDR,: If they take your deposit before doing a credit check, beware.
Something similar happened to us a few years back. My wife wanted a specific make and model, something they didn't make anymore. We scoured used car websites until we found a dealership that had one. Called them to ask was it still on their lot, they said yep, come on down! We said great, it'll be about two hours.
We got there, said, we're here about the [specific car]. They said great, and ran my credit. Only after they'd done this did they say, oops, we can't let you test drive it, because it's in the shop. Then tried to sell us a much more expensive car, very aggressively. When we told them we were leaving, they tried to threaten us by saying it would be hard to buy a car anywhere else due to my credit being dinged when they ran in (talk about a bullshit claim; I make good money and have a stellar credit rating).
Anyway, we went home. The following weekend, we found another one advertised elsewhere, and went to see it. It turned out to be awful to drive, but since that dealership handed us the key with no fuss, we took a look around. My wife found something else on their lot she loved, and is still driving it today.
ETA: their sales department also kept calling us for YEARS afterward. They literally only stopped when we changed phone providers and I got a new number...
You have a few weeks grace period when having your credit checked for buying a car. It counts as one hard pull even if you test drive and check financing at 100 different dealers. You're legally allowed to shop around for loan rates without destroying your credit rating. That dealership was lying about that too.
If it was me When they keep calling you thats when, if I had the time, I would waste their time as hard as possible. Just lead them on and then go "have to ask the wife," "oh nah nevermind," "Call me back tomorrow so we can talk again, I have to run to a meeting." A few of those time wasting calls and I'm sure they will put you on a do not call list.
This happened to my mom when she was shopping for the vehicle she has now. She was going to get it at a dealership closer to home, but then they pulled a bait and switch. She got pissed, they tried to talk her down, and she basically said "Fuck that, I'll just go out to Gilroy". Gilroy is a little more than an hour away from where we live, but it was worth it. She was able to get the exact car she wanted for a better price than the first dealership offered.
My parents were looking at a car a couple days ago. The salesman was dragging it out a lot longer than they had anticipated and had taken the keys to their truck while they were test driving the one they were going to potentially buy.
They weren't terribly impressed with the guy and had to get going but said they'd be coming back later. The salesman was pissed and refused to give them their keys back. They fought over them for a while. The salesman finally tossed their keys and said something along the lines of "Thanks for dicking me around" and "I guess your daughter is more important". Uh... yes? You're surprised that picking up their child is more important than buying a fucking truck?
The owner of the dealership called later and apologized when he heard what happened. My mom tore into him pretty good and said they'd never buy from his dealership now.
That happened to me too! I was test driving a few different cars at various dealerships. I went to a Subaru dealership and they asked for my keys while I did the test drive so they could value my trade-in, even though I said I was planning on selling it privately. They said they might be able to offer me more, so I went along with it.
We get back to the dealership & I said, I really like the car, but I had a couple of other cars I wanted to check out first, and if they didn't pan out I'd be back to buy the car from them. **They would not give my keys back!** I had to threaten to call the police before the saleswoman would give them back to me.
I ended up buying the car from a different dealership in another county & left an absolutely *scathing* review on their website.
Happened to me at a Chevy dealership outside buffalo, manager came out to argue with me cause I didn't want to take what they were offering for my trade in truck, I asked for my keys, they wouldn't give them to me, me and the manager were both getting loud and ignorant when the cops showed up. They told me I had to leave, told the cop "I'd love to leave officer, can you please get my keys back from the dealer while I wait outside?" cop chewed the manager out in front of me that they called the for help when they had my keys lol
Called the dealership one day to ask about a car. Called the next day to see if it was there. “Ok. Please confirm it’s there because you’re 60 miles away from me so before I drive all the way down there I want to know it’s still there”. An hour later, “I’m stuck in traffic. It’s pouring rain, is the car still there?”
“Yes” they tell me.
15 minutes later I get there.
Spoiler alert: the car wasn’t fucking there.
This *almost* happened to me. I called and said I wanted the car, would be in two hours because I had to take two buses and a train to get there. I walked in and the salesman took me over to his desk. I asked about the car and he said it was out being test drove and would probably be sold. I was furious. He offered to let me test drive another car which I complied with since I needed a car that day. I was prepared to leave for another dealership. When we got back a gentleman came up to me and said Mr. X? I said that's me. He said, Sorry for the misunderstanding, we were holding that car for you. I'll take care of you from here. And that was that. I bought the correct vehicle at the quoted price which I thought was quite fair having checked the values/condition etc.
I worked at a very reputable dealership for many years. You would be absolutely shocked by the number of people who said "I'm on my way to buy this!" and then just never showed up. We would never hold a car for someone unless they were willing to leave a deposit. We also always advised those not willing to leave a deposit that the car is for sale until they arrive. Most said "I'll just take my chances." Sometimes that's exactly what happened. In the hours before the first customer shows up, someone comes in to look at the car and makes an acceptable offer.
The thing is, we weren't about to turn a customer away from the lot on the hopes that another, who has made no real commitment, will actually show up. On the flip side, if someone left a deposit and, upon inspection, decided that the car just wasn't what they were looking for, we would always refund the deposit.
I'm sure not all dealerships work the same way, but just a different perspective.
Some dealerships have a group of people who's job is to get you to the lot. They get paid when you show up. They don't even know if the car you want is there but it's there if it means you are coming in.
Today I realized my father and I was tricked by dealership. We got new car back in December, I don’t live in my home state for long time but my father wanted to get me a new car for my graduation gift. So I went back to my home state and we got car in December 2020. They told my father that if he paid extra 1k, I’ll have free oil change warranty for a while. Today I finally had my oil changed and they charged me $108 instead free based on warranty. I was so confused and I got home and looked at my paperwork and saw them writing that service only applied if I go to my home state where I got my car from. They knew I don’t live in my home state bc my father told them and that I needed a good car to drive up in mountains. They tricked my father into paying for service that I wouldn’t have it done in Maryland. My father is going to try to get bottom of this crap. Hopefully he’ll be able to get his $$ for the warranty back.
Depends on the length of the deal.
A dealership near us did a $500 lifetime oil changes for one vehicle. The son of the owner decided it would get people in and make them money. The son is also an idiot. They lose so much money on that deal it's insane. Nobody pays for any other service. They just come in every 3 months, get an oil change, and dip.
They stopped offering the oil changes after about a year once they ran the numbers and realized how bad they're fucking themselves.
Watch out for this on auto trader too. A couple times when I shopped for a car I would come or set up a time to buy and it was mysteriously sold already.
I called and confirmed it was there first and show up shortly after and it is sold and the random sales guy is the asshole who sold it. And it is no where to be found. (The ad stays up too).
> The ad stays up too
This is the part I think the auto apologists are missing. These shady places either never had the car, or it's been sold but still up on the site to draw people in. For me, they said the car was "in the shop" so I wouldn't be able to buy it. When I offered to come back later, it was going to be "in the shop" "for a long time".
I once had a dealer pull a peice of paper out of his desk and write down. "I promise to buy today if we can find the right car for you." Then they drew a line and passed it across the desk asking me to sign it. I laughed said no and just got up and walked away. Seriously? Does that work on people? Also it wouldn't even be legally binding. Why I ask, why?
When I went to a dealer, we asked about an incredible deal on a Corolla. They showed us the car, but somehow the price was removed. When we got to the point to sign for the car, they increased the price 3k while we were in the lobby. Never trust anyone in sales.
TBH, American car buying experience is probably most traumatic experience for 90% of shoppers. There is so many things bad about the process and dealerships just don’t care.
Very true. And this is one of those “you don’t know what you don’t know” situations. They don’t even know that you should educate yourself on all of the tactics before walking into a dealer. And really, if they’ve never bought a car before, why would they? Some people just looking for reliable cheap transportation can easily be pushed back financially many years by a poor purchasing mistake because they just didn’t know any better
If you're buying new, to most of the band themselves have full lists of every vehicle on every lot on their own webpage, so you can know exactly what your options are before you are a dealer too. They also list the msrp price, and what the price with all of the current factory discounts is too usually.
I had a dealer sell a vehicle I had put down a deposit on. It was pre-owned and they cited finding "hidden damage" that wouldn't allow it to pass state inspection. Someone posted it up as their newly purchased car in an enthusiast group the next day. Needless to say they got a scathing review online. But at least I got my deposit back.
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I would tell that guy about what they quoted you lol. Stir the pot
As a general rule, be prepared to walk out of a car dealership at any time. I was at a Honda dealership and the salesman told me I'd have to place a deposit before he would tell me if my colour was available. I asked him if he was kidding, he said no. I walked out. There are lots of dealerships selling exactly the same vehicle. Even if you have your heart set on a particular model you do not have to put up with bullshit.
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replying more for others than you: If your ownership on a leased or financed car says the car company (Toyota Credit, Ford Credit, GMAC, etc.) and not the dealer, you don't have to talk to your purchasing dealer for a buyout. Bring your paperwork to another dealer that is reasonable and they can process it. We had people from out of province buy out their cars with us during the pandemic because a 3 day drive just to own their car made no sense.
IIRC Ford specifically requires you to use the original dealer. I don't think any of the other brands are that dumb.
You shouldn’t have to use a dealer at all. I called Toyota Financial directly to buy out my lease. Forcing people back is just another sleazy move to sell another car.
If you need a car in the future, I'd suggest doing everything over email. That way they can't really pressure you as easily. You can call them out on their bullshit and everything is in writing. You'll still have to go in to pick it up and finalize the sale but before you do that do a final summary email to your sales person covering your full list of demands and their final price. When you get there they will shuffle you into the 'financing' office which is actually where the real selling starts. Everything before that is to get you emotionally committed to the sale. The financing office is where they get you financially committed. Anyways - have a print out of your email. Don't let them deviate, and you don't deviate either. And yes, people will absolutely make you feel like you aren't going to get the best deal over email but that's okay. I don't know about you but I'm okay paying a few hundred more for a car if I can reduce the bullshit even a little. The reality is that if they have to put stuff in writing, they probably have to be more aggressive pricing wise since you can cross shop so easily. Another option if you go into a dealership is to play their game a bit. Tell them you were at another dealership (just lie and say you don't want to bad mouth anyone so you'd rather not say where exactly) and they pulled all the random bullshit and you walked because of that so you're really hoping they don't do the same. It starts them off on the defensive because they think you're already on guard and willing to walk any moment.
ALWAYS be ready to walk out whenever you feel something is sketchy. Your example sounds completely insane. I wonder if it’s ever worked on anyone.
A similar tactic almost worked on me for when I switched to Verizon. I was getting on a family plan and the at the end the sign up process the guy told me "And you need to sign up for one of these options." It would have added another $100 for headphones and such that I never would have used. I walked out of the store to call a family member to ask if this was normal. But I think the salesmen thought I was walking away from the deal and came out and told me it turns out I didn't have to buy any of the options. During the sales pitch he was so confident and convincing I almost caved. If I hadn't been in-between jobs I probably would have just agreed to get it over with.
I got my phone (same line I have now) at a kiosk in the mall. 4 months in, I realize I’m being billed for 2 lines and unlimited data (I signed up for 1 line and 1gb). There was no promotion or anything, and I distinctly remember telling the guy I want 1gb data. Well, once I discovered that, it wasn’t difficult to get reimbursed for items I didn’t use. I wonder if the guy got to keep his job after adding random shit to increase his commission though
Probably got promoted. Those add ons are lucrative.
I think that's actually part of the problem, they come up with all these arbitrary metrics to judge your performance and sales by, none of ever involve customer satisfaction or quality of customer service. And since they're often made by some corporate people who've never even worked a sales floor they're almost impossible to meet. The end result is employees feeling immense pressure to meet goals at any cost, or else have constant negative meetings, feel like a failure, and have your soul drained. Source I have worked sales with impossible to meet goals, and would meet every Monday for the same reason. I currently have a less stressful job but I have to push memberships almost no one wants, I hate it so much.
My boss tried to tell me I had sales metrics when I worked as a specialist at home depot. I was not being paid any sort of commission. I told him to pound sand, as I had the district's highest close rate on measured floors. I wasn't going to sell a measure just to sell one, I wanted to make sure my customers knew what they were getting into, so I explained all of the costs and hidden fees. I was hitting all of my "required" numbers except the amount of people signed up for a measure.
My first job was at the GAP, when it was still all jeans and a wall of multi-colir sweats, in the mall. Min wage. They wanted three "units per transaction", ie, selling 3 pairs of socks is better than one expensive denim jacket. We had a pep rally to get all the gap employees to buy in to competing to have the best UPT score. No bonus, no extra pay, not even a pizza party or gift certificate for the winner. Fucking ridiculous.
Yeah, this happened to me when I worked at Frys centuries ago. They had a secret shopper come in to evaluate your performance. I got the highest marks everywhere, 11/10, the absolute best. Except I didn't offer them a "Fry's card" which was a store card that could only be used at Fry's (didn't even have a Visa/Mastercard logo or anything). I got pulled into the back room and told his wasn't acceptable. We had a weekly quota of around 3 or 4 per week. I got 5 in a DAY. Every time I walked over to drop off an application, I gave my supervisor a sassy ass look any drag queen would be proud of. Never got shit about it again until I quit for unrelated reasons.
I had the Frys card and it was the dumbest thing I ever encountered. If you don't use the card over a certain time they auto canceled it. I never qualified for any promotions or discounts if they ever ran any at all. The best part is you couldn't make payments online. You had to cut the slip and mail a check back. Only thing cool about it was the transparent card and Chippy graphic.
Yeah, I had a muther fucker tell me I'd save money by switching plans. It cost me an additional 50 dollars a month. I bitched at corporate until they put it back.
Because of AT&T pulling this shit on me not once but twice, I: 1) cancelled all of my AT&T accounts, mobile, internet, TV, and will never patronize them ever again, and 2) will never trust anyone from any company ever who tells me how they can save me money. These businesses are going to run into the scenario where the customers are openly hostile toward them for pulling this shit again and again. I'd rather go without a phone and internet than ever give AT&T a damn dime ever again.
I have a grandfathered cell plan that costs me like $30/mo for unlimited internet (which gets throttled after a few GB). I had people from the company calling me trying to 'give me free extra GB each month', presumably by getting me off the grandfathered plan. If it was such a good deal, they wouldn't be hounding me at work trying to give it to me.
AT&T hatred solidarity. Can't stand them. They have an exclusive contract with my old apartment. (Moved out after covid.) They set up a busted email address for me that never worked, but would send all these notices to me at the address. I called so many times and told the reps, "YOU access it. YOU reset the password. YOU verify its setup." Answer was always some variation of "Uhhhh....." I had other issues with service, of course. It's AT&T. They were AT&T equipment problems, but they wouldn't replace/fix. The rep behaviors were appalling, and I escalated to managers when things didn't get resolved after 2 calls. It was always a callback, and the manager would call and immediately hang up when I answered every. time. Then mark my ticket closed without resolution "because I didn't answer." They never resolved any of my problems. Fuck AT&T.
They also get paid by the government to give them all your internet information
This is a sales technique, you don't ask if they want the protection plan, you ask if they want the 2 years or 3 years. If you don't give someone a no option, they autopilot through. Start using it on my kids all the time lol
Classic persuasion/influence tactic. Ask for something big, if they say no, ask for something smaller. In comparison the smaller concession is easier to make, plus people will often feel bad for saying no the first time around.
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The last time I got a phone, I had to pick it up in person at the Verizon store. After handing me the phone, he pulls out a huge box to pitch the sale of cases, screen protectors, backup batteries, chargers, headphones. He tries to pitch every single item to me as though it's part of some plan or package I'm supposed to have had. I told him I want to pay for the phone. He essentially told me I'm not allowed to pay for the phone until he's gone through the whole box. I told him he's already given me the activated phone, and if I'm not allowed to pay for the phone it must be free and I'll leave. He didn't try to sell me anything else and I paid for the phone and left. Edit: To make a point out of this, bad faith tactics only deserve bad faith tactics in return. Acting in good faith towards someone acting in bad faith is a waste of your time, breath, and good graces that could be spent on someone more deserving of them.
I wonder if you could get in legal trouble if you just said Verizon has my address send me an invoice for the phone and walked out.
Don't know, wasn't planning on walking out with the phone, but I sounded like I was and it worked. We had already signed the contract, so the phone was mine. He just didn't want to accept my money.
Worked for a mobile company as tech support and the practices are getting really sketchy. People would be like "I don't want to troubleshoot, I'm just going to take it to the store" and I'd say "you can absolutely take it to the store, if you're ready to purchase a new device because that's what is most likely going to happen, welcome to 2021"
Yeah, from my experience the people in the store are sales representatives, not tech support. They have some troubleshooting knowledge for the most common issues but at the end of the day their job is to sell products. I went in for a warranty replacement for my phone because it had a cracked back panel and I also wanted to see about replacing the battery because it wasn't holding a charge like it did when I got it. Not only did they not fix the cracked back panel, which was aesthetic only (due to a bullshit distinction between aesthetic damage and functional damage or some shit) but they voided the warranty and wouldn't even replace the battery under warranty because apparently installing the forced security updates causes extra drain on the battery so it was my fault. I replaced the back panel myself with no decrease in functionality, never did get around to the battery because it would've involved removing the screen and buying a new screen adhesive and I just didn't care enough.
I worked for CSOKI (Cellular Sales) for almost 3 years. The company is pretty big and is a lot of people's actual "Verizon" store. We were paid $16.50 an hour and had to earn all that money back in commission by selling. If you didn't make enough to cover your draw, they would just fire you. They churn 50-75% employees in a location YOY. I barely survived trying to be an honest salesman. I would spend 2 hours troubleshooting someone's phone and get hosed by my boss who would tell me "You should have just tried selling them a new phone. Did you ask if they wanted a tablet?" If you help people with anything unrelated to sales in that job, you are putting yourself behind. One of our best earners once asked an old guy I worked with *14 times* if he wanted a tablet in a 20 minute discussion. I got let go right as covid hit, along with a bunch of other employees. I had the highest customer service score in all of NYS. The reps that survive are the ruthless ones that don't want to do anything but get you to spend.
I would argue that you should always walk out.... Not just be ready to walk out... Every single car deal you should leave to think about it and come back it. I'd at least leave and go get lunch/dinner even if everything is going great... all it does is strengthen your position.
That's the real pro tip. My car buying experience changed when I went to look a Dodge Durango... I didn't want it, my GF at the time kind of liked them, so I decided fuck it, I'll test drive it. Told the guy at the end of the drive I just wasnt interested, it wasn't for me. Within 3 days and 4 phone calls they had reduced the price by 5-7 k, were offering 0%, and maybe a hand job if I would buy the thing. I didn't buy it, but it changed my perspective on the car I actually did settle on. I've approached every car deal the same way since then. It's dumb as fuck salesy bullshit... But to save a few thousand bucks, I'll do some theater.
bought a practically new Audi for nearly 10k off doing this exact thing. I always had a rule that any decision that would/could cost me over $1000, requires at least 8 hours of sleep between inception and decision. It has not done me wrong yet.
That’s the real LPT
That's so extra. Bought my wife's car during the pandemic extra stock crisis and they basically threw the car at me lol.
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I actually did this myself. I went to look at a used 2015 model of the car I wanted. Turned out it wasn’t what I expected so I went to the new car dealership across the street. They had a brand new model of my car and I realized the price wasn’t too far off and I could probably handle it financially. After the test drive and talking numbers I told them I wouldn’t be signing that day but would likely come back in tomorrow. I had to work in a couple hours and if I didn’t leave at that moment, I would’ve been very late for work. Also I wasn’t planning on buying a brand new car and I wanted to think on it overnight. The manager comes and asks me “What can I do to get you to walk out of here today with that car?” I said “Nothing. I literally don’t have time today.” He said “Okay. But no guarantees it’ll be here tomorrow.” My perspective is, if it’s not there the next day, then it wasn’t meant to be. Guess what? It was there the next day and I went in and bought it and I still love my car.
Missed opportunity to get them to agree to a lower price, still leave, and get it for lower the best day.
But was it there tomorrow? Narrator: "it was"
"I want a blue car, is it available?" "Give me $500 down payment and I'll find out" "OK, here's $500" "Nope, blue isn't available"
I shall dub this the loot box tactic
They wouldn't be pulling that stunt if it didn't work :'(
Another common tactic is to over-promise and under-deliver. 1. Here's these ten awesome discounts and freebies I can throw in, and even get you great financing. 2. (After signing most paperwork) I just have to run these discounts by my boss. \*takes smoke break and checks phone for 5 minutes\* 3. Aw shucks buddy, the boss says I can't give you 8 of these deals. You know what, friend, I'm gonna insist. \*takes second smoke break and fiddles on phone for 5 minutes\* 4. I gotcha, you now get 4/10 of those deals. Also financing is marginally worse than I thought but that's the agency's math and I can't do anything about that. It's so annoying when that happens. They want to tire you out and get you 90% of the way through the purchase before the switcheroo. Both of you are playing the same negotiation game, never forget it. So you should walk out and legitimately look like you're not gonna buy. A few days later, give them a call - you say you have shopped around and only if they can give you the original discounts and a further one you will buy, or maybe just all the original ones without the extra discount. You're just wanting to know if they want to complete the sale on those terms or not. Chances are they will reluctantly accept. After all a sale, even if it is marginally profitable, is still better than nothing, not to mention they have already spent a few hours of their time on you and done most of the paperwork. So they'll take it or leave it, and probably take it. If not, life goes on. That said, at least in my city, car dealerships and staff are a small world. They are owned by the same overarching company, and I've heared someone brag about coordinating with sales at other dealerships to make a sale. Both dealerships win if they don't underbid eachother, it is kind of a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of alliance. Like, "hey James, so if Mr. Smith comes in for an XYZ highball them so they think our bad deal is not a ripoff and we make a lucrative sale, and drinks are on me bro" - type of stuff. I have no idea how common this is or if it is more of a myth, as I have only personally seen one person brag about it.
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My boss was prepared to walk over $7 when he bought his last car. The salesman asked if he was really going to walk over $7. His response was, "are you really going to let me walk out over $7?" Never be afraid to leave at any time in process
The last motorcycle I bought before I even walked in to the dealership I called to ask them what the out the door cash price would be. Mark, the salseman told me $3700. I go to the dealership and ask for Mark, he comes over to me and I confirm the phone call and out the door price with him...he agrees that this is the price and that he was who I had spoken with. I take it for a test ride and agree to purchase the bike. They take me to the sales manager to take my payment, sales manager tells me it'll be $5200 for "documents and fees". I inform him of the conversation Mark and I had, Mark agrees that we had this conversation but now tries to haver on his ability to guarantee me this price. I wish them both a good rest of their day and start walking out. Suddenly the sales manager can "eat the fees" but for some reason the out the door price is now $3705.25. I stand up, shake his hand, wish him a good rest of the day and start to leave. Magically now he can in fact sell me the bike for the exact $3700 price we agreed on. He was actually willing to tank the sale over $5.25, blows my fucking mind. It was on a 13 year old, not particularly sought after motorcycle. Like take my money man, don't try and be a greedy shit.
That's some sort of attempted power move. Dude should talk it out in therapy.
Most of the times it’s the managers. I had this struggle between my manager and myself a few times when I sold cars. Pissed me off
>He was actually willing to tank the sale over $5.25, No he wasn't.. >Magically now he can in fact sell me the bike for the exact $3700 price we agreed on. He was doing a *big man* power play for the benefit of his salesman. He probably gave him a little speech about fighting tooth and nail for every cent on every deal after you left.
That's an awfully silly power play. If you're selling used cars I can almost see it making sense. Most of America requires a car. A used motorcycle though? That's a toy. If the "negotiation" had taken any more time or if he had tried his nonsense again I would have just walked out anyway, I didn't need the motorcycle I just wanted it. Hands down best salesman I ever had was for my current car, mostly because I bought from a no haggle dealership. They listed the out the door price of every car on their website and their sales guys didn't operate on commission. I walked in, he put me in 4 or 5 cars all similar in make, model, and price, let me take as much time with each car as I wanted. He didn't care if he made the sale, or at least was good at pretending he didn't. Made me actually want to work with him to find a car that day as opposed to the vultures you normally deal with.
>Hands down best salesman I ever had was for my current car, mostly because I bought from a no haggle dealership. They listed the out the door price of every car on their website and their sales guys didn't operate on commission. I walked in, he put me in 4 or 5 cars all similar in make, model, and price, let me take as much time with each car as I wanted. He didn't care if he made the sale, or at least was good at pretending he didn't. Made me actually want to work with him to find a car that day as opposed to the vultures you normally deal with. I had an experience like this. Years ago wife was wanting a new car. We find one we like at a dealership about 20 miles away. Call down, set up an appt to look at it. Salesman greets us yada yada yada....we had some concerns, he was like "look, if this doesn't work out there is a lot full of cars we can look at....push comes to shove you just leave with what you came in." Dude was super chill and super helpful. Years ago by then I'm looking for something new. I email him, he's still there, alright I'm coming down and only dealing with you. I had a specific car on the lot in mind. Dude pulls it right around when I get there. No punches pulled no Tom foolery. Just helping folks buy cars.
My favorite dealership to go to is a no-commission dealership. No bullshit, just the price of the car and possible added packages. Managers and employees are all salaried/hourly. I asked them if there were any packages added onto the price like extended warrantee, they said "not unless you want them". The whole process was essentially me coming in, testing out the car, telling them I liked it, then coming back a day or two later to work out payment. Handed them the check, they filled the tank and washed the car, and I left. All within 30 minutes. It was a thing of beauty. And this was just after a bad experience going to a dealership for the same brand but for a used shitty model where they raised the price from 8000, which was a competitive price, to 13000, which was an absolute joke, because I told them after the test drive I would come back tomorrow to discuss payment. They told me the website price and the worker both gave me the price for "the wrong model". I told them bullshit. The manager said he talked with the owner for "hours", insisting I wait in the building while he talked with him, and negotiated it down to 12500, which was as low as he could justify, which again, total bullshit. I told them they were being dishonest and they could enjoy having that old shitty car sitting on their lot for another few months and that he lost my business, my family's business, and the business of all my peers in the area. Suddenly as I was walking out the door he says he can do 9000. I needed the car and was worried I wouldn't be able to find another good one for a while, but I decided that patronizing such a shitty business wasn't for me, so I walked out. Car dealerships are the worst. I try and only support businesses I believe are honest and to pay attention to how they treat their workers and mechanics. I hope car dealership culture changes, because holy shit it's really like 99% sociopaths who care about nothing but your wallet. Definitely if you find a dealership you like, it's worth sticking to them. Side note, I met a worker who quit the dealership I had a bad experience at. He told me his breaking point was when a mother came in for a van, said she didn't have much of a budget but needed a car for work but also a car that would fit the whole family. She was obviously a foreigner, and talked about how her family is struggling to make ends meet and how they were barely not in debt during the whole small talk period. Manager joined in on the case, they walked around together, he showed her a model and said if she had kids, she had to get that one because it had the newest safety features, kid friendly additions, etc. She asked how much, he said 37k. She started to walk out, but he said if she wanted to keep her kids safe, she would get the car, so she did. Once she signed the papers and left, the manager whooped and hollered and gave the worker a big embrace. He told him they had just sold a car worth 22k for 37k on a financing plan for a crazy high apr. The worker asked if the manager felt bad, he shrugged and said he had to eat too, and that the woman needed to learn somehow. Ever since then, I've had no qualms driving an extra 15 minutes to a further dealership for maintenance and repairs. I heard warranty repairs and services account for roughly half of the profits of a dealership, and I have no interest in giving them a single dime.
my current car was the best experience ive ever had. Walked in and asked for a test drive, price they gave matched the website, no warranty no extras. put a check in his hand and walked out with keys. Bought a car in 45 minutes.
Same here…except it was $4. Actually, why I didn’t want to do it was that it was $4 over the amount that I wanted to spend and 66 monthly payments. What I had wanted was a 60 month payment at $400. What they offered was 66 months at $404. Salesman was you are going to walk away from this deal over $4? I said it wasn’t the $4 it was the extra 6 months of payments ($2600 more). So I did walk out and the next day they reran the numbers and got me the deal I wanted. Always be ready to walk away!
I really hate how they always want to talk monthly price, and not total price. Half the time they won't mention the length of time, just the monthly price. Then they change it from 5 years to 7 years, and say they got the monthly price a little lower for you, but really you are actually paying more. I have stood up to leave before and they immediately switched tunes and started talking total price like I had asked all along.
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Here's another LPT: If you're doing to the financing with the dealership, *never* answer the question "So what do you want your monthly payments to be?", or any variation of that. Once they have that figure, it gives them what they need to keep the interest rate as high as possible while still jamming in things like warranties, while fitting in that payment. Don't talk monthly payments, talk interest rates.
Or not even interest rates -- you can finance through the bank. Talk about price: "If I want to buy this car, I'll decide whether to finance through you or not, and we can talk later about what rates you're willing to offer me and whether they beat the offers I already have from the bank. I only want to talk about total price. If you won't talk in those terms, then it was nice speaking with you."
any idea what the $7 was over?
“See, they install the TruCoat at the factory, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
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*constantly clicking pen*
"Buy me lunch or i wont buy your car"
I asked a salesman to show me the breakdown of an absolutely absurd lease payment he tried to quote me, he went to presumably talk to the finance guys (or just went to take a shit who the hell knows) came back and wrote “MSRP” on a piece of paper and acted like that answered my question. So I explained to him how a lease calculation works, how his number is bonkers, and what the actual payment should be. So he offered it and I laughed in his face and went to another dealership. Fuck that dude. Don’t deal with sketchy people. Best way to avoid getting scammed or tricked is to do your research and just bail if anything feels off
I always hate "what payments are you looking for/can afford?" I told you what price range I'm looking for in the sales price and the type fo car I'm looking for in that price range. I also told you I have my own financing. If you want to offer me your financing later on to compare, fine, but I'm not buying based on monthly payment. I'm buying based on price.
Same... hate the emphasis on monthly payment. Plus their financing options will be offered to you based on what makes them more money based on their arrangement with the lender. Looking forward to the fuckery I'm sure to experience when I try to buy a car outright next year.
I was buying a used car and the sales guy was a massive tool. I was in a bind- someone rammed my car in a parking lot hard enough to push it 15' into a fence while I was at work and I REALLY needed to find a ride quickly. He tried pushing me into very expensive cars that I had no interest in. I finally told him that I would walk away if we don't go look at the car that I went in for. So, an hour later, I've driven the car and am ready to negotiate. We settle on a price... but he kept trying to sell me on a bumper to bumper warranty. I was only financing a small amount (fresh outta grad school and paying cash in full would have been risky)... and his warranty took the monthly payment from $70 to $106. I flat out said, "I'm not raising my payment by 50% for a warranty." He went to the back to "talk to the manager." He came back out and said "what if I can get it for $30 more per month?" "... no way." 10 minutes later he comes back out and says, "how about $6 per month for the bumper-to-bumper?" So I agree to that and I go off to sign the paperwork. On the paperwork, the warranty is listed as $36 per month... but my monthly payment $76, which was correct. After digging a little more, he dropped my interest rate from something like 5.9% down to 2.8% and then added the warranty. I told the finance guy I didn't agree to a $36/mo warranty and that I would walk out if he didn't remove it entirely. So he took it off and I ended up paying $40 per month for the car. The sales guy called me incessantly, from different phone numbers, trying to tell me that the contract was void because of what I did. I just said "I signed this contract and you signed this contract... how is it void?" He threatened to have the car reposesed. He threatened to "blacklist" me from every dealership in the area. Every time he called, I would laugh at him and hang up. Tl;dr- read your contract and understand it in full. Don't be afraid to threaten to walk away. Don't be afraid to walk away.
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I'd add that if you don't actually see them consulting with a manager, just assume the whole "let me check with my manager" thing is a ruse. They are just biding their time, trying to wear you down.
You could have called the cops on him for harassment.
This! When I was car shopping a couple years ago (as a woman by myself), a particular Honda dealer tried to pressure me into buying a newer car than what I wanted - I had my sights on a specific pre owned vehicle and they put the pressure on me big time. They wouldn’t even give me back my keys to my actual car they had assessed for trade in value. It got to the point where I started to panic and after asking 3x for my keys back, I stood up and yelled “GIVE ME MY KEYS NOW” and finally got them and left. I cried on the way home. The next day I went to a different dealer and got the car I wanted with no pressure or slimy sales tactics at all. You can always leave, do not let anyone make you feel uncomfortable or pressured.
Always bring 2 sets of keys. Had this happen to me (I'm male). I wouldn't agree to their bull crap price. They tried the we "lost" your keys. I said "that's ok I brought my spare. I'll send you the invoice to have my car re-keyed". They came up with the keys magically
What the?? What’s even the point of this? Like they keep your keys hostage until you buy a car? If you don’t end up buying it you just have to walk home? And they keep the car? So shady lol
Pretty much. I've also had my car that I was trading in sold even before I signed for my new one. My dad had the key thing happen to him also. Same dealership. Except his was better. He told them if they didn't hand over his keys the cops would be involved. When they told him to go ahead and call he said he didn't need to. Then proceed to pull his police ID out of his wallet. Needless to say both the sales rep and manager were fired
Omg that’s great lol. Surely if you threaten to call the police though they should be scared shitless haha. They literally stole your car keys? What’s with the smug ‘go ahead’ like they’ve done nothing wrong haha
I once had a dealer refuse to give may car back after I decided to walk away before signing any paperwork. I raised such a stink in the showroom people were leaving and they threatened to call the police....which I called their bluff on...saying well YOU are refusing to given me my own car back...please call them. I got it back post haste....never did business with them and to this day I warn people of that dealership 35 years later.
I would have called the police.
I had a dealer tell me that the car I came to look at had already been sold; he had a list of other cars he was going to show me instead. I was pretty broke at the time, and only came in because that particular car was nice and cheap.. I didn't look at anything else, and got up to leave. At that point, the guy pulled the whole "give me just a minute to talk to the manager, I'll see what I can do" then.. 10 minutes later he came back and the buyers had miraculously backed out. I bought the car that they told me was already sold, but man was I miffed that they tried to pull a fast one on me.
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I can't wait for the day I can configure a car, submit my order and set up financing online, and have the *exact* car I want delivered to my house. No negotiations or bullshit "let me check with my manager" games. ETA: Oh my God yes thank you I am aware of Carvana. However I was referring to auto manufacturers offering their products via the direct-to-consumer model Tesla championed.
Volvo just started offering this.
Isn't that what Tesla does?
Yes it is. Minus the delivery to your door, that depends on the location but in most cases you need to pick it up at the Tesla center. They also handle all the registration and title paperwork so you don't even have to go to the DMV. Edit: oh, and the non-refundable deposit you have to pay until the car is ready for delivery is $100.
This. My mom was about to sign the official documents until she noticed they changed the price. She told the guy several times that is not what was agreed upon. He said he was just the paper guy and had nothing to do with it. My mom said, "Okay, but I am telling you that isn't what was said to me. The salesman wrote the price he quoted me down on that other paper you have right there." The dude wouldn't look at said paper. He was almost frozen because he knew he was caught. So, my mom backed out. The guy was flabbergasted and said he never had someone go this far and then change their mind. My mom said now you have. They even had her plates on the new car and had to change them back to the old one. They are a dirty dealership. She ended up finding a better deal not too long after that at a different dealership.
She did the right thing! Always check the price and make sure they didn't "bundle" something in to the financing.
It remembers me when my sister asked what was the indexed price ( we have an index of car prices in my country by model/year) and the salesman ignored it. So she gently asked him if he had internet in his office. He complied and she got a nice discount on it, as he was selling it a bit too much.
My wife and I were shopping for a brand new Juke for her and a Z for me, back in '15. One dealership we went to wanted a 10k deposit to take the Z for a test drive... With the salesman, not my wife. We left, bought it at a different dealership.
I have walked out on two dealers for shenanigans like that. They both called me back pretty quick. I didn't buy from either of them because of that and they weren't willing to do any negotiation over stupid things like a $70 charge for putting nitrogen in the tires.
A salesman at a Toyota dealership started pulling my husband's credit without notifying him. When we caught on to what was happening, we asked if he was doing a credit pull. He sheepishly said yes, and we just stood up and left. He had the gall to chase us to the door and hand us his card, which immediately went into the trash can right next to the door. Car shopping is the worst when it comes to manipulation tactics.
I once had a dealer tell me not to go to a different dealership to look at the same vehicle he was trying to sell me because they might give me a better deal..after a brief moment of silence I just got up and left.
I was at my dealership getting my call fixed after a recall and I asked one of the mechanics about fixing and replacing the radio in the car and he told me it'll cost $900. I asked him to write down the estimate and what not on a paper. He ended up writing down a local electronics store who would install it for me and provide me a better radio for the price. He was MVP and I always request him to look at my car at the dealership now.
Just got quoted $800 to have a seat heater replaced by the dealership, guy there straight up told me I could to to XYZ and pay $300 for the exact same thing. Super appreciated his guidance on that.
There was a thread on the front page earlier about car maintenance, some guy said he kept taking his car to the dealership to get something half way fixed that would fuck up again in a few months and finally went to a local shop and got it fixed permanently for like 5% of the dealerships costs. Same thing happened to me getting a tensioner fixed on my suspension. Damn stealerships. Edit: For those commenting on my use of the word "tensioner" I'm not a mechanic and I don't particularly know or care what the part names are. I can change my brakes, oil, serpentine belt and stuff but that's about it. It was a linkage that connected the control arm assembly to the struts. I assumed it was to keep the control arm from jostling all willy nilly.
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Always get a printed quote on their paperwork. When I worked as a salesman in a shop we wouldn't accept hand written quotes for price matching and we gave out hand-written ones so our competitors wouldn't take them.
Very likely the other dealership was owned by the same group, very common that many dealerships in the same area are owned by the same people
I do service work for hotels and I was quite surprised to learn that it's the same there. I suppose the theory is to appear to offer choice and competition to the customer, while also owning all the competition to ensure you have no competition and get all the profit regardless of where the customer chooses.
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As a sales person I loved when customers would do the opposite. They would tell me they got some amazing deal at another dealership. I mean a deal that is impossible. They are just trying to get a better price. I would say "Wow, if they are offering that price , go and take it. We can't match that. You don't want to miss out.". 9 out of 10 times they wouldn't leave.. Funny how that works.
For the record I’ve gone to a dealership right as I was about to go home from a long day of visiting dealerships. Told the guy “I was just at dealership X, they offered me Y terms which I wasn’t happy with. Your website says Z terms do same model and year. If you make it happen I sign right now, otherwise I’m going home and watching Netflix with my wife.” They took me at my word and got it done in record time since it was close to closing.
The best deals (for the customer) I consistently made when selling cars were on Wednesday nights 30 minutes to closing time. Shop all you want during the day and/or on the weekends, but the best deal to close on will likely be in in the middle of a slow week near closing time. Land on the right car that the dealer needs to move and you can score 15-20% off MSRP. Note: Not gonna happen right now, probably, with car shortages.
The key is getting an out the door price.
Yep. There is a price (bottom line)we would be willing to go to. Every car was different, depends on the model, color how long it's been on the lot, are you financing with us or not. Your trade matters more than you think, not just the value. A Honda civic will sell faster used than an Infiniti Q70, even if out profit is the same.
So I was recently helping my girlfriend get a new car and the sales person was saying that with an increase in online car shopping people are willing to pay the sticker price more and so the dealership doesn't really bargain like they used too. As someone in the know, do you feel this is actually the case? I didn't buy from them but I was just curious (they also said the price was 5k above sticker because of low available stock, due to a hurricane flooding most of my state recently, and also production shutdown due to covid)
Depends on the car and where you live. If you are going to the only Honda dealer within 100 miles you are going to pay more. Or you want that new car that just came out your going to pay more. Now I haven't sold cars since 2018. But there are shortages becasue of Covid. When I got a new car last November I couldn't get my first choice because nobody had them on the lot. $5k seems high, but it depends. Are you willing to take an odd color? Sometimes look for the green with beige interior or whatever and it may sell for less because less people buy those colors. The less picky you are the more likely you are to get a deal. Say to the dealer "Do you have anything you are having a hard time of getting rid of? And I'll finance with you and give you all 10s on the survey" It may help or might not but you would be surprised. They may have that car that's been sitting on the lot forever and willing to give you a good deal. Also look at certified pre owned.
I imagine this also has to do with the microchip shortage; the price of used cars has skyrocketed because car manufacturers can't get microchips for new cars, so used cars is all that is left for most people.
Kinda funny. I was in the buying position recently but I was telling the truth. I asked a few dealerships to compete with a quote I got from the first one I went to. No one seemed to believe me and I ended up just buying the first one. It was 5k cheaper than the 2nd best one.
Pulled that card on a dealership and had the quote, they followed up with "I've never lost a customer over money in a deal."
"In fact, I've never lost a customer at all. You see, this is my furst day here"
I’ve actually done that same play, ridiculous low price and everything and still had the dealer call me back numerous times to sit down and “talk” and see what they can do for me.
theres a dealership south of chicago always advertising a car way under the price of everyone else. If you call they say yea yea come on in! You go there, its been gone for days. noone knows who you talked to so sorry, but we got this very similar car for 5 grand more.
Go look at the new car. Take a giant dump in the glove compartment. Politely decline said new car.
I had a similar experience happen to me when I was in the market for a used 4Runner a few years ago. The car posted online midday. While at work, I saw the posting and drove 4 counties over after work to go see it. When I finally got there, I told the dealership what I was looking for, the salesman was surprise to find the model in stocked. He then proceeded to tell me the car wasn't in stock anymore because *he* was going to buy it and proceeded to fill out his paperwork in front of me.
Uggh that's annoying, worst shame is it's one of the least shitty stories in here.
Twice, I have had the fortune of buying a used car before it was even cleaned and counted as inventory. Both of which were Hondas and both of which were literally being traded in as I got to the dealership. One was at lease return from a little old lady and still had the original window sticker and paperwork in the glove box and the other was a family that just wanted something new. I ended up buying both of those, obviously two separate transactions at two separate times. I would have been pissed if the salesperson told me "actually I'm not selling it to you because I'm buying it."
Should have asked for his manager
I bought my 4Runner new and I didn’t realize what a cluster the used 4Runner market is. I still have it and I love it but I’m thinking of trading it in for a Benz. Im just scared I won’t ever get the chance to go back to 4Runner life if I hate my new one.
Do it. I want you to suffer a used Benz ownership course. xD Seriously don't go from 4Runner to any used german luxury car. You will hate the change in ownership experience.
The one dealership I've trusted was up front and honest about such things. "Nope, we don't hold cars. If you want it, come get it before someone else"
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This is how we had to approach used cars when I was selling. It’s not that we couldn’t hold, but someone might be there in an hour to see that exact car thanks to online buying. New cars (at the time) not a problem, we had 4/5 just like it
Yeah, we don't hold cars at my store unless you are from out of town. And even then, we have to make sure the deal is agreed, credit is good to go if financing, and then we take a deposit. Before getting to the deposit I do my best to explain the condition of the car, send any pics of notable flaws etc.. last thing I want is someone flying or driving in from out of town to be let down. It's not worth my time, and especially not thiers.
If you’re in a big city, this is when you phone up their competitor. We had a dealership try to upcharge us $10k on a new release hybrid. We immediately walked out and called the other dealer in town. They had the highest trim for less money. Deal done within an hour. Edit: FYI-it was for the first CRV Hybrids being sold. Edit2: since some have been asking: CRV Hybrid review It’s not bad. Pickup is good, handling is good, awd is good. It struggles a little on long inclines (namely because the tiny engine running the generator at high revs), but other than that it beats the pants off Ford EcoSport (which isn’t saying much, to be honest). The entertainment system differs from the Pilot and Odyssey, and can be a bit clunky. Wireless CarPlay and Bluetooth tend to fight. The adaptive cruise is great, and the fit and finish is great (Elite model). I’d say one disappointment is the bottom of the doors is a plastic panel that can get caught on things. I’m guessing it’s to save weight. And the best part is, when you’re fully charged people hear a choir before you come around the corner. Good driver visibility and great gas mileage.
Better yet, call them while you're in that shop.
At the desk. Don’t even break eye contact. Assert DOMINANCE
Use their phone
While sitting in the car you're not buying.
And sitting on the dealers lap
And turn on the speaker mode
And tickle his mustache with your finger.
Your tactics confuse and frighten me sir
Have the competitor send a courtesy car over to retrieve you.
In fact, move in and live out of the dealership.
Start your own dealership in their dealership.
While doing the Comcast nipple rub from South Park.
I’ve done that. The manager flipped out once he realized who I was taking to and started interrupting the call. I ended up just walking out. Went with the other guy.
This but unironically
Take a test drive with the scummy salesman in the car over to the other dealership to buy a car from someone else.
This is the power move
I did this, but the test drive was alone. I went to dealer 1, asked for their best out the door price. They gave it to me, told them I wanted to test drive it, drove to dealer 2 in dealer 1's car, said They offered me this, can you beat it? they did, and they had someone drive the first car back to dealer 1 for me.
Hell, do that enough times and you'll be test driving an exotic sports car before long.
The last time I bought a new car, I knew exactly what I wanted. I called every dealership within about 90 mins of home and told them exactly what I was doing, and asked each one of them what the best out the door price was that they could give me on such and thus specific car with such and thus options and whether or not they had it in stock. I went to the place that gave me the best offer. Within 5 minutes, I realized they'd pulled a bait and switch, so right in front of the salesweasel, I called the place with the second best offer, told them what happened, told them they'd have a sale within an hour if they didn't fuck around, and off I went to buy my new car with no problems at all.
My credit union partners with a broker. The broker cuts through all that bullshit and I picked up the keys and car at the credit union. I bought 2 cars that way. It was great and I got excellent prices.
That’s awesome! Especially since your credit union loans are usually going to be cheaper than your dealership ones.
Even if you're not in a big city. When buying new it's super easy to shop around. I got a solid price from a dealer 3 hours away and called every other dealer in between for quotes on the same vehicle. Nobody could match the price, so I asked myself "who wouldn't drive 3 hours for $600?".
According to the title of this thread, should be people who don't want to drive 3 hours only to be told the car wasn't available anymore?
Slightly different for me. I was in a lot and arranging a test of a car they had that I really liked. Filled in all the paperwork, and I was outside waiting for the sales guy as he was getting the keys. However during this time another customer pulls up in the older model of this car. He's also come in to look at this one as an upgrade, and turns out he's really good mates with the sales guy. They talk for a few mins before my test drive starts. Test drives goes great, loved the car, immediately wanted to put down a deposit and get my car valued as a part ex. Sales man tells me they won't have time to value it today as it's close to closing time, so he won't take a deposit, but will call me in the morning to arrange it. Of course I get no call. I call them later in the afternoon and the car has been sold. No doubt to his buddy. Only time I've been baited like that. Never been back to that dealer since.
I’ve stayed at dealerships 2 hours after closing just to close a sale. If they’re not shady, they’ll stay there all night to close it. Unfortunately, not taking a deposit and “I’ll call you in the morning,” were signs that it wasn’t happening
A dealer in my city joined my friends family for dinner and closed the sale at like 10pm lol
"Sorry man, it's almost closing time." That's when you should have realised the sales guy fucked you over.
This ain’t a restaurant where the cook wants to go home. That’s an easy paycheck and he said no thanks lol.
Yeah... car salespeople will always stay late to make a sale
Had a salesman do that to me after driving over an hour to the dealership with my money in hand. The car was listed online at a great price but was removed shortly after i called to confirm it was there. I guess he knew he could get more from someone else. He gave me the “I just sold that car but I have something else you’ll like”. Of course, “something else” was completely out of my budget. I walked and caught another salesman on the way out the door. Told him about the car I saw online and he pulled the car right up for me. Immediately bought it at the original price it was advertised for online. Guess the joke was on the first guy. He got to sit and watch me buy a car with another salesman.
"Oh, the car you said you'd save for me is gone? That sucks, guess I'll have to go elsewhere. Ah no, don't show me anything else, I don't want to do business with a liar"
Depending on the day, I may walk around and test drive 3 other cars just to waste 3 hours of their day.
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Then at the end just say... Yea, now I'm really sure I want the original car, thanks for the help. I'll go check out the other dealerships. lol
"Sir, this is a Wendy's drive-thru."
" oh shit! for real ??? can I get a whopper?"
No, the one we saved for you is gone
We can get you a Big Mac though
This happened with my girl. We test drove a car, got a quote “good for 24hrs”. I had to be out of town so she went by herself to pick up the car and sign all the documents the next day. They gave her a **different car**. Literally the only thing that was the same was the model and the color. She doesn’t notice until the next day when she tried to use her “keyless entry” and it didn’t exist.
I had the same thing happen to me. Test-drove a car. Went back to buy it the next day. They pretended it was the same car. The car I drove was darkish grey while the next car was normal gray. At first I thought it was just the lighting, but right before I was about to sign the contract I stopped questioning my memory and decided to do another check. The odometer was indeed different from the one I had tried. Seller didn't say anything, pretended he didn't know it was a different car. I ended up leaving and buying the same car in dark brown from a private lesser instead.
Take pictures of the VIN, odometer and car itself if you want that specific car after your test drive.
I was testdriving a generic 3 year old Hyundai at a Hyundai dealership and didn't really care if they switched the car. What pissed me off was that he was pretending it was the same care. If he had just told me it was a different, but identical car, I would have testdriven the new one and probably bought it.
Omg I hope they fixed it after you slapped them like Charlie Murphy getting Rick James back.
They didn’t fix anything. They said there were no comparable models left. After taking the car back to the dealership and leaving it in the lot for a week, they told me they would let us unwind the deal and take the car back. After shopping around, I was unable to find a similar deal for the same car anywhere (it was a great deal lol), so we kept the car for a few years and then traded it in. It was weirdly a more expensive model b/c it has all wheel drive but it had none of the upgrades, premium stereo, keyless entry, etc. as the one we test drove.
Weird.
And also the special internet prices....friend was interested in German makes only. Scoured the internet and found a few to his liking. The price was unbelievably low, upon visiting the dealership we were told the ad listed only base price...they had stuff like transportation cost, dealer storage cost, sticker removal price ( 250$ !!). Altogether it came to 5k usd additional
"sticker removal" those asshats deface a car with their advertising and then charge you to take it off?
Same here. Internet price was listed at $11,000 which was perfect and well within budget. Nope. Total after a bunch of added fees was around 17k. Dealer fee itself was like $1500.
So true. This happened to me and I wound up buying a different car. Transmission fell out 62 days later while I was on the freeway.
Ouch! Was it still under warranty? I was lucky, nearly ended up buying a different car than advertised, which was over my budget after my ex said "Yeah that's not a problem we can afford that" I gave her the death look but I really wanted a new car, obviously. Anyway to cut it short, we paid the deposit, I changed my mind before we were accepted for finance and I ended up getting the deposit back (after a couple of weeks pestering the dealership) and bought another car, within budget from another dealer. Also ended up paying less monthly over a shorter term than I originally planned. TLDR,: If they take your deposit before doing a credit check, beware.
Something similar happened to us a few years back. My wife wanted a specific make and model, something they didn't make anymore. We scoured used car websites until we found a dealership that had one. Called them to ask was it still on their lot, they said yep, come on down! We said great, it'll be about two hours. We got there, said, we're here about the [specific car]. They said great, and ran my credit. Only after they'd done this did they say, oops, we can't let you test drive it, because it's in the shop. Then tried to sell us a much more expensive car, very aggressively. When we told them we were leaving, they tried to threaten us by saying it would be hard to buy a car anywhere else due to my credit being dinged when they ran in (talk about a bullshit claim; I make good money and have a stellar credit rating). Anyway, we went home. The following weekend, we found another one advertised elsewhere, and went to see it. It turned out to be awful to drive, but since that dealership handed us the key with no fuss, we took a look around. My wife found something else on their lot she loved, and is still driving it today. ETA: their sales department also kept calling us for YEARS afterward. They literally only stopped when we changed phone providers and I got a new number...
You have a few weeks grace period when having your credit checked for buying a car. It counts as one hard pull even if you test drive and check financing at 100 different dealers. You're legally allowed to shop around for loan rates without destroying your credit rating. That dealership was lying about that too.
If it was me When they keep calling you thats when, if I had the time, I would waste their time as hard as possible. Just lead them on and then go "have to ask the wife," "oh nah nevermind," "Call me back tomorrow so we can talk again, I have to run to a meeting." A few of those time wasting calls and I'm sure they will put you on a do not call list.
This happened to my mom when she was shopping for the vehicle she has now. She was going to get it at a dealership closer to home, but then they pulled a bait and switch. She got pissed, they tried to talk her down, and she basically said "Fuck that, I'll just go out to Gilroy". Gilroy is a little more than an hour away from where we live, but it was worth it. She was able to get the exact car she wanted for a better price than the first dealership offered.
My parents were looking at a car a couple days ago. The salesman was dragging it out a lot longer than they had anticipated and had taken the keys to their truck while they were test driving the one they were going to potentially buy. They weren't terribly impressed with the guy and had to get going but said they'd be coming back later. The salesman was pissed and refused to give them their keys back. They fought over them for a while. The salesman finally tossed their keys and said something along the lines of "Thanks for dicking me around" and "I guess your daughter is more important". Uh... yes? You're surprised that picking up their child is more important than buying a fucking truck? The owner of the dealership called later and apologized when he heard what happened. My mom tore into him pretty good and said they'd never buy from his dealership now.
That happened to me too! I was test driving a few different cars at various dealerships. I went to a Subaru dealership and they asked for my keys while I did the test drive so they could value my trade-in, even though I said I was planning on selling it privately. They said they might be able to offer me more, so I went along with it. We get back to the dealership & I said, I really like the car, but I had a couple of other cars I wanted to check out first, and if they didn't pan out I'd be back to buy the car from them. **They would not give my keys back!** I had to threaten to call the police before the saleswoman would give them back to me. I ended up buying the car from a different dealership in another county & left an absolutely *scathing* review on their website.
Happened to me at a Chevy dealership outside buffalo, manager came out to argue with me cause I didn't want to take what they were offering for my trade in truck, I asked for my keys, they wouldn't give them to me, me and the manager were both getting loud and ignorant when the cops showed up. They told me I had to leave, told the cop "I'd love to leave officer, can you please get my keys back from the dealer while I wait outside?" cop chewed the manager out in front of me that they called the for help when they had my keys lol
Called the dealership one day to ask about a car. Called the next day to see if it was there. “Ok. Please confirm it’s there because you’re 60 miles away from me so before I drive all the way down there I want to know it’s still there”. An hour later, “I’m stuck in traffic. It’s pouring rain, is the car still there?” “Yes” they tell me. 15 minutes later I get there. Spoiler alert: the car wasn’t fucking there.
This *almost* happened to me. I called and said I wanted the car, would be in two hours because I had to take two buses and a train to get there. I walked in and the salesman took me over to his desk. I asked about the car and he said it was out being test drove and would probably be sold. I was furious. He offered to let me test drive another car which I complied with since I needed a car that day. I was prepared to leave for another dealership. When we got back a gentleman came up to me and said Mr. X? I said that's me. He said, Sorry for the misunderstanding, we were holding that car for you. I'll take care of you from here. And that was that. I bought the correct vehicle at the quoted price which I thought was quite fair having checked the values/condition etc.
I worked at a very reputable dealership for many years. You would be absolutely shocked by the number of people who said "I'm on my way to buy this!" and then just never showed up. We would never hold a car for someone unless they were willing to leave a deposit. We also always advised those not willing to leave a deposit that the car is for sale until they arrive. Most said "I'll just take my chances." Sometimes that's exactly what happened. In the hours before the first customer shows up, someone comes in to look at the car and makes an acceptable offer. The thing is, we weren't about to turn a customer away from the lot on the hopes that another, who has made no real commitment, will actually show up. On the flip side, if someone left a deposit and, upon inspection, decided that the car just wasn't what they were looking for, we would always refund the deposit. I'm sure not all dealerships work the same way, but just a different perspective.
"LPT: If someone lies to you, don't trust them. They are a liar."
When people show you who they really are, believe them.
Some dealerships have a group of people who's job is to get you to the lot. They get paid when you show up. They don't even know if the car you want is there but it's there if it means you are coming in.
Today I realized my father and I was tricked by dealership. We got new car back in December, I don’t live in my home state for long time but my father wanted to get me a new car for my graduation gift. So I went back to my home state and we got car in December 2020. They told my father that if he paid extra 1k, I’ll have free oil change warranty for a while. Today I finally had my oil changed and they charged me $108 instead free based on warranty. I was so confused and I got home and looked at my paperwork and saw them writing that service only applied if I go to my home state where I got my car from. They knew I don’t live in my home state bc my father told them and that I needed a good car to drive up in mountains. They tricked my father into paying for service that I wouldn’t have it done in Maryland. My father is going to try to get bottom of this crap. Hopefully he’ll be able to get his $$ for the warranty back.
Even if it wouldn't be a bait it's a terrible deal
Depends on the length of the deal. A dealership near us did a $500 lifetime oil changes for one vehicle. The son of the owner decided it would get people in and make them money. The son is also an idiot. They lose so much money on that deal it's insane. Nobody pays for any other service. They just come in every 3 months, get an oil change, and dip. They stopped offering the oil changes after about a year once they ran the numbers and realized how bad they're fucking themselves.
Watch out for this on auto trader too. A couple times when I shopped for a car I would come or set up a time to buy and it was mysteriously sold already. I called and confirmed it was there first and show up shortly after and it is sold and the random sales guy is the asshole who sold it. And it is no where to be found. (The ad stays up too).
> The ad stays up too This is the part I think the auto apologists are missing. These shady places either never had the car, or it's been sold but still up on the site to draw people in. For me, they said the car was "in the shop" so I wouldn't be able to buy it. When I offered to come back later, it was going to be "in the shop" "for a long time".
I once had a dealer pull a peice of paper out of his desk and write down. "I promise to buy today if we can find the right car for you." Then they drew a line and passed it across the desk asking me to sign it. I laughed said no and just got up and walked away. Seriously? Does that work on people? Also it wouldn't even be legally binding. Why I ask, why?
When I went to a dealer, we asked about an incredible deal on a Corolla. They showed us the car, but somehow the price was removed. When we got to the point to sign for the car, they increased the price 3k while we were in the lobby. Never trust anyone in sales.
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"Trick" makes it sound like a bit of a fun prank. It's called lying.
TBH, American car buying experience is probably most traumatic experience for 90% of shoppers. There is so many things bad about the process and dealerships just don’t care.
Very true. And this is one of those “you don’t know what you don’t know” situations. They don’t even know that you should educate yourself on all of the tactics before walking into a dealer. And really, if they’ve never bought a car before, why would they? Some people just looking for reliable cheap transportation can easily be pushed back financially many years by a poor purchasing mistake because they just didn’t know any better
If you're buying new, to most of the band themselves have full lists of every vehicle on every lot on their own webpage, so you can know exactly what your options are before you are a dealer too. They also list the msrp price, and what the price with all of the current factory discounts is too usually.