In honour of picking up my Rabbit tomorrow, I thought I'd do a little (big) rant about car salesmen. I'll share 3 stories about the not so fun process that is buying a new car.
1) My story
There are two VW dealerships where I live. The first one that I visited offered me $3000 for my '99 Civic that I was trading in. When the dealership made me this offer, I assumed that completed a thorough inspection of my car and ran a car proof. I was happy with the numbers this car sales(wo)man gave me, but being a savvy shopper I decided to check out the other dealership across town. I walked into the other dealership and asked the sales team lead if we could go over numbers for the Rabbit and the trade-in. He comes back with a $1500 offer for my Civic. I told him about the $3300 offer from the original dealership, which he scoffed at. He basically told me my car was worth nothing, and I wouldn't be able to get the Rabbit I wanted because "that car doesn't exist". He was unwilling to negotiate and insisted with me that I was lying about the trade-in value offered by the original dealer.
Unhappy with the service I received (I don't enjoy being treated like I don't know anything about cars or being made to feel like I was wasting his time), I went back to the original dealership the following weekend to buy my car.
After 5 minutes of talking to the sales(wo)man, she informed me that the guy who wouldn't give me the time of day at the other dealership did have the time to fax over the car proof he ran and tell them how I was "withholding information" about my Civic. I wasn't.
Anyway, the original dealership ended up being awesome. She was willing to work on the price despite having to adjust the value of the trade-in. (It turns out they hadn't done a car proof on my car, but that's really not my fault). In the end, I got the car I wanted at the price I wanted!
2) My mom's co-worker's wife's story (this one is much shorter)
She went into Toyota to look at a new Corolla. She asked the car salesman to test drive a standard. His response? "Ma'am, you know that's the kind with the stick shift right?".
She walked out.
3) My coworker's story (this is my favourite)
Here's an email he received from a not so jolly car salesman after he bought from a competing dealership. My coworker sent an email to this man thanking him for his time, but indicating that he had purchased a car at another dealership because he was able to get a better deal.
This is car salesman's response:
Hi ****
You bought it at ****** Did your in-laws have something to do with
that?
I have taken this very personal.
And here is why....
1) I was the initial contact when you went out looking for an Accent, so I feel like I was the one who sold you the car. And all ***** had to do was beat my price.
2) I told you that I was able to work a bit more off the car for you,
3) You never gave me a second chance to get my numbers a bit better.
I knew I should not have given you ANY numbers after I saw your in-laws in a 2008 Santa Fe from ******!
Shame on me for trusting and putting my faith in you *****.
I know you think that I am just a car salesman. I have a family, a house, financial obligations just like you *****...
But honestly you don't care about that do you?
Just so you know we are planning on pulling the COMPANY discount at our store, and when our contact at COMPANY asks why, I will make sure to let them know which employee ruined this relationship.
I am very upset with your poor actions. I hope you don't expect to service with us.
GRR!!! (that's my thoroughly mature response to this)
True Religion
OMG, I can not believe the email one. I also had trouble looking for a car. I felt that if I went by myself (or without a man) the salesman was more interested in telling me more about the mirrors and features of the vehicle instead of telling me more about the engine, where the oil filter was located, etc.
1If I were you I would be equally annoyed with the car dealership who gave you the initial high estimate of $3,000. They do this on purpose to convince you to do business with them, even though they know they have no intention of paying you that much. I just bought a new car and when I was shopping, I had a few dealerships ask about my trade in and offer me outrageous numbers. They're all sleazy! I actually ended up having a really good experience at CarMax, because they were pretty straightforward.
But what's important is that you're happy with the car you got!
2Wow! In the third case, I think I would inform the dealership. That salesperson is creating bad PR for them.
Mich: My daughter bought her car a couple of months ago at CarMax, too. We were actually pretty happy with them. They were not pushy, and the prices were in line with Blue Book and other local prices.
The dealership where I bought my Toyota, and used to service it, developed a habit of putting my husband's name on mailings and service notifications...even though he is nowhere on the paperwork and was not involved in the purchase. Is that straight out of the 1950s or what? (He bought from them a year or two after I did.) After a couple of complaints, I got annoyed and started taking it to a different dealership for service.
3===================================
Conservative in exile
Washington and Sacramento: Stealing our children's futures.
Ive only bought two cars in my lifetime. Car shopping is terrible. I did have a good experience with my current car that I bought at a small, local run dealership. They were very honest and upfront about everything and gave me a great price on my trade. I would buy from them again.
4The best thing to do when you buy a new car is to not mention a trade. Don't mention your trade or anything, get the price where you're comfortable and THEN mention the trade. Like others have said, people will use the trade to get you started so that by the time they are trying to give you nothing in negotiations you're so far down the line that you're like "Oh well, I'll just stay here".
A trade can be like your joker, you want to keep it and hide it until the end to minimize BSing. After you've agreed on a price they can't jack it up because now you have a trade, so they will either a) give you less on your trade (in which case you can now negotiate that) or b) just push it through to get the deal done. Sales people are really serious about their time and if they've spent all that time with you, they want the deal to be done. Usually they'll be willing to take a bit on the chin just to push it through.
I hate to hear these stories because I have a good friend who I work with in the car business off and on who is very honest and does everything he can for his customers, but because so many people are jerks he has to prove himself allllll the time. It gets tiring...
5Wow. That's terrible! I've had this happen to me too, where even though I was the one who needed a car ASAP, they tried to sell it to my hubby. Um, hello, I'm the one who's purchasing it...
Stories like this make me glad my hubby used to to be a car salesman- he knows all their tricks.
6My sister had to recently purchase a car and we dealt with a car salesman that was a jerk. My mom is a very no-nonsense person and she doesn't take sh*t from car salespeople. It's so funny to go with her to the dealerships - she's a very sweet woman and she's about 5 feet tall 110 lbs. So she is used to people just thinking they can railroad her -- nope!
That's good advice Haus, thanks. I'll definitely use that when I have to buy a new car.
7Okay, these are horrible stories! My boyfriend is in sales, harley's not cars, BIG difference i promise! Anyhoo, I once had a guy tell me that the price tag hanging in the car was ONLY if you paid cash, and was about 2,000 more if financing. um, that's ILLEGAL. Thankfully bof was with me at the time and told them so and said he'd report them! hahaha.
the last go round went fairly smoothly, but they were kind of jacking me around on my trade. thankfully we worked through it and i got an awesome deal, but just beware. OH, and just remember in most (if not all) states you cannot bring the car back, there is no 3-day rule. I can't stress this enough!
~~~~~
The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.
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