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Purchasing a car at a dealership is honestly one of the most painful consumer experiences ever. Last car I bought, I walked into the dealership knowing exactly

by cheald 10y ago

Purchasing a car at a dealership is honestly one of the most painful consumer experiences ever. Last car I bought, I walked into the dealership knowing exactly what I wanted and what it should cost, with my down payment check and loan approval in-hand, and it still took 6 hours to purchase the car. The salesman kept "making math mistakes" on the invoice that would have inflated the overall price of the purchase by several thousand dollars. If I didn't know ahead of time what I was buying and what it would cost, I would have been taken for a ride. One of the most frustrating, disgusting, and disheartening purchases I've ever made. Anything that can bypass that BS is a very welcome change.

vvanders 10y ago
If Tesla gets their way then hopefully this will change. Buying our 85D was just a matter of sitting down with the rep at a Mac in-store and ordering from TeslaMotors.com. The most painless car buying experience I've ever had. We could have done it from our house if we wanted to. [edit] I should add that we've done the whole "pit 2-3 dealerships against each other over email with exact spec" before and while it does get you a good deal, it takes a ton of time and requires you to be willing to walk away and waste an evening if they pull any funny business.
- random28345 10y ago
  > it takes a ton of time and requires you to be willing to walk away and waste an evening if they pull any funny business. Can confirm, agreed on a price, the dealer wanted $3,500 for a pinstripe at the last minute. Had to walk, went to another dealership 40 miles away, got an agreement on the original deal negotiated with the original dealer, new dealer didn't have the car in stock, so the car I wanted to buy in the first place was shipped 40 miles to the new dealer. And I watched the new dealer's salesman peeled off the $3,500 pinstripe with his fingers before I'd take possession of the car. Then after all the paperwork was signed, and I handed over a check for the full purchase price of the car, the new dealer refused to hand over the keys until I paid a $500 etching fee, and the saleperson re-etched the VIN in the car windows over the top of the VIN already etched in the car windows. Fuck dealers.
  - acchow 10y ago
    What city/state was this in? Is there no place to report such behavior to? The manufacturer?
    - vvanders 10y ago
      Not really. Fun fact, most dealers for a certain mfgr withing a metro area are usually owned by a single business and re-branded so they can collude on prices. You find this out when you start shopping across state lines. All of the dealers in one state didn't want to come down on price until they found out I was talking to other dealers in another adjacent state, then they changed really fast.
    - random28345 10y ago
      > What city/state was this in? New Jersey. But it's fairly universal behavior. > Is there no place to report such behavior to? The manufacturer? The manufacturer is at the mercy of the dealers. Do you really think it's in the best interests of auto manufacturers to have their customers bent over a barrel on surprise fees and gouged on maintenance? There have been a number of attempts for auto manufacturers to make things less shitty for customers (Scion, Saturn, etc.) but at the end of the day, these attempts were not in the dealer's interest, and failed.
  - tritosomal 10y ago
    $500 etching fee, and the saleperson re-etched the VIN in the car windows over the top of the VIN already etched in the car windows. Wait. What? My god. I don't even understand the necessity of... etching? a VIN? into a window? Why is that even a billable line item? It sounds like a form of vandalism. Why did they insist on ruining your windows with a numeric marking? Windows can break. They're replacable parts. They carry no assurance of permanence. Who requires this? Why is it required? What is accomplished by this practice? Why does it cost the buyer money? Why does it fetch that much money, when it's essentially an unskilled task that occupies minutes of effort? EDIT: Oh wow. I didn't even know this was a thing. [0] Certainly not anything of a $500 value. Certainly not a requirement. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIN_etching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIN_etching
AaronM 10y ago
Next time take a big sand hourglass say for one hour. Tell them I am going to flip this over, and if the deal isn't closed by the time the sand runs out I will walk. [edit] you have to be willing to walk. You say, this price or I walk, and if they pull any bs, get up and leave. If more people did this, dealerships would change their tactics
bitJericho 10y ago
Next time send the dealer a check and a letter. Demand all correspondence in writing. Don't allow calls. Expect your new car within a month or so ;)

by cheald 10y ago

vvanders 10y ago

If Tesla gets their way then hopefully this will change. Buying our 85D was just a matter of sitting down with the rep at a Mac in-store and ordering from TeslaMotors.com. The most painless car buying experience I've ever had. We could have done it from our house if we wanted to. [edit] I should add that we've done the whole "pit 2-3 dealerships against each other over email with exact spec" before and while it does get you a good deal, it takes a ton of time and requires you to be willing to walk away and waste an evening if they pull any funny business.

random28345 10y ago
> it takes a ton of time and requires you to be willing to walk away and waste an evening if they pull any funny business. Can confirm, agreed on a price, the dealer wanted $3,500 for a pinstripe at the last minute. Had to walk, went to another dealership 40 miles away, got an agreement on the original deal negotiated with the original dealer, new dealer didn't have the car in stock, so the car I wanted to buy in the first place was shipped 40 miles to the new dealer. And I watched the new dealer's salesman peeled off the $3,500 pinstripe with his fingers before I'd take possession of the car. Then after all the paperwork was signed, and I handed over a check for the full purchase price of the car, the new dealer refused to hand over the keys until I paid a $500 etching fee, and the saleperson re-etched the VIN in the car windows over the top of the VIN already etched in the car windows. Fuck dealers.
- acchow 10y ago
  What city/state was this in? Is there no place to report such behavior to? The manufacturer?
  - vvanders 10y ago
    Not really. Fun fact, most dealers for a certain mfgr withing a metro area are usually owned by a single business and re-branded so they can collude on prices. You find this out when you start shopping across state lines. All of the dealers in one state didn't want to come down on price until they found out I was talking to other dealers in another adjacent state, then they changed really fast.
  - random28345 10y ago
    > What city/state was this in? New Jersey. But it's fairly universal behavior. > Is there no place to report such behavior to? The manufacturer? The manufacturer is at the mercy of the dealers. Do you really think it's in the best interests of auto manufacturers to have their customers bent over a barrel on surprise fees and gouged on maintenance? There have been a number of attempts for auto manufacturers to make things less shitty for customers (Scion, Saturn, etc.) but at the end of the day, these attempts were not in the dealer's interest, and failed.
- tritosomal 10y ago
  $500 etching fee, and the saleperson re-etched the VIN in the car windows over the top of the VIN already etched in the car windows. Wait. What? My god. I don't even understand the necessity of... etching? a VIN? into a window? Why is that even a billable line item? It sounds like a form of vandalism. Why did they insist on ruining your windows with a numeric marking? Windows can break. They're replacable parts. They carry no assurance of permanence. Who requires this? Why is it required? What is accomplished by this practice? Why does it cost the buyer money? Why does it fetch that much money, when it's essentially an unskilled task that occupies minutes of effort? EDIT: Oh wow. I didn't even know this was a thing. [0] Certainly not anything of a $500 value. Certainly not a requirement. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIN_etching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIN_etching

AaronM 10y ago

Next time take a big sand hourglass say for one hour. Tell them I am going to flip this over, and if the deal isn't closed by the time the sand runs out I will walk. [edit] you have to be willing to walk. You say, this price or I walk, and if they pull any bs, get up and leave. If more people did this, dealerships would change their tactics

bitJericho 10y ago

Next time send the dealer a check and a letter. Demand all correspondence in writing. Don't allow calls. Expect your new car within a month or so ;)