In Jan of 92' I stopped at a long time Ford dealer on the way home from work, ordered a new F150..6L-5spd, one packge up from base [to get sliding rear window and some minor towing stuff] and 3.55 gear..Salesman "Cap" guy writes everything up and cry's that he wasn't making much money, total cost was $12,076...I think I put couple thou down and financed the rest for three years...He takes me to the financial guy and he goes over the paper work, takes some white out to a couple lines of figures and re totals..I figure the sales man made an error adding things up and it was being corrected..I go to sign it and I see the total was down a couple hundred, well good for me..I sign and go home..No sooner did I walk in my door than the phone rings..Its the sales man saying I have to come back and sign new paper work as my change wasn't going to fly..WTF? I didn't change anything, so I say you sign it..He says he can't so I say I'll stop in on the way home from work tomorrow, hold your hand on your ass till then...So I stop in next day and he's laughing saying how could I think I was going to get away with it, being pretty loud as we walked by everyone to his cube..I tore the form up in four pieces and neatly laid it on his desk..I said this is all the patience I got..He stopped laughing...I turned and walked up to another sales man and asked if he wanted to sell me a truck...He did..I asked maybe we should get Cap to look over the figures, he said lets not.......
Back in 89 I wanted a new truck that had a/c since the previous year was a hot one and my 11 year old truck did not have it so I stop in this very small town Ford dealer to get a price,I wanted about every option except for those cab marker lights on the roof and the salesman who probably was the owner told me that since I wanted the towing package I got the limited slip rear for free. It was around 16,500 for the truck which was a little too steep for my broke ass and would have made the payments a little too high so I started checking the major Ford dealers around town if they could beat that price,as soon as I mentioned that I was told the L/S rear was free according to that small town dealer every salesman I talked to got mad and was about ready to throw me out of the building and could not beat the price I was quoted. Shortly after I bought a low mile 2 year old F150 XLT for 10,000 that had all the options I wanted.
Ok deal me in for one hand!......In the early '70s I worked for a VW dealer in St Louis, one of about seven at the time. Most of the VW stores at the time were very legit places, but times were changing. We had a new and unscrupulous competitor about 5 or 6 miles from us who used every trick in the book to sell cars. That's the background. So, one day in '72 or '73 a young guy comes in with a fairly late model Beetle and wants to trade for a new Karmann Ghia Coupe. A deal is made, but the financing is pending, so we decide it best to 'dehorse' the guy, to keep him from shopping our deal. So, we keep his car, get his title and keys, put him in a demo and send him on his way. He is to pick up the KG late morning the next day. When we open up the next morning, we find our demo has been returned and his car is gone. We figure something is up, but wait awhile to see if he shows. He doesn't. So, suspecting our competitor is behind this, I grab Clay, one of our salesmen and a Monte Carlo off the used car lot and cruise over to check out the other VW store. We find our guy's car sitting out front in THEIR demo row, but we have a key! Clay jumps in, the car won't start, and he immediately pops the rear lid and checks the distributor. Sure enough, the rotor is gone. Clay hops back in with me in the Monte and we cruise around back, find a same year Bug and snatch the rotor......drive back up, put the rotor in, and away we go! It's the lunch hour, the place is busy, and nobody notices us. We get back to our store, call Gary's house and his Mom answers. We say "Gary was supposed to pick up his new KG today, but he hasn't shown up. Is there a problem?"....she says "oh, there must be some mistake, Gary got his car last night from 'mentions our competitor' and they said they'd take care of everything". We reply, well, I don't know anything about that, we have Gary's trade in and his new KG is ready for delivery". A little while later the St Louis County Police show up and tell us the competitor has reported we 'stole' one of their cars. Our New Car Manager shows the cops the signed deal, the title and says it's our deal. The cop says...."sorry, but not this time".....they too have a signed order and delivered the guy a car...you have to take the trade in back and give them the title. So Bob, The Sales Manager tells the cop that the competitor has one of our dealer plates, but denies it, and won't return it. The cops tell Bob they will handle THAT, you'll get your plate back, but take the car back yet this afternoon. We sent a couple of husky guys over with the car and title, they got the dealer plate, and even though we eventually lost the deal, took some solace in the fact we had given them a little harrassment they hadn't expected. Ray
Ray, now that is slimy....... Now, all this isn't always on the dealers. How many times did you hear about somebody 'putting one over' on a dealer? I recall a friend of my dad who went in to buy a new car and traded in his 2-year-old Plymouth. He went in after dark, did the deal for cash, and left. The next morning the dealer calls, pissed because they couldn't see the hail damage on his trade at night (car was bought down south discounted with the dents, you didn't see this in the NW). He got more on trade than he paid for it.... Not to say the level of incompetence at the dealers isn't a factor. When I bought my new daily a few years ago, I made the rounds of the dealers, carefully explained what I wanted. I'm here to buy a car, you don't need to worry about financing, I own my trade, what could be simpler. Nobody had exactly what I wanted, most tried to sell me something else. I finally get to a dealer, this salesman had enough smarts to get the sales manager involved, and he tracks down a suitable car (there were certain things I wanted, but there were also certain things I didn't want, even if they were free). Now we start negotiating price... What do you want for your trade? I counter, what will you give me for it? He comes back with the average trade-in value ($2K), I say fine. How much for the car with the trade? We agree on a price with the trade. So then I ask him, what's the least you can give me for my trade? The salesman looks dumbfounded, the manager grins; can you go as low as $200? He says no, probably $500 is the lowest he can go. I say fine, drop the price on the car another $1500 and we're good to go. The salesman says 'I've never heard of anybody doing this' and the manager says 'He just saved himself another $135 by not paying sales tax on the larger amount. This guy is smarter than most'.... I guess the moral is, don't outsmart yourself.....
yes, this is slimy. But not as much on your competitor's part, but on the customer's part. He had signed the Purchase Agreement, handed over his title and delivered his trade-in. Why would he still be shopping? Most importantly, how can he go back on the deal that he agreed to? I have run into many, many slimy people in the business. The vast majority of them were car owners, not dealers.
Not trying to start up the political firestorm here again but I'm with bobwop on this one. The public will outslime the dealer in most every case when it comes to reneging on a deal, or wanting a deposit back. I've witnessed a lot of deals cancelled or have been altered to the customer liking through some disgusting tactic used by the customer. The stories that come out of customers mouths when they develop buyers remorse would make you gag! Now, once again, back to our regularly scheduled program.
My boss at the Toyota dealership told me this one. In the early 70's a guy made a deal with my boss to trade his 327 powered '65 Malibu SS with a 4 speed. He agreed to trade his Malibu plus a couple of grand cash for a '65 Corvette coupe my boss had on his used car lot in a suburb of Ohio. The Malibu had fuelie heads, a hi-rise aluminum intake and a fat AFB on top. My boss is very astute, went over the guys trade-in very carefully, mentally noting all the modifications, used a flash light and a mirror in the tight dark areas, didn't miss a thing. A couple of days go by after the appraisal was done and the guy left his deposit. In rolls Malibu boy on payday ready to finish the transaction. My boss, before he swaps the plates for the guy, lifts the Malibu's hood and sees a very now stock looking S.B.C. lying between the fenders. He blows his cork and addresses the issue with the guy, now caught with no defense. Boss says we still have a deal, but first the guy needs to drive his f'n Malibu back home, reinstall the items it was originally appraised with and bring it back plus an extra $500 dollars to keep the deal together. Mr. smarter and now wiser Malibu boy really wanted the 'Vette and returned before closing that night with the proper stuff back under SS's hood, and the extra $500 bucks paper clipped to his bank check.
I get a good chuckle out of the customers who parks in front of our showroom when looking for a deal and need an appraisal. The ones who back it in. People who carefully go out of their way to back in always raise a big red flag in my mind. No one backs up to the showroom unless they have a real good reason. Like maybe a strong desire to sneak a bad transmission past me, like one with a bad reverse. In the 26 years I've worked at this dealership and seen folks do this, I count only 3 times their transmission was okay. The other hundreds of times their reverse gear was toast. Like I say, It's a RED FLAG, in our parking lot. The other standard lie is..........."Oh that little dent?" ( Its a minimum $1500 whack in my mind) "I'll fix that for you before I pick up my new car from you, I promise!" Never going to happen.
This isn't "back in the day," but about a year ago. I found a new car on a dealer lot (at night) that was reasonably close to what I wanted, right make, intermediate sized, 4 cyl, manual trans. In the morning I went to the dealership, walked in, asked to drive the car, salesman went with, Yup I'm ready to purchase. We went in the cubicle filled out all the paperwork, I asked for 1 pair of extra painted wheels, he didn't have the exact price of those, but said approximately $70 for the pair because he had the same request recently. His sales manager was gone that day so he would email the final price to me the following morning. No mention was made of any additional costs. Next morning I get the email, $1485 for extra wheels and tires, (WTF) $450 for glass etching (?) plus the normal costs added for taxes, title, and licensing. I call the salesman up, ask about the wheels, they didn't want to sell me just 2 winter tires, said it was dangerous, so they charged for all four. I guess I had mentioned to the salesman why I wanted 2 rims. I very carefully explained that I wanted 2 rims nothing more, nothing less, got that straightened out. Next, about the glass etching, I was told that was a Wisconsin law that all new cars had to have the serial number etched into each piece of glass on the car. WTF, let me call the DA about that, then the story changed to "their insurance company required that they do it.". Now I'm pissed, I told the salesman that that $450 was a deal breaker, that there was an identical car on a dealer lot in another Wisconsin city (I had checked) and their lies and incompetence had cost them the sale, and I walked out! I made a phone call, and drove 200 miles the next day and picked up my new car. Some dealers want your business, some just want your money. BTW I got $500 more for my trade-in and the same sticker price on the new one, without any extra costs. My 2 wheels came by ups for $68 within the week.
In 2008 we went to a local Ford dealer to order the wife a new car. This dealership is in the same town I live in and also sponsored my race cars at the time. They knew me. Got the deal done and left a deposit for the custom order. We waited, and waited. After 6 weeks (said 4 to 5 to get the car) I cornered the owner of the dealership. He admitted it was built but he was having trouble getting it shipped. Said it was held up in Chicago. I volunteered to go and pick it up in my car trailer and bring it to the dealership for dealer prep work since he mentioned that was an option. He started to backpedal. The next week, I heard he was having money problems. Like, he spent all the dealership money on drugs and neglected to pay a few bills. An employee said everyone's checks were bouncing. I cornered the guy and he said the car would be there the next week. Next week, no car. Demanded my deposit back. He said in the morning he would have a check cut. I told him I wanted cash since his checks seemed to be made of rubber. He agreed. Took me 2 more weeks to get my cash. Stopped in every day and gave him shit about it. After almost 3 weeks he handed me my uncashed check! Why he held it for a month after our conversation started I will never know. 2 weeks later the dealership was locked up. When the bank had the auction to try and recover some money, his computer inventory was totally different than his actual inventory. His books were padded and most of his parts inventory was only in the computer and did not exist in real life. The bank loaned the money based on the inventory, they were screwed at that point. We were in another town shopping and the sales manager was working with us to find a car like we wanted. We were chatting and mentioned to him our problem with the local guy and he said he could try to find our car we ordered if he actually placed the order. We still had the order file in the trunk of the car we kept all thru that time. He took some numbers off it, got on the computer and smiled at us. "Your car is sitting on a lot in Chicago, I can get it for you and sell it to you for what you agreed to with your local guy. If you want it I'll get it for you." We talked it over and thought it would just piss us off to drive it after all the problems we were having getting it. He stepped us up to the next trim package and sold us one he had on his lot for the same money. The local dealer disappeared, nobody has been able to find him since 2008. Rumor has it he owed some not so nice people a lot more than the cost of a car and he now lives in another country under another name. It's not always the customer that is bad. SPark
"It's not always the customer who is bad"............. It's never "always the ..............." People are people and there are all types in all occupations and relationships. Nothing more, nothing less. Ray
Okay- mines ot but there's enough of that that I'm not out on my own here. Wife drives a late model suv (big surprise right). Anyway, some dickhead doing 95 in a 25 on a crotch rocket T-bones her. Car gets towed to the dealer that we bought it from and they insist to the insurance company (mine, because why would the other guy carry insurance?) they can fix it. Estimate is well over 20,000 for repairs. It took them 7 months to do the job. After fighting with the insurance company and the dealer/bodyshop- insisting that a car with 20K worth of damage should be a total and the shop manager flatly stating "We guarantee that the car will be just like new, like nothing ever happened to it!" Nothing about the situation made my wife or I happy. Shortly after she got the car back she got what I considered junk mail from the dealership. "We Need Your Trade In!!" Wife calls and sets an appointment and selects basically the identical car but new and gets a decent trade in price. It has such low miles! (Cause it's been parked around back in the body shop for half its life). A couple weeks later I was happy to be home when the phone rang and I got to listen to my wife talk with the dealer. It was like an old Bob Newhart skit from my vantage point. "Yes, yes - no I didn't mention that it had been damaged. Why would I have? You said it would be fixed to the point of a new car, like nothing had ever happened. Ok, thanks, you have a great day too" I later learned from our insurance lady, that didn't work there anymore, that I should've taken it elsewhere to get another estimate and probably anyone else would've called it a total. Seven months to fix? Final repair bill came to nearly 28,000.
Not exactly a dealer story but I just remembered an incident from 1972. A loud mouth schnook I worked with walked up to me one day and said "what's the best car on the road?" Without thinking I said "Mercedes Benz" ( I drove an old Mercedes at the time) He said "they look like a f*cking bulldog with its head cut off! Mercury is the best car on the road! It turned out he had just ordered a new Mercury. It took about 6 weeks to get it. He only drove it for a week and the front tires were worn out. The dealer tried to fix the front end but never did get it right. The first winter the car was covered in rust spots. Once again dealer to the rescue with a bunch of touch ups that didn't quite match. I remember him complaining about lousy gas mileage and bad driveability problems too. Meanwhile my 10 year old Mercedes ran like new and got 30 MPG.
A few years back, the missus had needed a new car for a while - she'd been driving my old hand-me-down for about 12 years and had always had her eye on a new Territory (Ford Aust SUV) - nothing too flash, but she'd liked 'em since they first came out. Anyway, it's new model time - the first real tart-up since they were released years before. We're looking online for the best deal. No discounts anywhere here in WA. A friend of a friend is the State Manager for Ford - best they can do is direct us to the local dealer with the best reputation, but still no 'deal'. Kept looking online, and found the car we were looking for in Melbourne, about $6K cheaper than in Perth. It was supposed to be a demo, with 1500kms on it. Thought for a while, and decided we could fly over to Melb, spend a couple of days with old friends and family and drive back across the country in a very new car. I was a bit concerned that the deal looked a little too good, so I asked the dealer if the car had been wrecked. I was assured not by a somewhat surprised salesman, and that the car was fine. Anyway, we paid cash (well, bank cheque, not folding stuff) and they set it aside while we arranged flights, etc for the next week. Landing in Melbourne, and got a lift to the dealer from a friend. The car was sitting there - it looked absolutely brand-spanking new. Get in and it's got 293kms on the odo. Asked if it was the same car - they said they just put 1500kms in the ad on their demos in case they don't sell straight away and they keep getting used as demos. Car had a tank of petrol, dealer couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. The dealer was absolutely 100% honest, helpful and easy to deal with. I cannot stop saying how happy I was. The 4 day drive back home was comfortable and as easy as a 3500km drive can be. By the time I added up airfares, lost work time, fuel and accom on the trip back, we wouldn't have been much better off than to buy it at home, but we got a week off work and a nice easy drive across the country.
Back in 2009, the eldest son needed some wheels to go to uni, so I decided it was a good chance to get myself a new ute. Black Holden SS-V 6.0l L-98 6 spd leather, climate, 20's - the full catastrophe. It was deep in the GFC and the government was giving away big tax breaks to buy new (or demo) work vehicles as car sales had nose-dived. The full bogan-pack was OK with the govt so Dad-Bud got himself some new wheels. Letting my mouse do the walking, a low-mile demo was available on the other side of town a few thou lower than most others, so I figured it would be best to check it out. Late one Thursday night, raining, I head down to the dealer. Car looks good (I thought), salesguy says it was his car and that he had just used it ti take garden rubbish to the tip. We start talking dollars. I ended up getting the window tint thrown in for the advertised price. Go back to pick it up on Saturday. Finally noticed that there had been a repair down the left side - reasonably well done, but obviously the reason it was cheaper than most. My mistake for looking at the car on a wet night. The delivery experience could not have been less underwhelming. No one was interested. The car hadn't even been washed or vacuumed and the back still had plenty of leaves and sticks. They had been pushing that the super-deal they did for me meant they wanted me to drop the car in there for services. They said they'd help me with a loan car. After buying a $40K car and they wouldn't even wash it, I vowed never to go back there again, and I am eager to tell anyone that they clearly don't care about their customers. Oh yeah, still got it, and it's been a good car so far.
About 10 years ago, I had some spare cash and decided it was time to get some older iron. After searching high and low here in Aust, I ended up looking at eBay USA Collector Cars. It had been popping up in every search I had done but was a bit afraid of all the horror stories I had heard but I finally decided to have a look at it. Wow, what a choice, and it changes every week or so. I spent a couple of months 'learning' before being brave enough to bid on anything. I ended up buying a few cars and found that the dealers I dealt with were friendly, honest and helpful. The only car I got burned on was a cherry looking OT car that was so rotted underneath - in spite of being assured by the private seller that there was not a spot of rust in the car. In the end, I am happy with my purchases in total and no problems with any of the dealers.
why, at the first hint of trouble, would you not cancel your cheque/ check, or why would you not even realise that it had not been presented?
First you should know that my wife is more of a "car guy" than most car guys are. She's loves cars, knows cars, and prefers a stick shift car over an automatic every time. Several years ago she decided it was time for a new car and she wanted a very off-topic, hot, 2-seat sports car. (No, definitely NOT a Miata!) So we pay a visit to local dealer who has one on the showroom floor. A salesman walks up to us and my wife tells him she is interested in this car. So he starts to tell ME about the car. He's looking at me the whole time and ignoring my wife. I let this go for about 30 seconds when I stop him and tell him this is going to be my wife's car, she's making the decision, and he should be talking to her. He apologizes and starts to talk more directly to her. But within just a few seconds, his eye contact slowly shifts back over to me and he's now telling me about the car again. This guy just couldn't grasp the concept of a woman buying a sports car. We walked out, went to a dealer on the other side of town and had the car she wanted in our garage that evening.
My grand pa was a really bright guy and was in the wreaking yard business till he died. My dad has told me this story several times. So my grand pa had given a local Edsel dealer a lot of credit. Well my grandpa knew everyone and got a call from a banker telling him the dealer was going bankrupt. My grandpa and another fast talking guy went there on a saterday evening and got a sales guy to give him a new car to settle up the debt. The sales guy didn't know about the bankruptcy. The way man puts it the sales guy didn't stand a chance with the two of them. So off he goes on a saterday evening with his new car. A wagon if I remember right. Monday morning he gets a call from a pissed off owner wanting the car back. He didn't get it. Tuesday he declared bankruptcy. Woulda screwed my grandpa. Grandpa had talents though. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
He said it wouldn't be in for several weeks, he was a sponsor of our race team and everything seemed "normal" for ordering a new car. We never bothered to see of the check cleared because we had moved money into the account for that purpose and planned for the money to be gone and just figured it had cleared with no problem so never checked on it. All around it was a strange deal, lots of promises that fell thru at the last moment. He was smooth, he had the bank, the local police and at least 3 other people dealing on new cars all handled. His own family was looking for him by the time it was all over. Never dealt with anything like it before or since. It was totally crazy as it all unraveled and more authorities got involved.
Man you just made me remember a story. Customer comes in for service all the time. Bright yellow convertible Solstice.. Kinda good looking, a little older but fit...anyway got to where we knew each other by name and would chat while her car was getting worked on about random stuff, the weather, cars, etc. Anyway, I had some crazy female cousins in town and my wife and I were hanging out with them and they got a wild hair and wanted to go to the porn store and just laugh at people and be generally annoying. So we load up and I try and stay in the car as I dont want to look at butt secks videos and what not with a bunch of women family members, but get dragged out of the car...As we are walking up to the door I see a yellow car in my peripheral, doesnt ring a bell at all....I walk in with 4 good looking blondes (three of them being my cousins) and immediately lock eyes with a lady in the store.....who was by herself......we give each other the "look of recognition" and I ducked as fast as I could behind a row of videos......She high tails it out of the store and I laughed the rest of the night about it....I cant say for sure she knew it was me, but I knew for sure it was her.....she still comes in for service and it is akward as hell....I think about her perusing the dildo aisle by herself and she thinks of me as some kind of pimp or porn star, hahaha!!
We need pics of the blondes and the chick with the yellow Solstice. Remember, we need pics or it didn't happen
Haha, hey, its still a good story either way....there's plenty of BS in this thread! I went back a couple pages and found yet ANOTHER story of a part left in the bumper/door/fender with a "you finally found me" note attached to it......give me a break.....
This was in 1994. My wife wanted a newer car that she saw at a local Pontiac dealer. It was a 1992 Buick Regal, a real nice car and loaded. I do the usual haggle thing with the salesman, see the finance guy and my wife gives them a $500 deposit by check, to hold the car while the financing went through. So the paperwork goes through, reflects the $500 deposit and we take the car. My wife says a few weeks later, gee, they haven't cashed the check yet. I say, let 'er ride and we'll see what happens. Turns out the $500 is never taken out of our bank account. The dealership folded up the following year.
Back to the Olds dealership. They used vacuum tubes to get papers/money from the front showroom to the back service desk cashier. Like the banks use at the drive thru. Anyway the rubber stop on the one in the service area was worn and sometimes the canister would kick out and land on the counter and pop open. So I grabbed a mouse and sent it through one day. Sure enough, the canister got by the stop, hit the counter and opened. From what I heard later the cashier absolutely freaked out when the poor dazed mouse stumbled across the counter and landed in her lap. I'm talking papers scattered, her jumping up on the counter and screaming, whole 9 yards... Wish I could have seen the aftermath instead of just the other lot boy telling me about it.
We got in a new sales lady and like every other new sales person, as soon as they get their new demo thy want to tell us how to clean/polish/wax it just perfect. Like I hadn't been cleaning/detailing cars for 2 years duh. Any way she gets her first demo, a white Eighty Eight, maroon interior, big stereo, T-tops, bucket seats, console. And she proceeds to tell me how to 'clean' it. I detail the car and take it back to her. As a matter of practice we'd flip the floor mats(rubber side up) to keep them clean during demo phase. She gets all pissed becasue the floor mats aren't shiny like the rest of the interior. I explained that it was becasue I didn't Armor All them. She replies back that if I knew any thing I'd Armor All everything. So I take the car back and Armor All the damn mats. She comes back out gets in the car, checks it and is all happy about her shiny mats. With a smug smile she says 'That's how to Armor All a demo'. She gets out and she now has the Armor All on her high heel shoes from the mats. Her feet go out from under her and she busts her ass right there in front of the showroom. 'That's why we don't Armor All floormats' I said and walked off. I hate teaching newbies
It happened around 1970 as I recall. I was doing a summer job in the recon department at the used car lot I worked at. A used '69 or '70 Plymouth Fury came into us, just off a very short term lease. It was bright yellow, had A/C, tint, pretty sharp for a 4 door post land yacht. I'm giving it the full Jimmy G recon job, expensive wax, Q tips, soft baby diapers, the whole package. Into the trunk I dive, pull up the trunk mat and see all these silver balls, squishy like. I'm scooping this shit out with my hands, lots and lots of it. I might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed but after 10 minutes of handling (and PLAYING) with this attractive stuff it dawns on me it fuckin' liquid mercury. There must have been 2 quarts of it rolling around in the trunk and now rolling off my hands. Back then at the time and never having taken a chemistry course I didn't know how toxic it could be. Today.....we know better. A short while later while taking my physical at the draft board I was informed my eyes were not brown anymore as I had filled in the form provided and the fact they had been brown for the past 19 years. My eyes turned blue. I mean VERY BLUE! Strange coincidence?
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