wasn't missing that dealership experience

[Mach351]

recently have been contemplating retiring the Mach from DD duty but not too excited about having a car payment.

perusing some dealership websites I found what was advertised as a good deal on a SUV so thought it would be simple enough to send an online inquiry.

this place has now literally emailed me five times and called twice in the last two days since my inquiry. (they had already sold the SUV and don't have anything else in inventory that's lighting the proverbial fire but are relentless at getting me on the lot)

explained to them twice i'm in no itchin' hurry for another car
and now reminded of why i have not set foot on the sales side of a dealership in over seven years
other than running in and out of the service dept a couple of times for specific parts have had no reason to be there - and parked in back to evade the sales people at that

no disrespect to the sales-people trying to make a living, but having to deal with the bait-and-switch crap at every turn is a real irritant.

/rant

[Big Ron]

It's frustrating. It's either all or nothing. I've been at a dealer with cash in pocket and they wouldn't even give me the time of day.






Big Ron

[Thunderbolt]

Originally Posted by Big Ron

I've been at a dealer with cash in pocket and they wouldn't even give me the time of day.

That's what happened when I bought my '93 GT brand new. All these old geezers just ignoring me because they thought I was a tire kicker punk kid. Then this real young guy comes up and helps me. Next thing he knows he's got his first sale as a salesman. Those other guys about crapped.

[Mustanger2]

I emailed a dealer for an online quote for the old model Escape recently & honestly said I wasn't sure it was in my price range so give me a good price quote on the closeout sale & if it was in my range I'd be in to talk,,,,in 30 days of constant emailing I never got one number !! They finally got ruder & ruder demanding a face to face...

It was unbelievable the hassle...I had previously bought 3 cars from them too....never again.

[Thor]

Buy a beater for a DD; no payments and low insurance rates...

[yellowshaker04]

Originally Posted by Mustanger2

I emailed a dealer for an online quote for the old model Escape recently & honestly said I wasn't sure it was in my price range so give me a good price quote on the closeout sale & if it was in my range I'd be in to talk,,,,in 30 days of constant emailing I never got one number !! They finally got ruder & ruder demanding a face to face...

It was unbelievable the hassle...I had previously bought 3 cars from them too....never again.

Going thru the exact same thing right now myself. Found a nice SUV that we would like to try and purchase and i have sent a few emails back and forth and when i asked for the bottom line out the door price they have replied twice saying if you look at KBB it shows we are selling this for 6k under retail value.

[Mach351]

i hear y'all. my real frustration is really from a past experience trying the "email" method of shopping (about 8 years ago) and it obviously hasn't changed.

found a nice truck in an ad but it was at a dealership 4 hours away (where my brother lived) - this was on a Wednesday. called the place, alleged they still have the vehicle at advertised price. we had exchanged info and had emailed each other several times Thurs and Fri - had an appt set up for first thing Sat morning to get the truck. again, allegedly it was still there at the time i left Friday afternoon.

i am on this lot the minute the dealership opens on Sat. guess what, truck just happened to sell last night. sales guy spends the next 30 minutes showing me the sheets on the trucks he has in inventory and wants to take me out to the truck lot to drive - i wasn't interested in any of these and the price was $2k above what we negotiated in the email deal.

then there was the "if you give me $100 deposit we can order the exact truck you want and it will be here in a month". i'm like wtf are you talking about... give you money to wait for a month and would likely lose it anyway for not buying that exact vehicle. i was done with this dude at this point.

later that day ended up at another dealership and told the sales guy of the debacle i encountered that morning and i wasn't in the mood to mess around. he sympathized and said usually the vehicles listed in sales ads are sold before the paper is even distributed. yeah, i should have deduced that one sooner on my own. (was in and out in half an hour including test drive with truck i wanted and the deal i wanted - that's how life should be)

[iudelt89]

Thats why I always prefer to buy from a private party. It requires a little more leg work a lot of the time though. I went to 6 different people before I found a Jeep worth buying.

[vertigyn]

That's strange they are such a PITA...I've been shopping for a DD for the last few weeks as well. I won't do an online inquiry...no reason for them to have that information on how to contact me. If I see a car I like, I will call them and get an actual salespersons contact info if needed for e-mails/phone calls.

None of the dealers have been spamming me as a result of this method. But, I also have a specific make/model I'm looking for - so they are aware if they don't have that specific car and year range, then I'm not interested.

Best of luck with your search! You really gotta be careful who you give your contact information to.

[TKat13]

Not all dealerships are created equal. This past summer I did the same thing, I was looking for a family car for the wife, filled out the info, options, color etc. It was a VW Passat TDI SEL, I put in 'must be' black on black otherwise do not contact me'. Two dealerships contacted me, first one was in Lewisville and they tried a bait and switch game and was basically just as you explained. Then Boardwalk contacted me, had exactly what I wanted, reserved the car, made the appointment for two days later and I came home in a new car. Everything about my experience with Boardwalk has been great. Any time we bring the car in for a checkup, a simple question, they detail the car inside and out at no cost.

I refuse to buy from a bad dealership, the cars are the same, the right dealer will also find the car you want and do a dealer trade.

BTW, the TDI gets better MPG than the advertised number, shocks me! 43-47 MPG on normal driving in DFW, hauling butt at 80+ MPH, still gets 40. Wife loves this car. Considered getting one for my DD as well.

[JDraper]

There are good dealerships out there. Our local Ford Dealer (Lake Ford in Lewistown, PA) has always treated us very well and the 4 vehicles I've purchased through them have been hassle free. If anyone is looking to buy a Ford vaguely close to Central PA, I'd highly recommend them.