Car dealers Vs dopers. OR: GIGObuster gets hit by car buying clichés

In My Humble Opinion
1

I thought it was only possible in the movies. You know: that cliché were a fast talking car salesman approaches one at the dealership and tells you about a great deal that is in the back of the showroom, a steal! He promises, and he says THAT line: “This was driven by an old lady and only on Sundays to go to church”?

Well, EVERITHING in that cliché happened to me but there was a twist! Yep, the salesman only told me that the car had a very low mileage, no “Sunday thingy”! Big difference, you see… :rolleyes:

Car had butt ugly upholstery, it was detailed; and yet, an aura of a “disposed abused greyhound from a dog racing outfit” was still coming trough, (here I was tempted to tell the salesman that I was not looking to get my intelligence branded as one as a pigeon’s)
On another dealership, I noticed a used VW beetle from 2001, salesman tells me the “sale” price, and it was just $1000 off of the price of a new one! (Still not ready to wonder aloud if it is because I am Hispanic, but combined with the bs from other dealers, I wonder…), well, no thanks, I need a new car, not a sign on my back saying: “fool”… I actually did not say that, but it came close…

Fight fire with fire! My credit union gave me a car loan and the dealer they had was great, very good 2nd hand certified cars and great prices but no “new” VW bugs. As they told me, the nice cars were hard to come by because biding in auctions and moves by other dealerships meant they could not get them at a good price/deal to then pass it to the credit union members. Still, one fully loaded Honda caught my eye and I made an offer and was accepted, but then the clichés attacked again:

I found the old lady that did drive only on Sundays!

She had a virtually in mint condition 2000 VW Beetle, a barely touched interior, very little wear outside, very low mileage, it turns the “old lady” was selling her home and moving out of state, and at her age, a stick shift was not a good thing, so she was selling it. I tested it, only a problem with an airbag was found, great air conditioning! In the end, I paid $3000 less than the arrangement I got in the credit union place; so far, it has proven to be one of the best deals I have ever made.

So glad, that I took the car to be washed and detailed…
…you can see it coming a mile away:

It then rained…

IN Phoenix…

This is the desert damn it!

It should never…

Oh well, we needed the rain… :slight_smile:
So, what other weird/curious/amazing car buying experiences happened to you?

2

I swear to almighty god, I actually had a car salesman greet me with, “What’s it going to take to get YOU in a NEW CAR today!?”

To which I quickly said “Um, aren’t you calling me from an auto-by-tell referral? And shouldn’t that mean you quote me a flat take-it-or-leave-it price, no haggling?”

He sort of ahemed and straightened himself out and starting acting normal after that.

Incidentally, there is a little old lady in my neighborhood who drives a Geo Tracker. It’s a bit incongruous. I imagine if she trades it in, no one will believe the saleman when he tells prospective buyers it was driven by an old lady, but I could provide a testimonial!

3

Most amazing experience? Buying my current car. I walked into the last dealership on my list, after having hit all the dealers in the area who sold that particular car. I was looking to order from the factory.

I told the salesman that I wanted to order a car, told him I wanted this certain del (better than any deal any dealer had offered me so far). He checked with his amanger once, came back and said, “Sounds good. Let’s do it.”

We filled out paperwork, I left a $100 refundable deposit on a $30K+ car, and left. Two months later, the car was in. They had it sitting in showroom, newly waxed. I spent 5 MINUTES in the normally evil F&I office, where I signed three pieces of paper, wrote a check, and shook hands. I was never asked to buy extended warranties, etc. They didn’t charge a dealer handling fee. The car was exactly as I ordered, and the salesman spent an hour with me, going over the features of the car.

Best buying experience ever.

4

Back in 1993, after telling a car salesman that I needed a vehicle that would handle a lot of highway driving between Minneapolis and Chicago, and nothing flashy, he showed me a late '80s Mustang with rear-wheel drive. After blinking and wondering how the hell he could interpret what I said as “now show me the exact opposite of what I just said I wanted,” I pointed out that, for starters, this car had rear-wheel drive and I would be doing a lot of driving along snowy, rural highways. His response was, “Well, people managed for years without front-wheel drive.”

:eek:

My response was, “People managed for years with 8-track players but normally those aren’t seen as an advantage in a car these days.” Then I smirked at him and walked off the lot.

5

A surprising car buying experience I once had (when considering the prices, remeber this was thirty years ago) was when I spied a one year old Triumph GT-6 at a dealer’s here. It had 19K miles and had only been registered to a dealer in Dallas.

They wanted $3095 for it (below market). I examined it pretty closely, and it seemed OK.

So, I ® had the following (approximately) conversation with the salesman (SM):

SM: You like this little number?

R: Yeah, but it’s got 19K miles in just a year.

SM: Well, it was a demo at another dealer, so you know it’s been well maintained. How about it at $2895?

R: Well, I’ll have to see what the bank thinks.

SM: Tell your banker I can do it for $2695.

R: I’ll see what they think, but it’s got a couple of minor things that need to be fixed.

SM: We can fix some minor stuff and fixx you up with a hot little Triumph for $2495. Deal?

R: (rattles of list of minor things, door handle, trim, etc.)

SM: We’ll do all of those and get you in it fo $2295.

R: OK, I can do that.

SM: How about $2095?

R: !?!
I never did figure out why they were so hot to get rid of it, even after driving it for six years.

6

My wife and I went through car buying hell this past weekend. We are going to add some to the pain and suffering settlement for all the crap we went through. If the guy didn’t rear end my wife’s car, we would not have been car shopping.

7

My wife Miabella and I bought a used car on Ebay this weekend. Thus far it has been a surprisingly pleasant experience. The price was far below what we were seeing in the DC area for comparable cars.

At first I was very hesitant buying a car, sight unseen, over the internet. After some contemplation I realized that I know nothing about cars. Even if I go to a dealership I don’t know what I am looking for besides a nice looking car.

The seller had a mechanics report as well as a carfax report posted on the listing. That and fifty pictures didn’t leave too much room for doubt on whether I was getting ripped off. Hopefully I will be singing the same tune after I pick it up on Thursday.

8

And that last post should of course had been posted by me, husband of Miabella. We have to stop doing that.

9

The last car I bought, I had already agreed on a price with the dealer but went back to buy it right before they were to close for the night. That way there was none of the normal BS of “You DO want the fabric protection don’t you?” He just sold me the car for exactly what we had agreed upon.

10

I am a car sales mans wet dream. I walked onto a Dodge lot just to look because I was next door at the Chevy dealer buying a part for my curent truck. 3 hours later I drove off the lot with a brand new (3 miles on the odo 2 driven by me in test drive) fully loaded 3500 RAM. They got the truck on the lot only a couple hours before I showed up. Found out later I got hosed on the deal, but I love the truck. Next time I will go prepared tho.

11

…and then there were gas lines blocks long, as you drove around for an hour looking for an open gas station?

12

I filled the tank before the run to the gas started, :smiley: good thing I am not too far from work, I think that that full tank will last the week, but now the bastards are begining to say this situation is going to last THREE WEEKS :eek: :confused:.

13

My wife and I wanted to buy a new minivan in 2000. We had a '94 Mustang to trade in. Mustangs of the that year and trim level were selling for $10,500-$12,000 (as discovered by searching for previous sales prices on an online car database for our area, plus our ‘Auto Trader’). Kelly blue book wholesale price was $8000 or so. (this is in Canada).

So, we went to a dealer, and found a decent Windstar (I know now that that is a contradiction in terms). We wanted to negotiate a price, and they tried to insist on a ‘package’ price where they’d take the Mustang and give us a ‘great price’ on the van. I refused, knowing that this is a way for them to make the price look good by manipulating the resale price to make the car look like a good deal. So, I demanded to negotiate a separate price.

So we negotiated a price I was happy with. Then I said, “let’s talk trade-in.” They offered me $4000 for a six year old Mustang with 45,000 miles on it. I said they weren’t in the ballpark. The salesman says, “Well, that’s all I’m authorized to go. I’ll have to get my manager.” The manager comes out, and offers us a big $4500. I was ready to tell them to forget it, and I’d just buy the van and sell the Mustang on the market, when the manager pipes up with, “You are STUPID if you don’t take this offer!”. He actually yelled at us, and spat the word ‘stupid’ out.

My wife says, “Excuse me, did you just call us stupid?”

The guy says, “Not if you take this deal. If you pass on it, you’re stupid.”

So I informed him that we were ready to buy the van and sell the car ourselves, but now there was no way in hell I was going to buy the van either. Then to the salesman who was standing there, I said, “Sorry about your commission, buddy. You had the sale. You can thank your manager. Bye.”

14

2 Years ago I wanted to get another Mustang for daily driving as my current Mustang was more of a show/racing car. I knew exactly what I wanted and the salesman told me about the car they had. 1994, V8, 5-speed, hardtop. I head to the dealership, took one look at the car, and bought it. Never bothered to test drive it or even sit in it.

Still have the car and it’s running great at 135,000 miles.