Dealers suck.

[grouch]

Something similar happened to my brother-in-law a few years back. He left a deposit on a new car that was on the lot. He said he would be back from a business trip in a week. The deposit was to hold the vehicle for 3 weeks. His trip was supposed to be 1 1/2 weeks but he had seen them run longer as he is an electrical engineer.

2 days after he left on the trip, I saw one just like it driving down the road. The reason it looked like it was it was the car he put a deposit on. One of the salesmen was using it.

When he got back and went to pick up the car, it wasn't there. The salesman had traded it to another dealer in trade for a car that one of the salesman's kids wanted.

Needless to say, there were some consternation's. The dealer offered to order a new one just like it but there had been a price increase. While my BIL is an electrical engineer, his first degree was an MBA. He told the dealer he had a contract. There would be NO increase. The dealer sold a sold car. He would get one like it at the original price. There would also be interest charged on the deposit starting at the latest date he was to return. (Starting about 3 days later). A week later, the replacement showed up. It was enroute to a different dealer but corporate reassigned it as it was a stock ordered car and wasn't sold. It even had a moon roof the original didn't have.

Fast forward 4 months. New owner of the dealership. It seems his car wasn't the only one that happened to.

 

[vcode]

It was like that here a few weeks ago, but all of them were already purchased and waiting pickup. The market isn't changing anytime soon for fullsize SUVs.

I'm talking total new vehicles, not just SUV's.

 

[vcode]

That’s easier said than done when many dealers have very low to no inventory. That’s why most people are ordering or putting deposits on vehicles on the way to the dealer. MOST dealers are not out to screw customers like people on the internet think. When you go in someone excepting a problem, a problem you will find.

Right, maybe where you live. Go look at the reviews of dealers in the Chicago area. Page after page after page of zero and one star reviews on horrible dealer buying experiences.

 

[greg_tahoe84]

Except you’re the one crying. I bet you treat the wait staff like crap when they get your drink wrong since you’re just so perfect.

You can attack me all you want. You work for a dealer? They created this situation. They mark up these cars anywhere from 5-15k above msrp, contributing nothing to the value of the car. They throw in frivolous dealer installed packages, have a complete lack of transparency of their inventory where just about every single vehicle listed on their inventory is presold and not marked accordingly. Price gouging and bait and switch, completely unethical. Ironically, my presold vehicle is the one that got sold to somebody else.

 

[91RS]

We weren’t talking about markups, but that’s supply and demand and has literally nothing to do with what happened here. If people weren’t paying it then they wouldn’t be doing it. The dealers bills didn’t disappear just because the inventory did and they still have employees with families that need to earn a paycheck. I bet you didn’t take a pay cut at your job to help out the customers.

A mistake was made. They called you, admitted to you they made a mistake, explained to you how the mistake happened, and told you they’re trying to fix it. I’ll ask AGAIN: What more can they do for you at this point? If they maliciously sold the vehicle out from under you, I doubt they would be trying to fix the problem. You are not perfect either and I bet every customer at your job doesn’t walk away happy every time either even though you’d like for them to.

Most dealers are not intentionally screwing their customers. When they do, they never come back. How is that good for business? They want you to be happy so you’ll come back for service and then buy your next car from them, too.

I won’t be replying to this any more since all I did was say the same thing I already said again.

 

[Saltydog]

That's because anyone in their right mind wouldn't buy a RAM.......LOL

Heyy, I love my Ram

I have owned from all of the Big American 3 and generally, those have been good, that said FCA/Stilantis/whatever name LOL, historically are in the bottom from resale value and desirability. As much as the Jeep Wagoneer is great vehicle, the GM triplets are much better in just about every way, although that 6.4 is nice.

 

[Saltydog]

Back to the Dealer topic, I had a really nasty experience when going to buy a Tahoe RST.

I had been on the phone with dealer multiple times, discussed price, etc. I drive 4 hrs to go make the deal and the salesperson I was talking to was not even in that day even though we had made an appointment, annoyed I reluctantly start working with another clown, and the now the price of the Tahoe was nearly 10k more than advertised, ugh! Needles to say I walked and they tried to show me other Tahoe's, but I was not interested in those as the spec was not what I wanted. When Trying to leave, they suddenly lost my keys to my Explorer, damn I about blew a gasket. They seen I was pissed and the manager found my keys and I was out of there. What dam poop show that was.

I sent a complaint t GM regarding the dealer's handling of things, not sure if anyone seen it but it made me feel better.

 

[todayusay]

there have always been shady dealers - always have and always will.

I've had the whole - we're halfway into a 3 hr drive when the salesman calls and said that the used car manager bought the tahoe for his wife situation. As in he took the sold sign off the windshield and drove it home. This was on a new 2013...

This market just gives the sketchy dealers more flexibility to take advantage of the ignorant buyers. You don't want to pay a $5k markup? The eighth next person might and as long as "that person" eventually shows up and pays it, dealers will continue to make as much as possible. Smaller dealers will probably hold on to the over pricing model as long as they can whereas larger dealers need to turn their inventory over

Even if you don't want to call adding interior spill protection, vin etching, $100 window for $500, etc as sketchy dealer tactics, I'd view it as only an uniformed buyer would buy from that type of dealer when supply isn't an issue...and we all know that there are dealers that have had mandatory add-ons way before covid...before covid we could just go and buy from the other 10 dealers that didn't have the add-ons

 

[Blackcar]

We weren’t talking about markups, but that’s supply and demand and has literally nothing to do with what happened here. If people weren’t paying it then they wouldn’t be doing it. The dealers bills didn’t disappear just because the inventory did and they still have employees with families that need to earn a paycheck. I bet you didn’t take a pay cut at your job to help out the customers.

A mistake was made. They called you, admitted to you they made a mistake, explained to you how the mistake happened, and told you they’re trying to fix it. I’ll ask AGAIN: What more can they do for you at this point? If they maliciously sold the vehicle out from under you, I doubt they would be trying to fix the problem. You are not perfect either and I bet every customer at your job doesn’t walk away happy every time either even though you’d like for them to.

Most dealers are not intentionally screwing their customers. When they do, they never come back. How is that good for business? They want you to be happy so you’ll come back for service and then buy your next car from them, too.

I won’t be replying to this any more since all I did was say the same thing I already said again.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

I don't know; the dealer I bought 8 Chevys from was fantastic, fair, did business w/ me on a handshake. Only reason i didn't buy from him this time was that I wanted a GMC. The GMC dealer I bought my Yukon XL from was equally good. Was honest w/ me about where I was in line, kept me up to date when it was ordered, and secured it w/ a simple $1k (completely refundable deposit -- even offered that back to me if I wanted to finance 1k more, ; didn't do that of course). I have been back for service and they are more than competent.

Net, Dealer's don't all suck. Sometimes stuff happens. It's how they act after stuff that happens that matters.

 

[ColeBlooded]

I don't know; the dealer I bought 8 Chevys from was fantastic, fair, did business w/ me on a handshake. Only reason i didn't buy from him this time was that I wanted a GMC. The GMC dealer I bought my Yukon XL from was equally good. Was honest w/ me about where I was in line, kept me up to date when it was ordered, and secured it w/ a simple $1k (completely refundable deposit -- even offered that back to me if I wanted to finance 1k more, ; didn't do that of course). I have been back for service and they are more than competent.

Net, Dealer's don't all suck. Sometimes stuff happens. It's how they act after stuff that happens that matters.

The dealer i used was very good to me as well. No BS and no markups.

 

[steiny93]

The current market doesn't help dealers be better, it'll get worse before it gets better.

 

[vcode]

The current market doesn't help dealers be better, it'll get worse before it gets better.

Doesn't help them how? According to most reports, they are making record profits despite the new car shortage.....

 

[TollKeeper]

As mentioned in another thread before.. Its only going to get worse.

Ford has already admitted this, and its likely GM and FCA will follow suit.

There will no longer be "dealer stock". There will be dealer demonstrators, and everything else is built to order.

In other words, no longer walking into the dealer to buy a vehicle, and driving it home the same day, unless its used.

 

[EducatorDan]

Honestly I'm OK with "order only" IF I can buy for MSRP and the order to delivery time is 6 to 8 weeks.

But I'm a picky motherf***** when it comes to what colors I want, what options I want, and what things I DON'T WANT. I've found my priorities are different from the average dealer who wants what he thinks he can sell to the next guy who walks in the door.

 

[Blackcar]

Kelly Blue Book has a different view on conversation.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/new-car-inventory-buildup-may-bring-back-incentives/

 

[mrrairai]

Kelly Blue Book has a different view on conversation.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/new-car-inventory-buildup-may-bring-back-incentives/

I'm noticing dealers in my area are starting to get more inventory on their lots. No more ghost town looking dealerships.

 

[steiny93]

Doesn't help them how? According to most reports, they are making record profits despite the new car shortage.....

Doesn't help the dealers be better in regards to customer service. It doesn't help as all the power is with the seller, when supply is restricted.

 

[Bigkevschopshop]

I will say I have had my fair share of dealer experiences. Few have done this exact crap to me, and I never would set foot there again. My most recent experience here in texas is the Sewell dealer chain. AMAZING hands down. I would call Sewell Caddy in grapevine and talk to a sales associate there and tell him what you want and they can probably find it pretty easily if your interested in pre owned. They do everything above and beyond. Its worth buying from them and get a 1 year old vehicle probably cheaper than new at the time since the market is adjusting.

 

[grouch]

As mentioned in another thread before.. Its only going to get worse.

Ford has already admitted this, and its likely GM and FCA will follow suit.

There will no longer be "dealer stock". There will be dealer demonstrators, and everything else is built to order.

In other words, no longer walking into the dealer to buy a vehicle, and driving it home the same day, unless its used.

Pretty soon Ford will have different set ups for different dealers. Part of that will be NO negotiating and there will be fast chargers.

https://electrek.co/2022/09/14/ford-sets-new-dealers-requirements-in-order-to-sell-evs/

If this works out, you can bet GM, and probably Stellantis will follow.