Bad buying experience at AutoNation Austin & need advice on best way to deal with scratch

Backstory - we were looking for a very specific build to buy a new truck - '18 DCLB TRD OR w/ Prem and Tech in MGM. We called around different regions to get the best price, and initially got a great price contract with our local dealer (breaking the SET stereotype), but then all of the sudden the truck was unavailable in the allocation after all, and in subsequent months they weren't able to find one so offered to give our deposit back.

In the meantime, one of the people I contacted from the Tacoma World forum archives was Jim at AutoNation in Austin, and he quickly found a build of this exact truck and was able to allocate it, so we started negotiating with him. Jim was nice to talk to and over time we agreed on a good price in the zone of what is recommended on this forum. There was a bit of back and forth toward the end as we wanted everything detailed in writing before we flew to Austin to pick up the truck; there were a couple "fees" (i.e. "other") that weren't clear to us and shifted when we asked for everything to be detailed. This took a while of back and forth, but ultimately it was detailed out and the paperwork was straight, and then we waited until they had possession of the truck on their lot to book flights so as to not have any surprises.

Spouse and DF fly in last night and show up first thing at the lot this morning to pick it up and there is a small scratch on the door. He is told "we'll take care of it", so someone comes to buff it while they complete paperwork. (Obviously in hindsight, spouse should have waited to complete paperwork, but when the sales manager says he'll "take care of it", he is taken at his word.) We now own the truck, it doesn't buff out, and ultimately two hours later of waiting on people to look at it and the body guy says he doesn't recommend trying to sand it next because of Toyota's thin paint, and touch up paint would be raised, and so the only left option would be to repaint the door, which would take days and the sales manager is not willing to do. The Sales Manager says they won't repaint the door because of the deal we got on the truck he has no room to take a loss on the truck. Spouse explains that is not our problem. He flew all the way there for a NEW truck, and sales manager says his guy missed seeing the scratch when he did the once over. (Not our problem.) Sales manager refuses to make it right, says he'll take the truck back or (after lots of back and forth and waiting) the best he'll do is send a check for $100 to use toward repairs at our home dealer. Technically we own the truck at this point, Spouse and father have flown in on one-way tickets. Spouse asks to speak to the dealership's GM and is told he is not in today. (I would have asked for him to be called, but I'm not there on the ground to say so in the moment.) At this point, nearly three hours have past, a 12-hour drive lies ahead, and it's clear the sales manager isn't going to "take care of it" and make it right, so spouse leaves with the truck when the sales manager agrees the best he'll do is instead of a $100 check, he'd reimburse our local dealer up to $200 toward any repairs. But he also says that repainting the door leads to a host of new issues - paint work on car decreasing value, fading differently than other panels, etc.

At the end of the day, we have a new Tacoma, so yay on that count. But flying to pick up a new truck with a scratch that no one bothered to notice so we could walk away from the deal BEFORE two people fly there to drive it home, being told it would be taken care of, and then a refusal to really make it right is a bitter pill to swallow after so much excitement.

In hindsight all the back and forth on the fees, when we'd been asking for a detailed out the door price for weeks, probably should have been a red flag that small details may not be this dealership's strong suit. But when we finally got all the paperwork correct, we figured the worst was behind us. (Admittedly, I know many of you have had great experiences at this dealership. And had we picked up a new undamaged truck today, we would have joined your ranks and chalked up the paperwork details to what one goes through to insure no random fees get tacked on to buying a new car. But in hindsight, we could have noticed the difference of how long it took to get the OTD sales contract correct this time vs. our other experiences in the past, and in that way it was more laborious than usual.) Ultimately, the mark of business is how they handle mistakes when they are made, and we are more than disappointed at the manager's response, or lack thereof.

Moral of the story and lessons learned to pass on for the next guy/gal buying a truck at AutoNation Austin - ask for the dealership to have more than one human to once-over a truck before you fly to pick it up. Have the sales manager him/herself do it, and don't sign any paperwork until someone has truly made it right. And know or at least keep in mind, that it's really hard to walk away on principle when two people have flown somewhere. Especially after spouse has spent so much time over the last several weeks going back and forth to get everything correct on paper, and it's a rare build to find. (I would have walked on principle if there was a way to undo the sales contract, but Spouse was on the ground, so I know it's a different experience in person when you're excited and ready to have a new Tacoma just how you've dreamed.)

All that said, what is considered the best way - keeping in mind long-term value and ownership - to treat a small scratch?

Edit: To be clear (based on later comments), this is a very small scratch. The overall experience was disappointing in how it was handled and the long wait to see if it was going to be taken care of, etc. Mostly a "lessons learned" for anyone buying remote, and I welcome advice on treating small scratches. A later commenter mentioned also having a dealership send you a close up video before boarding your flight - that's great idea to avoid surprises in the future.

 

I'd start by giving the lowest ratings possible in your purchase survey, followed by lodging an official complaint with Toyota corporate.

My goal would be to simply be a big pain in the ass, if only for the joy of the inconvenience it inflicted on them.

edit: but ultimately it's a small scratch on the door, and you obviously wanted the truck so badly that you flew a distance at significant expense to get it. At the end of the day, maybe you just come out of pocket a few more dollars and get it fixed yourself, and enjoy the nearly 40k truck you bought It's still a nice truck (same color and model as my '16).

 

Personally I would have flown home and told them no deal, keep the truck.

 

Definitely be transparent and firm in your review. Hopefully they will take action after seeing that as to avoid further business repercussions. Congrats on the truck, though! Just sorry you have to deal with a scratch on a brand new truck.

 

Pictures of the scratch?

 

they do scratch easy !ive got 5k miles and several chips scratches that came out of thin air.try to enjoy your new truck.wait a week then take your mrs out to dinner on the check.

 

For what it's worth, MGM and all other metallic paints can be darn hard to match. Might want to live with the scratch. Our Tacomas are far from perfect. After very careful checking before purchase, I thought I had one. At first detail, I found that I didn't.

 

If it's a small scratch - Take his $200, go out to a nice dinner on it and don't worry, because every vehicle is eventually going to have scratches if you use it. So it came scratched. At least you are not the one to put the first scratch on it lol.

If it's a big scratch, that's different. Touch it up and move on. Sucks but such is life.

I personally have a 10-10 rule. 10 feet or 10 mph, if you can't see it using my 10-10 rule then it does not exist.

 

just have that sucker wrapped


and where is the pictures???

 

Sounds like your spouse is soft, and you should have been on the ground doing the deal

I would have walked

I bought a brand new wrx in 2015. It was 2016 limited model. Paid cash. Paid cash for warranty (new FA motor)
Sold the car a month later with 1,000 miles

Called Subaru to give warranty money back. It wasn’t processed yet by dealer so Subaru said dealer will refund me the gold warranty

60 days no check from dealer

90 days finance manager said will send check

120 days no check

1) I wrote scathing review on yelp
2) scathing review on google
3) BBB reported

Within 3 hours, dealership owner called me. Send a courier with a check in the next hour . Gave me $500 coupon to local high end steak house

I filed formal complaint with Subaru. They sent me $1000 in subaru bucks which I spent buying camping gear, chairs, jackets etc from their website

Squeaky wheels get the grease


I bought my new 16 OR and 17 PRO, both ordered from two states away. I had all paperwork on order, had them send me full video of truck showing no scratch and damage and then I boarded my plane

Good luck

 

Duct tape can fix that scratch

 

I think my local dealer has 1 or 2 MGM DCLB's with Tech and Premium. I like my salesman, hate the finance guy.

 

I don’t believe the transaction is considered complete until you the new owner take ownership of the vehicle by driving it off the lot. It why some dealers will make a person drive a vehicle around the block after signing papers if he/she is leaving the truck for additional work and or convienence. So you could have left the truck and walked away after signing papers.

This is one of the problems when traveling to purchase a vehicle. There’s no way around it. You may feel “pot committed” but the dealer doesn’t have to fix the scratch. The dealer may also Purposely have the survey sent somewhere else to a wrong address or something if they suspect you may ding them on it. I’m no longer in the car industry but I sold new vehicles for 7 years Toyota, Honda, dodge, Jeep Chrysler. All the dealers I worked for would use these “tricks”.
Buying a new vehicle with a scratch sucks. You best bet may be to find someone that is really good with touch up paint and hand fill it then wet sand and buff. That way you would not risk significant paint/panel match issues. Pics of the scratch would help.

 

Place a Tacoma world sticker over the scratch. The whole process sounds like a pain in the ass. Black vehicles look good, but I stay away, because black paint shows everyhing. The whole situation sucks, since you didn't get exactly what you wanted, and don't feel that the dealer took care of it.

 

I bought my truck there as well as my wife's Rav4.

Sorry about your troubles.
​

 

LL,,,,,..

 

No cash value. It's a dealer to dealer credit which probably means they suck each others dicks on allocation or used car trade. I wouldn't believe anything that was said at that point. Anything to get them to leave the lot. Won't happen. Fuck that dealer. OP let's see the scratch already.

 

The longer this thread goes without pics, the more I'm picturing this in my head. The anticipation is killing me!

 

Little duct tape she’s good as new