Shady dealership advertising

The local dealership recently dropped prices on its 2018 inventory so I went in and test drove a TRD OR. The truck, by the way, was beautiful. It was advertised online at $35,500. I brought my truck in for a trade in quote. Salesman comes in with an offer sheet, listing the new truck at almost $38,000. I asked him what the hell was going on and he said the online prices were only for active military. It’s in the small print he said. I said, I’m leaving, and he quickly changed his tune and offered me a price a grand below the internet price. After negotiating a bit more I left to think it over. When I got home I closely examined the website and there’s no fine print about the pricing. The technique makes no sense to me because it would piss off most people, and it’s false advertising. If they call me I’m probably going to tell them no thanks because from here on out I can’t trust them as an organization. The more Inthink about it the more irritated I get. What do you all think of this?

 

Happens ALL THE TIME.

They honestly don't care if you don't trust them. Truth.

 

All sales people are full of shit. Just know that when dealing with them and know what you are willing to pay and what a fair deal is and refuse to come off of that number. If it does not work then walk away. I just purchased a new Tahoe for my wife and got it within $200 of what I told here it would be before we left the house. Do your homework and know what you are willing to do when you walk in. On the Tahoe I walked in, they ask what I needed. I said "to speak to your sales manager" he came out and within 10 min we had a deal for $200 less than I knew was a fair deal. Simple process.

I will not even deal with the sales people on the floor now.

 

Sounds like par for the course. The only thing dealerships do is attempt to skim as much as they can off the top. It's their job...professional scam artists. It can be tough I know but I wouldn't take it personally...they do it to everyone and succeed in most cases. Don't be one of those cases - figure out your own price and let them take it or leave it. You have all the power in the transaction but they generally do a great job making people think it's the complete opposite.

 

Check out my avatar

 

As others have stated, that's typical. I've learned my lesson to get the numbers in writing on the exact vehicle in question prior to arriving.

You now have a number you can to take to a different dealer. Do this online this time and you'll be much happier.

 

Another thing to do is take his price, bring it back to a different dealer at that location because that fucker should NEVER get buisness. Ideally you take it to a different dealership altogether but that's not always possible.

 

You did good to walk away. But if it is a good deal take...just don't buy any extras from them and get it serviced elsewhere.

The best thing I have found to do is to let them know that you are not there to waste your time. Go prepared with all the vehicle knowledge and financing pre-arrainged. It sounds like you did this.

I let them know what I want and I tell them I am willing to hear what they are willing to give.

It amazes me when I go into a dealership to buy a vehicle or get service and there are people sitting there just playing the game waiting for the sales guy to come back with a payment deal they can afford. I will be out of there in two hours tops or I won't buy anything at all.

When my wife and I were I think 20, we went to a Chevy dealer to get a truck. Instead of telling us we could not afford it (we were dumb and really couldn't), they just let us sit there forever they didn't want to tell us no deal was possible. I'm glad we had no more cash to give and the payments were going to be too high. I learned that they will likely win the longer you are at the dealer.

Sorry...a little long-winded. I wish I had billions so I could disrupt the car sales industry.

 

In response to a lot of the comments, I’ve been to a lot of dealerships in a lot of states and never seen anything like this. You can’t tell people an advertised price isn’t the real price. That’s just straight illegal.

 

It was a good deal but part of it was free lifetime maintenance. I don’t want this place doing my service, and they’re the only dealer within 50 miles. The crazy thing is it’s not just one guy freelancing with some bait and switch. It was obviously a dealership thing.

 

lying is illegal? i better leave this thread before i say something to get me banned.

 

Nope. False advertising is illegal.

 

ok.

 

Bait and switch. ALL CAR DEALERS SUCK! I had t shirts made. With my own money. That's how much I believe in my statement.

 

I built the truck I wanted on Toyota's website and downloaded the build sheet. Then emailed every dealer in an acceptable radius and asked their best out the door price for a truck. I took the best and sent it to all the dealers that responded. Kept going till I got the best price I could. Less than 3 hours of my time into that process.

It was, I think, blatantly obvious to each dealer what I was doing, oh well. Their job is to get as much money from you for a vehicle as they can, and many will bind the truth a bit to do it. Unfortunately even the honest ones don't deserve the benefit of the doubt.

 

How much below invoice was your best price?

 

About a grand

 

A friend of mine did something similar in Florida with great success. I wish I had more dealerships nearby to play against each other.

 

To put this into perspective with how much dealers try to make you over pay. About a year ago I walked into a dealer, looked at a brand new 2018 traverse. At first they wanted 800 a month. Said no. They keep coming back with a slightly less (about $10 less) payment. After a few times around the block with the salesman, we get the dealership owner in on it. He slowly comes down to 620. He then proceeds to say “we sell these for 650-670 every day.” Says that quite a few times. Eventually after about 5 hours we got him down to 550 with an extended warranty. A very far cry from the original 800

 

5 Hours? I would never give a dealer 5 hours of my time. I build what I want. Print it out. Find the invoice price. Call all the dealers I am going to shop with and ask how much the document fees are. Then I take the invoice. Subtract about $900 to a grand. Then subtract the doc fee price. Go to the dealership and ask to speak with the sales manager. Hand him my printout with the price I want to pay. I say YES OR NO?? If you cant locate I will order. No games. Yes I sign the paper. No I walk. As soon as they start the sales game. I walk out. I always end up with what I want at the price I want. And its never from the big guys that are all over the tv. It is usually the smaller mom pop dealers.