Truth... Tacomas, You and the World

I must be the only one that enjoys buying new cars. Used car slaespoeple can pound sand

 

Thats what I use to deal with from a Jeep dealer and is why I now own a 4Runner and the Tacoma. It was time to find a new dealer to hate, and less likely to be in their service department...

 

For me it's the test drives though. If not for the test drives, I would have believed the tacoma to be a transmission nightmare, the ranger to be amazing, the Frontier to be horrible clunky and old (in the drive as well), the ridgeline to be luxurious, etc.

They all felt like mid size trucks, they all drove similarly, the ford being only a hair smoother with the complication of +4 gears (didn't drive a diesel GM, to be fair, but I've driven diesel/gas counterparts HD before).

I don't know how the test drive process works with Carvanna, but the next vehicle I buy will probably be from them anyway.

Dealership service is bonkers. They tried to get my insurance to total my truck because the front jack point hit a rock off road (yes, my fault) and was slightly dented, and "it was a danger to drive".

They also said the squeaking was from my LCA being scratched....on the opposite side of the squeak, and it was a rock behind the backing plate....

My sales team was awesome, no problems, liked my salesman, etc etc. Service department can eat dirt, I won't be going for "free" services, more hassle than it's worth with them.

 

I work with people that drive

This is a great example of why dealers don't want to deal with warranty from higher. They would only charge .25 hours for that so they can rake you over the grill for a 4 hour job

 

work? they have mean people there I don't wanna go

 

My whole house is in the woods

 

Don't forget that it is a baby spare at that.

 

I've done both. The car is the most exciting part. The process, on the other hand, sucks. My best experience at a dealership was at a used car dealership, but even that process wasn't super fun.

 

Education on how the deal goes is key. Get your financing in order before you arrive. Negotiate the deal on the price of the vehicle before any discussion of financing, trades down payment etc. After thar, if you have a trade, work that. Once all of that is done, tell them you want a full list of the crap the finance person is going to peddle. If they wont give it to you, walk. When you get, it cross out everything you dont want/need and give it back (should be almost everything on the list). Tell them you will meet with finance person for no more than 15 minutes to sign the paperwork with only the uncrossed-out stuff in the deal and that you will walk if they pull any bullshit. Look the sales person in the eye and make sure they know you aren't kidding. I did this and was in and out of the finance person's office in 12 minutes with the keys in my hand and a good deal on my truck. Finance person wasn't exactly warm and bubbly, but who gives a shit. The total price of the stuff they had to sell was over $6500, all of it tremendously overpriced.

 

I had a absolute blast buying my Tacoma, trading in my frontier. I had a good time buying my wife's Odyssey and trading in her old Odyssey. Pissed one dude off till he wouldn't talk to me and brought my keys back then it all went really easy, with the guy I had originally talked to, had a great time buying my Frontier, my Miata, my F150, my FZ6. I have never understood getting upset at them. Just laugh, smile and say no, thank you. You don't have to buy anything. Just get up and leave. I love my truck but there are hundreds more just like it.

 

Yep the prices are ridiculous at the stealership. They prey on single women the most. My mother whom is single has an older Ford she loves but when she needs service I have the service writer call me and explain in detail what needs to be done before agreeing to anything. And I can't tell you how many women I've dated including my wife who have been told they needed services they absolutely did not need. Like a $800 coolant flush on a 30k mile Acura thats filled with 100k mile coolant. Along with everthing else the bill came to $2,200. I had to go down and demand a refund and shame them like children. Tails between their legs they refunded my wife (then girlfriend) and asked that I keep this issue on the down low. Shady Bastards!

 

You can drive the vehicle for 7 days or 400-some-odd-miles and return it for any reason, no questions asked. Only issue is you may have to pay $400 or whatever for the shipping cost if there isn't a local location.

Obviously that makes more sense for used vehicles vs new, but I'm sure something will eventually be figured out. But you definitely make a good point in that regard.

 

Good story!

For all the reasons you mentioned, I too take care of servicing vehicles for my wife and mom. I let my wife last year take her NEW 4Runner in for it's first "free" service at 5,000 miles, which they charged her $90 for uneven tire wear. I carefully checked the still NEW tires and couldn't find any wear, and called the service manager to ask about it. He right away refunded the charge and made an excuse that he was off that day and "wasn't there to monitor his employees."

 

even if there was tire wear..... wtf did they charge her for? did they put on a new tire?

 

Wheel alignment so they said, for $99.95.

 

Think this thread is getting re-purposed to dumping on the dealer...

It comes down to being informed when you go in there and not taking it any different than a business transaction. Do your research and have realistic expectations. Go to 20 dealers if you have to but at the end of the day, no one is forcing you to buy anything and if they are, walk away.

Through the whole thing, don't take things personally and remember the final price lies somewhere between the number in your head and whatever the dealership is advertising. It's just a business transaction.

 

just had my wifes Honda accord at a Honda dealer for a full brake job, she came back with a multi point evaluation which had a cabin filter replacement cost $80 recommended after inspection plus many other goodies need replacement , when I had just replaced it less than a month ago with a aftermarket DENSO from rockauto for less than $10 how it could be already dirty in need of replacement? they are shady and do take advantage of unknowing uneducated people. this is why I always GIF these kids (millenials) who are so naïve to the world and how it works because they don't really educate them about real world issues and the value of a dollar at school and at home, they truly are lambs to the slaughter if they don't get their heads out of their ass real fast, but they only know a pampered life because of the education system we have, I see this shit everyday where I work.

 

We had bought a prius, the first time it was due for maintenance after toyota care ran out the wife took in to the dealer for an oil change. When she got what the cost was...they told her about $260 including new wiper blades. Well that was the last time she went back to them. We found a local certified toyota NAPA garage that did prius service for half that.