Almost bought a 4Runner..epic dealer fail

Trying to help you here buddy. It makes a big difference depending on what you may or may not have signed

 

x2, just trying to help so you don't end up losing $1,000 in this whole fiasco... If you're OK with losing a grand and getting absolutely nothing out of it, power to you

 

Only thing I signed was credit card receipt. There was no deposit on the vehicle. No discussion about fees if we didn't take the vehicle. We started the financial paperwork but did not complete it.


Not sure I mentioned it but I had to turn the Camry back in that day. Note to self....take more time to prepare.

I have disputed the credit card charge along with filing complaints with Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. The salesman called me Saturday trying to explain their fees and said I needed to come in and see the GM. I told him there is no need in wasting my time coming in. I already left messages for the GM and he would not return my call.

 

Go back in to the dealer, try to be polite and tell them you decided not to buy because the price wasn't really that good. Try to get them to drop charge. If your nice they might work with you on it. If they don't budge then make an ass of yourself and let all the other customers there know your not happy with them.

 

So, your Camry lease was up, and you intended to turn it in at end of lease so you can get something else. The Camry wasn't a trade-in, so why did it have anything to do with the 4Runner deal?

 

My question is what was the $1000 for? I am confused about this part. Otherwise i do feel that the dealer was trying to screw you.

 

They were going to take care of the Camry, which as an after thought doesn't make in any since. Basically, they took Camry in as trade (said we had equity). They then gave my wife a loaner vehicle to get home in. So when we went back the next day to cancel the deal....politely. They wanted a $1000 for a fee of having to pick up the 4runner and would not let us have the Camry back. That's why I paid the $1000, so I could return the Camry.

At the end of the day, they saw my wife desperately wanting a 4Runner and me wanting to make her happy.

 

First off, if you come in here ASKING for peoples suggestions, it is rude to get pissy at them because you don't like what they have to say. I see the same thing he does. In your VERY FIRST POST you stated that you "sign paperwork". You didn't say you signed a credit card recipt. So in my eyes, and his, it does sound like you signed the contract. Granted, while your wife had NOT signed at the time, YOU had committed to a contract. Now if all you signed was the credit card receipt, then fine, I can understand. But that is not what you initially stated.

While a loaner is not expensive to give, and I can feel for you that perhaps a $1000 charge is high, I have to admit that the dealership did go through a lot of effort to try and get the sale (Granted, overpriced) that you two eventually backed out of at the last minute. Perhaps the dealer trade for the other vehicle did not go through, but from experience, money and employee time IS being spent taking care of paperwork and securing transportation. I know that a dealership I worked for would have to pay a "fee" to the other dealership if a dealer trade was set up and the vehicle was secured.
Look at it from their point of view. Let us say you were planning on selling your Tacoma. I came to you in good faith and said I had a buyer, so please hold onto it and here is my dealer trade fee of $500. Don't sell it to someone else. So now you get 3 more calls, but you are holding onto your truck and turning them down since you already have your truck sold to me. Now I call you up and tell you that the deal has fallen through. YOU have lost out on the sale of the truck to 3 other locations. Are you going to give me my $500 back? I think not.

To be honest, you should have been escorted off. Same situation as above. If you come to me and say you want me to hold a vehicle from potential sales so that your wife can come up later and look at it, darn right I am going to charge you that $500 fee if you back out of the deal. your threatening of violence would have actually resulted in me just calling to police.


This does remind me of a really crappy dealership though (Just so you all don't think I am all pro-dealer here) where a woman brought her vehicle in to a dealership in Sanford, Florida. She came in and wanted to look around and they asked her for her keys so that they could "evaluate" the value of her car. She did, and after almost 2 hours of trying to talk her into a sale, she got tired of the pressure (I am assuming that part) and wanted to leave. So she asked for her keys back. The salesman and manager kept trying to get her to buy something and eventually the woman called the police. When the police arrived and demanded that they give her the keys back the truth came out: They had ALREADY sold her car to another dealer. The "inspection" paperwork that she had signed was actually a purchase agreement for her car. I don't know the end result, but the news was all OVER the dealership.

 

I understand your point of view. Yes, half of the paperwork was done but not complete. The deal was not final. No specifics were ever discussed here are the fees if you don't want this vehicle or don't take delivery. Let me ask you all this, what happened if the vehicle did not meet my approval upon delivery?

I offered to buy another vehicle from them. They did not want to deal nor would they even talk about it. I understand that in a way I put them in a bind but its my responsibility to keep me and my family out of a financial bind. So in the short term, yes it sucks to be out a $1000, but in the long run I am going to come out better even if I eat the $1000.

One item I left off my post from yesterday, the salesman said that the other dealer had marked that 4Runner down on their webiste after they knew it was sold just to get people in. While that does not suprise me for a dealer to do, I find it hard to believe that is what happened. The 4Runner has not shown up at the dealership. Now keep in mind they are saying the fee is for transportation of the 4Runner.

Fact of the matter is they were trying to stick it to us. So if I left them in a bind then.... I am sure they were owed it from a previous deal.

 

I sold Hondas for a while, got tired of watching the dealership try and screw the sales guys almost as much as they tried to screw customers. Their dealings on the back end of the deal, Financing, cost me more than a few car deals.

I had a bad experience that was partially my fault, but the dealership went way over board. I traded in my car, signed all the paperwork and went home in the new to me car. After a couple of days I wasn't loving it, so when the dealership called to tell me that the deal I had signed couldn't be completed but that they had secured a new deal for me, I just needed to come in and sign the new deal. I took this opportunity to cancel the deal altogether.

When I got there and politely told them I wouldn't sign any new paperwork... they went ballistic! They sent four different people out to talk to me about it, the last two guys cursed, called me names, and threatened me. They told me my original car was already gone from the lot and that I was screwed. At that point, I pointed to my original car and said, "Do you mean that one?"

Having worked at a dealership and dating a girl that worked as a biller for a dealership, I knew these tactics.

After standing around and being yelled at for two hours. The original sales manger that did the original deal, came out and asked me what was going on. He was cool, when I told him I just didn't like the car and the deal falling through was a blessing, he said cool and went and got me MY car so I could leave.

I will never go back there and I have spread the word to my friends about them. I don't blame them for being upset and trying to make the deal happen, but they went over board.

 

I sold cars and my x-girlfriend was a biller for a dealership. In Arizona, you are not financially liable for any part of a car deal until YOU DRIVE IT OFF THE LOT! That was a big thing for us, YOU had to DRIVE it off. One guy wanted to trailer home a car he bought, he had to make him drive it off the lot, just across the street, to load it up just to make the deal legal.

Now, ever state is different, so look into the laws for yours.

Car dealerships transfer cars between each other all the time. I had a few cars transferred just to show a prospective buyer, no deal in place. We knew we would be able to sell them eventually otherwise we wouldn't have done the transfer without a signed and financed deal in place.

They will lie to you and try to wear you down to keep every penny they can. that is how MOST dealerships work.

Shot, the last car I bought my wife, I had pre-financed through my bank and didn't want them to run my credit or finance the deal. The tried and tried and tried to get me to fill out a credit check form so they could finance the deal, because they make a lot of money on it that way. Even threatened to not let us drive the car home until the transfer between banks was completed in a few days. They were shocked that I was fine with waiting, but knew they wouldn't do that. In the end we drove it home that day and my wife was happy. Screw them and what they want, you did the right thing making sure that you and your wife were happy with the deal you got. Good luck getting your money back.

 

Sounds familiar in a way. Most of the dealership employees left in a huff with the exception of one (he had just started there and had previously sold me my Frontier back in '06). I could tell from his body language and tone of voice that he was saying to bail on the deal.

 

We would have understood more if those details were included in the first post. The secret is in the details as they say. You have a good point in that what would happen if the 4runner was not to your liking. To be honest I do not know, since so many dealers have different tactics and methods of doing things. while you are always free to buy or not buy, what really irks salesmen and managers are those who back out at the last second. Sure, it is your option, but look at it from their viewpoint. If you back out of a deal, you are only out your time. The salesman is out of a commission, plus his time and effort that could have gone to another customer who DID buy. Sure, I get it, that is the name of the game. BUT, that does not mean that the salesmen who sell cars won't be upset, and maybe use heavy-handed pressure to try and make the next sale. Personally you would never find me as a salesman for a car lot. Too much of a pain. I restore and sell cars about 5 a year here, and you would not BELIEVE the crap that people try to pull to get me to sell them the cars I restore. One guy wanted me to sell him a car that I restored for $100 over the money I had in it. That's PARTS money, not the 30 hours of labor I spent restoring it. The guy had some balls I tell you.

 

Sometimes the details don't make it to my finger tips.

Certainly, I understand they are in business to make money. But to deliberately try to and I quote the salesman "to knock my head off" is just ridicolous. Amazing how prices start tumbling when you are backing out of a deal.

The salesman at Honda dealership spent all kinds of time with us, even after the deal. I told him if you need to attend to another customer go ahead. Our sale was final and I didn't see any need in keeping him from another potential sale.

Regardless of what happens, in the end we still ended up with awesome car that my wife absolutely loves. Pics coming this weekend after I get it cleaned up.

 

Since we're telling weird dealership stories, I'll go.

My mom bought a car that had a couple rock chips on it. In the deal, they said they would fix those. She buys the car. Couple weeks later drops it off to get chips fixed. They said it would take a day. She calls next day, not ready. Then the next, still not ready. This went on for about four days. She finally went over there. Walked in, said she wanted her car. Sales person starts doing the, I'm so sorry stuff. Tried to calm her down and get her to leave without seeing the car. She wasn't buying it, so finally the manager came out and said that the car isn't here. A delivery or work truck backed into it while it was here, and now it's at a body shop. WTF!!!! They never called her to tell her that, and I bet if she waited until they told her the car was ready to be picked up from the rock chip repairs, she'd never of been told.

That dealer has since closed down, no doubt to bad reputation.

 

Since you're in a generous mood, can I get $500. I'll pm you my paypal. For real tho, I hopeyou get your money back. And pm me if you really want to donate!

 

Updated original post.