Horrible Dealership Experience

Next time don't waste time going to the dealership. It really gives them an upper hand. I got my truck all over the phone, text and email. I am hesitant to name my dealer yet because I do not have the truck until October so there is still room for something to go wrong. But this dealer got me my truck for MSRP plus the annoying SET Toyoguard Premium and I can live with it. The other dealer I left a deposit with hasn't even gotten me an allocation in a month and a half. This is in NC as well BTW.

 

More games... back in the day went to a dealership to purchase a vehicle... the test drive is always part of the deal...

Salesman asked for my driver's license to make sure I was legal to drive...
He refused to give it back... ending up calling the police ... stupid games...

 

This is certainly a crazy time when the dealership has more power than the buyer. MSRP online is far off from what the dealers are charging

 

The funny thing is they are advertising a lease special on TV all the time.

“Get your Toyota Tacoma for $149 a month”

Just don’t read the fine print…..

 

Six years ago when I was buying a new car, I went to a local Hyundai dealership and found a base Elantra with the tech package (push to start, back up camera, smart key entry ,etc). Only issue was it was red and at the time, I just wanted plain ol' silver or gray. So I tell the guy if you can find me this exact car but in silver or gray, I'll sign the papers and told him I'll come back next week. He says he has the exact car in silver and gray so I go back and... it's the most base model cars they have. I asked him where's the back up camera? The Push to start? Wtf is this? He says it's the same car, same price, same "10 year bumper to bumper warranty". I walked right on outta there.

I know this has nothing to do with Tacomas, but it's been 6 years and I'm still pissed, lol. Just wanted to rant and let OP know that I share your pain in stealership antics.

 

For all the people saying you should have expected a mark-up, that is BS.
I purchased the 2022 Off-Road at MSRP window sticker price. Sure I paid more for their insurance package, but there was never a mark-up. I would have left also. Try a different dealership. Start off the conversation letting them know that you don't want to be dicked around with extra costs or shady sales tactics.

I wouldn't be surprised if some dealerships don't do that kind of stuff when they start running out of stock and running out of incoming trucks. This was probably a highest bidder situation, maybe not, but either way it is shitty.

Never go to the one in Downtown Vegas Toyota, they gave me the run-around trying to sell me a used 2020 truck with 30k when I was trading in a 2017 50k Truck. I had told them on the phone that I wanted a brand new truck and they said they would be able to order one. After they tried to sell me the used one, they showed me two new ones that they had coming. They were all SR and had zero of the features that I wanted. They held my keys hostage for 20 minutes until a manager had the time to talk to me. I told him to give me my property before he ended up laying on the pavement.

I then decide to drive to the Henderson Toyota anyway "no appointment", and they have the exact truck with everything that I was wanting.

I think it is just a crap shoot and depends on what they have. If I ever do buy another truck in the future, I will probably tell them the same thing I told the second dealership. As soon as I introduced myself, I told the salesman that I know all of the sales tricks and to not to play with my intelligence, otherwise we will both have a bad day.

People will be people, and some people are willing to do anything "including waist your day" to get ahead.

Also, never go to KIA. I have almost fought KIA employees before. I had told him that I had a quick Doctors visit in two hours. He dicked around for the next two hours and I said I would be back shortly. He then came outside and said that he wouldn't sell me a car if I left the property. I can't repeat what I said back to him. LOL

If you go into a dealership, my best advice is to be the ALPHA, even if its not in your nature. I am a very VERY easy going introvert, but I have learned that people will try to use that to their advantage. Don't try to be friends because at the end of the day this is a business decision that effects you more than them.

 

You stated 3 times in this comment that you almost fought someone.....

 

That is almost the only times "besides when I was a kid" that I have been in an argument, that pissed off over people being disrespectful, and had to talk to people that way. So yes, it was significant enough to mention, three times.

Usually I just leave places and don't say a word. When they follow me to my car being hateful or hold me hostage by keeping my keys and act like I am in the wrong for leaving, I end up feeling cornered and almost loose it. Fight or Flight responses, I guess.

Maybe I just hate Dealerships, IDK

 

You mentioned fight or flight. That is the amygdala. Most of them don't know, they just know people can be mentally hijacked, and it makes them money.
The jerks who do it, then make unfair deals, and call it knocking someones head off.

If you are interested in it, because sales can be used for good, and you can also defend yourself as well. Pre-suasuon by Caladini is a great place to start.

This may sound stupid, but here goes.
I rent and sell heavy equipment and aerial boom lifts. I deal with professional buyers every day. These men are not fools, are very competent, and in constant competition to reduce costs, and maximize profits on their bids.

Pre-suasion is setting up a resonable expectation in my customers mind in a joking fun way.
When someone wants a discount on rental, I just say, "Well we normally charge you double, how about we give you half off."

Psychologically their mind saw the number as twice what it was, then the number they see looks smaller.

It is the exact same price as it was. It is the same price for everyone. We don't do tier pricing like the big national rental chains.

I laugh and make sure my customers have fun, and are taken care of. They know I care and will do my best to make sure they accomplish thier task with the overall cost.

(Sometimes a bigger machine is much more efficient, time, and manpower costs matter too.)

 

Connecticut. Bought my tuck in ma., but found out their just as bad.

 

I'm within 5 years of retirement so I likely won't be going into a dealership to purchase a new vehicle again for quite some time, but when I have in the past I go with the following assumptions/strategies:

• Dealerships are basically scumbags whose job it is to separate you from as much of your money as possible by whatever means necessary. It's only the level of scumbaggery that varies (I'm sure there are rare exceptions, but this usually holds true).
• No matter how friendly they are and regardless of what comes out of their mouths, the salespeople and managers are not your friends, nor do they have your best interests in mind.
• Put a freeze on your credit reports with all three major credit bureaus before you start shopping. That way if you get distracted and slip up they can't sneak a credit inquiry past you. If you decide you want them to run your credit then you can temporarily remove the freeze while you're at the dealership.
• Go in with a pre-approval from your favorite lender. You can still decide to let the dealership finance you if it results in a better deal, but this way you have a loan with a set interest rate in your pocket. Multiple hard inquiries for auto loans within a short period of time (usually 15-45 days depending on the scoring model used) count as one inquiry, so it won't hurt you to do this.
• Read every piece of paper the F&I guy throws in front of you. You'd be amazed at the crap they try and sneak in if you're not paying attention.
• Be ready to walk away from the deal at any point before they hand you the keys to drive away. Don't get emotional. They count on you getting caught up in the new car frenzy.
• ALWAYS be respectful. If you need to tell them in which orifice to stick their deal, do so in a professional manner. The situation you are in is already adversarial, you don't need to intensify it and make your day worse than it already is.
• Times have changed. Do as much of the deal as possible over email and text to minimize shenanigans time at the dealership. I don't like telephone calls because it's too easy for them to deny what they said in a phone call. If its an email or a text you have a record. Also, before going to the dealership, politely tell them that if any of the parameters of the deal you've agreed to change when you get there, you are more than willing to walk.

I realize this is basically stereotyping an entire segment of an industry, but they've demonstrated to me time and time again that the reputation is well earned.

 

While thats true for many dealers not being able to trust them as far as one can throw them, there are a few out there that are pretty decent that are straight shooters. I usually try to deal with a family run dealership...at least in the past, but even those are becoming rare these days, as i found out they can't compete with the big boys anymore for sales.

 

I agree their can be exceptions, but as you correctly point out, they are getting harder and harder to find.

 

Per my original post and supporting the most recent above, my expectations were skewed by visiting Hendrick Toyota (which I would recommend to others) first and having a very easy and straightforward experience. There are good apples out there.

Hopefully post like these can help steer people to places like that and away from the scumbags I dealt with.

 

While it's speculation on my part, I would say they wanted to pressure you into giving them what they needed to quote you financing. When you high-pressured their high-pressure, they backed off.

 

I had a similarly easy and fair experience buying my new Tacoma from the dealership.

I also lied my ass off to them and got them to give me a stupid good deal that they were very upset about in the end. The sales manager actually came up to me after they handed over the keys and told me I got them good.

Now the issues with getting it serviced at the dealership and the lack of integrity/competency there…that’s a whole different issue.

 

Dealerships are obsolete rent seekers and they need to go bye bye. There is no reason why we should not be able to simply order direct from the car companies.

 

While I agree that the franchise dealership model is obsolete and needs to change, even Tesla, who has revamped the entire sales experience and eliminated the traditional franchise dealership model, still has stores to educate potential buyers and allow for test drives by appointment. The good news is they won't try and sell you a vehicle while you're there. They also have service centers to service your vehicle, although maintenance is very different than what we are used to with dino fueled vehicles. So, while you may be able to eliminate franchise dealerships (if you can get past the NADA lobby) and go factory direct with your order, the manufacturer still needs a local presence.

Auto manufacturers have been selling the same way for over 100 years. No doubt it's time for a change.

 

Some of the biggest scumbags i ever dealt with were at dodge dealerships trying to buy a car for the wife. I swear all the salesmen that work at those dealerships are trained to bullshit, and deceive you. I couldn't believe it after getting the same tricks from their salespeople. I just got up and walked out on them with these guys following me right to the door telling me how they feel so bad they made this error when they dam well knew what they were doing.

 

This was a surprise to you? Should have locked the price in email first.

30 minute drive put you out? Lol