Why I HATE Buying New Cars

Regaling us with the same story doesn’t change the fact that you accepted them.

With the dealer add items I don’t want, I simply say no and walk away. When I bought my Ford the dealer wanted me to sign a bunch of stuff like limited power of attorneys for the DMV, a bunch of non contract documentation etc. They actually didn’t know what to do when I said I’m not signing those documents. Genuinely perplexed they had to go talk to their manager on what to do. In the end I didn’t sign anything but the sales contract and drove away.

Dealers do odd things I agree but they only do what you let them. If a dealer didn’t remove those items, again I’d just walk away.

 

Well, under normal circumstances, I would have walked, figuratively, not literally, but these are not normal times. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't in a position to find another Tacoma, go through another round of negotiations, and wait a month or two for it to arrive. The configuration I wanted made it that much more difficult. Paying for the flaps and leaving them there didn't make sense. Guess I could have rented a car to cover me for a month or two, but I didn't want the added complexity. I realize getting bent out of shape over a $400 set of mud flaps doesn't sound reasonable, but that's not what bothered me. It was the dealers response to my situation that irked me.

The Toyota dealers are still playing COVID-era games, as I reached out to pretty much every dealer within a 250 mile radius. All of them are finding ways to pad their profit, and the accessories game is clearly one of them. Gone are the days where the sales folks would track you down in the parking lot after you walked from negotiations. There wasn't a single new Tacoma on the lot. The finance guy told me Toyota is one of the few brands that's still behind on deliveries. All the other dealerships I passed on the way there were full of inventory, but inventory was scarce at the Toyota dealer. I wonder if it'll ever return to some semblance of normalcy.

 

Send the service manager, general manager, if you can get the email of the owner copy him/her as well. Explain your situation in polite/politically correct way and I’d be willing to bet you will get the results you want. If you don’t receive a response in 2-3 business days, resend

 

The situation has been resolved to my satisfaction, so we can let this one settle......

 

I think it depends, here in CO most of the dealers are low on inventory, Ford, Chevrolet, Subaru etc. However a lot of that is by design now and many are aligning more closely to the Tesla model where you simply by one online or direct from the dealer, you wont browse a parking lot full of inventory anymore. Dealers absolutely make a ton of money on accessories, Ford in fact is investing so much into the Bronco accessory line that most dealers are remodeling specifically for an accessory showroom. Toyota is a little bit slower in this regard but is also changing.