Home and Auto Horrible car buying experience opinions needed - Page 3

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 12:13 PM

I'll try to make this a short read....

Found a brand new vehicle that the wife liked. Went to dealership as they had it on their website. It was sold. They tried to find one on their lot, but to no avail.

Couple days later, I do my own work and find the EXACT vehicle she wants - and it happens to be advertised at a couple thousand dollars off (dealer discount). It's about an hour or so away (important).

I go into local dealer, and show them the car.....even email the link to the dealership's web page so he knows all the details. Sales guy says they have to negotiate with that dealership, etc. I told him, if they can negotiate that price or lower, we'll buy from them (otherwise, we'll make the drive and negotiate with that dealership).

Sales guy says they can meet that price.

We negotiate terms, etc. and make the deal. Sales guy says he'll drive to that dealership the next day and deliver the vehicle for us later that day.

We pick up car (has a ding in it...grrr). drive it home. all is well.

Wife calls me next day and tells me she was poking around and noticed no spare tire exists.

Im at work, so I pull up the car on the other dealership's website (It's still up....important)....and look at the window sticker, and it shows a spare.

Upon further investigation, the VIN DOES NOT MATCH!

They sold us a different flippin' vehicle!!!!

So I do some investigation on the web, and find the vehicle they sold us - and learn that that dealership where they got the vehicle from is another 40 minutes FURTHER away - BUT FIND:

1. The vehicle's MSRP is a couple hundred less than what we negotiated off of (dealership 1)

2. The options package is slightly different (hence, no spare tire on delership 2's vehicle....the one they delivered to us)

3. The dealership 2 had their vehicle marked down about 1,000 less than dealership 1.

SO....looks like a classic bait and switch right?

I've been back to the dealership twice to complain, and the sales guy says "you said if we matched PRICE, you'd make the deal"

Wrong - we said price on that car.

Not to mention, when we picked up the vehicle, we asked the sales guy "how was the drive to Anaheim??" and he responded "not bad"

So at no point, did they ever mention a "dealership 2", nor did they mention the vehicle we were getting/negotiating on was NOT the same as what we provided them as the EXACT vehicle we wanted.

They've been apologizing, etc....but kind of giving us the delay/stall tactics.

I am meeting with the general manager tomorrow morning (and he told me over phone, he wants to make it right), but what do you guys think will happen?

The original vehicle is still available, but I'm assuming they cant get that vehicle, or they would have do so from the beginning.

The only reason to go further down the road for the one they sold us is either to make more money off of us, or dealership 1 wouldnt deal with our dealership, right??

I'm figuring the bastards will try to throw some "paint protection", "GPS stolen vehicle" crap for free.....as I bet it would be a monster hit for them to get the original vehicle (as they would then need to do a trade-in on the original they sold us, and then have to sell it as "used").

Super pissed obviously.....

What do you think goes down tomorrow morning????

vailpass · 02-26-2017, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65TPT

It makes no sense to me to buy a car from 1 dealership from another dealership. Makes no sense.

Unless, as many are, they're owned by the same entity.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

Why would you have not just gotten the car you wanted in the first place? An hour to pick up a car is nothing. Why even involve the middleman?

An hour as the crow flies. So-cal traffic sucks.

Figured if the price was the same at local place as what they were advertising at the other, save the hassle of us doing the driving.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vailpass

What make is the vehicle i.e. Chevy, Ford, etc.?

Jeep.

And yep - spare tire is NOT standard apparently.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vailpass

Not to mention signing for a brand new vehicle when you knew it had a ding.

We didnt see that until after the deal was done.

Lesson learned I guess.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 65TPT

It makes no sense to me to buy a car from 1 dealership from another dealership. Makes no sense.

It is not uncommon to walk into a dealership with a "I know exactly what I want" approach.....and said dealership doesnt have exactly what you want.

It's common, at that point, for the dealership to say "I can get whatever you want, as we deal/trade with other Ford/Chevy/jeep dealerships across the state/county/etc.

I've experienced that many times, buying vehicles....this is the first time I actually let it happen.

Either way, dealership screwed up in assuming we'd be ok with something not exactly to what we gave them.

I still think they went 40 minutes further away just to make a few extra hundred bucks in their pocket.

My wife likes the vehicle - so it's not the end of the world if we dont get the original one we asked for....but it's principal at this point.

Abba-Dabba · 02-26-2017, 08:27 PM

Chalk it up to lesson learned.

Why did you even bother with the dealership as a middle man to another dealership? No offense but that is just dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. What advantage does that gain for you? No. The better question is what advantage did that gain for you?

For goodness sake, a dealership only an hour away will bring you the car straight to your front door. You took one seller looking for a profit into 2 sellers looking for a profit. It isn't any wonder why you got screwed. They saw you coming a mile away.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberSponge

Chalk it up to lesson learned.

Why did you even bother with the dealership as a middle man to another dealership? No offense but that is just dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. What advantage does that gain for you? No. The better question is what advantage did that gain for you?

For goodness sake, a dealership only an hour away will bring you the car straight to your front door. You took one seller looking for a profit into 2 sellers looking for a profit. It isn't any wonder why you got screwed. They saw you coming a mile away.

may be....but like I said in the original post - I told our local dealer if they would match the price of the other dealership, we'd buy from them.

Our approach was, if you really want us to buy from you, and not drive up north to the other dealer, at least match or beat what the other dealer is offering.

In the long run, we didnt get screwed on what we paid, we got screwed on one option package that flip-flopped, due to them not giving us what we were negotiating on.

Fairplay · 02-26-2017, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Why Not?

I'm not sure what you can do? It's shady as **** but if you signed the paperwork and all, I'm not sure what legal recourse you have. You can pull out the usual "I'll go to the media and BBB, etc" but you may just need to fight for the best free shit they are willing to give you.

Pretty much this, go in there not being happy but not yelling either. But with the possibility you could go off with customers around to see your displeasure.

If they offer free coffee or soda or whatever say no all I want want is what I was promised.

Spott · 02-26-2017, 08:36 PM

If the car runs, it probably isn't worth the trouble to go through the legal hassle of taking it back. Just look for a spare online somewhere and save the money you would spend on attorney fees and all the other mishegas.

Fairplay · 02-26-2017, 08:44 PM

"We don't have the car you were wanting but we have another one your going to love..."

**alpha_omega** · 02-26-2017, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RubberSponge

Chalk it up to lesson learned.

Why did you even bother with the dealership as a middle man to another dealership? No offense but that is just dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. What advantage does that gain for you? No. The better question is what advantage did that gain for you? ......

I don't know about that. My last 2 new cars were dealer trades. The advantage was that another dealer had the car I wanted. Never had a problem.

Jewish Rabbi · 02-26-2017, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

I don't know about that. My last 2 new cars were dealer trades. The advantage was that another dealer had the car I wanted. Never had a problem.

I don't disagree that this is a common approach, but it sounds like OP was the one trying to link the two dealers together and do the legwork rather than the dealer finding a car for him. This whole thing just seems strange.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jewish Rabbi

I don't disagree that this is a common approach, but it sounds like OP was the one trying to link the two dealers together and do the legwork rather than the dealer finding a car for him. This whole thing just seems strange.

Yeah, we basically did the work for them (finding the exact vehicle we wanted). Because local dealer was like 7 miles away....and the sales guy had already spent a lot of time with us....I felt we would give him a chance to get the deal...this, doing him a solid.

Lesson learned...probably should never try to do a solid for a car salesman

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displacedinMN · 02-26-2017, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

I think if the VIN on the car you bought matches the VIN on the paperwork, you own a car. Revenge is an option, depending on how much of your life you want to dedicate to it.

Thinking of this-is it even legal to title a car if the title and VIN do not match? Same with licensing- and insurance. This could get you into trouble if the other person, with the wrong car does something bad.

DJJasonp · 02-26-2017, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

Thinking of this-is it even legal to title a car if the title and VIN do not match? Same with licensing- and insurance. This could get you into trouble if the other person, with the wrong car does something bad.

The VIN on the vehicle matches the paperwork. We, like 99% of people, didn't check VIN on paperwork.....as we had zero reason to believe vehicle wasn't the one we teed up for them

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02-26-2017, 12:13 PM
DJJasonp My work speaks for itself!!! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: So Cal Casino cash: $1955200	Horrible car buying experience opinions needed I'll try to make this a short read.... Found a brand new vehicle that the wife liked. Went to dealership as they had it on their website. It was sold. They tried to find one on their lot, but to no avail. Couple days later, I do my own work and find the EXACT vehicle she wants - and it happens to be advertised at a couple thousand dollars off (dealer discount). It's about an hour or so away (important). I go into local dealer, and show them the car.....even email the link to the dealership's web page so he knows all the details. Sales guy says they have to negotiate with that dealership, etc. I told him, if they can negotiate that price or lower, we'll buy from them (otherwise, we'll make the drive and negotiate with that dealership). Sales guy says they can meet that price. We negotiate terms, etc. and make the deal. Sales guy says he'll drive to that dealership the next day and deliver the vehicle for us later that day. We pick up car (has a ding in it...grrr). drive it home. all is well. Wife calls me next day and tells me she was poking around and noticed no spare tire exists. Im at work, so I pull up the car on the other dealership's website (It's still up....important)....and look at the window sticker, and it shows a spare. Upon further investigation, the VIN DOES NOT MATCH! They sold us a different flippin' vehicle!!!! So I do some investigation on the web, and find the vehicle they sold us - and learn that that dealership where they got the vehicle from is another 40 minutes FURTHER away - BUT FIND: 1. The vehicle's MSRP is a couple hundred less than what we negotiated off of (dealership 1) 2. The options package is slightly different (hence, no spare tire on delership 2's vehicle....the one they delivered to us) 3. The dealership 2 had their vehicle marked down about 1,000 less than dealership 1. SO....looks like a classic bait and switch right? I've been back to the dealership twice to complain, and the sales guy says "you said if we matched PRICE, you'd make the deal" Wrong - we said price on that car. Not to mention, when we picked up the vehicle, we asked the sales guy "how was the drive to Anaheim??" and he responded "not bad" So at no point, did they ever mention a "dealership 2", nor did they mention the vehicle we were getting/negotiating on was NOT the same as what we provided them as the EXACT vehicle we wanted. They've been apologizing, etc....but kind of giving us the delay/stall tactics. I am meeting with the general manager tomorrow morning (and he told me over phone, he wants to make it right), but what do you guys think will happen? The original vehicle is still available, but I'm assuming they cant get that vehicle, or they would have do so from the beginning. The only reason to go further down the road for the one they sold us is either to make more money off of us, or dealership 1 wouldnt deal with our dealership, right?? I'm figuring the bastards will try to throw some "paint protection", "GPS stolen vehicle" crap for free.....as I bet it would be a monster hit for them to get the original vehicle (as they would then need to do a trade-in on the original they sold us, and then have to sell it as "used"). Super pissed obviously..... What do you think goes down tomorrow morning????
Posts: 12,001

02-26-2017, 08:27 PM	#36
Abba-Dabba MVP Join Date: May 2001 Casino cash: $4502970	Chalk it up to lesson learned. Why did you even bother with the dealership as a middle man to another dealership? No offense but that is just dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. What advantage does that gain for you? No. The better question is what advantage did that gain for you? For goodness sake, a dealership only an hour away will bring you the car straight to your front door. You took one seller looking for a profit into 2 sellers looking for a profit. It isn't any wonder why you got screwed. They saw you coming a mile away.
Posts: 18,144

02-26-2017, 08:36 PM	#39
Spott Court Jester Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Orlando Casino cash: $3062400	If the car runs, it probably isn't worth the trouble to go through the legal hassle of taking it back. Just look for a spare online somewhere and save the money you would spend on attorney fees and all the other mishegas.
Posts: 19,710

02-26-2017, 08:44 PM	#40
Fairplay A certain set of skills Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: texas Casino cash: $10026683 VARSITY	"We don't have the car you were wanting but we have another one your going to love..."
Posts: 25,265