When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
A friend asked me to tag along to MB when he was picking up his car. I helped him review the paper before going in. The finance guy gave him numbers that didn't match. We went over and found out that the finance guy "conveniently" reduced trade in value a few thousands. And he blamed it to the SA. Maybe it was a mistake, may be not. These people are there to make extra money if they can IMO.
Issue is here he had disclosed the numbers to me before, and the numbers were the numbers he gave the finance guy, but the payment he had committed to just mathematically didn’t work.
That's a very frustrating sales experience. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that, even in the purchases that have been difficult to get through. Congrats on the van, though!
One thing that's remained for 20+ years of my car buying experience that I don't understand is the signing "I will buy this car today" basically hand written on a blank sheet of paper. It's like they have to take that to the manager to prove you're a real buyer. It's just a completely unnecessary step.
When I went to buy my Tesla (pre owned from a Mercedes dealer) they tried to get me to sign that and I refused. I pulled the cashier's check out of my briefcase which was made out to the dealership, put it on the table and said "I'm here to buy the car. This paper means absolutely nothing and is not binding me to anything. Get me executable documents with the deal we've agreed on and I'll sign them, hand you this check, and be on my way." And the sales guy still tried to get me to sign it! I was like "dude, if you ask me to sign that again I'm either leaving or you can get me another sales person."
It's just so unfortunate what the buying experience is like across the auto industry. I can't imagine driving an hour to a dealership and then having that experience - you've got your wife and kids there on a school night. My head would have exploded.
Allrighty, I will regail you with the tale.
...vIn all of my many years of buying cars, I have never been run around that bad.
i honestly and sadly don't think your experience is unusual. it was lengthened by you sticking to your deal (good for you!) and them trying 'all the tricks' whereas others would just get worn out and cave.
however, i would have left about an hour into it, even though you drove a good distance. before leaving i'd have told them... you have the numbers YOU agreed to. write up the deal, as discussed, email it to me and i'll come back or just treat me like i'm on mars and we'll do it via fedex or docusign or whatever and you can deliver the vehicle.
So, manager comes in. I lay it all out for him, the agreement, showed him the texts...I believe he legitimately did not know anything about this deal. I'm not sure what the salesman thought he was going to accomplish, that eventually I would just cave and accept the higher payment. All the time "talking to the manager" he clearly wasn't. The guy legitimately did not know what I was talking about. So I got out my lease calculator and I said "look, if you give me the rebates stated, and $3k off the car, and give me $31k for my trade, then you can give me the deal I was promised. We drove over an hour to be here, we've been here for 3 hours, had this joker just told me at 10:30 this morning he couldn't do this none of us would have wasted all this time. You guys want to go home and so do we, and if we aren't selling and buying a car tonight I think we all would rather just not be here. So he sat down at the computer and changed the numbers and said "721.99, does that work?" Yes. And we signed the deal, another hour later we left and drove the hour long way home.
this part is key... what 'value add' is the salesperson when the 'manager' was willing to do the deal anyway? i guess salesperson is simply a paid liar trying to extort more money out of the customers.
despite its flaws, this is one reason i'm likely to get a tesla. it's like buying on amazon.
this part is key... what 'value add' is the salesperson when the 'manager' was willing to do the deal anyway? i guess salesperson is simply a paid liar trying to extort more money out of the customers.
despite its flaws, this is one reason i'm likely to get a tesla. it's like buying on amazon.
100% absolutely. In fact I said that to my wife afterwards “makes buying a Tesla pretty attractive”
That's a very frustrating sales experience. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that, even in the purchases that have been difficult to get through. Congrats on the van, though!
Thanks! Wasn't what I wanted, but I actually do like it a lot more than the other vans. The hybrid rides better and the CVT and EV powertrain is much better than the clunky 9 speed.
Originally Posted by jrmckinley
One thing that's remained for 20+ years of my car buying experience that I don't understand is the signing "I will buy this car today" basically hand written on a blank sheet of paper. It's like they have to take that to the manager to prove you're a real buyer. It's just a completely unnecessary step.
Its a sales technique. They have you sign to get a commitment from you and psychologically it makes it harder for you to not move forward later.
Thanks! Wasn't what I wanted, but I actually do like it a lot more than the other vans. The hybrid rides better and the CVT and EV powertrain is much better than the clunky 9 speed.
Yes, that ZF 9-speed used in Chrysler products (and some Honda products) has a history of review and customer-complaints. GM, overall, did a much better job with its 9-speed, although I myself was unlucky enough, in the Lacrosse, to get an early-production 9T60 unit with a couple of mid-range shift issues from a mismatched valve-plate.
My experience last month was a lot of "oh, he didn't change that" when asked the finance manager why the numbers didn't match what the salesperson gave us. They seemed to throw the other guy under the bus for the reason why they didn't remove the window etching and nitro charges. I think it's a lot of let's see if we can get away with it and if they notice it, I'll blame you. They are all in on it.
Our daughter and son in law bought a Pacifica hybrid last week. They had a similar run around to Steve from one dealer, so they left and went to another that was easy to work with and did the deal they wanted. Theirs came with Michelin tires, Premier All Season.
