Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire One of my FAVORITE THINGS - Shopping at a Car Dealership Today

the GF's bro just bought a F-250 from your dealer Lee. He said it was quick and easy. Next time I need a truck, I'm going there. Small town, quick...not like the used explorer I bought this winter from the ford dealer in white bear...

He tried the "that guy is going to test drive it if you don't sign on the line. I said let him buy it, there are 25,000 other explorers for sale within 50 miles of here. Funny....they didn't even "need" to drive that one. It was a good price, but I was in the dealer for over 3 hours.

A few years ago I bought a new 2011 ford f-150. The dealer had a "no haggle" price. All the prices were listed on the net. With the rebates I paid $26K for a brand new F-150. The used 2011's are listed for more than what I paid for the new one.

Sounds about right. I can't believe you've been able to see cars for 20 years with that attitude or reading comprehension.

Maybe you missed the part where he admitted his may not be the right way? Yeah...that's probably it.

I infer from your post that you believe I treated the salesman poorly and have a chip on my shoulder.

Not the case which makes dealing with dealership tactics even worse. I keep things brief. I always explain that I don't have time to waste and don't want to waste their time either. I know what I'm interested in and have very specific questions regarding that vehicle. More often than not, the salesman can't answer most of the basic questions. I don't hold that against them but I am certainly appreciative when I find a salesman who actually knows his product. I contend your last comment is not true in my experience as I always treat every sales person the same, professionally and respectfully and I almost always get the same glib superficial treatment. Mix in a little obfuscation and lies on their part and your contention that treating people the way you want to be treated falls flat on its face.

I never shop for a vehicle without knowing what that vehicle is selling for elsewhere and exactly what I would buy that particular vehicle for. When I ask what your best price is, if it doesn't work for me, I politely say thank you but that's too much for me and move on. Twice I had the sales manager come jump into the conversation and that point. One guy jumped my butt wanting to know why I didn't like their price and held my keys until I told him clearly and succinctly that he had better return my property post-haste. The other sales manager jumped up and blocked the door as I was leaving a dealership in Denver and wanted to know why I wouldn't buy the used vehicle I was looking at. I politely told him it was too much money for me. At which time he proceeded to dicker on the price. Wrong answer. I had explained prior to that that I was on a tight schedule and asked what their best deal was that day. I got an answer and I took them at their word, that was the best price. So the guy lied to me and I'm supposed to accept that and respect that guy for just doing his job?

I have no doubt you have met a lot of lying cheating scum sitting there across the table from you. But I remind you, some of those lying, cheating scum put food on your table and a roof over your head. I too have met a number of lying cheating scum trying to sell a vehicle to me and a few decent guys. Actually a dealership right there in Casper helped me out of a real bind a few years ago and made a simple clean offer to me for a new truck. Didn't need a $40k truck so I politely declined.

If that is not the epitome of a person with a chip on his shoulder, then I don't know what is.

I will add that even though I have had a ton of dirtbag lying customers, in the 9 yrs of selling I have worked with a bunch of real nasty weasel salesman as well. Its too bad that those guys give the rest of us a bad name. I cant count how many times I have had customers come in with a chip on their shoulder from past experiences and leave me with an invite on their boat or use of their property etc.

After reading through this thread, I know who I would buy a truck from and who I wouldn't.

I don't buy anything without a price tag.........Nothing. I don't need you to eye me up to see how much you can get out of me. I also refuse to buy from a car salesman that doesn't cuss.

Commission sales is a phooked up business model.

It can bring out the worst in all people involved. Sales people, sales managers, finance managers, dealership owners, and customers.

That's all I have say about that.

I'd rather take a 5 gallon cold water enema than deal with an auto dealership or salesperson!

I have a question for those in the car sales industry. How do I get to THE GUY in a dealership that will most likely help me avoid the crappy song-and-dance BS we have discussed here? And, who is the best bet to be THE GUY?

In the past, I have asked to speak to the fleet or commercial sales manager with some success.

I agree with the posters suggesting going to smaller dealerships. I had forgotten the last vehicle I purchased at a dealership was done at a small dealership about 150 miles away. I had found the vehicle I wanted over 500 miles away. Happened to see a similar vehicle for sale at the "local" dealership but it was $3,000 more $10k vs $13k. Was bout to buy a plane ticket to Boise because I thought there was no way the "local" dealer could get low enough to compete. On a whim I called them and asked as I always do, "what would you sell the car for today?" He came back and said $9,900. I told him I would be there that afternoon/evening. 3 hours later I had written the check and was driving the 150 miles back home with my "new" work car.

I HATE buying cars and dealers. EVERY SINGLE ONE is a forked tongue bullshitter. Nowadays (and I haven't bought a vehicle in over five years, last one was a Hyundai for my daughter to go to college in 05) I just do my research, get an idea of the price and go from there. When i get to the dealer I ask for the invoice. No invoice of bullshit, I walk..

Yep to all that.. Anyone who thinks a car shopper isn't gonna lie to a salesman is naive to the max..

Amazing how a trade-in bid for "X" dollars comes in with a different battery, different (and much more worn) tires, aftermarket radio replaced with the original crap unit - etc., etc., etc..

It ain't all one way, boys...

One can ask former customers about who they liked/disliked the most.. But what I do, since I was in the biz so long, I usually know the potential customer's needs, character etc., then I call ahead at the dealership to see if (let's say) Neal is still there. If so, I will pair that customer with that salesman..

Makes both persons' task so much easier.. The customer appreciates that salesman's personality, and the salesman more than appreciates the referral - and they do their damnedest to ensure things go well.. I've never had a problem doing it that way for other folks..

Good to hear.. Didja note all the trucks they have on that lot!!! I asked Jim one time how many they had; seemed to be around 50.. He checked inventory and replied, "Eighty-eight F-150s"..

Yowza... And this is in a town of about 3K residents...

Andy Lamb, the owner, is about as nice a guy to deal with as any I've known..

Hate is a pretty strong emotion man. When I sold new cars a customer with a attitude like this usually was the one we knew would leave mad even if he got what he wanted right away. Those surveys got lost. You print off invoice directly off of the dealer network site and he still thinks you're lying because "thats not what KBB says". Of course because the customer is never wrong, you bite your tounge when you see they printed off an invoice for a base model or something of lesser value. You sir just make life a bit more miserable for yourself going into it with an attitude like this. Now I know that you hate me already and believe I'm a "forked tongue bullshitter" without ever meeting or doing business with me. Of course I wont be losing any sleep over it but it sounds like you might have a bit of an inferiority complex to me.

BTW please explain to me why it is that someone who invests millions into buying a dealership, hires 10-200+ tax paying Americans, shouldn't be able to make a profit.

Redneck,

Where is the dealership you recommend? You can post here or PM me. I have no difficulty traveling to purchase the vehicle I want if they have it.



You just hit on one of my real pet peeves. I don't know how many times I have heard the used car manager appraise a vehicle say that an $1,800 custom grill guard has no bearing on the value. That a high-end aftermarket radio has no bearing on the trade-in value. The fact that the vehicle has custom $500 seat covers have no bearing on value. That brand new tires have no bearing on trade-in value. And these same people just finished trying to sell me a used vehicle and they hyped the high-end stereo on the used vehicle I was looking at or a custom grill guard etc. The hypocrisy is just comical.

Let me explain why people hate dealers. It's not a matter of making a profit. It's a matter of how much, and how much that varies between customers buying the same vehicle. It's because dealers take advantage of uninformed people, making thousands more from anyone they can take advantage of.

Your logic is flawed here. The manufacturer sets a price, MSRP, and sets the dealers price,invoice. Explain why a dealership, or any other business in this world, should not ask for the MSRP of any given product. It may not mean they are going to get it, but why not ask for it? I'm just not sure why its considered taking advantage of someone to sell them a product at asking price. This is done every day, in almost every store in America. When I sold new Toyotas, there was less than 10% markup (most vehicles 3-5%)from invoice. Granted we are talking much bigger numbers than your daily purchases, but the same basic priciples apply. I bought a Leopold vx2 3x9 last yr on clearance for $175, marked down from $309. I should have given that place a piece of my mind for giving me that deal and not everybody I guess.

I don't quite agree with this.

But what I do see that really bothers me is how dealers/salesmen treat people buying used cars. That is where I have seen some real problems. My sister has worked in dealerships for years. Handling all the accounting, paperwork etc for large to small dealerships for the past 25 years. When she was working for a dealership in Columbus, there was another dealer there on the east side of town. At the time, it was one of the largest, if not the largest dealership in the country.

A lady came in to the dealership where my sister worked. The big dealership had sold her a car to her for her kid to drive to college. It was a small car, something like an escort. It had a clutch but had an automatic transmission. They told her the clutch was a foot rest. She didn't know any better and they had no problem taking absolute advantage of her. Now, you can imagine if she didn't understand that the car had had its transmission replaced with an auto, that she wasn't very flush with money. When she had troubles with the car, the big dealership was of little help to her.

This aspect of the car sales industry is one of the things that really rots my shorts.

Internet, internet manager or fleet sales is the way to go.

Be willing to travel and travel far.

Lot of dealers will sell and ship a vehicle to you. Friend bought and F350 loaded out of Texas and it was shipped for $1500.00 I think.

I went internet manager route. Did the deal on the phone, took my first offer no questions asked. He and my credit union did their thing. I think the phone sales took about 2 hours. I drove up the next day with a check and was out the door in an hour.

I live in a small town that sells the big 3 and the exact opposite is here. You cannot deal with these guys. I drove 2 hours to the big city and saved a ton.