"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
11/13/2014 at 11:48 • Filed to: car buying
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"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
11/13/2014 at 11:48 • Filed to: car buying | 0
| 9 |
I've posted a few times about my ongoing quest to buy a new family hauler, with minimum hassle. I've been taking what I learned from Automatch-Tom, and letting my fingers do the walking. Everything has been via email, except for bringing the trade-ins to the dealerships for appraisal, and it's been going fairly well. I've working with a few dealers that gave me good, competitive quotes.
I kept getting emails from a dealer with a significantly higher price. So, I very politely responded, "I'm sorry, but I have multiple better prices from other dealers, so I won't be buying from you." No loss, as that particular dealer was kind of far away anyways. They responded, saying they'll beat any real quote from another dealer by 10%. They called it their, "110% guarantee." Well, I was highly skeptical that this would even be possible, as the other quotes were pretty good, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try, it's just email, after all.
So, I cut and pasted the itemized sections of my three best quotes, and sent it off to them. A few days later, I get a response. "We need the full text of the quotes, can you forward them to us." Obviously, they were just fishing to see what other dealers I went to, as there was zero other information to be gleaned from the full text of the emails from other dealers. But I again figured, what the hell? So I forwarded the three emails of my best quotes.
A few more days go by, and last night I finally get their response. It was an even higher quote than their original quote, and nearly $2700 higher than the other quotes I sent them. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, and it's no loss to me, but why go through all this other BS, just to give me a higher price? You KNOW I can get the same thing, for far cheaper elsewhere, and you know that I know that. What was the point? Do they really think I'm going to buy a car from them?
For Sweden
> shop-teacher
11/13/2014 at 11:49 |
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I think you best option is to just pay Tom.
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shop-teacher
> For Sweden
11/13/2014 at 11:57 |
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I thought about it, actually. The negotiations on the price of the car where easy and painless, following Tom's suggestions. I just thought this particular dealers shenanigans made for a decent story.
The hang-up has been the trade-in value. Not much Tom can do about that. Everything should come to a head this weekend. Either one of these dealers is going to meet my number, or we won't be buying a car.
BoulderZ
> shop-teacher
11/13/2014 at 12:00 |
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I'm guessing they're playing on probability, i.e. "One's born every minute." It costs them next to nothing to send out emails with silly quotes, and even if only a small percentage fall for it they're money ahead. The same reason why people still do spam advertising. There are enough people who don't know better, or don't care and that dealer is nearby and they don't have time, or they're just kind of dumb, etc. that in the long run it is a profitable strategy. A morally and ethically repugnant one, sure, but that's not unfamiliar territory in business. Unfortunately, it wastes a lot of time for everyone else who's doing their research and shopping around.
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> shop-teacher
11/13/2014 at 13:43 |
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Do they have published materials advertising that they'll beat other quotes by 10%?
If so they have to honor it and you can call them on it. Dealers have been getting backhanded by courts lately for falsely advertising promotions/deals. May be more effort than you would want to put in, BUT you could just throw it out there that they could be in big trouble for not honoring a printed gaurantee
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shop-teacher
> BoulderZ
11/13/2014 at 13:44 |
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All true. I can see them throwing out a high price on that first quote in particular, but I just think its bizarre when they know I have better prices.
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shop-teacher
> MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/13/2014 at 13:51 |
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That hadn't occurred to me, so I just checked their website. I couldn't find anything on there about it. I've never seen a print ad for this dealership either. It's probably just some BS they bade up to string me along.
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MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> shop-teacher
11/13/2014 at 14:07 |
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yeah, I'm not sure if his email would be enough for a falsification claim. It might be, but I wouldn't count on it.
It'd probably be enough to make me black list that dealer though (as in - never deal with them again) if they can't keep their word, or do math - let's not count out the possibility the guy sucks at math lol
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shop-teacher
> MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
11/13/2014 at 14:25 |
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There was enough wishy-washy language in their promises, that there's no way any falsification claim would stick. I never believed that they could come through with the claim either.
I will certainly never deal with them again, in addition to their pricing shenanigans, they kept screwing up the vehicle I wanted a quote on. I specifically wanted a quote on a CX-5 Grand Touring AWD without the Technology Package, but they kept quoting one WITH the Tech Package. It's one of those big giant dealers, who sells lots of cars to uneducated people, so they can piss-off.
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MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> shop-teacher
11/13/2014 at 14:30 |
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There's absolutely nothing worse in my opinion than a dealer that doesn't listen to specific requests about the car you want