Recent Stealership/Dealership Experience...

"Frosted" (frostedbuns) 05/12/2014 at 16:42 • Filed to: None

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As quite a few of you guys may know by now, I've been doing a lot of car hunting recently. As a result, this obviously means taking a few trips to some car dealers. I'm not going to name dealers and bad mouth any one, but I'd like to share some of my experiences. I've come very close to making a deal on a 2011 Hyundai Elantra with 20k miles on it. When it came time to sign papers and get the deal ready, extra charges were popping up ontop of our agreed upon deal. So what gives?

READ THE FINE PRINT

What I've been getting a lot of lately that I didn't get a couple of years ago are these loyalty discounts.

Example: Dealers will list a car online for 12,999$. You go in, do the test drives, negotiate the best price you can get and then the dealer will turn around and say "oh there's an extra $1000 dollars on the price since you haven't bought from us before." I've owned 6 cars in my 4 years of driving and have NEVER had these loyalty discounts come up before. If you're looking at a car online, make sure you READ THE FINE PRINT. The extra charges are usually hidden away at the bottom of the page with the smallest font available.

In the case of the Elantra I liked, it came down to a $995 "Used Car Service Fee". What this was, as explained to me, was a fee for work that the dealer needed to perform on the car before it could be sold. If the dealer took in two cars and one needed no service at all while the other needed 2000 dollars worth of work, the price of the service was split to keep the prices of each car even and competitive. That's crap because the Elantra I was looking at had not been serviced and even needed a new rear door handle. Again though, the fee was listed online in fine print at the bottom of the page amidst all of the financing information that I always pass by.

CARFAX ISN'T A GUARANTEE

Another car that I went to look at, a 2010 Mazda 3 with 50k miles, seemed perfect in the online ad. There were extra discounts that I shouldn't have qualified for but the dealer was willing to waive them if it meant making a deal. In person, the car looked great too. Except for one thing. The entire passenger side had been repainted. Carfax showed a 1 owner, clean titled, never painted/no accident car. So what happened that the previous owner had hidden/not reported? Well now that car is sketchy to me. A Carfax that's clean doesn't always equal a car that's clean. Make sure you look over every single detail of the car. I don't mind a car that has been professionally repainted/repaired BUT I want to know if it happened.

DON'T SETTLE

No car is perfect, especially if you're buying a used car. But don't let the dealer tell you that because that just means they're trying to push you into the car. Dealers have to make money, that's obvious. But that 15 thousand dollar Ford Focus that isn't quite the right color and has a big paint chip on the front lip that turns you off? There will be other Focus' for the same price. You are allowed to walk away from a car deal, even though the dealer may get desperate to keep you in that chair until a deal is made.

So far the cars haven't been good enough and, while the dealers have put on their best fake smile and treated me respectfully, the deals that I've been offered haven't been close to good enough.

And so the search goes on...

See that asterisk at the bottom? MAKE SURE YOU READ THAT!

Coty > Frosted 05/12/2014 at 16:46

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Where do you live?

Frosted > Coty 05/12/2014 at 16:48

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NJ, Edison to be precise.

Coty > Frosted 05/12/2014 at 16:48

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Oh, not worth it to come visit me, then.

Brian, The Life of > Frosted 05/12/2014 at 16:51

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The greatest tool in our quiver when buying a car is our ability to walk away. Never be afraid to walk the fuck out. Half the time, they will stop you and capitulate and, if they don't, there is always the dealer across town who will.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > Frosted 05/12/2014 at 16:51

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I've looked at a lot of cars on lots, and each time I call and tell the salesdroid that if there are any fees not disclosed up front, we won't have a deal. I've walked many times, and most of those times they call you back between a few hours and a few days later. Mostly I tell them to go jump, but if I'm less irritated I'll go back in.

Works wonders. I'm not paying the equivalent of a checked-bag fee to buy a car.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Frosted 05/12/2014 at 17:17

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Perhaps it is time for me to share this again... http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/running-a-car-…

Makoyouidiot > Frosted 05/13/2014 at 00:41

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I'd go lease a Mazda6 right the fuck now for 90 bucks a month. But, even tho my credit is exceptional, it's not that exceptional.

greenagain > Frosted 05/17/2014 at 21:43

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Mazda lease: of course there's a big down payment. You don't think one can actually lease a car that cheap without it.

Used Car Service Fee: now that's a big crock of shit.