Connor`s Pikes Peak Adventure

[dlw]

Because I have enjoyed my son`s Honda Prelude so much, I decided to look into trading my Cherokee for a nice used Honda SUV. After a day of dealing with the Bozo`s I am now happy to hop into my Jeep and ride off into the sunset. I visited 5 dealers and 1 individual yesterday to look at used Hondas. Only 1 dealer would even give me a ballpark trade-in number without actually filling out a purchase contract. The one dealer that gave me a figure wanted $5000 trade difference on a CRV that was the same year as my Cherokee with exactly the same miles. I worked in a bodyshop as a frame and suspension tech for 9 years and pointed out the fact that the door and rear corner of the CRV had been repaired. The dealer went inside for a few minutes, came back out and said he ran a CarFax and that the damage was "minor cosmetic repairs". I went home and ran a report, got the police report on the accident and found that the officer handling the accident reported that both cars were probably complete losses due to the severity of the crash.

[imported_memnuts]

I would go contact my lawyer. Ask him the implications of a dealer selling a car with a misleading if not false Carfax report. You might end up with keeping your Jeep and getting the CRV at a greatly reduced price. I think they call it fraud.;)

[Preachers Sheets]

I would go for it, if the cars not bad off you can use the info against the dealership for a lower price, tell him no ones going to buy it, he`s breaking the law by lying to the consumer, speak to a manager and all that, I`m sure that price will drop.

[dtraylor]

I rode in a CRV once and honestly I really thought it paled in comparison to my Explorer. IMHO, I`d keep the Jeep. I`ve looked at the pictures and its awesome! One of my friends had one of the old Jeep pickups that had the same color paint, same rims, etc. and it was really nice. And with the work you`ve done to the Jeep, its really unique now. Just my opinion :)

[Steve @ Guru]

As many of you know, I`m selling my BMW 528i to purchase a VW GTI 337. The GTI 337 is a limited edition car, of which only 1500 are going to be produced...so, this has caused a bit of a feeding frenzy, as there are more enthusiasts than there are cars...



So, the dealers are having a field day with this. I placed an order with a dealership in Houston, TX for the #2 GTI 337 of 5 that they were allotted. I FedEx`d them a check for $500 to hold the vehicle for me, and asked them to contact me with: VIN, Commission#, build date, delivery date, and confirmation of my wishes to not have the car detailed, prepped or driven.



Well, they sounded great on the phone, but after a few days went by and they hadn`t contacted me, I decided to call. I asked "Did you get my FedEx?" They said, "no" I said, "You signed for it" They said, "Let us go check." They came back - it had been sitting with the receptionist for two days.



So, then he says, "Well, we sold the other cars, so you`ll be #6 on the list." I said, "Well, I guess that`s ok, but I`m mad that you didn`t check the FedEx."



So another dealer calls me from NJ and says, "Archer VW is only getting 2 GTI`s - I checked their allotment." The guy faxed me a sheet showing where every single GTI 337 was going. Sure enough, only 2 to Archer in Houston. So I called Archer, and they denied it, and won`t send back my $500 deposit. Further, they`ve taken $2500 deposit`s from the other 3 people (#3, #4, #5)...lucky them!



I went to the bank, stopped payment on the check and called them again. I`m hoping we can work this out "in a good way," but I`ll get mean if I have too! Might have to start "theVWdealertest.com" or something...hehe...



Luckily, I found a dealer much closer to me that still had 5 cars coming (verified), so I sent them a check and they FedEx`d me all of the details on the car the very next day...live and learn...snakes are everywhere!

[BradE]

With the way some of these car dealers operate I really don`t know how they can look themselves in the mirror. Maybe it`s just my personality, but I could not purposefully rip someone off like that. I just could not do it. Dealers view consumers as a cash register, not actual people. To them you are just a walking checkbook. I believe in treating people fairly, sadly most car dealers do not. :(

[dlw]

The dealer salesman called me today and wanted to know if I was still interested in the CRV. I told him that I wasn`t because of the previous damage. He again stated that his manager had "looked it up on the internet" and the damage had been very minor. I related the info I got from the police report and he more or less insinutated that I was trying to overstate the damage to chisel them down. I then told him that I would be willing to come over and view the report that his manager claimed to have regarding the "minor cosmetic damage". The salesman told me that they couldn`t find it on the internet again, but knocked another $1000 off the asking price. I laughed aloud and he hung up on me. Good grief, I spent 18 years running my own computer business and would never have had the morals lapse or stupidity to conduct myself like that. I`ve always tried to not lump people in to groups because of a few bad examples, but after attempting to work for 2 new car dealerships in sales and my own shopping experience, I`m gonna say that car dealers are gonna have a really tough customer the next time I`m ready to buy! BTW, lest anyone think my recent dealing was with some small fly-by-night operation, it happened to be one of the largest new/used car dealers in the state, with several locations.

[Bobby G]

Ali... that`s better put in a PM. Please don`t advertise on the forum.



db

[DaGonz]

A bad experience with a car dealer is what got Herb Chambers into the business. He had started out as a one man operation doing copier repair and founded A-Copy America, which became a major force in the office copier business.



Apparently, Herb had done a service call for a client who had an "office copier emergency" (you gotta love it when the president of the company rolls up his sleeves and gets dirty!). He had stopped at a Cadillac dealer to take a test drive of a car, and the salesman told him that "he could not afford it" (Herb had gotten a little grungy while repairing the copier)



Herb found out the dealership was for sale, so he bought it. Imagine the salesman`s surprise when he met the "new boss" :scared !



Herb sold A-Copy America and became one of the largest car dealers in New England...starting with that Cadillac franchise!

[imported_memnuts]

Herb Chambers yes is doing quite well selling cars. If I am not mistaken he own a downtown Boston waterfront condo which takens up an entire floor. What a view of the Boston harbour.

Ahhh, I miss that Boston seafood, but not the traffic and potholes.:D

[BumpersPlus2]

www.CarbuyingTips.com has a wealth of info. You need to have all the answers when car shopping, and no questions about what you want, what you can afford, etc. I try to go with the attitude that I dont care if I buy a car or not, and I definately dont take the wife, so they cant play her against me!!!:xyxthumbs

[janderson]

For those of you who have been around for a while, you know that I have been looking for a new car. Well, I found the car that I liked (after much research), and began to shop around a few months ago.



I decided on getting an Audi A4 3.0. A great car, and a great buy. So I started off at the local dealership, and could not believe what happened. I got some salesman who knew nothing about selling cars. So I ended up telling him how to make a good sale (yikes!). I then asked if I could speak with a more "seasoned" salesman.



They then move me to Slick Rick. Man, this guy would have taken me to the farm, had it not been for the fact that I was not pressured to buy (i.e. I did not need to buy the car, as my current BMW runs just fine). I look young, so they thought that I was some dolt, and tried to take advantage of me.



They told me that the Audi`s were selling like hot cakes, and that I needed to buy (more or less). I said, I have not seen too many Audi`s on the road, and I then told him that another dealer was offering the car for substantially less. Slick Rick did not like that, and got a bit defense. I thought to myself, "I am the customer, and I should always be right, even if I am not right."



Long story short, I have heard that this place in Hunt Valley, Maryland (only Audi dealer in this area) tends to over charge for their cars.



dlw . . . I know what you are going through. Sometimes, I just want to tell them how I really feel, but then I just why get upset, and move on (no need to get in a bind over someone else’s inadequacies or untruthfulness). Hey I don`t have to answer to God for what they are trying to do :).



I am still looking for the right dealer. If anyone knows of a good Audi dealer in the DelMarVa area, let me know.



Best regards.

[Steve @ Guru]

For what it`s worth, I posted this over on the VW forum, when a guy asked the question "What`s your dream dealership?"





"1) No games: "Let me run this by my manager..."; "Well, we`d love to give you more for your trade-in, but..."; "Yeah, we`re getting in 5 GTI 337`s, but we don`t know the VIN or commission #`s for any of them..."; "You know, if you did a 72 month lease, the payments would only be about $$$"



2) Know your product. This irks me to no end. My local BMW/VW dealer thought the 337 was a new BMW model. No one at the dealer had heard about the 337. If you don`t know anything about it, just tell me. Don`t try to B.S. a B.S.`er





3) Train your technicians and pay them for their skills. As an ex-tech, it frustrated me to see no-talent hacks with a toolbox waltz in and start working on cars. Pay the tech`s good money ~ $25/hr, send them to classes, and you`ll get a great service reputation.





4) Clean-up your waiting room, and make it customer friendly. Put in an isolated area for people with children, so the kids aren`t climbing all over you while you`re waiting for your car to get serviced. Have a few TV`s in separate corners, with the volume turned down, and Closed Captioning on. Have current magazines and newspapers, along with a free soda/coffee vending machine. Little things go a long way here.





5) Have a good, friendly, parts staff. I hate going to the local dealer because the parts guys act like someone just stuck a hot poker where the sun don`t shine. I swear they wake up each morning, crack open the window shades and growl, "D@mn it, the F`n sun is up again!" Also, don`t rape me on prices. I know you don`t pay anywhere near retail, so don`t gouge me for being a repeat customer.





6) Have some customer appreciation days. Invite customers to your dealership for some test drives, just for the heck of it. Hold a seminar on basic maintenance, or car care. Little things, again, that make a huge impression.





7) Have decent loaner cars. When I drop my BMW off for service, I don`t want to drive a Chevy Cavalier, and pay $30/day for it to boot. Get some good loaner cars, and figure out a lower cost alternative for renting them. When I worked at the dealership, we gave all customers a new Taurus to drive, regardless of what they were in for. Also pays to have a reliable shuttle service, with at least 3 shuttle vehicles.





8) Get service writers that actually like cars, and like people. It helps if they speak english well, and have a touch of a personality. Why go to a job that you hate every single day?? The best service writers at our shop were the ones who would do everything possible to figure out what your concern was, spend time to talk with you about the "plan of attack," and they`d follow-up with you throughout the day. The worst ones basically told the customer what they thought was wrong with the car, talked down to them, didn`t go for test rides, and never called to follow-up with questions or concerns.





Is this too much to ask for??"





Of course, I`m not holding my breath for any of this to ever happen...

[imported_memnuts]

Your description of the perfect dealership sounds like my Lexus dealership in N.C.:up

My local Chevy dealer S*#Ks.

[janderson]

. . . yes, these are tears running down my cheeks. That was just beautiful. You know, I should get some moolah, and open my own dealership. Yes, I could do it right, and make people want to buy cars again.



That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I feel like I know you on such a deeper level now ;).



Best regards.