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Why Do Car Dealers Make Buying a Car Such a Miserable Experience?


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Howdy,

A friend of mine has a connection with a car lease store.

He takes the end of leases.

It works like this....

Somebody leases a Mustang for 36 months.  

After a year Mustang leaserss wife is expecting so Mustang

has to go not enuf space.  So the lease store has a year old Mustang

and along comes my friend who takes the last 24 months at a discount price.

The original Mustang guy gets billed for so much a month to cover the discount.

And he maybe gets a van or whatever.

After the lease ends my friend turns in the Mustang and sees what else is

available.

He might use his wifes car from time to time or rent a car for a couple weeks.

But he sure drives some fine cars and is first in line if he wants to keep any.

Warranty covers most if not all of his rides.

It takes a little negotiation but works for him.

Best

CR

 

 

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One of my good friends I've known for almost fifty years went into the "family Business" LOL. Ray & Bob's Truck sales. I bought my first car from him. When I wrecked my mom's Volvo, I was expected to replace it....Ray & Bob's. 1968 Ford Custom which is the same body style as the Galaxie but designed as a fleet car. "My" first car was a 1973 Plymouth Sattelite, also a former PD car from Ray & Bob's. I didn't buy my first new car until 1985. Learnt a bit since then LOL.

 

When I finally got done with family court obligations, I'd promised Cimarron a new car. She searched the internet for exactly what she wanted, a 2012 Ford Escape with the eco/fancy-dancy lectronics phone stuff, heated leather seats, lalala. Since we both knew not to buy new, saved a heck of a lot on finding one just off lease. Visited oh, bout a half dozen dealerships before we found the "one". At one place up on Bell road, in with a group of like twenty dealers LOL, the salesmen were waiting on the steps like a bunch of turkey buzzards in checked coats. Yeah. Checkered coats, LOL. I went past them slowly and made two loops through the lot looking for a specific Escape. Found it and parked. Cimarron sez' "What'yere doing?"...." "Making it interesting. First guy that gets here gets the sale". Oh yeah, the skinny hungry guy won. But he wasn't hONgry enough because he let the sales manager screwby the deal so we walked. Tried the hard sell so buh-BYE! LOL Went all the way to Mesa to a dealer that had been around since I was a kid. Good reputation. And it worked. Got just the right Escape for my sweetie for the price I wanted and traded off my beloved Ford F150 that I'd first bought new in 1985. Still miss that truck.

 

I went through a period where I musta gone through six vehicles in a two, three year period. At one place, we hadn't been intending to buy a dang thing, just wanted to see  what the new 2005 Impalas looked like. Spent almost four hours trying to talk us into a sale. the wife decided she wanted that gorgeous new Impala. But I'm a cheapskate and wasn't gonna until they met my price. Finally made them a crazy deal they'd either take or say no. In either case, we were tired and wanted out one way or another. See, here's how it works. The salesman can't close, he twiddles the numbers a bit. Then he calls his "buddy" They tag-team ya. If that don't work, they call over manager #1. Then 2, then #3 which is usually the big cheeze on the lot.

 

So I end up talking to THAT guy. I gave him my lowball deliberately so's we'd just get the hell out of there. "Ok, let me call the boss". He comes back "It's a deal" Who'd the heck did you call" THE boss. As in Buzz Sands, who's family had run the place since 1934.

I just gotta know one thing. You're losing a couple three grand on this deal. Why?

Because I don't make money on cars on the lot. I make money when I MOVE them. Perks from the manufacturer and such. Besides, yours only has 28k on the dial and I'll get near full price. I still make bucks on this deal.

Wow. Learnt from that too.

 

Last truck I bought, and I do mean last because I'm probably not gonna live long enough to wear it out LOL is our Beastie Girl. Dodge 3500 long bed extended cab. Cimarron found that one too, but we were looking at another truck actually, but it was listed wrong as diesel not gas. We wanted diesel. So for the heck of it, I took the truck next to it, Beastie, for a test drive. We didn't even make it out of the lot before I started giggling. Guy asks her "why's he giggling? "Because he likes it."

LOL. Oh, they didn't even dicker. Made me a price so low I just didn't have the heart to try and low-ball'em. Dang. I love that truck!

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Years back I cursed the Oldsmobile lot and a Cutlass Calas International Coup caught my eye. I test drove in and went into negotiations.   I felt they were too high.  As I had my hand on the door leaving,  they came $1,000 closer.  I told the saleslady I'd get back with her but not to hold it.  I went to the next town to another Olds dealership.   They had the same car with identical window sticker. (I figure it was a stocking car build) I easily negotiated a deal I wanted, at $1,000 less than with my hand on the door price at other dealership.  I called the saleslady back and told her I bought one.  She asked what I paid. She had the nerve to ask if I'd signed anything.  She said she could meet my price. I told her she had her chance when I had my hand on the door. 

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Ford Canada owns Hertz Rentals up here, not sure if the same in the U.S., and they replace the Hertz vehicles every year.  Now you have a bunch of one year old vehicles on the Ford lots with low mileage, with a reduced price and still on Ford warranty.  My wife has bought 3 of their ex rental Ford Escapes over the years all in basically new car condition.

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15 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I am one to buy new. I buy new because I want to hold on to what I buy.

 

My 1991 Toyota truck is my "hold on to" truck.
240,000 miles and now butt-ugly from three decades in the Sacramento sun.
100% paid for, 100% reliable.

And so butt-ugly the thieves leave it alone...
Except for the dipshit who tried (unsuccessfully) to steal my $5 catalytic converter.
Here in the PRK, all our cars have an anti-theft steel cage welded around the cats.

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This chip shortage is also behind the reason why gaming video cards are also Unobtanium, and priced through the roof.
I don't game, but I get an occasional request to build a hotrod gaming machine.. but video cards are scarce.

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18 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I have bought my last 2 cars over the internet. Most dealers now have one or two salesmen who do nothing but internet sales. I only had to go to the dealer to sign and drive away. And one car I didn’t even cross their threshold. They delivered it. I don’t anticipate ever going to a dealer again except for service.

That's more or less how we worked it when we returned stateside and had to buy two cars.  All internet shopping from overseas, through our credit union.  Then the dealer beat those guaranteed discounted prices even more. Been driving the RAM for six years now, might trade it sooner than my usual 10 year intervals though - finding it's a gas hog and since I can trailer everything behind my Jeep, less real use for a 3/4 ton truck.  Not sure I want car payments though - so I'll shop electronically or now and wait and see.

 

 

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Back in the good ol days (when gas had lead and the world made sense) the car ads were all about power.  Loaded with details of gear ratios, valve size, clutch size, torque, horsepower,  cubes, top RPM, weight to HP ratio.  Now they talk in terms of latest system interface standards,  electronic gimmicks.  You can't find out if they are front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.  They don't say the sticker price,  just how much the monthly payments will be. 

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1 hour ago, Warden Callaway said:

Back in the good ol days (when gas had lead and the world made sense) the car ads were all about power.  Loaded with details of gear ratios, valve size, clutch size, torque, horsepower,  cubes, top RPM, weight to HP ratio.  Now they talk in terms of latest system interface standards,  electronic gimmicks.  You can't find out if they are front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.  They don't say the sticker price,  just how much the monthly payments will be. 

The world has never made sense to me.

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I got a couple of dealers on my craplist and I'll never go back to them.  Both of them started sending me birthday cards after I took a test drive.  The only way they could have had that info was to harvest it from my driver's license when they took a photocopy for the test drive because I don't give that out to anyone.  I tried to call both and got the run around.   Both claimed it came from a 3rd party on their behalf.  When I questioned the legality of harvesting my info and selling it like that they didn't want to talk to me anymore.  I don't even have to write down their names because despite my annual angry complaint both still send me cards and tick me off all over again every year. 

 

All that said, we've bought my wife's last 3 cars from carmax.  I don't like that they won't come down on price but otherwise it's a good experience.  Every time she's bought a car she's taken it back at least once during the trial period and had them get her another car.  Overall I like dealing with car salesmen (not the carmax people ... no hassle = no fun).  It's fun to watch their tricks.  My dad was a salesman and when we went looking for cars he'd explain all the tricks to me as they were pulling them.  But I haven't done it for real since I bought my truck in 2000.  Might be a whole new ballgame now. 

 

 

 

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I hate car dealers and salesmen. I know that everyone needs to make a living but I've found more dishonesty in car sales than even politics. Using a broker works MUCH better and is usually the best price.

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We had a Chrysler dealership in town. Small old business.   They had an old calendar on the wall from back when there phone number was 3.  The owner, pasted down through generations, was a quiet,  soft spoken, laid back guy.  It was almost an inconvenience for him to talk trade. He was the only salesmen and was normally at the parts desk.  

 

One time I took my Chrysler Lebanon (that we'd bought from another dealer) that had some service light come on. I pulled in and he was there on the lot.  We spoke a bit.  "Well, it's the computer that's messed up.".  He pulled the battery cable and put it back on.  "Make sure you get the gas cap on tight."  That was it.  

 

I did buy three new vehicles from him, a Dakota, Durango and 3500 flatbed. 

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When I buy I know what I want as far as features. I know what I want to pay and what market cost is for that unit. I do a lot of research prior to buying so I know a deal when I see it. And I never buy new, I let someone else take the depreciation.

 

Last year when I bought my truck I was looking on 4 dealerships and one of the guys was very helpful. Ended up not buying from him, he called one day and said I know you're looking for a truck but would you consider an suv?  I told him 'I'm BUYING a truck you're looking. 

 

One other dealership local sold 3 trucks I had committed to buy and 1 I asked what kind of deposit they wanted to hold it til I got off work before I could get to the dealership. 

Eventually I got the truck I wanted for a price I liked.

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