I have heard of creative sales approaches. These guys are so ridiculous that unethical just barely describes it. We made an offer on a Prius. The Sales Rep told us the manager accepted our offer.
The rest of the day - 2 hours of my life that I will never get back - went something like this.
Us: we will pay $24.5 for car X with package Y
Folsom
Folsom
Us: Sign forms. Drink Coffee. Watch Basketball. 45 minutes pass.
Folsom
Folsom
Us: These are not the real numbers. We want to see the real numbers. No need to negotiate here. We've got an agreement. By the way, no one uses a 30% down payment. That is just silly.
Folsom
Folsom
Folsom
Us: Uh, we agreed to $24.5, not thirty.
Folsom
Folsom
Folsom
Us: Uh? This still says $30. That's not what we agreed to. How did you calculate this figure anyway?
Folsom
Folsom
Folsom
Us: This is not the price we negotiated. Fix this. Now!
Folsom
Us: You can help us by using the price we agreed upon, calculating taxes on that amount, and getting us out of here inside of the two hour window we have available to us.
Folsom
Folsom
Us: Thank you, and good-bye.
Folsom
Us: Thank you, and good-bye.
Us: (Wife and son walk out the door. I pause to tell the Sale Rep thanks, and that we are leaving.)
Folsom
Me: Why did you fail to honor our agreement?
Folsom
Me: Good luck with that. (I really said that, as I spun on my heel for the door.)
Us: (Drive away in our old car -- 2 hours after we arrived.)
Us: Are people so stupid that they allow these unethical turds to pull such crap.
Is it even remotely legal to over-charge on sales tax and add the overage back into the price? Is it ethical to agree to a price, add thousands onto that price, and then just wear the customer down with the back-and-forth-with-the- manager game? Is this the fashion for all Toyota dealerships everywhere? I experienced this practice at two dodge Dodge dealerships, and two Nissan dealerships. Maybe it is ALL car dealerships. That would be so sad!
Somebody somewhere help me to believe that we have not all fallen to this level.
Update: I am told that a rebate is in fact taxable in California. This does not account for the delta in pricing this morning.
Postscript. We purchased a Prius this evening from Maita Toyota in Sacramento for less than we had offered in Folsom ($4k off sticker). Call Dave Lundgaard there (dlundgaard@maitats.dealerspace.com). Dave is the internet / fleet sales guy at Maita Toyota, and he is great.
We returned home from the dealership in Sacramento this evening to find a voice-mail message from Folsom Lake Toyota. "Mike the sales rep told me what happened to you. I'm very sorry. I think we can make it right." No thanks! (See PSS here.)
1 comment:
Hey;
Last two cars I bought (Acura TL and a Civic Hybrid) were through Edmunds:
http://www.edmunds.com/
all the price negotiating was done before I set foot on site and the pricing was honored.
Sounds like you had a price when you walked in?
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